Lauren Gibbons Paul

Automation World Contributing Writer
2007 F2 1
Next-Generation Andon
The ‘Christmas-tree’ stack lights of yore are all grown up. Thanks to the rise of smart communication technologies, today’s Andon systems are IIoT- and intelligent-messaging-enabled indicators of real-time shop-floor KPI performance.
Jul 7th, 2020
2003 F2 1
Where Ethernet (Still) Isn’t
Automation World’s latest poll revisits our 2016 survey on the state of industrial Ethernet adoption. The numbers seem to suggest nothing much has changed. But is that what’s really going on?
Mar 20th, 2020
1912 F1 Opening
Digital Maturity: A United View
Automation World survey results highlight the importance of corporate and plant floor alignment for digital transformation initiatives.
Dec 5th, 2019
HoloLens uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist to digitally place experts from all over the world anywhere in the field.
Hardened Wearables Bring Help Into the Field
Voice-controlled, hands-free wearable devices are bringing virtual and augmented reality to field service, training and other uses.
May 10th, 2019
More from Lauren Gibbons Paul
A Better Day for Worker Safety
A Better Day for Worker Safety
Powered by IIoT and analytics, a range of controls and other devices are making it easier to be safe while also increasing productivity.
Mar 8th, 2019
In Search of Industrial Cybersecurity Experts
With growing revelations of hacking conducted on manufacturers of all sizes, it’s no longer a question of whether ICS cybersecurity specialists are needed. The question is just how to obtain these hot skills.
Feb 19th, 2019
Picking up objects of different sizes, shapes and weights is a tall order for robots. At the University of California, Berkeley, Professor Ken Goldberg (left) and Siemens’ Juan Aparicio analyze a robot’s ability to perform grasping motions downloaded from the cloud.
AI Comes to the Shop Floor
Amid all the hype, manufacturers are quietly using artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve specific problems in production, helping operators improve uptime, optimize production and more.
Oct 3rd, 2018
Digital twins
Digital Twins: A Critical Tool
As a sidebar to our August cover story on optimizing power consumption in a plant, this article explores a key trend: creating a digital twin of production equipment fueled by real-time data to have a simulated environment in which to experiment with different controls strategies for energy consumption.
Aug 3rd, 2018
Automation Makes Its Power Play
Automation Makes Its Power Play
It’s no longer enough to evaluate and adjust power consumption at the machine level. In the age of electrification, optimizing overall production is the next frontier in energy efficiency.
Aug 3rd, 2018
End-of-Arm Tooling Grasps Broadening Demands
End-of-Arm Tooling Grasps Broadening Demands
Robotics has expanded beyond automotive into a variety of industries, notably food and beverage and retail. This has driven changes in end-of-arm tooling to accommodate demands like quicker changeovers and multi-task capabilities.
Jun 11th, 2018
MES and Historians in the Digital Spotlight
MES and Historians in the Digital Spotlight
Plant floor stalwarts for decades, historians and manufacturing execution systems are gaining new attention along with hot trends in digital and manufacturing intelligence. Staying competitive will require extending the MES across operations.
Apr 5th, 2018
Making Sense of the ICS Cybersecurity Market
Making Sense of the ICS Cybersecurity Market
Attacks on industrial control systems are accelerating, threatening grave fallout. Because sorting through the flood of ICS cybersecurity products and services can be daunting, we offer some help.
Feb 15th, 2018
Aw 160197 1712 F2 1
Oil and Gas Hunker Down
After weathering storms both economic and meteorological, will the industry stick to the hard-won lessons it has learned about the importance of optimization and process improvement?
Nov 29th, 2017