For the last several years, at industry gatherings of all kinds, the subject of automation is guaranteed to dominate the conversation. Whether it’s the latest digital control system to monitor and operate valves, or the “threat” to jobs from robots and machine learning, digital advances have created opportunities and challenges for employers and employees alike.
At the 2017 Emerson Global Users Exchange, Mike Train, executive president of Emerson Automation Solutions, pointed out during his keynote address that “the past 30 years have brought us fantastic advances in the manufacturing sector, including greater operating efficiencies enabled by automation, but the incremental benefits gained are diminishing. The pressure is on industry leaders to take the next step to the game-changing performance made possible by digitally empowering the workforce.”