GAMS preview: A Vision of the Future, Part 2

In preparation for the 2016 GAMS Conference on Sept. 14 in Chicago, CFE Media asked our panelists to discuss some of the key issues facing manufacturing. This is one in a daily series of articles.

By CFE Media September 8, 2016

The 2016 Global Automation and Manufacturing Summit (GAMS), presented by CFE Media, will bring together experts from all areas of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to look at not just the current state of IIoT but also at the potential benefits of deployment for the manufacturing industry.

The third GAMS conference takes place Wednesday, Sept. 14, beginning at noon. It is held in conjunction with the Industrial Automation North America (IANA) pavilion at the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show at McCormick Place in Chicago. The event is co-presented by Hannover Fairs USA.

In this age of manufacturing globalization, things can change quickly. We asked our panelists at this year’s Global Automation and Manufacturing Summit to look into their crystal ball and imagine how manufacturing may change when IMTS convenes again in Chicago in 2018:

Jack Nehlig, Phoenix Contact: I think in two years IIoT will move quickly from concept to heavy adoption. The hot topics of 3-D printing and low-cost robotics should take center stage and will become the icons of the IIoT revolution. It’s conceivable to imagine truly autonomous manufacturing, just as we are facing the reality of autonomous driving.

Jose Rivera, CSIA: Security is unfortunately likely to remain a challenge, and technology will continue to move to delivery to this challenge. I expect much more use of technology-maybe some robot applications-towards security. I also see an increase in the deployment of video surveillance everywhere and the use of complex analytics to evaluate life streaming but also combining it with lots of other information sources such as social media to try to anticipate potential threats before they happen.

There will be more concerns about privacy and the balance privacy versus security. We will be talking about this for a long time.

Rick Vanden Boom, Advanced Technology Systems: The increasing number of robots being used in service industries such as restaurants, hospitals, retail stores, etc.

Rob McGreevy, Schneider Electric: Those organizations that can collaborate faster and with greater accuracy will emerge as leaders in their respective markets. Another trend we predict is greater computing power to drive increasingly advanced analytics applications. Greater emphasis will be placed on learning how to better leverage operational data—which will become an emerging area of intellectual capital that must be carefully managed, governed and protected.


Author Bio: Since its founding in 2010, CFE Media and Technology has provided engineers in manufacturing, commercial and industrial buildings, and manufacturing control systems with the knowledge they need to improve their operational efficiency. CFE delivers the right information at the right time around the world through a variety of platforms.