Rockwell Automation and Microsoft have announced significant technology integrations connecting the physical and digital industrial worlds.

“Rockwell’s partnership with Microsoft is a shared vision of creating and delivering the best solutions to empower the future of industrial operations,” said Nicole Denil, global vice president, market access, Rockwell Automation.

“We simplify complexity in how manufacturers design, operate, and maintain their enterprises and empower their people. Visitors to the Rockwell stand in the Microsoft booth at Hannover Messe will see how Rockwell Automation helps empower leading manufacturers globally to reduce waste in their operations and achieve sustainability goals through streamlined industry solutions.”

With Rockwell’s FactoryTalk edge and cloud solutions, manufacturers bring together artificial intelligence, IoT, and automation solutions to allow people, processes, and technology to operate seamlessly between physical and digital environments. With Microsoft Azure’s adaptive cloud approach, manufacturers can unify and streamline siloed teams, sites and systems while scaling applications and insights. Together, Rockwell and Microsoft will provide cutting-edge industrial transformation solutions across the value chain, rapidly and at scale, with AI-assisted design, connected data, and agile production optimization.

Additionally, the recently announced partnership between NVIDIA, Rockwell and Microsoft allows the creation, real-time management, and simulation of digital twins that will be accelerated with the use of Microsoft’s AI assisted tools and cloud technology.

Finally, with the integration of Rockwell Automation’s Plex manufacturing execution system (MES) with FactoryTalk® DataMosaix™ and Microsoft’s Cloud for Manufacturing, manufacturers benefit from transformative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help drive productivity, safety, and quality. These tools focus on resolving quality issues with corrective actions and root cause analysis.

Bringing intelligent factory to life

Innovative offerings demonstrate how integrated digital twins and generative AI expedite time-to-market as organizations and systems scale. One illustrates how to connect digital and physical assets for autonomous intelligent factories. It utilizes digital design with differentiated digital twin simulation and artificial intelligence through FactoryTalk Design Studio Copilot for a simplified customer experience of industrial operations.

Also on display at the recent Hannover Show was a digital twin simulation of a quality inspection process, inspired by Rockwell’s customer Nestlé. The digital simulation is augmented by a physical installation of product sorting and autonomous material handling for packaging. Production line sorting is represented through a factory digital twin, imitating the manufacturing of one of Nestlé’s products.

“Manufacturers are always looking for ways to drive modernization, optimize efficiency, and reduce costs,” said Dominik Wee, corporate vice president, manufacturing and mobility, Microsoft. “By combining Microsoft’s AI capabilities and trusted cloud platform with Rockwell’s industrial automation solutions, manufacturers will have the tools they need to speed up these objectives and create smart factories of the future.

Rockwell Automation