How TSN Powers Digital Transformation

Retrofitting legacy facilities is always a challenge—especially when expansion is involved. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is transforming digital transformation strategies in industrial automation by offering a unified infrastructure.

TSN enables precise time synchronization, ultra-low latency, exceptional reliability, and efficient resource allocation. These features allow IT and OT networks to converge, uniting end devices and enabling centralized data collection over a standard Ethernet network.

With TSN, real-time data becomes accessible, empowering factories to respond to market shifts and operational challenges with speed and agility.

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Adaptive Manufacturing: Driving Agility for Today and Tomorrow

To respond quickly to changing market needs, companies must embrace adaptive manufacturing—a flexible production approach that enables rapid adjustment to meet customized demand. This capability has become critical, especially in the wake of supply chain disruptions like those caused by COVID-19.

Adaptive manufacturing supports co-innovation within ecosystems and enables strategies like mass customization. It forms the backbone of Industry 4.0 and IIoT, leveraging data-centric production systems where everything is connected, communicating, and responsive. This ensures fast, informed decision-making across the board.

In practice, adaptive manufacturing delivers value across several key production areas:

• Asset Management: Companies gain greater visibility and control over their assets, which helps ensure uninterrupted operations and significantly lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Service-as-a-Service: By enhancing connectivity across systems, businesses can offer more efficient and innovative services, shifting toward service-oriented business models.
• Integration of Control Systems: Merging control processes and automation systems within the production line improves overall efficiency and drives operational excellence, laying the groundwork for smart, flexible manufacturing.

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TSN: The Bridge Between Traditional and Adaptive Manufacturing

Retrofitting legacy facilities is always a challenge—especially when expansion is involved. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is transforming digital transformation strategies in industrial automation by offering a unified infrastructure.

TSN enables precise time synchronization, ultra-low latency, exceptional reliability, and efficient resource allocation. These features allow IT and OT networks to converge, uniting end devices and enabling centralized data collection over a standard Ethernet network.

With TSN, real-time data becomes accessible, empowering factories to respond to market shifts and operational challenges with speed and agility.

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Unlocking the Full Potential of Adaptive Manufacturing with TSN

The benefits of adaptive manufacturing multiply when built on a TSN-enabled unified infrastructure:

• Optimized Asset Management: A unified network simplifies system architecture—fewer cables and devices mean lower installation and maintenance costs. IT technologies like AI and machine learning can be integrated to improve operational control and efficiency.
• From Product to Service: Companies can shift from selling products to offering services, opening new revenue models with lower minimum order quantities—without sacrificing profitability.
• Accelerated System Integration: Unified control systems drastically reduce changeover time. What once took weeks to reconfigure for a new product line now takes days—making flexible, profitable production a reality.

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Three Real-World Examples of TSN in Action

1. Unified Network for Streamlined Manufacturing

A manufacturer set out to unify its production, assembly, and logistics systems on a single network. TSN played a pivotal role in reducing production cycle times, simplifying infrastructure to lower the total cost of ownership, and enabling service-as-a-service models through seamless integration.

2. Enhancing CNC Machinery with TSN

A leading industrial machinery provider adopted TSN to integrate multiple applications into CNC systems. With precise laser and motion control, TSN helped streamline machine integration and significantly reduce production cycles—paving the way for scalable, high-speed manufacturing.

3. AI-Enabled Operations in a Hydropower Plant

A hydropower plant operator chose TSN to unify its fragmented networks and implement AI across its control systems. This shift made service management easier and improved the plant’s ability to respond to energy demands in real time. The result: lower operational costs, easier maintenance, and more responsive power output management.

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