by Gary Mintchell | Apr 28, 2026 | Manufacturing IT, Software
Ignition 8.3.5 is here, and Inductive Automation’s Jennifer Faylor explains on the company blog.
Expanded OPC UA support
Ignition 8.3.5 delivers OPC UA support for using a Global Discovery Server, a new file-based Secret Provider type, and major improvements for large-scale systems (including an OverridesOnly tag parameter and 4X increased throughput for managed tag providers).
In Ignition 8.3.5, you now have the ability to automate the certificate management of multiple OPC servers and devices from a single Global Discovery Server (GDS). This is possible thanks to a new property on the OPC UA Server Settings page: “GDS Push Enabled.” When this new property is enabled, the server’s certificate and trust list can be managed by an external GDS.
With this new functionality you can use an external GDS to centrally manage a dispersed system. By opening the door to central certificate management with a GDS, this new feature helps strengthen security in your industrial control systems.
File-Based Secret Provider
Another security improvement in 8.3.5 is a brand new way to store secrets from your Ignition Gateway. A new “File” Secret Provider type lets you read secrets in files on disk, as opposed to storing them internally on the Gateway installation directory. This Secret Provider supports encrypted (Ignition) secrets as well as cleartext secrets.
OverridesOnly Tag Parameter
As a result of some Ignition users’ more complex scripting needs, we’ve added a new overridesOnly parameter to the system.tag.getConfiguration() function. What this means is that when you’re calling the getConfiguration function for a specific tag path, you can now have just the local (overridden) properties returned. If this new parameter is set to “True” then only overridden properties from UDT members (instances and definitions) will be returned. And if the tag is not a UDT member, then there will be no effect.
Improved Gateway Configuration
In 8.3.5, we’ve improved the performance of the Gateway’s configuration file system and added new Gateway diagnostic resource metrics.
By allowing operations on different resource types to proceed concurrently with minimal locking on changes, we’ve greatly boosted the performance and responsiveness of the Gateway’s configuration system. This update optimizes tag value handling and increases throughput by 4X for managed tag providers.
The process of writing Ignition resources (such as EAM agents, OPC UA server profiles, database connections, SIP notification profiles, and more) into the Gateway file system is now significantly improved. And thanks to the new diagnostic resource metrics, you can use the Metrics Dashboard to observe those various resources more closely.
This update is an especially big deal for anyone using MQTT modules with Ignition, since it represents a substantial increase in capabilities for customers with large systems.
Docker Utility
We added the jq command-line utility to Ignition’s Docker image for easier JSON parsing. This is a helpful addition if you’re customizing Helm charts or entrypoint scripts, since you can use this utility to grab specific properties from particular files.
Event Streams Improvements
Ignition 8.3.5 adds tooltips to each stage of an Event Stream’s data to provide you with additional context. These tooltips display upon hovering over element subtext, and update dynamically as real-time values change.
And there’s more to discover on their website.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 27, 2026 | Manufacturing IT, Software
I had an opportunity to talk with long-time business colleague Juliann Grant at the recent Aras Community Event in Miami. She is Marketing VP at digital engineering firm Razorleaf. She’s been a great source of PLM market insight. She told me about a podcast she hosts. Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering presented by Razorleaf, is a brisk conversational look at news and technology in the space. The linked episode will improve your understanding of AI agents with Razorleaf and Diego Tamburini of CIMData.
I highly recommend both this episode and the series. You can subscribe on your favorite podcast source or on YouTube.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 27, 2026 | Business, Capital Projects
Market research firm, Interact Analysis, sent this analysis of factory construction in the United States, Why has US reshoring not translated into meaningful factory construction? Written by senior analyst Matthieu Kulezak, the research notes that following a wave of investment from 2020 to 2024, the momentum is clearly fading “with leading indicators pointing to a sharp slowdown of new project activity.”
One of the clearest signals comes from the Index of Business Applications for Manufacturing Facilities. While applications fluctuated at elevated levels throughout 2024, momentum weakened significantly in early 2025. Total applications fell by 39.1% year-on-year in May 2025, for example.
As one of several indicators informing our forecast, the slowdown in new project applications points to a weaker pipeline of upcoming factory builds. We have, therefore, revised down our outlook for new factory construction in the US. The slowdown in new project applications signals reduced momentum in greenfield development, which is now feeding through into our forecast. As a result, our Q1 2026 forecast shows a much sharper decline in activity, with indexed growth falling to 76.0 in 2026, compared to 105.9 in our previous Q4 2025 view.
The first Trump administration made a concerted effort to force companies to return manufacturing to the US—or, at least, move from China. The Biden administration had similar goals using different tactics. The second Trump administration showed even more aggression in that regard through selective use of tariffs and personal “conversations” with prominent CEOs. Not to mention Harry Moser’s Reshoring Initiative that tried to use media to persuade company executives of the value of manufacturing here.
This sharp contraction in new manufacturing applications stands in contrast to the prevailing narrative around reshoring and near-shoring. While policy support and strategic intent remain strong, the data suggests that this has not translated into a sustained pipeline of new factory construction. Instead, companies appear to be delaying or scaling back new investments in response to macroeconomic uncertainty.
The rate of factory construction dipped significantly in 2025, with 2026 so far showing a similar trend. The inflation-adjusted index rose sharply from around 5,500–6,000 between 2017 and 2020 to a peak of 12,070 in December 2023, reflecting strong investment in large-scale factories. However, momentum reversed in 2024, with year-on-year declines exceeding 20% in multiple months. This weakness continued into 2025, with construction values falling 10 to 19% year on year and stabilizing at around 11,200–11,600, well below peak levels.
While factory application counts could suggest that fewer but larger facilities were still being built, the decline in total construction value shows that large-scale projects are also slowing. Because this metric reflects the total size and capital intensity of factories under construction, it confirms that overall manufacturing capacity expansion has weakened, not just small facility construction.
Rising demand for manufactured goods in the US is being met by higher utilization rates and brownfield expansion, not new factory construction.
The decline in new factory construction does not mean U.S. manufacturing is weakening. The U.S. already has a large and mature manufacturing base, so rising demand is increasingly met by expanding existing sites and increasing throughput rather than building new facilities. This is reflected in capacity utilization, which recovered from 62.5% in April 2020 to around 77–78% in 2021–2022. Although it softened in 2024, utilization stabilized and increased through 2025, rising from 74.5% in January to around 75.5% by December.
I’ve seen this following thought enacted by a few recent announcements of investment in current facilities.
An increase in production capacity or reshoring does not necessarily mean a new factory is being built. In many cases, what is described as a “new factory” is actually an expansion or repurposing of an existing site.
For example, John Deere’s announced excavator facility in Kernersville, North Carolina, is a $70M expansion of an existing campus, not a greenfield factory. The site brings production previously carried out in Japan into an existing U.S. facility and adds around 150 jobs, but it reflects capacity relocation and expansion rather than the creation of a new standalone factory. This distinction is important when analysing manufacturing growth. Output can increase through expansions, automation, or relocation without increasing the total number of factories. As a result, reshoring and investment announcements may signal higher domestic production, but they don’t always correspond to growth in the physical factory count.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 24, 2026 | Events, Organizations
Here’s a chance to meet me and share your thoughts about what I should really be writing about. Plus getting the latest updates from Inductive Automation and its partners.
The Ignition Community Conference, ICC2026, will be held again in Sacramento September 22-24. Tickets are now available. See you there.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 23, 2026 | Networking, Organizations, Security
This news release falls clearly into the category of Duh!!!
Human social engineering and humans gaining unauthorized access while serving as contractors and the like have long been known to be a cybersecurity risk. But, I’m happy to note that an august group has perceived the obvious.
The Industrial Security Harmonization Group (ISHG) has released a joint industry perspective highlighting a critical truth in industrial cybersecurity: secure communication is not determined by protocols alone, but by how they are deployed and managed in real-world environments.
Or, maybe, it’s along the lines of “it’s not all our fault?”
The ISHG—comprising leading industry organizations including the FieldComm Group, ODVA, OPC Foundation, and PROFIBUS & PROFINET International—collaborates regularly to align security concepts across Ethernet and non-Ethernet communication protocol technologies. Their shared mission is to reduce complexity for end users and promote consistent, effective cybersecurity practices in industrial automation systems.
I once set at an industrial communication organization meeting where an end-user pleaded for application guidelines. He was studiously ignored.
Industrial communication protocols serve as the backbone of modern automation, enabling seamless connectivity between devices, systems, and applications across both process and factory environments. However, many widely used protocols were originally developed without cybersecurity as a primary design consideration.
It now emphasizes a more practical and realistic approach:
- Security is context-dependent — It relies on how protocols are configured, where they are deployed, and the surrounding operational environment.
- Built-in security features are not sufficient alone — Even advanced protocols require correct implementation and maintenance.
- Compensating controls are essential — Network architecture, segmentation (zones and conduits), monitoring, and physical safeguards play a critical role, especially for legacy and non-Ethernet systems.
