The Agile Factory on the Connected Edge: Streamlining Operational Complexity into High-Value Insights

Instead of struggling to orchestrate a fragmented factory using legacy PLCs, discover how Aperia Technologies transitioned from traditional LabVIEW-based fixtures and equipment to a fully cloud-native edge architecture. This session provides a practical roadmap for transforming unpredictable shop floor elements—from a simple handheld screwdriver, printer, or barcode scanner to an entire farm of 24/7 custom automated machinery running its own local control logic—and molding them into a secure, enterprise-wide data masterpiece powered by FlowFuse and Node-RED.

Imagine building a custom testing machinery farm so effective that your product design team takes over half of it to push R&D to the next horizon. While a testament to great engineering, it quickly triggers a shop floor nightmare. Suddenly, you are forced to handle the chaos of juggling multiple software environments, addressing non-stop feature requests, and preventing physical part mix-ups—all while trying to maintain 24/7 production, feed real-time machine status updates to cross-functional teams, and deliver a groundbreaking product to your customers. Driven by a critical need for faster team enablement, lower costs, and streamlined software management, relying on traditional PLCs or fragmented document control simply cannot scale. Without a centralized digital anchor, this level of operational friction paralyzes a factory floor.

In this webinar, Rhythm Agarwal and Kristopher Sandoval will reveal how Aperia Technologies tackled that exact problem with the connected nature of Node-RED via FlowFuse, turning an engineering nightmare into operational bliss. We will share the exact strategies used to harmonize competing R&D and production demands across a fleet of 100+ edge devices.

Rhythm and Kristopher will talk about:

• Ditching the PLC: The rationale, architectural blueprint, and cost-saving benefits of building a ground-up, cloud-native factory without traditional PLCs.
• The Integrated Data Backbone: How edge devices funnel high-frequency operational data smoothly into an internally developed, robust MongoDB backend for real-time logging and total asset traceability.
• Direct Hardware Interfacing: Practical examples of Node-RED communicating directly with diverse industrial equipment (such as laser etchers and scanners, vibration welders) using MODBUS-TCP, RS-232, and raw TCP. Bonus: Multi stack vision system.
• Enforcing strict asset traceability at the edge, binding physical smart fixtures and label printers into a synchronized loop.
• FlowFuse Fleet Management: How FlowFuse provides robust version control and allows engineering teams to securely deploy logic updates to 40 edge machines within a tight 30-minute switchover window.
• Showcase live machine status and performance data.
• Interactive Q&A Session: Troubleshooting your specific shop floor integration and scalability challenges with our engineering team.

This webinar is ideal for Controls Engineers, IIoT Solutions Architects, and Manufacturing Operations Managers who want to master the art of balancing rapid R&D experimentation with stable, 24/7 production data pipelines without drowning in custom code. Don't miss out on joining us live to uncover how to leverage FlowFuse as your ultimate collaborative canvas, turning daily hardware friction into a beautifully choreographed automation dance.