Rockwell Perspectives & Automation Fair 2022 Event Brief
Rockwell’s Perspectives and Automation Fair 2022 provided an impressive showcase of the power and value of connecting the enterprise end-to-end to deliver data-fueled insights.
At Perspectives, leading analysts, editors, and reporters from around the world heard directly from Rockwell’s Executive team on the company’s vision, direction innovation, partnerships, technology, and purpose.
The Life Sciences Industry Forum at Automation Fair focused on digital-transformation imperatives in the industry.
This two-day Automation Fair brought together more than 10,000 professionals, industrial automation experts and leaders to explore the latest breakthroughs, strategies, and proven best practices to enhance manufacturing operations and achieve superior results.
Evolving 20 Years in 2
“We are all changed forever in the way we live and work,” remarked Blake Moret, Chairman & CEO, Rockwell Automation. “We were a little bit surprised at how quickly we could act when we needed to…. We saw 20 years of evolution in 2 because we had to. It came with costs, some of which we are still recovering from, but it’s making us more resilient, agile, and sustainable.”
Rockwell had to adjust its culture to focus on outcomes. “We learned that we have to combine our products, software and services and combine them together to achieve outcomes focused on industry needs. This way we can play an earlier and more meaningful role in digital transformation” said Moret.
Rockwell is basing its transformation on five tenets:
- Optimize Production
- Empower Workforce
- Manage Risk
- Drive Sustainability
- Accelerate Transformation
Source: Rockwell Automation
Haunted by Memories of Past Projects Gone Bad
According to Moret, “Simplification is going to sort out the winners and the losers over the next 10 years. Simplification of the technology and business models.”
The challenge is that simplification requires transformation, changes, and systems to support them. Perceived, not actual risk is the enemy of modernization. “Intellectually, management knows they could get more throughput, improved quality and outcomes through automation, unfortunately, plant managers are often haunted by memories of past projects gone bad!” added Moret.
The cloud can mitigate risk and democratize access to technology by enabling ease of integration, insights, and time to value, especially when overlayed onto existing systems.
Learn how FDA is Encouraging Advanced Manufacturing
Cloud Was Just a Consequence
Cyril Perducat, Chief Technology Officer, Rockwell Automation remarked on how the increasing pace of change has brought new challenges in manufacturing and shifts over the last few years. It’s what we at Axendia call ‘The Age of Continuous Disruption ( See: Plot a Course to Success in the Age of Continuous Disruption! )
“Groundbreaking technology is rapidly transforming automation and empowering new ways to work…. Why do I have a superb smart phone experience in my private life and why does running a factory need to be so complicated?” asked Perducat.
“We are inventing the future with our customers, not trying to sell a future that we think is right for our customer, through co-innovation with our ecosystem and our customers because we have an obsession with solving real problems,” added Perducat.
This is driving the transition from Automation to Autonomy, enabling humans to make better decisions to expand human possibility.
Perducat brought much joy to my heart when he said: “Notice, I did not mention cloud in my presentation. Cloud was just a consequence; in order to achieve our goals cloud was the right solution. Putting business priorities and users before technology then leveraging all that is available in the technology landscape to achieve it.”
PREACH!!!
At Axendia we developed our Digital Sustainability model on this approach. We are glad to see Perducat shares our vision.
Learn how to Embark on Your Digital Sustainability Journey
Life Sciences Industry Forum
Axendia headlined the Life Sciences Industry Forum at Automation Fair focused on digital transformation imperatives in the industry.
I had the privilege to moderate an insightful panel including (from left to right):
- Carlos Martinez, Associate Director of MS&T at Sarepta Therapeutics
- Mark Auger, Senior Principal Engineer of Automation Engineering at Cytiva
- Sachin Mirsa, Global Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry Practice Lead at Kalypso
- Matthew Laing, Senior Director of Digital Manufacturing Engineering at Eli Lilly
I kicked off the session by presenting some of Axendia’s research on the imperative for digital transformation as well as an overview of FDA initiatives encouraging modernization and digital transformation in Life Sciences.
During the panel, we discuss important topics like:
- Life Sciences industry trends that make digital transformation an imperative
- Important considerations when building a digital transformation strategy
- Overcoming the barriers to digital transformation in the pharmaceutical industry
- Changing culture to support digital transformation strategy
- Master Data Management, the foundation to digital transformation
- Accelerating time to market with modeling and simulation
- Expediting product release and eliminating errors with MES and RBE
Learn about Axendia’s Good Technology Practices
In addition, I had the opportunity to meet with Rockwell Life-Science industry executives and learn about many of the exciting solutions they are bringing to the market.
In Brief
Life Science companies are recognizing the need for digital transformation and regulators are removing excuses to modernization.
Industry organizations are looking to establish long term partnerships that combine products, software and services to achieve outcomes focused on industry needs.
Rockwell Automation is driving simplification of the technology and business models. Putting business priorities and people before technology will drive companies to change their culture. Only then can they leverage all the available technology to achieve improved outcomes.
We will continue to provide updates on Rockwell Automation as they become available.
Contact research@axendia.com to schedule an Analyst Inquiry on this topic.
The opinions and analysis expressed in this post reflect the judgment of Axendia at the time of publication and are subject to change without notice. Information contained in this post is current as of publication date. Information cited is not warranted by Axendia but has been obtained through a valid research methodology. This post is not intended to endorse any company or product and should not be attributed as such.