Technology Record - Issue 22: Autumn 2021

141 MANU FAC TUR I NG & R E SOUR C E S Melissa Topp Senior Director of Global Marketing at ICONICS “In today’s competitive global economy, profitability and the ability to quickly analyse and closely control operating costs have become ever more critical. Manufacturers have discovered that focusing on energy consumption as a unit of product cost – specifically how much energy is required to produce each product – often translates to tremendous business benefits. Our internet of things (IoT) and cloud-ready solutions let our customers see things that have never been seen before – energy flows, carbon expenditures, even the probability of equipment failure – and empower operators and managers to act on their insights in real time. ICONICS helps organisations collect telemetry data from sensors and equipment using Azure Digital Twins and Azure IoT Edge, then normalises and securely uploads it to Azure IoT Hub for visualisation and analysis. By bringing together facilities, buildings and all their equipment, manufacturers get visibility into every single endpoint that uses or affects natural resources.” “For the manufacturing industry, the ultimate promise of Industry 4.0 is enabling the transformation in business models through innovations in products, solutions and services that deliver differentiated offerings. To make this a reality, the manufacturing industry needs to accelerate data agility to deliver innovative customer experiences and eliminate waste, all while driving sustainability. PTC is enabling the vision of a digital thread as a single source of data truth, creating consistency and enabling collaboration and alignment across functions through real-time data synchronisation of related upstream and downstream derivative information. This scalable common set of democratised data enables enterprise- wide accessibility and continuity across products, processes and people. This unsurpassed end-to-end capability is delivered through PTC’s software-as-a- service solutions leveraging the Microsoft Azure stack, all while enabling customers to maximise returns from other investments in Azure internet of things and artificial intelligence capabilities. PTC’s Factory Insights as a Service offering and ThingWorx manufacturing applications provide insights into reducing rework, eliminating scrap, monitoring energy and equipment availability, enhancing uptime and enabling machines and people to work harmoniously to further sustainability goals.” Sath Rao Director, Smart Connected Operations, GTM & Product Marketing, PTC