eHandbook: Digital transformation, AI & IIoT: a roadmap from pilot to plant floor

The artificial intelligence (AI) conversation in industry has shifted. The question is no longer whether to adopt it, but whether your facility can execute. This E-Handbook from Control cuts through the hype with practical, engineering-first guidance for process controls engineers, plant managers and operations leaders. It opens with a hands-on readiness framework that starts with the decision you want to improve rather than the model you want to buy, and it covers everything from data inventories and time alignment to secure OT-to-analytics architecture and shadow-mode validation.

Beyond the fundamentals, you’ll see where industrial AI is heading. Learn how Hershey and Keurig Dr. Pepper are pairing AI with workers on the plant floor, catching costly changeover errors that computer vision alone couldn’t. Explore the rise of physical AI, grounded in the laws of physics, chemistry, and thermodynamics, and what it could mean for safe, autonomous operations. Then get a look at fresh survey data from 1,560 decision-makers showing that the industry has moved past the pilot era and into what Rockwell Automation calls the execution era.

Whether you’re mapping out your first AI use case or trying to scale one that’s stalled, this E-Handbook delivers the checklists, pitfalls, and real-world examples to help you move forward with confidence. 

Featured in this issue:

Preparing for Artificial Intelligence: The Real Question Is Facility Readiness

How Hershey is sweetening the deal between AI and the plant floor

Let’s get physical AI

AI pilot era crosses