• ISA provides technical resources and standards to help industrial automation professionals advance their careers and the field. We enable automation professionals worldwide to solve problems and enhance their skills by bringing people together to create new technologies and share best practices with future automation professionals.
    • Industry Insights

  • We attract over 140,000 unique automation professionals monthly, making us the premier online content provider and the only dedicated electronic magazine in the automation industry.

    Monthly Magazine

    Back
    Back
  • M logo for Automation.com Monthly. Link to current issue.

Author Profile

Feature Image for Bill Lydon

Bill Lydon

Bill Lydon, an experienced industrial automation technical and business professional, is currently a consultant providing insights, facilitating thinking and coaching for digital manufacturing transformation. Lydon has 35 years of experience, including industrial, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), process control/DCS, electrical power/utility and building automation with technology and business experience ranging from design, application engineering, corporate experience, co-founder & president of a start-up company. He started his career as a designer of computer-based machine tool controls; in other positions, he applied programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and process control technology. He's trained and experienced as a group Creative Problem Solving & Value Engineering facilitator.

Working at a large company, Lydon served a two-year stint as part of a five-person task group, that designed a new generation automation system including controllers, networking and supervisory and control software. He also designed software for chiller and boiler plant optimization. Bill was the product manager for a multimillion-dollar controls and automation product line and later cofounder and president of an industrial control software company with solutions for factory and process control and automation.

208 Results Found
  • How the Internet of Things Impacts Manufacturing

    How the Internet of Things Impacts Manufacturing

    Dramatic advancements in technology are driving the Internet of Things, creating more tools for industrial automation and the process industries.
    By: Bill Lydon
    18 March, 2019 | 9 minutes
  • Hannover Messe 2019 Preview: Digital Networking Humans & Machines in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

    Hannover Messe 2019 Preview: Digital Networking Humans & Machines in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

    During a January preview for the event, over 120 journalists, including yours truly, gathered for presentations and discussions from the Hannover Messe team, and over 40 exhibitors, expanding on the topics and technologies that so many will experience
    By: Bill Lydon
    26 February, 2019 | 5 minutes
  • Bill’s Top 10 Automation & Control Trends for 2019 – Accelerating Change & Reaching the Tipping Point

    Bill’s Top 10 Automation & Control Trends for 2019 – Accelerating Change & Reaching the Tipping Point

    The pace of technological change in the automation industry seems to be accelerating as we head into 2019, driven by innovations developed for Internet of Things and general computing.
    By: Bill Lydon
    29 January, 2019 | 23 minutes
  • What is Open Source & Why Should You Care?

    What is Open Source & Why Should You Care?

    Lydon brings more than 10 years of writing and editing expertise to Automation.com, plus more than 25 years of experience designing and applying technology in the automation and controls industry. Lydon started his career as a designer of computer-based machine tool controls; in other positions, he applied programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and process control technology. In addition to working at various large companies (e.g., Sundstrand, Johnson Controls, and Wago), Lydon served a two-year stint as part of a five-person task group, where he designed controls, automation systems, and software for chiller and boiler plant optimization. He was also a product manager for a multimillion-dollar controls and automation product line and president of an industrial control software company.
    By: Bill Lydon
    10 December, 2018 | 5 minutes
  • How Programming Standards Improve Automation and Controls

    How Programming Standards Improve Automation and Controls

    IEC 61131-3 software standards improve the quality of applications and the efficiency of building applications. Structured modular software improves the reuse of applications.
    By: Bill Lydon
    26 November, 2018 | 7 minutes
  • Redefine and Transform How You Execute Automation Projects

    Redefine and Transform How You Execute Automation Projects

    Improving on what has always been done can only result in incremental improvements at best or continued complications. We have to redefine and transform how we execute automation projects.
    By: Bill Lydon
    03 September, 2018 | 3 minutes
  • Industry 4.0 Make to Order Manufacturing at Valpak, Who Would Have Guessed?

    Industry 4.0 Make to Order Manufacturing at Valpak, Who Would Have Guessed?

    I was impressed by a tour of the Valpak Manufacturing Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, hosted by Siemens, which is a great example of a company applying Industry 4.0 make to order manufacturing concepts.
    By: Bill Lydon
    15 August, 2018 | 3 minutes
  • How Industry 4.0 and Digitization Improves Manufacturing Responsiveness, Quality, and Efficiency

    How Industry 4.0 and Digitization Improves Manufacturing Responsiveness, Quality, and Efficiency

    Automation is essential to the implementation of Industry 4.0 and IoT strategies as manufacturers realize low labor rates are no longer a winning strategy.
    By: Bill Lydon
    18 June, 2018 | 11 minutes
  • How to Leverage the ISA Ecosystem to Advance Your Career in Industrial Automation

    The automation industry is experiencing rapid changes and challenges; the diversity of ISA members is a great resource of experience, ideas, and know-how.
    By: Bill Lydon
    13 June, 2018 | 3 minutes
  • Digital Factory Comes into Focus at Hannover Messe 2018

    Digital Factory Comes into Focus at Hannover Messe 2018

    Resembling more a bustling city than a trade fair, the 71st Hannover Messe was very busy and chock full of energy and innovation this year, with over 200,000 attendees from 75 countries. Focusing on the theme 'Integrated Industry – Connect & Collaborate', the Digital Factory was front and center.
    By: Bill Lydon
    22 May, 2018 | 8 minutes
Advertisement