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Digital Transformation
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Bill Lydon
Bill Lydon, an experienced industrial automation technical and business professional, is currently a consultant providing insights, facilitating thinking and coaching for digital manufacturing transformation. Lydon has 35 years of experience, including industrial, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), process control/DCS, electrical power/utility and building automation with technology and business experience ranging from design, application engineering, corporate experience, co-founder & president of a start-up company. He started his career as a designer of computer-based machine tool controls; in other positions, he applied programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and process control technology. He's trained and experienced as a group Creative Problem Solving & Value Engineering facilitator.
Working at a large company, Lydon served a two-year stint as part of a five-person task group, that designed a new generation automation system including controllers, networking and supervisory and control software. He also designed software for chiller and boiler plant optimization. Bill was the product manager for a multimillion-dollar controls and automation product line and later cofounder and president of an industrial control software company with solutions for factory and process control and automation.
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Opinion
Manufacturing Competitiveness Necessitates Understanding Automation Possibilities, and Industry Events Offer Learning Opportunities
Successful manufacturing companies understand the importance of their people attending industry trade events and symposiums to facilitate learning about the latest manufacturing and industrial automation concepts, techniques and products available.By: Bill Lydon27 May, 2026 | 2 minutes -
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Open, Proprietary or Managed Ecosystems Require Critical Business Management Decisions
Industrial control and automation systems investments require critical business management decisions for long term competitiveness, growth and profits over time.By: Bill Lydon26 May, 2026 | 5 minutes -
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Process Industry Working Group Accelerates Process Control and Automation Convergence
The PLCopen Process Industry Working Group will explore the incorporation of the function blocks PLCopen has developed for the O-PAS standard into a new PLCopen standard.By: Bill Lydon17 December, 2025 | 3 minutes -
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Open Systems Initiatives Require Critical Business Management Decisions
Understand the trade-offs and investments needed to create an integrated, real-time, industrial manufacturing business.By: Bill Lydon07 March, 2025 | 3 minutes -
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Process Users Shift from DCS to PLC: PLC vs. DSC Experience Survey
The PLC vs. DSC Experience Survey interim report is an ongoing, crowdsourced, open survey for users to share experience and know-how with the automation community.By: Bill Lydon30 October, 2024 | 4 minutes -
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AWS (Amazon Web Services) Digital Manufacturing Architecture: IMTS 2024
The AWS IMTS 2024 booth featured embedded hardware providers to integrate the manufacturing edge, sensors, actuators and other devices into the architecture.By: Bill Lydon29 October, 2024 | 3 minutes -
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An Open-Source Control Programming Platform for Universalautomation.org Runtime Engine
The Eclipse Foundation 4diac project has spearheaded the open-source industrial software movement.By: Bill Lydon28 October, 2024 | 3 minutes -
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AI Accelerating Industrial Transformation: Microsoft at IMTS 2024
Microsoft's theme at IMTS 2024 was: "Accelerate Industrial Transformation with AI."By: Bill Lydon03 October, 2024 | 3 minutes -
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Siemens Digitalization of Art to Part: IMTS 2024
The Siemens software portfolio was demonstrated at IMTS 2024 illustrating the digitalization of “art to part” at its booth at IMTS 2024.By: Bill Lydon02 October, 2024 | 4 minutes -
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Technology Trends That Empower Innovation
Advances in 18 technology areas are empowering and inspiring manufacturers.By: Bill Lydon25 September, 2024 | 35 minutes -
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Real-time Digital Manufacturing: Realized
Applying digital transformation techniques and new system design approaches make integrated, sensor-to-enterprise systems possible.By: Bill Lydon23 September, 2024 | 5 minutes -
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Automation Is Essential for Manufacturing Growth
Why consider macroeconomic or wide-ranging technological trends? Because industrial growth and resilience depend on it.By: Bill Lydon17 September, 2024 | 4 minutes -
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Industrial Controller Software Standards Discussions at ARC Forum 2024
At the 28th annual ARC Industry Leadership Forum in Orlando, Control Software Standards proved to be an important piece of the discussion, particularly IEC 61131 and IEC 61499.By: Bill Lydon11 March, 2024 | 9 minutes -
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Open Process Automation: Open Controllers and Decoupling Field I/O
Bill Lydon discusses the benefits of OPAF’s using existing standards rather than falling into the “we are different” trap and creating new standards.By: Bill Lydon29 February, 2024 | 6 minutes -
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Open Process Automation: Status Update from ARC Forum 2024
Progress has been made on achieving the vision of an Open Process Automation system architecture.By: Bill Lydon20 February, 2024 | 5 minutes -
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Rockwell Automation Expanding Scope Beyond Controls & Automation: Automation Fair 2023
Rockwell Automation (ROK) continues to evolve beyond the company's traditional industrial controls and automation business through acquisitions and growing service business.By: Bill Lydon12 December, 2023 | 3 minutes -
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Fast and Actionable Machine Analytics: A Chemical Processor Case Study
At the 27th Annual ARC Industry Forum, the director of operations excellence at LSB Industries described how analytics delivered results in a short time.By: Bill Lydon28 July, 2023 | 3 minutes -
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Fast and Actionable Machine Analytics: ARC Forum 2023
Brian Wolf, director, Operations Excellence at LSB Industries, described the rapid application of analytics getting results in a short time at the 27th Annual ARC Industry Forum.By: Bill Lydon11 July, 2023 | 3 minutes -
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Procter & Gamble's Jeff Kent Discusses AI and Machine Learning
Jeff Kent, vice president, Smart Platforms Technology & Innovation at Procter & Gamble, discussed experience with the application of AI and machine learning at the ARC Forum 2023.By: Bill Lydon09 June, 2023 | 3 minutes -
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PureCycle Technologies' Born Digital Innovative Plastic Recycling Plant
PureCycle Technologies' mission is to transform plastic waste into an infinitely sustainable material ending the culture of single-use plastic and created to truly circular economy.By: Bill Lydon19 May, 2023 | 4 minutes
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