01.29.2014 - Existing and Developing Trends in Industrial Control and Automation Applications

By Cameron Swen, Strategic Marketing Manager, AMD

 Back in the late 80’s I worked my way through my undergrad as a CNC machine operator for a manufacturer. Since then, I have only been a stone’s throw away from manufacturing.  I started as a systems engineer in a product company working with manufacturers to build chassis, populate motherboards and assemble systems for us.  Then I later became a product marketing manager working with ODMs to design devices into their products.  Now, in my current role, as the Strategic Marketing Manager focused on Industrial Control and Automation at AMD, one of my primary responsibilities is to track the existing and developing trends that are prevalent in Industrial Control and Automation applications.

 There are many different sources for information on these trends which include my personal experience and exposure to manufacturing operations, research studies, a variety of periodicals, numerous whitepapers, and webinars from a wide range of vendors. Taking all of this information and filtering out the individual opinions to drill down to the most relevant and reliable information can be a daunting task.  However, what I have learned is that there are nine existing and developing trends that seem to be having the most influence on manufacturing operations and industrial control and automation applications.  These trends include: efficiency, sustainability, connectivity, security, usability, safety, integration, scalability, and reliability.

 While there is certainly overlap in both the causes and the effects of these trends, and it can be argued whether these are good or bad trends, the bottom line is that these trends are driving the industry.  In some cases they are helping to drive resurgence of the American manufacturing industry.  In other cases they are helping to improve working conditions in factories.  In most cases, these trends are helping to make manufacturers more agile, eco friendly, and ultimately, more competitive.  Thus, I am working on figuring out what I can do to help drive these trends into the products that are being developed to serve industrial control and automation applications.  Whether you are directly involved in manufacturing, or just a stone’s throw away, take a look at my webinar to learn a little bit more about each of these trends and think about whether you should be considering them in the operations you control and products you design.

 Cameron Swen is a Strategic Marketing Manager for Industrial Control and Automation in the Embedded Solutions Business Unit at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.