The Industrial IoT Blog
IIoT Insights by Henry Costa
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Smart Manufacturing Starts with Dumb Questions
Read more: Smart Manufacturing Starts with Dumb QuestionsIf you want a smart factory, start by getting comfortable asking dumb questions. Not “dumb” like careless. Dumb like simple. The kind of question you might avoid because you think you should already know the answer. After years working across…
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Why Your OEE Is Probably Wrong
Read more: Why Your OEE Is Probably WrongI’ve spent decades working with plant data, and if there’s one thing I wish more people understood, it’s this. Inconsistent machine data quietly ruins your OEE, often before you even know there’s a problem. I’ve seen this at small sites…
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Agentic AI on the Shop Floor: Real vs Hype in 2026
Read more: Agentic AI on the Shop Floor: Real vs Hype in 2026There’s a lot of noise around Agentic AI right now. If you’re in manufacturing, you’ve probably seen the demos. An AI agent that “autonomously optimizes your production line.” Another one that “self-heals equipment failures.” Sounds amazing, right? So let me…
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Industrial Edge Computing: Advantages and Use Cases
Read more: Industrial Edge Computing: Advantages and Use CasesWhat is industrial edge computing and why is it important? Industrial Edge Computing refers to processing and analyzing data close to the place where it is generated, that is, directly at industrial devices or sensors. Unlike traditional cloud-based computing, this technology…
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From Advising to Owning. The Shift Nobody Fully Prepares You For
Read more: From Advising to Owning. The Shift Nobody Fully Prepares You ForI spent about 16 years in consulting. Building practices, leading delivery teams, flying to client sites, presenting architectures, and handing over solutions. Then I moved to industry. Specifically, to a large global pharmaceutical company, leading IIoT architecture from the inside.…
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Software-Defined Automation (SDA) Is Coming. What It Means for Your IIoT Architecture
Read more: Software-Defined Automation (SDA) Is Coming. What It Means for Your IIoT ArchitectureSoftware-Defined Automation (SDA) is one of those terms that sounds like it was invented in a marketing meeting. But this time, there’s real substance behind it. And if you’re building or evolving an IIoT architecture today, you should pay attention.…
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Model Context Protocol (MCP) Explained: Making IIoT Smarter
Read more: Model Context Protocol (MCP) Explained: Making IIoT SmarterIf you work in industrial automation or manufacturing, you know the pain of getting data from machines, sensors, and systems into the hands of people and AI tools that can actually use it. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a…
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Communicating Edge Contextualization and Unified Namespace to Leadership
Read more: Communicating Edge Contextualization and Unified Namespace to LeadershipThe team had a problem. Not technical this time. They needed to explain Edge Contextualization and Unified Namespace (UNS) to senior leaders who did not care about protocols or data models. The audience knew their factories well. Directors, VPs, plant…
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Real-Time Decisions: Lessons From Mining Operations
Read more: Real-Time Decisions: Lessons From Mining OperationsI never planned to work in mining. It just happened. Early in my career, a project came up at a metals and mining operation in Brazil, and I said yes. That decision gave me some of the most intense, real…
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AI Meets UNS: Practical LLM Uses on Industrial Data
Read more: AI Meets UNS: Practical LLM Uses on Industrial DataA few years ago, if you told me we’d be using large language models on top of plant data, I would’ve said: “Cool demo. Not sure it survives contact with a real site.” Now I’m more convinced. Not because LLMs…
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Industrial AI Explained. Why Data Is the Real Starting Point
Read more: Industrial AI Explained. Why Data Is the Real Starting PointThere’s a lot of noise around AI in manufacturing right now. Every vendor deck, every conference keynote, every LinkedIn post seems to promise that AI will transform your plant. And honestly, most of the time, I just smile and scroll…
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IIoT Total Cost of Ownership: Cloud, Licenses, and the Hidden Costs
Read more: IIoT Total Cost of Ownership: Cloud, Licenses, and the Hidden CostsLet’s talk about the real cost of Industrial IoT. Not the version you see in vendor slide decks, but what actually impacts your budget once you move beyond a pilot and start scaling. If you are working on IIoT initiatives,…