IFS is a company that encourages and promotes creativity and innovation. The more brains that are involved the greater the creativity, so by sharing ideas and inspiration creativity flourishes. Learn more about why IFS values creativity and innovation.
“AI” is one of the most overused technology buzzwords of the last 2-3 years. But the term is not going anywhere, so I’d like to make a plea on behalf of the weary: when talking about AI, don’t stop the conversation at ‘shiny new technology’. Instead, continue to shift the AI conversation: why consider investing…
A recent study conducted by WBR indicates that the service industry is at an inflection point. Over the next 24 months, technology will drive digital transformation in many companies striving to improve and predict revenue streams while also improving operational efficiency. shows that nearly three quarters of respondents provide service on equipment that is sensor-enabled….
Customer service is a people-focused business, and according to the Harvard Business Review, there are elements of service that are hard to automate. But there is great value that businesses can realize by enabling artificial intelligence (AI) to automate portions of their service organization. Specifically, intelligent chatbots can extend customer relationship management (CRM) software to…
We are seeing the growing demand to integrate connected devices for field service operations. In a recent study by IFS, 30 percent of product-oriented companies said they are already using IoT for field service to some extent – a few companies are even harnessing IoT data to automatically trigger work orders or technician dispatches. But…
Over the years there have been many paradigms that claim to optimize production and save the world—bottleneck, forward and backward, finite and infinite scheduling models, DDMRP, Kanban—and almost all failed in some way to deliver manufacturing nirvana. One such stratagem was the Theory of Constraints (TOC). But could a fresh approach to TOC, combined with…
The penalties for poor maintenance can be high—in energy production, loss of revenue and component costs, as well as fines levied for non-delivery. But contrast this with time and/or operation count-based maintenance where a piece of equipment gets maintained whether it needs it or not. This is labor intensive and ineffective in identifying problems that…
Augmented and virtual reality seem to have existed as buzzwords in lots of industries over recent years—but real-life business use cases have been relatively slow to emerge. Sure, they have proved popular for gamers across the world, but the technology has now taken a step out of the living room and onto the tarmac in…
We’ve all heard the promises of efficiency improvements and digital transformation made possible by adopting internet of things (IoT) technologies. This assumes, of course, that the observations coming out of the IoT monitoring system are actually correct. No, this blogpost is not about tampering or other cybersecurity concerns—although that topic would be worth a blogpost…
Businesses are constantly told they will go broke if they do not digitally transform and quickly, but for manufacturers it’s not quite as simple. If production goes down even for a day, the impact can be irreversible, with potentially millions in revenue lost. From an ergonomic, economic and environmental perspective, smart factories are heralded as…
Predictions vary about when emergent technologies will become a reality. Can taking a look at the past provide insight into what’s next? No matter where you look there are predictions on when technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality and driverless cars will become a reality and commonplace in our lives. Many pundits fall back…
