Respect for Labor
The local Y, the place where I work out daily, recently hired a maintenance guy. His attention to detail is phenomenal. His first week was a Daylight Saving Time change weekend. When I saw him pull out his smart phone and check the time as he set clocks in the locker...
Drawing to Help Thinking
You may have heard of “back of the napkin” thinking where some people are talking at a diner. One pulls out a (hopefully paper) napkin and draws something to explain a point. Supposedly according to myth, President Reagan’s economic policy known as the Laffer Curve or...
Cloud-Based Enterprise Resource Management Optimized for EPC Market
I devoted a lot of time over several years working with an organization trying to construct a manufacturing IT platform that, using internationally adopted standards, would allow data to move seamlessly from engineering to construction to startup to operations and...
Looking For Skilled Labor–Try Hiring a Welding Bot
I think even mainstream media has caught up to the current hiring situation—it is hard to find qualified people to fill positions. Heck, even last night stopping at a Cracker Barrel on the drive home from Tennessee we saw a harried staff and only about half the tables...
Ethics and Doing Good to Society
The last person (well, maybe not totally the last) that I thought I'd listen to on a podcast would have been Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries and famously a supporter of "right-wing" causes. But, there he was on the Tim Ferriss podcast. No, I'm not going down the...
Podcast 194 Beware Hype
Podcast 194 of my long-running series—Beware Hype of OT and IT Platforms come and go--sometimes quickly with turns in technology. IoT platforms were all the rage. Just like IT/OT Convergence and other hyped tech. But engineers are quietly working together to apply the...
Improve IIoT Deployment
The Industrial Internet of Things by definition is all about connections. Connecting hundreds of devices which often have differing protocols is a huge challenge. In an attempt to facilitate IIoT deployments, ioTium has announced an alliance with Telit. The agreement...
Tales from the Tech Unknown
You heard the video, now read the book. It's an honor to be included in this collection of inspiring stories 🕮 in @SAP's Tales from #TechUnknown. Read more from these top tech leaders: http://bit.ly/2MZ8BD5 @timoelliott @KirkDBorne @briansolis @tpowlas...
Smart Factory Transition
The short take: ADVICS and Macnica Networks, Inc. deploy FogHorn Edge Computing Software in Smart Factory Transition. We talk endlessly about IoT, digital transformation, and now Smart Factory Transition. Do these terms mean anything? I think we are seeing people do...
Mergers and Acquisitions Measure Industry Health
Here is a little bit of merger and acquisition activity of interest. One involving industrial cybersecurity; the other IT-oriented. Owl Cyber Defense and Tresys are coming together. I have been anticipating some consolidation in that space. Lots of startups. Can’t be...
Get Connected
