by Gary Mintchell | Nov 13, 2025 | Manufacturing IT, Security
Rockwell Automation has upgraded its cybersecurity offering for operations technology (OT) applications. Executives touted how Rockwell’s roots in operations roots its cybersecurity offering more naturally in the plant than IT-oriented solutions overlaid at a recent media briefing. They noted its OT-designed platform and security services empower industrial organizations to reduce risk, maximize uptime and simplify compliance across the full cybersecurity lifecycle.
Rockwell Automation announced the launch of SecureOT solution suite, a comprehensive industrial cybersecurity offering designed to help manufacturers and critical infrastructure protect critical operations and build secure environments.
As industrial operations become increasingly connected, organizations are facing a sharp rise in cyber threats targeting operations technology (OT) systems. Many legacy systems were never designed with cybersecurity in mind, and traditional IT tools often fail to protect complex, aging industrial environments. SecureOT was developed to close the gap, helping organizations secure their OT infrastructure with technology and expertise built for the realities of modern industrial operations.
SecureOT brings together Rockwell Automation’s purpose-built SecureOT Platform, professional services and managed security services into a unified solution that delivers end-to-end protection for complex, aging and highly regulated industrial systems.
- SecureOT Platform delivers real-time asset visibility, risk prioritization and vulnerability management across diverse vendor ecosystems.
- Through its professional services, SecureOT offers strategic advisory, assessments and implementation support to help organizations strengthen their security posture. Its managed security services provide continuous 24/7 monitoring and incident response from Rockwell’s dedicated OT Security Operations Center (SOC) and Network Operations Center (NOC).
- SecureOT aligns with globally recognized frameworks, including NIST CSF, NIS2 and IEC 62443, and takes a vendor-neutral approach to securing industrial control systems and technology stacks.
Use case examples:
- A leading oil & gas producer achieved full OT asset visibility and remediated critical risks across remote operations in just six months.
- A large beverage manufacturer migrated their aging industrial network and compute installed base to a fully managed and supported infrastructure across more than 150 sites globally.
- An energy company doubled its NIST CSF maturity scores while delivering measurable ROI to executive leadership.
- A power utility gained secure, real-time visibility into remote substations – achieving NERC CIP compliance and reducing costs through agentless monitoring.
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by Gary Mintchell | Oct 31, 2025 | Data Management, Manufacturing IT, Operations Management
Inductive Automation unleashed Ignition 8.3 during its Ignition Community Conference in September. It included many significant updates. Trying to be “IT-friendly” since it founding, this tagline of “The OT-IT Bridge of the Future” draws ever closer. They call Ignition 8.3 a unified industrial integration platform that makes it easy to bring your OT and IT environments into one system.
I’ll bullet a few examples of new tools and end with a link to a cool use case for Ignition from the Ukraine.
Centralized Events Management
- Use the new Event Streams Module to handle and manage tag changes, database events, alarms, and more from a central location.
- Event Streams
- Easy Enterprise Orchestration
- Connect or manage configuration across enterprises using standard IT technologies with Ignition’s self-documenting REST Web API.
World-Class Security
- Protect enterprise data with first-class security features like Secrets Management, with extensibility to integrate with third-party secrets management platforms like HashiCorp Vault coming soon.
- Secrets Management
- A Stable, Long-Term Foundation
- Since 8.3 is a Long-Term Support release, you’ll get improvements and fixes for a minimum of five years.
Git Compatibility
Use Ignition 8.3 with Git to collaborate better on big projects and gain complete version control.
Check out more at Inductive Automation.
Check out the Hebron Project presented at the Ignition Community Conference. This application should get you thinking outside the box searching for cool applications of your own.
(Note: Inductive Automation is a long time sponsor of The Manufacturing Connection. This post is purely my own writing/editing with no additional compensation.)
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by Gary Mintchell | Oct 28, 2025 | Asset Performance Management, Data Management, Manufacturing IT, Software
AVEVA updated its software offering by converging all data into its Connect platform.
AVEVA is converging all data onto CONNECT industrial intelligence platform. Through enhancements to AVEVA Asset Information Management, AVEVA System Platform and AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure, AVEVA can enable the visualisation of engineering and operations data in one interface. This offers organisations the ability to scale digital twin solutions more flexibly and reduce IT overhead.
At this year’s Schneider Innovation summit, AVEVA is showcasing its solutions and vision for its industrial digital twin.
For AVEVA Asset Information Management, the new enhancements will bring together trusted asset contexts, accessible through the CONNECT visualisation offering a single flexible and unified UI to visualise trusted engineering, asset and maintenance data. From P&IDs, drawings, and documents to real-time sensor readings, process events, and historical performance metrics, teams can view and analyse all relevant data in one place.
Meanwhile, AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure is an ever-advancing modern and flexible foundation for rapidly connecting, contextualising and acting on industrial insights from operations data. Its sophisticated data management capabilities continue to drive value across enterprises and new enhancements ensure enhanced hybrid connectivity, visualisation and analytics for AVEVA’s industrial digital twin.
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by Gary Mintchell | Oct 14, 2025 | Generative AI, Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Software
I am passing this on from the Peter Diamandis newsletter. I don’t think I can link, but click the link on his name to go to his website and sign up. Diamandis sometimes climbs over-the-top optimistic. But that’s a great counter to the usual cynicism and negativity and dysfunctional thinking prevalent in today’s society.
Understanding artificial intelligence (called by Om Malik “augmented intelligence” and by others as neither artificial or intelligent) today requires a healthy dose of realistic thinking and perspective. I offer these thoughts as a counter to your usual AI hype.
Traditional companies are failing to implement AI effectively. Here are five principles to make the technology actually work for you…
1/ AI problems are rarely AI problems – they’re strategy problems disguised as technology problems. Most organizations fail at AI implementation not because they chose the wrong models or hired the wrong engineers, but because they never clearly defined what business problem they’re solving. They see competitors “using AI” and panic-buy solutions for problems they can’t articulate.
2/ Budget size is inversely correlated with AI success. The companies throwing millions at AI initiatives are systematically outperformed by teams running on shoestring budgets with clear mandates.
3/ The 10x rule is the only rule that matters for AI adoption. Anything less than a 10x improvement in speed, cost, or quality is organizational noise. Most AI projects deliver 20-30% improvements that get lost in measurement error and change management overhead.
4/ Competitive intelligence is your fastest path to AI advantage. While you’re debating whether to build or buy, your smartest competitors are already shipping AI-powered solutions.
5/ Pirates beat committees every time. The worst way to implement AI is through enterprise-wide initiatives with steering committees and governance frameworks. Instead, empower your teams from the ground up. Recent studies indicate some alarming news:
- 42% of executives say the process of adopting generative AI is tearing their company apart
- 41% of Millennial and Gen Z employees admit they’re sabotaging their company’s AI strategy
- What’s needed is to enable small teams, “pirate ships,” to move at startup speed (within enterprise contexts). Small teams are optimized to experiment and learn rather than aim for consensus. Give them a problem, a budget, and air cover, then get out of their way.
Here’s the key implementation insight: AI amplifies existing organizational capabilities (and dysfunctions).
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 13, 2025 | Cloud, Manufacturing IT, Software
Another example of a long-term partnership between a large software company and a smaller, innovative software company. This one links AVEVA (think former Wonderware and Schneider Electric) and TwinThread. I cannot believe I haven’t written more about TwinThread before. I know I’ve talked with the founder/CEO Erik Udstuen, whom I knew at Mountain Systems and GE. They were early into the race for a specifically industrial cloud platform.
This news concerns something called an Advanced Analytics solution. This solution targets improving operational efficiency, product quality, and energy usage. They say this underscores the value of AI-powered analytics in driving smart, sustainable industry.
AVEVA Advanced Analytics is a no-code, cloud-native Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution designed to transform raw industrial data into actionable insights. When integrated with CONNECT —AVEVA’s industrial intelligence platform—and our hybrid offerings AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure or AVEVA Operations Control, the complete solution empowers industrial teams with real-time, predictive analytics to make informed, proactive decisions.
Key Benefits Realized by Customers:
- Improved Product Quality: Manufacturers have achieved up to 100% first-pass yield, significantly reducing scrap and rework.
- Increased Uptime: Deployment has led to a 12% rise in equipment uptime, improving overall production efficiency.
- Energy Optimization: Clients report an average 4% reduction in energy consumption, supporting both cost reduction and sustainability goals.
- Accelerated ROI: Several organizations experienced a tenfold return on investment within their first year of adoption.
Making a bow toward competition featuring innovative pricing opportunities for customers, the note: AVEVA Advanced Analytics is available through the flexible and scalable AVEVA Flex subscription program, making it easy for businesses of all sizes to adopt cutting-edge analytics, and scale up to build upon successes.
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by Gary Mintchell | Sep 30, 2025 | Automation, Manufacturing IT, Software
Almost all press releases refer to AI. Everyone has AI. Suddenly, everyone has Agentic AI.
I researched the topic. Look for specific instances of where AI helps. Agentic AI will make specific decisions automatically. Look for these specific examples. Most (all?) AI works best when constrained into an application, not broadly applied.
This announcement references Model Context Protocol (MCP)—a good thing.
It’s so easy to be skeptical of news releases. Just read carefully—and if you are in the market, probe the sales engineer deeply.
SymphonyAI announced IRIS Foundry for Microsoft Teams, integrating industrial AI directly into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Optimized for the complex demands of manufacturing and energy companies, the integration delivers real-time operational visibility, automated workflows, and AI-driven insights—directly inside the tools plant operators, industrial workers, and frontline teams use every day.
Industrial teams often waste time switching between maintenance systems, data historians, and analytics dashboards. With IRIS Foundry integrated using MCP, these capabilities are surfaced within Microsoft Teams, letting users:
- Ask plain-language questions in Microsoft 365 Copilot such as, “Show me recent heat exchanger anomalies at Plant 7,” and instantly receive visual summaries within Teams.
- Trigger automated workflows to initiate maintenance, adjust parameters, or escalate alerts—without leaving Microsoft Teams.
- Customize domain-specific AI assistants using Microsoft Copilot Studio so companies can match plant-specific KPIs, workflows, and compliance needs.
IRIS Foundry MCP Server unifies complex energy and manufacturing data and surfaces it in context:
- Data Contextualization and Unified Namespace: Turn raw data into meaningful context linked to assets, processes, and events, while giving streamlined, structured access to real-time and historical information in a publish-subscribe architecture.
- Knowledge Graph and Cortex AI: Leverage semantic relationships between equipment, events, people, and documentation to power Cortex—IRIS Foundry’s AI engine for intelligent reasoning, search, and recommendations.
- Predictive Analytics and Asset Intelligence: Continuously analyze equipment performance, predict failures, and surface anomalies with contextual alerts automatically routed to relevant Teams channels via MCP.
- Process and Operations Intelligence: Track KPIs, identify performance trends, and enable predictive insights across production lines and plants through conversational interactions in Teams and Copilot.
