I have not been shirking this site on purpose. I can’t believe it’s been so long since I wrote a post. But I’m preparing for a new push in the new year.

Way too many all-day meetings the past two-plus weeks. My last post was about the Industry Advisory Board meeting of the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems. That university/industry center has been doing some outstanding research over the past 12 years or so. It has also grown in coverage and technology.

Just go down one post on the home page and note how some of Prof. Lee’s ideas about where the Center should go mesh with many of the industrial trends I’ve seen unfolding lately–cloud, mobile, analytics, sensors, intelligence everywhere, and so forth.

Then a trip to Barrington, IL (my new business home) to meet with the staff of Applied Technology Publications. We have much work done and much more to go to give both Maintenance Technology magazine and the MARTS conference a fresh look, approach, coverage. I want to take these properties into the new areas I’ve seen emerging in industry that no one is covering–and actually can cover.

We’ll do not only classic reliability and predictive maintenance (some of which includes software, control, instrumentation, automation), but we’ll place all that in the context of overall asset performance. We’re not talking merely uptime or engineering or services. It’s all about how the plant management team (as well as corporate management) can optimize operational excellence and the technologies and services that support that effort.

Then two days with the MIMOSA annual meeting along with discussions about physical asset lifecycle management. This includes the Oil and Gas Interoperability pilot demo that proved live data can move automatically from design to operations & maintenance (and back). This is very important work for the working lives of  the plant management team assuring that everyone has the most current and accurate data possible.

From there I devoted a day to a meeting of the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition.  These are important discussions (more later) designed to move US manufacturing past the merely “digital” manufacturing of Germany’s Industry 4.0 into discussions of workflow, among other things.

Meanwhile, I started this blog with the idea of covering a heretofore not-covered space anticipating some partnerships. Those partnerships did not materialize (surprise), and the space really resists coverage. As 2015 dawns, you’ll see a broader emphasis on all aspects of manufacturing technology here. With a little advertising support, I’ll begin hiring a little part-time help to get more coverage. I’ve already made one hire. More to come.

I will be at the ARC Forum in Orlando in February. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.