2023 Thought Leaders: Glen Thornton

What opportunities do you predict for the growth of your industry for 2023?

At ifm we look many years ahead within the industries we service to not only predict but to understand industry needs. We see companies that are adaptable, flexible and ambitious have already been working extremely hard on understanding their own strengths and possible weaknesses to remove businesses risk.

The present needs are to maximise the available time for better throughput with higher product quality — which in turn brings more business. It’s all about futureproofing business. This is where we spend a lot of our time learning from these needs so we provide the best solution to not only automate but to provide product surety and brand security.

With the pandemic, we saw a large increase in online purchasing which in turn increased the need for larger warehouses and automated logistics.

Another key area for Australia is the ever-growing agriculture and aquaculture industries. These key industries require greater visibility on their production and processes, which means a move towards a higher level of automated connectivity and cloud services.

What are the three biggest challenges or threats facing your industry in 2023?

We know and understand the difficult times our local manufacturing, production and processing is going through. The need for higher efficiencies, increased production, improved quality, and competing globally are just a few of the factors effecting industry.

From our view of the market, we see the biggest threat is in not modernising. Older manual processes slow down product throughput and can have onflow effects on product quality and traceability.

Companies should therefore be investigating in the opportunities available to ensure their business viability. Applying modern technology may appear daunting, or maybe there is the basic notion that ‘someone else will take care of it’, but ignoring the issue puts businesses at risk of not being at the leading edge of their industry.

At ifm, we have many and varied discussions with companies about their manufacturing and processes. Many of them are advanced in their thinking with some taking great steps forward into a phase of advanced data-based manufacturing, while others feel quite overwhelmed by the technology discussions. If business owners, production managers and quality assurance staff focus on the application and not the connecting technology, the solution is quickly resolved with the technology.

What impacts have the pandemic had on your industry and how does this effect business strategies for 2023?

ifm Australia and ifm globally were very quick to act on the emerging pandemic by setting up remote offices to make sure we didn’t let our key customer base down.

We are an essential supplier of automation sensing equipment to all industries including food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, water and wastewater, agriculture, mining and other key industries. The quick pace of setup was of key importance knowing this could be for a prolonged period.

From our point, we didn’t miss a beat with supply of the important sensing and solution connectivity needed by the Australian market.

How is your industry preparing for AI developments and advanced manufacturing?

Globally, our product portfolio is classed as one of the best in industry with high levels of sensing technology and connectivity solutions. The next steps for industry will be to embrace newer sensing technologies which will enhance and grow the total production process.

Our software is at the beginning of the AI journey, where having live-stream data gives immediate access to all production including throughput, quality and pending machine breakdown.

For many years now, ifm has incorporated IO-Link within our sensors, which opens up completely new possibilities for the user. From easy and quick setup to additionally available machine monitoring data, it enables process transparency from the machine level to the ERP software. Process data from intelligent sensors allows for the automation technology to be integrated in a simple and economic manner. IO-Link offers convincing efficiency gains and cost savings with higher levels of process monitoring, energy monitoring, quality assurance monitoring, track-and-trace and condition monitoring.

Being fully aware makes you fully engaged which can mitigate issues even before they arise. Our aim is to help industry learn that it’s not that hard to begin and not that expensive. As we say, start small and grow as you know.

Glen Thornton is an experienced National Product and Brand Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the industrial automation industry. He is skilled in sales, motion control, industrial control, account management, and product marketing, and graduated from Preston Technical School. ifm provides German-engineered solutions for automation, including vibration diagnostic systems, position and fluid sensors, bus and identification systems, and control and connection technology.