IIoT & Connected Manufacturing
Rockwell Automation released FactoryTalk Orchestration software, which coordinates end-to-end material flow and production processes to improve throughput and operational responsiveness across the factory floor.
If material-flow bottlenecks cap throughput, a plant-wide orchestration layer is worth scoping against your existing MES/SCADA stack.
Robotics & Cobots
Vention is collaborating with FANUC and Universal Robots to simplify the design and deployment of industrial and collaborative robots, extending its software-defined automation approach to more manufacturers.
Software-defined cells from major robot brands lower the integration barrier — useful if you've held off on automation over deployment complexity.
Edge Computing & Inference
Onsemi, a power and sensing specialist, is acquiring Synaptics' AI-native compute assets to move into the physical-AI space — which EE Times reads as a signal that edge-AI demand is becoming real and durable.
Edge-AI silicon is consolidating into industrial-grade supply — expect more capable, better-supported edge inference modules in your next refresh.
Smart Manufacturing & Digital Twin
At Hannover Messe 2026, Tiger Data CTO Mike Freedman argued general-purpose databases (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB) weren't built for industrial time-series scale; one company cut equipment-monitoring costs 60% by switching to a purpose-built time-series store.
If sensor-data storage costs climb as you scale monitoring, a purpose-built time-series database may be the cheaper foundation.
Process Technology
Yokogawa's updated OpreX Collaborative Information Server — part of its OpreX Control and Safety Systems line — adds usability, multi-vendor integration and security enhancements, centralizing process data and operating as an integrated HMI.
For mixed-vendor plants, a vendor-neutral information server can consolidate process data into one HMI without ripping out existing control systems.
Automation & Controls
A technical walkthrough lays out a flexible PLC sequencing architecture for a multi-mode pneumatic leak-test machine: a TestMode enumeration (static leak, pressure hold, stepwise, real-time profile), each with its own config — pressure, hold time, tolerances — instead of hardcoding each test.
A reusable mode-enum plus per-mode config beats hardcoding test types — a handy reference if you build or maintain leak-test rigs.
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