Congratulations! Your Plant Has Been Selected for Digital Transformation.
A successful pilot doesn’t automatically travel well, especially when the next plant learns about its digital transformation through a calendar invitation. Scaling smart manufacturing requires local ownership, workforce involvement, and a clear understanding of what made the original pilot succeed.
IT/OT Convergence Is Not One Thing
IT/OT convergence can mean anything from connecting systems to reorganizing departments, which makes agreeing on it suspiciously easy. Inspired by The IT/OT Handbook, I explore eight common operating patterns, how they fit together, and why the right arrangement depends on the work you’re actually trying to get done.
Is Industry 4.0 working?
For more than a decade, manufacturers have invested heavily in the technologies of Industry 4.0, yet U.S. manufacturing productivity has barely moved. So is Industry 4.0 actually working, or are we measuring its impact in the wrong way?
What Shel Silverstein Taught Me About the Smart Factory
What can a childhood favorite like Where the Sidewalk Ends teach us about the smart factory? More than you might expect, especially when it comes to remembering that intelligent technology alone does not create an intelligent operation.
When Will Technology Actually Matter? The Two Clocks of Industrial Innovation
Technology impact depends on two clocks: when a technology becomes viable and when a company completes the prerequisites needed to use it. Reflecting on the WEF Intelligent Industrial Operations Outlook 2026, I explore where the timelines may be right, which technologies I would move and why the same future will arrive at very different times for different companies.
Everyone Wants the Last Domino
Everyone wants autonomous operations, intelligent agents, and self-optimizing factories. But industrial AI success does not begin with the last domino; it is built by standing up every capability that makes it possible.
Oh, the Data You’ll Need
When signals are scattered and context is thin, even clever AI does not know where to begin.
12 Laws of Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 isn’t just changing technology. It is creating new laws of industrial behavior. These 12 laws explain the hidden forces shaping how systems connect, data creates value, and intelligence changes decisions.
Why the Words Matter More Than People Think
The search bar may be telling us something: people still want the vision, but they are increasingly searching for the work.
Keynote - The Intelligent Factory: Why Manufacturing Needs a New Operating Model
Keynote at ProveIt! 2026
The Intelligent Factory: Why Manufacturing Needs a New Operating Model
Still Loading: The Missing Architecture Behind Most Smart Factories
This is the most important graphic for Industry 4.0 you will ever see.
perma POWERTALK #05: What’s Next for Maintenance?
Episode 5 of perma POWERTALK with Fred Ritenauer
Prescriptive AI in the Factory: Accessible for SMEs or Enterprise-Only?
IIoT-World Panel focusing on how Industrial AI is already delivering measurable value in manufacturing, but success depends far less on the technology itself and far more on data readiness, clear ownership, trust in decisions, and the ability to integrate AI into how the business actually operates.
Season 2: Episode 5: WEF Lighthouses — Lessons from the Leaders (Part 2)
Season 2 Host of CESMII’s Smart Manufacturing Podcast: Episode 5: WEF Lighthouses — Lessons from the Leaders (Part 2)
Season 2: Episode 4: WEF Lighthouses — Lessons from the Leaders (Part 1)
Season 2 Host of CESMII’s Smart Manufacturing Podcast: Episode 4: WEF Lighthouses — Lessons from the Leaders (Part 1)
Season 2: Episode 3: Technology Providers Powering Manufacturing’s Future
Season 2 Host of CESMII’s Smart Manufacturing Podcast: Episode 3: Technology Providers Powering Manufacturing’s Future
Moving from Linear to Intelligent Production Planning
Spreadsheets don’t win supply chains; intelligence does; the winners will be those who replace static rows and columns with living systems that think, learn, and respond.
Manufacturing Technology Investment 2025
We’re Not Underinvesting in Tech. We’re Underinvesting in Readiness.
Season 2: Episode 2: Running Today While Building Tomorrow
Season 2 Host of CESMII’s Smart Manufacturing Podcast: Episode 2: Running Today While Building Tomorrow
Who is Driving Smart Manufacturing in 2025?
You can outsource your technology, but not your accountability