Industrial Grade PCs

The Smart Factory May Save U.S. Manufacturing

It’s no secret that U.S. manufacturing has been in a steady decline in recent years. Outsourcing, cost of labor, and other factors have made the price of manufacturing in the U.S. soar. But this trend may soon reverse, as a survey by Deloitte and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) suggests, thanks in part to the revolution of smart factories. A smart factory, as described the survey, is one utilizing the latest technology such as industrial grade PCs to create a digitized factory. Deploying the latest technology into your factory can help transform it into a smart factory, potentially tripling productivity.

The Stagnation Of Labor Productivity

While wages for workers have remained relatively constant over the last few decades, productivity has seen a drastic increase. This is good news for manufacturers, as it allows for a wider profit margin. However, this trend appears to have come to an end as the survey concluded, “In spite of the continual improvements in equipment, software, and management approaches, the annual labor productivity growth rate in the United States was around 0.7 percent in the years between 2007 and 2018, and showed zero net average growth during the past five years.”

 

However, factories in the process of turning into or are already smart factories have reported up to 10% gains in as little as three years. These early adopters of the smart factory lifestyle expect to increase their productivity across the board another 2% over the next year!

 

Transforming Your Factory Into A Smart Factory

In an age where even your fridge can be “smart” it is important that we determine what a smart factory actually looks like. In order to truly be a smart factory, it will take more than just having wifi for everyone’s laptops. Deploying and utilizing the internet of things (IoT), smart transfer systems, cloud computing technology, analytics, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality systems will be crucial to the smart factory of tomorrow. One thing that all of these new technologies have in common is their ability to utilize industrial grade PCs.

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Rugged Mini C

Industrial grade PCs will play a critical role in tomorrow’s smart factory, as they can serve to network your factory’s many individual systems into one, central dogma. Take the Rugged Mini C, which is an industrial grade PC that has up to eight highspeed ethernet ports in its small frame. The Rugged Mini C is the perfect industrial grade PC for creating a network of devices around your factory, and can hook seven different pieces of equipment up to the network with ease; better allowing your factory to connect and be a part of the IoT. Creating such a network of industrial grade PCs will allow every piece of equipment to be fully utilized in all the ways a smart factory demands, as listed above.

 

Don’t Let Productivity Stall, Make Your Factory Smarter

It’s simple math that 12% gains in productivity are fundamentally better than 0%, and in today’s competitive market this margin can make all the difference. Industrial grade PCs can help smartify your factory, and bring it inline with the fourth industrial revolution. Don’t sit your factory out on the sidelines of progress, put it into the game with industrial grade PCs.

Industrial Grade PCs for Winter Use

Industrial Grade PC-Tangent Industrial Grade PC

Winter is one of the best seasons, allowing for friends and family alike to gather together and enjoy one another’s company. These sorts of festivities are only bolstered by the cold weather, which promotes people staying indoors and keeping warm. While winter may be fun for people, it presents a unique challenge to the industrial sector. Making sure that your industrial equipment can withstand the frigid temperatures that winter brings is important when selecting equipment for use in climates that are particularly affected by the seasonal change. Upgrading industrial equipment, such as industrial grade PCs, before the onset of winter can help ensure that your site does not have any unnecessary halts in production.

Rugged Mini E2
Rugged Mini E2

Surviving The Cold

When thinking about PCs, it may seem as though you only have to worry about them overheating, after all they do have fans to keep them cool. However, prolonged exposure to cold can have adverse effects on PCs as well, causing physical warping to components and risking condensation damage. Commercial grade PCs are not built for such conditions, and may suffer these sorts of damage. Industrial grade PCs are an elegant solution to the extreme cold, as many can operate in such conditions. Industrial grade PCs like the Rugged Mini E2 or Rugged Mini C1 from Tangent can operate at temperatures as cold as -40 degrees Fahrenheit. WIth this sort of resistance, there’s seldom a place that these industrial grade PCs can’t be used:

 

  • Oil Drilling: The extraction of oil over land presents unique challenges that are different than those faced on the drilling platforms used in the ocean. Oil extraction sites in the northern U.S. can regularly see winter storms that drop temperatures well below freezing. Industrial grade PCs from Tangent can perform in these conditions with ease as in vehicle computers, sensor managers, and remote control stations.
  • Emergency Services: The last thing emergency services should be worrying about on their way to a car crash or at-home emergency is if their PCs are working. Industrial grade PCs ensure that emergency services can focus on the problems that really matter.
  • Outdoor Equipment: Regardless of the sector, industrial grade PCs allow you to create a workstation, remote control outpost, or system control station wherever the job demands. Having an industrial grade PC in your system means that it can operate year round without worry

 

 

Whatever the job entails, industrial grade PCs will do it regardless of the temperature. In addition to mini industrial grade PCs, industrial grade PC panels and industrial grade PC tablets can operate below 0 degrees, allowing for even more flexibility this winter season. Get a jumpstart on the season before it gets the jump on you with industrial grade PCs from Tangent.