Intelligent Application of Technology

Nothing in industrial technology news annoys me more than the hype around artificial intelligence—AI. I recorded this podcast on the eve of the Automate trade show and conference in June 2026.   Looking to for realistic use of Industrial AI, I'm bringing in an interview with a practitioner. Bryan DeBois is Director of Industrial AI at RoviSys, one of the largest independent system integrators. He has 20 years in MES, historians, and plant floor software. He leads teams that operationalize AI and data infrastructure in live plants, working with the C suite and ops to turn goals into running systems.   We look at definitions of AI. Then turn to the technology development from when RoviSys developed its AI practice in 2019 pre-LLMs. RoviSys took autonomous AI beyond predictive applications. Hiring deep manufacturing expertise, they can use AI to assist the human in the loop to make constrained decisions. DeBois discusses real-world applications. He then leads us through the beginning of a project.

A first summary of my three days with the Aras community in Miami. These PLM events always return me to the time when I did this sort of work--manually. Then my first taste of computers digitizing the bill of materials as a first step in our data management journey. Unfortunately, that company hit a big bump in the road and I was invited to try other things--at other companies. Aras product managers showed how LLMs trained on the data within the app along with proper governance worked with agents to perform a number of tasks. Tasks in many cases that would require days of pain-staking work from a human. While I heard from an analyst in the market that they thought this was all painfully slow, I'd offer the thought that a company does not want to outpace its customers. Most will not want to jump into the deep end immediately. As always, this podcast was sponsored by Ignition from Inductive Automation.

Episode 275. Why AI in Manufacturing? Why not? I explore how new technologies for knowledge work, unlike in manufacturing, create even more busy work distracting us from our real work--thinking, deep work. Looking beyond the hype, AI tools are going to help us do things. We just don't know exactly what is best. We must play with the tools to find the best ways to help us. We also need to consider the limits of text-based LLMs. Researcher Yan LeCun has looked at the limits of these technologies. How can they work for things like bringing a robot into the house, for example, when they are limited to digital and text and the environment is analog. Won't this take a system of models? Not just one model? Use them, but don't be awed. Or bamboozled by CEOs. This episode is sponsored by Inductive Automation.

I was intrigued by an item in News Items by John Ellis quoting the Wall Street Journal regarding the continued slide in manufacturing employment in the US and the prolonged slide in manufacturing activity. The first Trump administration elicited promises of moving manufacturing to the US with the building of plants. Little of that actually happened. The Biden administration invested a few billion, but what has that brought. The second Trump administration thought that tariffs would provide the protection from competition to jump start manufacturing.  I pose the idea that it takes more than investment. And protection from competition really just allows local companies leeway to raise prices. What it really takes is better, bolder, visionary leadership to search out customer needs, design products they will buy, and then produce the products. It takes more than waving a few dollars at the problem. This podcast is sponsored by Inductive Automation.

Thoughts on organization structures and Rockwell CEO Blake Moret's experiments with bringing in outsiders and setting his own directions. Thoughts on the industrial software market in general and Rockwell's evolution. What's happening with MES in particular. Rockwell upgrading and building new factories using its own products and services. Rok on Rok Repackaged cybersecurity offerings. Software defined automation--software distinct from the target controller--can target any Rockwell control. Question about IEC 61131 and targeting anyone's control fell on deaf ears. Thoughts on that market. Rockwell's use of AI, fitting trend of AI as automation tool, trained on the company's data. Rockwell's use of robotics to expand horizontally throughout manufacturing. Sponsored by Inductive Automation.

We met in a conference room at an office in Barrington, IL. A place where sometime later a couple guys thought they'd screw me in a business deal. I came out ahead in the end, but the place has mixed memories.   This meeting involved thinking about the future of asset data and systems interoperability. We had a system diagram. The idea was to solve a huge problem for owner/operators of process manufacturing enterprises—flowing engineering data into other software systems for operations, maintenance, and enterprise. The incumbent system was a morass of paper (or pdf documents which was much the same thing).   We did trademark searches and domain name searches and eventually settled on the Open Industrial Interoperability Ecosystem—OIIE.   I plot this history for context for the conference I attended recently—the 2nd ADIF Workshop at Texas A&M University dubbed Driving Asset Data and Systems Interoperability Toward an Open and Neutral Data Ecosystem.   This workshop brought together owner/operators, EPCs, System Integrators, university researchers, standards organizations, and software vendors. Each group conducted a panel discussion of its needs and successes. I was there for a short presentation and to moderate the standards panel.   Professor David Jeong from Texas A&M and the session leader previewed the discussions. One of his colleagues later presented research his team has performed to provide a method for taking P&ID documentation into a standard format usable by other software systems.   The message that came to me from the panel of owner/operators (grossly summarized, as will be all the discussions) included two key words—collaborate and operationalize. They are impatient about solving this data interoperability problem. One panelist quipped, "We know the project is finished when the large van backs into the loading dock and disgorges mountains of paper."   What blows my mind is that I was moved to a position called Data Manager in 1977 to tackle the (much smaller) mountain of paper our product engineering department provided to operations, accounting, and inventory management. I led a digitalization effort in 1978 to tackle the problem. The problem not only remains, but it is immensely more complicated and critical.   The EPCs basically said that their hands were tied by the owner/operators mandating which design and engineering software to use and the inflexibility of the vendors of said design and engineering software. When owner/operators had requested digital documentation, they had responded with pdfs. Hardly interoperable data.   Our standards panel included the leader of DEXPI, whose organization has developed a method of changing P&ID data into an xlsx (Excel) format. That, of course, is a good start.   An organization called CFIHOS (see-foss) presented their take on standards. I'm afraid I got a bit lost in the slides (note: more research needed). What I gathered was that they were attempting one overriding standard—and that that work was years away. Interesting that I listened to Benedict Evans' podcast this morning. He is a long-time tech industry analyst. He remarked in another context, "It seems that where there are 10 standards and someone comes along with a standard to encompass them all, you wind up with 11 standards."   The ISA-95 was presented. This messaging (and more) standard is incorporated with the OIIE, which was presented next. Dr. Markus Stumptner of the University of South Australia presented his research work on proof of concept of the OIIE.   If we can get enough momentum focusing on this area and find some SIs willing to take the OIIE to an owner/operator, perhaps we can finally prove the business case of asset data and systems interoperability.

An early essay by Karl Marx writing at the beginning of the industrial revolution argued that humans who were formerly craftspeople were now just cogs in the industrial machine alienated from the products they made and their work.   Today's podcast is sponsored by Inductive Automation, makers of Ignition — the world's most versatile industrial automation platform for connecting data, systems, and people. With the new Ignition 8.3 release, you can easily manage time-series and event data, quickly create custom graphics with onboard drawing tools, and centralize control using Ignition's new gateway interface with global search and deep link launching. Providing additional support for Git, containers, and private data protection to go along with its unlimited licensing, Ignition 8.3 takes industrial operations to the next level. Download Ignition for free.   The Irish poet/philosopher John O'Donohue discussed in Anam Cara the dignity of work and that work should benefit workers and communities as well as owners and managers.   Lean guru Keven Meyer noted in his book Simple Leader that respect for people is a pillar of Lean. When you hire someone, you are getting more than a pair of hands—you are getting a brain and experience, as well. You should make use of them.   Articles about a worker shortage due to Boomer retirements have been a staple of trade magazine editorial ever since I became an editor in 1998. Some twenty-seven years later, those articles and news releases keep coming.   I learned about a new product from Derek Crager, Founder & CEO of Practical AI for onboarding and mentoring new employees. There is irony here, in that Crager touts himself as developer of an award-winning training program at Amazon—yes, the place that thinks it can replace its workers with robots. But, we will go beyond that thought for now.   His solution? Just-in-time guidance—the right step at the exact moment of need, while hands are on the task. When a technician can ask and do in the same breath, training becomes throughput. That's the difference between teaching a concept and multiplying your best expert across every line and shift.   He called on his experience at Amazon to develop something called Pocket Mentor: A Phone Call to Your Best Expert. This is a hands-free, eyes-free mentor your team reaches by phone, anytime, on the floor or in the field. No app. No Wi-Fi. No passwords. Just tap & say, "Talk me through it" — and we will.   Check out TheManufacturingConnection.com for more thoughts.

Why pursue AI? As a tool to help entrepreneurs add value to their companies. The appropriate roll out entails organizing small "pirate ships" empowered to experiment and implement with a budget and air cover. Many concerns about AI's impact on employment and organization are over blown. History shows that new technology winds up creating more jobs than it destroys. This podcast is sponsored by Inductive Automation.

ICC 2025 Recap I recorded this as I was leaving Inductive Automation's Ignition Community Conference 2025 in Sacramento. The event team performed wonderfully moving ICC from the smaller Harris Center in Folsom to the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento with double the attendance. Lots of energy, many partners. The event had to be credited a success. Of course, the highlight was introduction of Ignition 8.3. This update included many long-sought additions. Note: Inductive Automation has been a long-term sponsor for my work. However, we do not have an "influencer" relationship, that is, they do not pay me for writing content. They just appreciate my work. If this information is useful, please pass along.

When I set initial editorial direction for Automation World, I was focused on exploring the Intelligent Application of Automation emphasizing the teams that made it happen. Recently I interviewed Mike Payne, co-owner and president of Hill Manufacturing. His story of using intelligent applications of technology both for the machines and for software showed how even an old-line manufacturer can be new and profitable. Sponsored by Inductive Automation at https://www.inductiveautomation.com