Production costs, labor costs and foreign and domestic competition top the list of today’s manufacturing challenges, according to results from a recent survey on the Automation World Web site. Almost 400 Web site visitors completed the survey, which looked at manufacturing trends, including communication strategies and safety and security concerns.
In addition to costs and competition, manufacturers face challenges in trying to integrate their business systems with plant-floor automation systems, and in maintaining those systems. Other factors cited by respondents include the weak economy, labor motivation and training, and government policies regarding regulation, taxation and litigation.
Wired networks are the most common communication strategy employed by respondents, with almost two-thirds using a wired corporate intranet and 60 percent using a wired network in manufacturing. Ethernet is the big winner in manufacturing communications, with 59 percent deployment among respondents, followed by 54 percent of respondents who use industrial fieldbuses, such as DeviceNet, Foundation Fieldbus, HART, Modbus and Profibus. Wireless networks continue to make inroads, with 21 percent of respondents employing wireless for business and manufacturing systems.
Survey respondents were asked to identify their top three safety and security concerns in manufacturing. Automation safety systems top the list, with a 67 percent response, followed by concerns with plant-floor data integrity, secure data access, abnormal situation management, business data integrity and network uptime. Far down on the list were concerns about acts of terrorism.
This month’s online survey covers manufacturing issues and concerns related to the August 2003 blackout that struck large portions of the United States and Canada. Was your plant or company affected? If it happens again, is your plant or company prepared? Please let us know by taking the survey here or by linking from the Automation World home page.
