Machine automation has made capital equipment into a viable rental expense or even a subscription-based production-as-a-service option. On-machine sensing and monitoring capabilities allow the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to keep an eye on machine health and service, repair or even optimize it. And the proliferation of software-based features has made changes and upgrades simple enough to execute, sometimes automatically, through remote connectivity.
Subscription-based models for equipment, production and machines are poised to expand in industrial automation, as evidenced by these four stories on Control Design:
Equipment, production and machines at your service
Machines-as-a-service bolster packaging industry
Equipment-as-a-service: A CapEx vs OpEx decision
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Behrens Manufacturing, based in Winona, Minnesota, embraced robotics to address manufacturing challenges by deploying two very different robot integrations. It discovered how robot-ownership and robots-as-a-service models can provide simultaneous success. Manufacturing Robots: Buy? Lease? or As-a-Service? originally appeared on IndustryWeek, an Endeavor Business Media partner site.
IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger spoke with Bill Bellingham, vice president of manufacturing at Behrens, to take a deeper dive into how the Minnesota manufacturer is using automation to address challenges.
