Industrial Automation and the New Generation

In my last blog, we discussed whether the 'older generation' had an obligation to create an environment for a new generation of talent to have access to the tools and technologies they are familiar with (social networks). I would like to expand and review the thinking processes of our 'new generation of talent' and how that could play out in the world of Industrial Automation. 

The basic principle behind developing these thoughts is my belief that the succession between what happens in the world of Information Technology and the world of Industrial Automation is constantly decreasing.  Sometimes this seems driven by the technology itself, but in this case, by a change of behaviours which the technology creates.

Let me explain.  I have just overheard a conversation in our office concluding that the use of very comprehensive spell checkers could not help with the subtleties of the English language.  We (the greying generation) are guilty of an over reliance on the technology we are familiar with (such as spell checkers).  The new generation however seem to have developed a total reliance on their ability to bring up information in just a few clicks. 

Research has highlighted  the effect technology has on our memory, with our ability to remember facts being replaced by our ability to know ‘where’ and ‘how’ to find information. So I ask the question; within the Industrial Automation world, how will the information systems on our plants react to this change? Will we resist this change until a disruptive technology comes along? Alternatively, will we embrace the change and use it to capture corporate knowledge?  Is this an opportunity?

Will we have the foresight to capture the detailed historical performance of our plants now? Is this material not valuable for the next generation,  who we know will be well versed in advanced analytics and search engines.

Phil Gillard, General Manager, SolutionsPT