Survey: IT/OT collaboration a priority for manufacturers

Global software developer eschbach in July announced new research findings for process industry manufacturers that shows IT and OT collaboration using plant process management solutions (PPM) has become an investment priority.

The survey, which was sponsored by Eschbach — a provider of digital manufacturing solutions in the pharmaceutical, chemical and food and beverage manufacturing sectors — was conducted by 451 Research.

According to a July 21 news release from eschbach, the top-ranked priorities cited by survey respondents for a PPM investment were:

• Capturing and sharing best practices for worker safety
• A platform to record real-time incidents for reporting and corrective action
• Broader collaboration and communication among production teams and managers
• Platform to provide interactive production loss accounting

“In the drive toward the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) over the past few years, the greatest focus has been on instrumenting machinery,” eschbach CEO Andreas Eschbach said in the news release.  “Due to IIoT ignoring human factors, now comes a realization that collaboration between humans and machines must become a priority, particularly in shift management. Industrial enterprises need to equip the people tasked with using and managing machinery in the overall process so that they optimize plant operations and ensure worker safety.”