Manufacturing

Manufacturing technology covers the tools that plan, run and protect production: factory design software, robots, machine vision, quality systems and the networks that connect them. Articles in this section explain what each technology does on the plant floor and what it takes to adopt.

For planning, read how CAD shapes the smart factory, which covers layout simulation, virtual commissioning and digital twins, and design for manufacturability. On the line, see collaborative robots, robotic vision systems and AI with manufacturing execution systems. For security, securing Industry 4.0 covers the risks of connecting plant and office networks, and food and beverage OT ransomware shows what that looks like in practice.