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4 Advancements in Industrial Automation H enry Ford's introduction of the conveyor belt assembly line revolutionized efficiency so thoroughly that an automated sequential process is still the basis of many manufacturing architectures today. That model may finally be poised to change. Robotic automation and the ability to leverage a wealth of data have brought speed and precision to the manufacturing process. As manufacturing has become more efficient, the range and variety of products factories are able to produce has also grown. Customer choice has come a long way from Ford's initial offering of "any color, as long as it's black." Now, with the emergence of the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), manufacturers can augment their legacy systems with software that allows manufacturing components to operate independently of each other. This capability promises an era of flexible, decentralized manufacturing architectures that can take advantage of efficiencies beyond Ford's wildest Unleashing a New Era of Smart Manufacturing Anil Kumar Ramsesh, PhD, Engineering Fellow, Industrial, TE Connec- tivity; and Ivan Ruiz Stubelj, Manager, Strategic Business Development, Automation Controls, TE Connectivity dreams. Before this architectural shift can take place, however, manufacturers will need to settle on connectivity solutions that bring interoperability to the modular components that will enable this more flexible, decentralized process. The Challenges of Decentralization Introducing a new manufacturing architecture is complicated. Factories that aren't operating aren't profitable, so even paradigm-shifting changes must be achievable quickly and efficiently. Video analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence make it possible to train and retrain existing machines to take on different tasks under different circumstances (Figure 1). Automating the transitions between those tasks requires sensors to measure circumstances and conditions on the factory floor or in the supply chain. Virtualization makes it possible to test and refine new manufacturing configurations at a relatively low cost. By testing these systems thoroughly before