Changing customer demands and increased global competition are driving manufacturers to shift to Industry 4.0, our smarter manufacturing of tomorrow, characterized by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and data-driven economy. To be smart, flexible, efficient, and throughput-improved in the future, factories must be digitally connected.

The key to a smart factory's success is accurate data, which calls for reliable and secure data connection and acquisition infrastructure. There are four requirements that must be met in order for a smart factory solution to be successful: (1) connectivity with all devices, including those which are not part of the traditional factory architecture, (2) protocol interoperability among various devices, (3) maximum cyberattack protection, and (4) maximizing the overall efficiency of equipment.

It will take a number of devices with disparate communication protocols and technologies to make Industry 4.0 a reality.

You can easily and securely collect and analyze data in a factory with Rockford's smart factory solutions by implementing an easy-to-implement architecture that allows data to flow smoothly from device level to information level.