Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1433652
Mitchell: I know one of the areas that we are really trying to help combat those costs is through our Factory of the Future initiatives. APEX EXPO will showcase the Factory of the Future pavilion on the show floor, host- ing leading tech companies in the field. ose companies will provide information on solving real business challenges with technologies that modernize processes throughout factories. Matties: When we look at Factory of the Fu- ture, obviously automation is a key part of it. AI comes into play. Mitchell: at's part of it, but also, it's about managing that information in terms of know- ing what to do with it. Now, in most companies we are collecting big data, but we don't have enough of our engineering staff that knows how to do proper data analytics to know what to do with all that data. Matties: Well, the core problem is first iden- tifying the critical data out of that. e other side of combating higher prices is to have bet- ter yields. Mitchell: Yes. It's also looking at where you can—and this is obvious—use alternate sourc- es. Right now, people have gotten very com- fortable … I shouldn't say right now. A year or two ago, people were very comfortable with their sources; now, people need to get comfort- able with looking at many alternative sources if they want to combat some of these challenges. Matties: But alternate sources, in some cases, are few and far between. Mitchell: I think you're right. But I have seen creativity allowing people to reconsider sourc- es they'd discounted before. Some companies have been helping their suppliers to "level-up" to get to the quality level that they need. is is where you have people looking beyond their own needs. You're saying, "If I really care for