Cloud Solutions in industrial plants

Is it possible today to answer unequivocally which approach is better? Over the last few decades, integrated systems for business management have appeared on the market, replacing a number of separate solutions dedicated to individual areas, such as: manufacturing, warehousing, outsourcing, invoicing, accounting, human resources and payroll. These and other aspects of business management need to be integrated for the business to operate as a single unit.

The on-demand subscription model has spread through the metal and sheet metal industry opening up the door to an enormous range of software services for companies to access via the Cloud.

There’s still quite a way to go in the industrial sector’s journey towards digitization. Many companies, especially the smallest ones, don’t have segregated IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) networks, instead, all of the equipment is connected to one single network which leads directly to the Internet. In others, generally the largest ones, the workshop’s network is separated from the office’s network by means of a firewall, making it possible to control communication between the two worlds in a very granular manner.