Manufacturing Today

04/09/2026

The MT tech Brief: The network becomes manufacturing’s AI infrastructure

The factory network used to be easy to overlook. It connected machines, moved data and sat beneath the more visible work of production. That view is becoming increasingly risky as manufacturers move AI, machine vision, robotics, mobile assets and edge applications out of pilots and into live operations.

Samuel Pasquier, vice president of product management, industrial IoT networking at Cisco, says the network has become critical because AI is no longer confined to isolated demonstrations. “It is very easy to do a proof of concept in a lab,” he says. “But when you start to deploy in production, the network becomes super critical because your environment is much wider, much bigger. You need to interconnect things so you can have more information.”

Cisco’s 2026 State of Industrial AI Report for Manufacturing shows how far that shift has moved. The report found that 59 per cent of manufacturers are actively deploying AI at scale, while 96 per cent expect AI workloads to affect industrial network requirements. Reliable connectivity, edge compute and bandwidth are now among the core requirements for scaling AI in production.

Read the full article here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0y2R8D0

Industrial AI infrastructure depends on factory networks, edge compute, wireless reliability and security to scale production use cases

03/09/2026

The MT Tech brief: The human in the loop is not a governance model

An AI system spends the night reviewing production plans, supplier constraints or security events. By morning, it has assembled a long queue of recommendations. Nothing has happened because every decision still requires a person to approve it.

The manufacturer can claim that humans remain in control. Operationally, however, it has created a bottleneck. The system works at machine speed while the organization responds at the pace of inboxes, shifts and approval meetings.

This is the weakness hidden inside one of industrial AI’s most reassuring phrases. “Human in the loop” sounds like a governance principle, but it rarely explains how authority should be divided between people and intelligent systems. It does not say which decisions require approval, how quickly a person must respond, what evidence they should receive or who remains accountable when a recommendation is accepted, altered or ignored.

Read the full article here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0y2Fmv0

Human in the loop is not enough for industrial AI governance when agents recommend, act and influence factory operations

02/09/2026

The MT Tech Brief: Join manufacturing leaders turning data and AI into business value

Manufacturing Data Summit UK returns to London on October 6, bringing together manufacturing executives and managers to share how they are turning data, AI, digital transformation and cybersecurity into measurable operational value. At a time when manufacturers are under pressure to make faster decisions about technology investment, governance and risk, the opportunity to learn directly from peers facing the same challenges has become increasingly important.

The market is crowded with new technologies, terminology changes quickly and every function has its own priorities. For leaders responsible for turning digital ambition into operational performance, the real challenge is no longer finding ideas. It is understanding which ideas deserve investment, what foundations have to be in place and how other manufacturers are solving the same problems.

That is the premise behind the Manufacturing Data Summit UK 2026. The event brings together manufacturing leaders working directly with data, AI, digital transformation, operations and cybersecurity to compare approaches, challenge assumptions and share what they are learning in live manufacturing environments. That exchange is becoming increasingly valuable at a point when few organizations can afford to spend years discovering every lesson for themselves.

Read full article here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0x_dbc0

Book for the Manufacturing Data Summit UK 2026! Link to register in first comment 🔗

Manufacturing Data Summit UK brings manufacturers together to turn data, AI, cybersecurity and digital transformation into value

01/09/2026

Much of the conversation around industrial AI focuses on algorithms, copilots, autonomous robots and increasingly sophisticated analytics. Yet one of the most important technologies enabling this transformation rarely receives the same attention. According to Jeremy Foster, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Compute, the industrial network has quietly evolved from an invisible utility into one of the most strategically important assets within modern manufacturing. As AI becomes embedded across production environments, the network is no longer simply moving data around the factory. It is becoming the platform on which intelligent manufacturing operates.

For decades, manufacturers viewed networking much like any other piece of plant infrastructure. As long as machines remained connected and production continued uninterrupted, there was little reason to think about it. Investment was often driven by necessity rather than strategy, with networks treated as a cost center rather than a source of competitive advantage. Foster believes that mindset is no longer sustainable.

Read the full article here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0x-NkV0

Industrial AI infrastructure connects edge intelligence, operational data and secure factory systems to support manufacturing at scale

28/08/2026

The MT Tech Brief: Ten industrial connectivity companies powering smart manufacturing

Smart manufacturing depends on the ability to move data reliably between machines, control systems, edge devices and enterprise applications. As factories become more connected, industrial networks are carrying far more than traditional automation traffic. Machine vision, industrial IoT, AI, mobile equipment and cloud-connected applications are placing new demands on infrastructure that must remain available around the clock. Connectivity has therefore become a critical part of the production environment rather than simply an underlying IT service.

The challenge is complicated by the diversity of manufacturing operations. Modern factories combine legacy machinery with industrial Ethernet, wireless networks, private 5G, edge computing and an expanding range of connected devices, all while demanding high levels of reliability and security. The companies featured here are helping manufacturers address that complexity, providing the networking, communications and interoperability technologies needed to connect assets, integrate established equipment and create the resilient data infrastructure underpinning increasingly digital production.

Read the full article here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xTmVb0

Featured: Cisco, Belden Inc., Moxa, Nokia, HMS Networks, Red Lion, Hirschmann, Siemens, HPE Aruba Networking, Phoenix Contact

Industrial connectivity companies are helping manufacturers connect machines, networks and data across smart factories

27/08/2026

The MT Tech Brief: Why more data does not guarantee greater reliability

Every modern manufacturing plant generates more asset data than ever before. Sensors continuously measure vibration, temperature, pressure, flow and lubrication, while connected equipment streams operational information from across the factory floor. Yet despite unprecedented visibility into machine performance, many manufacturers continue to suffer avoidable failures, unplanned downtime and costly maintenance interventions.

The challenge is no longer collecting information. It is understanding which information matters, who needs to act on it and how quickly decisions should be made. According to Drew Mackley, Director of Sales Enablement for Reliability Solutions at Emerson, that shift is redefining reliability from a maintenance activity into an operational capability that influences productivity across the entire enterprise.

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https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xTh5l0

Manufacturing asset health improves when continuous monitoring, reliable data and engineering judgment turn warnings into timely action

27/08/2026

Water management is one of the most critical operational and environmental challenges facing the oil and gas sector today. Are your current strategies keeping up with industry best practices?

Join us for our upcoming Manufacturing Today webinar: Strategies and Solutions for Best Practice Water Management in the Oil and Gas Industry, proudly sponsored by Xylem.

Our expert panel will discuss innovative technologies, regulatory compliance, and practical solutions to optimize water usage, treatment, and recycling in your operations.

Our lineup of industry experts:
• Wenta - Sr. Global Director Customer Verticals at Xylem
• Stoltz - Global Business Development Manager at Xylem
• Moderated by Underwood at Finelight Media

Date: 24 September 2026
Time: 11:00am ET | 4:00pm London | 5:00pm CET
Duration: 50 Minutes

Link to register in first comment 🔗

25/08/2026

The MT Tech Brief: Why AI alone will not transform manufacturing

Artificial intelligence has become one of manufacturing’s biggest technology priorities. Every week seems to bring another platform promising autonomous operations, intelligent automation or AI agents capable of transforming production. Yet despite the pace of innovation, many manufacturers continue to struggle to move beyond isolated pilots and demonstrations into AI that consistently delivers operational value on the factory floor.

Stephen Graham, Vice President Product & Technology for Hexagon AB’s Production Software division, believes the reason has little to do with the capability of the underlying technology. The real challenge is that manufacturing is fundamentally different from the environments where many AI systems have proved successful.

Factory operations are shaped by decades of engineering expertise, complex physical assets and constantly changing production conditions that cannot simply be reduced to data or algorithms. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in industrial software, the companies creating the greatest value will be those that understand manufacturing first and AI second.

Read the full article here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xR0Z-0

Industrial AI succeeds when data readiness, engineering expertise and human accountability shape production decisions

24/08/2026

The MT Tech Brief: When minutes replace months in manufacturing cybersecurity

For decades, cybersecurity teams had one advantage over their attackers: time. A vulnerability might be discovered today, but it often took weeks or even months before someone developed a practical way to exploit it. That window gave software developers, equipment manufacturers and industrial operators valuable time to assess the risk, deploy patches and strengthen their defenses. According to Rich Campagna, Senior Vice President of Product Management, Network Security at Palo Alto Networks, that advantage is disappearing. Frontier AI models can now identify previously unknown vulnerabilities and generate exploit code in minutes, fundamentally changing the pace of cyber warfare.

For manufacturers, the implications are particularly significant. Unlike traditional IT environments, operational technology often supports production systems that cannot simply be taken offline to apply security updates. Many factories continue to rely on legacy equipment, embedded firmware and industrial control systems that may remain in service for decades. As the time between discovering and exploiting vulnerabilities continues to shrink, manufacturers are being forced to rethink how they protect critical operations.

Read the full article here:
https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xM_L40

AI cybersecurity is shrinking response times, forcing manufacturers to protect vulnerable industrial systems before attacks begin

21/08/2026

The MT Tech Brief: Ten manufacturing data platforms shaping the smart factory

Manufacturers have spent years investing in sensors, automation systems, MES platforms, industrial IoT and connected equipment. The challenge is no longer collecting data. Most organizations already generate enormous volumes of operational information across production systems, enterprise applications and increasingly connected supply chains. The real challenge is turning that information into actionable insight that can improve productivity, quality, maintenance performance and decision-making.

As manufacturers pursue AI, predictive analytics and more connected operations, data platforms have become a critical part of the smart factory. These platforms help connect information from production systems, enterprise software and industrial assets, creating the foundation for operational intelligence at scale. Some focus on contextualizing industrial data, others on analytics, governance, cloud infrastructure or operational visibility. Together, they are helping manufacturers move beyond isolated data silos and toward more integrated, data-driven operations.

Read the full article: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xMPNC0

Featured: Cognite, Snowflake, Databricks, Aveva, Siemens, SAP, Seeq, Planatir, Rockwell Automation, Informatica,

Manufacturing data platforms connect industrial information, support AI and turn fragmented systems into operational intelligence.