The Brief – January 2019

Looking Forward to 2019: Hot Topics for the New Year

By Bill McBeath

Thursday, January 10, 2019

There were so many interesting developments in 2018 and more to come this year. Here we take a look at what’s happening in autonomous supply chains, omni-channel delivery, AI/machine learning, blockchain for supply chain, checkoutless stores, and self-sovereign ID.  [ Read: Looking Forward to 2019: Hot Topics for the New Year ]

Supply Chain 2019

Investments in Logistics, AI, Autonomy, IoT/Mobile, and Networks were big last year and will continue through 2020, but with many challenges ahead.  [ Read: Supply Chain 2019 ]

IoT: From Hype to Adoption — Part One

Five Ways Manufacturers and Distributors Are Adopting the Internet of Things

Small and medium manufacturers and wholesale distributors are trying to determine where IoT fits into their business strategies, within the constraints of limited budgets, inhouse expertise, bandwidth, and technical resources. This requires prioritizing many potential IoT initiatives. In part one of this two-part series, we look at three areas that manufacturers and distributors are implementing IoT: 1) on the plant floor, 2) in supply chain and logistics, and 3) in service and repair. [ Read: IoT: From Hype to Adoption: Part One ]

X – Factory: Part Two — A Paradigm for Smart Connected Factories

PTC’s X-Factory shows a path to Industrie 4.0. Here we examine the assembly, testing and packaging, warehouse, production management, and solution integration for X-Factory. [ Read: X – Factory: Part Two — A Paradigm for Smart Connected Factories ]