The two companies will apply industrial IoT solutions at Foxconn’s U.S. facility
Taiwanese manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) and U.S. company Rockwell Automation have announced a collaborative agreement to implement connected enterprise and industrial IoT concepts for smart manufacturing in Foxconn’s new U.S. facilities.
The two firms will also collaborate to develop and apply smart manufacturing solutions at Foxconn’s global electronics assembly operations.
“Together we will increase operational efficiencies in electronics manufacturing to new levels, achieving the vision of smart manufacturing and Made in China 2025,” Terry Guo, Foxconn chairman and CEO, said.
Foxconn and Rockwell will also work together on workforce development and training. Specifically, as Foxconn increases its employee base in the United States, it has committed to participate in a program developed by Rockwell Automation and ManpowerGroup to upskill military veterans and create a pool of certified talent for in-demand advanced manufacturing roles across the United States.
“We are excited about the opportunity to work with a global technology and manufacturing leader to deliver advanced IIoT solutions to the electronics manufacturing industry. Our work with Foxconn will further demonstrate the power and broad applicability of the connected enterprise,” Blake Moret, Rockwell Automation president and CEO, said.
Headquartered in Milwaukee, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 22,000 people serving customers in more than 80 countries. The company focuses on the provision of industrial automation and information.
Deployment of IoT solutions within manufacturing organizations expected to nearly double in the next 12 months
In related news, a recent B2B technology survey of 455 U.S.-based companies across nine vertical markets carried out by ABI Research showed that 67% of manufacturing respondents do not currently have IoT solutions in operation.
Of those, 74% are either investigating, assessing, or planning to deploy such solutions in the next 12 months.
“Companies with industrial and manufacturing operations are looking to connect their HMI, SCADA, and control networks to higher level enterprise systems as well as the cloud,” said Ryan Martin, principal analyst at ABI Research. “Exposing data to enterprise-level systems provides better support for analytics and the management of people, processes, and systems.”
The study also showed that 35% of respondents in manufacturing are now assessing artificial intelligence (AI) and 47% have either deployed or plan deploy robotics solutions in the next 12 months.
