Smart Factory: technologies, applications, geography, trends, keys players, markets and figures.

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In our disruptive and mobile-driven world where the end-to-end competitiveness is the key, industries need inter alia: systems capable of responding to real-time conditions, capable to optimize the manufacturing operations, they need smart factory technologies in their production processes.

Connectikpeople.co considers Smart factory as the future of automated manufacturing. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and industrial automation are the technologies that are essential in implementing a smart factory.

Sectors such as automotive and electrical and electronics ; Materials and mining industries ; Food and beverages and pharmaceutical industries are utilizing smart factory technologies to increase their production output , improve safety of their employees and equipment, and more. 

According to Research and Markets, the market for industrial automation is further broken down into sensors and actuators, communication technologies, industrial robotics, and industrial control systems like Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA), and Distributed Control System (DCS).

When it comes to the geographical scenario of the smart factory market, Asia-Pacific occupied the leading position, in 2013 owing to the large number of manufacturing industries in this region. 

Major industry players in the smart factory market include:  Siemens AG (Germany), GE Company (U.S.), Robert Bosch GmbH, (Germany), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), and Rockwell Automation, Inc. (U.S.) among others.