BCX advocates connected factory technology to drive business growth
For present and future business developments, and improved profitability, organisations would need to explore ‘Connected Factory’ technology, which is the factory of the future.
At a one-day workshop organised in Lagos, by BCX, a technology solution provider, which had in attendance experts from Cisco, the forum said there was need to refocus the business growth direction.
With targets on manufacturers, BCX said the new trend in manufacturing industry is about connected factory, where information technology (IT) team, and operational technology (OT) team no longer work in silos, but are connected to a single digital space, from where manufacturing processes are controlled and managed from an individual platform.
BCX, which expressed worry over the weak adoption rate of connected factory, especially in Nigeria, stressed the need for manufacturers to move into that digital space because of the value it brings, by helping companies see new opportunities that make them more competitive and effective.
Head, Networks and Infrastructure, BCX, Abiola Adefila, said: “In the past, IT and OT operate in silos. While IT is the data-centric computing, OT is the combination of software and hardware that controls physical processes in the factory.
“But today, the world of manufacturing is changing, and the new development is about the alliance between the IT and OT to form a connected factory, which is all about new approach to driving manufacturing organisations into profitability at reduced operational cost.”
According to Adefila, BCX, in collaboration with Cisco, one of its partners, had adopted the Cisco Meraki product to deploy the Cisco Connected Factory in the manufacturing industry in Nigeria and beyond.
She said BCX would use some of the solutions of connected factory such as connected network, connected wireless, connected security, and kinetics, to drive proficiency and profitability in the manufacturing industry, while adopting the Cisco Meraki products for the deployment.
Adefila described Cisco Meraki as a product suite that contains routers, switches, wireless, and IP camera, with which the manufacturing industry can manage its entire network infrastructure on a single platform from the cloud.
“It gives more visibility into the entire infrastructure and reduces time management and trouble shooting, and this is the flexibility it brings to manufacturing businesses,” Adefila said.
Speaking on the value of Cisco Meraki on connected factory, Systems Engineer at Cisco, Funmi Koka, said the Cusco Meraki brings simplicity, intelligence and management together in a unified way to drive the processes of connected factory.
According to her, Cisco Meraki would enable the easy management of factory operations from a single platform, against the management of factories from different managerial points, thereby reducing operational cost, improving efficiency, and meeting business goals.
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