Honeywell User Conference 2016 highlights potential of IIoT to solve manufacturing challenges

Jun. 29, 2016 – The 41st annual Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Americas conference last week brought together 1,200 attendees from 31 countries to discuss the potential of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to solve the toughest problems facing manufacturers. “Those who embrace digital transformation will ultimately win in the global marketplace,” said Bruce Calder, vice president and chief technology officer of Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS), to event attendees of the four-day event.

Organizers say the theme resonated with attendees “due in part to challenges brought on by current economic conditions, but it also articulated Honeywell’s long-term vision for delivering solutions to customers regardless of industry challenges.”

“The IIoT is bringing together existing technologies across all industries in order to solve issues previously considered unsolvable,” said Andrew Hird, vice president and general manager of HPS’ Digital Transformation business. “In most cases, the data needed to solve big issues like unplanned downtime and the manufacture of off-spec products is there — it’s just not being managed and utilized in the right way.”

“Throughout the event, attendees discussed ways that data analytics can further change the manufacturing landscape, and how the IIoT can bring digital transformation to life. Examples include improving business profitability with alarm management, using remote server data to improve storage management in tanks farms, and remotely collaborating through the cloud to shave weeks off incident resolution times, among many others,” said the company in a statement.

Honeywell showcased a number of new technologies during the event, including the new release of its Cyber Security Risk Manager technology; Experion PKS Orion R500 control system; ControlEdge PLC family of controllers; and Uniformance Suite analytics platform for IIoT.