Navigating the convenience of industry

Have you been wondering how the macro trends of 2023 will impact the fuel retail and convenience industry?  They share their insights on trends to watch for in 2023 and how to successfully navigate them.

We’ll explore topics such as finding more impactful ways to engage with consumers, increasing efficiency to better manage workforce shortages, and safeguarding your business against ransomware and other cyberthreats.

An average manufacturing unit would have been in business for more than a couple of decades. At that time the factory acquired what was the latest in machines, or maybe one generation old. With time, as the business expands the factory keeps doing the same, acquiring the latest or the latest-minus-one technology. Remember that no machines are getting discarded cause most machines have a working life of at least three to four decades. If some of these machines have been bought recently and are of current technology, the factory has machines of the following variety:

1. Latest intelligent machines with Robotic Controls. These machines connect directly to a Local Network and can take their instructions directly from a computer, and communicate in real time with the next machine in the assembly line. Of course, this will be possible only if the next machine is similarly enabled. They are also able to feed the data related to their workload, and health, and several other physical parameters. Engineers can monitor all this data remotely and are also able to subject this data to advanced analytics and be able to assess and predict a number of very useful data points.
2. The next category of machines is another intelligent machine which can monitor all the above data and display it locally, on the machine. This is because the only communication ports available on the machines have been used up in connecting it to a controlling computer/PLC and linking it to the next machines on the assembly line.
3. Then there would be the third variety with a limited level of intelligence. Such a machine would be able to monitor and measure a few parameters but does not have any communication ports to connect with any IT system, or with any OT device for that matter. Such a machine will only display the information on a local screen and would expect someone to monitor the parameters by sticking close to the machine. Such machines were designed in time when the one time capex involved in procuring these machines was far more significant than the recurring Opex of the cost of labor over many years.
4. Then there would be other machines which are old work horses, capable of performing the machining tasks for many more years to come, but these are relatively dumb. They work, and that’s all they do. They do not monitor and parameters and have no information available to share.