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Industrial Automation and Control
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Digital Transformation
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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.
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Feature
Societal Megatrends Drive Opportunities and Requirements
From workforce changes and supply chain disruptions to evolution of semantic data models, socioeconomic trends push industry to respond. This feature originally appeared in Bill Lydon's 7th Annual Industrial Automation & Control Trends Report.By: Bill Lydon11 November, 2022 | 5 minutes -
Feature
Manufacturing Business Systems Become Integrated, Real Time and Data Driven
Significant advances in technology, communications, and software enable digital manufacturing synchronization across the entire business structure. This feature originally appeared in Bill Lydon's 7th Annual Industrial Automation & Control Trends Report.By: Bill Lydon10 November, 2022 | 3 minutes -
Feature
Evolving Industrial Edge Computing Architecture
The traditional strict hierarchy architecture is giving way to a more responsive and direct model, bringing manufacturing into a real-time manufacturing business model.By: Bill Lydon09 November, 2022 | 4 minutes -
Feature
Digital Manufacturing Facts and Myths
Digital Manufacturing is a powerful concept manufacturing companies need to embrace to be successful, but there seems to be some confusion about the most important facts, particularly technology implementations that have created some myths.By: Bill Lydon03 November, 2022 | 5 minutes -
Feature
No-Code Slays the Manufacturing Paper Tiger
How to increase manufacturing efficiency using no-code app development to digitize outdated paper forms.By: Bill Lydon07 October, 2022 | 3 minutes -
Feature
Open Standards & Global Initiatives Accelerate Industrial Digitalization
Open standards accelerate industrial digitalization by freeing users to create and allowing collaboration.By: Bill Lydon03 October, 2022 | 2 minutes -
Feature
Real-Time Is Where It’s at with Integrated Manufacturing Business Systems
Integrated manufacturing business systems are executing and processing real-time transactions, allowing companies to thrive in the Internet era and meet the needs of customers and the modern supply chain.By: Bill Lydon20 September, 2022 | 1 minutes -
Feature
Collaboration is Key to an Automation Professionals' Role in the Digital Revolution
Significant transformational change requires system analysis to integrate IT, OT, automation and controls to achieve efficient and responsive synchronized production. This feature originally appeared in InTech magazine's August issue, a special edition from ISA's Smart Manufacturing and IIoT Division.By: Bill Lydon22 August, 2022 | 2 minutes -
Feature
Optimize Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
Recent energy price escalation, supply chain issues, and world events are putting renewed emphasis on more efficient energy use. This feature originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of InTech magazine.By: Bill Lydon29 July, 2022 | 2 minutes -
Feature
Interview: ExxonMobil Striving to Achieve Open Automation Joins UniversalAutomation.Org
Bill Lydon talks with Ryan Smeltzer, OPA program manager for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, about the company’s commitment to open automation.By: Bill Lydon30 June, 2022 | 5 minutes -
Case Study
Case Study: L’Oréal Achieves Big Results Applying OPC UA
With the help of OPC UA, L’Oréal is implementing Industry 4.0 concepts, transforming from mass production to personalized production to meet customer preferences.By: Bill Lydon31 May, 2022 | 3 minutes -
Feature
OPC Days 2022: Manufacturing Information Integration from Field Devices to Enterprise and Cloud
The OPC Day International 2022, held as a virtual event from April 25-29, 2022, illustrated the broad and growing scope of OPC Foundation standards to achieve manufacturing information integration from field devices to enterprise and cloud.By: Bill Lydon31 May, 2022 | 4 minutes -
Opinion
Continuous Improvement Is Not Digital Transformation
To be competitive in your industry, it is important to understand the difference between continuous improvements that leverage new technology and manufacturing digital transformation. This feature originally appeared in the April issue of InTech magazine.By: Bill Lydon03 May, 2022 | 2 minutes -
Feature
Professionals4Ukraine: Global Automation Associations Unite to Support Ukrainian Industrial System Integrators
The 1H4U and Professionals4Ukraine initiatives, engineered by Luigi De Bernardini, support Ukrainian industrial system integrators by encouraging donations of time and money.By: Bill Lydon02 May, 2022 | 4 minutes -
Feature
Hannover Messe 2022: German Industrial Trade Fair Plans Focus on Industrial Transformation and Partner Country Portugal
Hannover Messe 2022 will feature around 2,500 companies demonstrating their technologies for factories and energy systems of the future and exhibiting how connected production facilities can operate more efficiently and conserve resources.By: Bill Lydon24 March, 2022 | 4 minutes -
Feature
Open Process Automation Forum Modernizing Manufacturing
Members of the Open Group Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) provided a progress update Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 discussing progress and planned developments to achieve the goal of greater interoperability and portability in manufacturing control systems.By: Bill Lydon15 March, 2022 | 7 minutes -
Feature
Deutsche Messe Converts Hall 27 on Hannover Fair Grounds to House Ukrainian Refugees
Supporting Germany's policy to accept Ukrainian refugees, Deutsche Messe, producer of dozens of trade fairs including the Hannover Messe focused on industrial automation and technology, is dedicating one of its halls to accommodate more than 1,000.By: Bill Lydon09 March, 2022 | 2 minutes -
Feature
Transforming Life Science Lab Automation Standardization & Modularization
Life science laboratory standardization and modularization support automation and are increasing the efficiency and number of practical applications in life sciences, including drug discovery and small-batch, single-use pharmaceutical applications.By: Bill Lydon03 March, 2022 | 3 minutes -
Feature
Biomanufacturers' MES Manifesto Specifies Requirements
The goal of the MES of the Future workstream is to create and implement a manifesto for the MES of the future that clarifies industry objectives and leads to detailed industry/MES vendor collaboration on solutions to overcome current challenges and limitations.By: Bill Lydon02 March, 2022 | 6 minutes -
Feature
No-Code Industrial Control Programming Basics
A brief overview of PLCopen and the IEC 61131-3 industrial control software standard.By: Bill Lydon28 February, 2022 | 4 minutes
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