Real-World Examples Of Engineering Automation

Ever feel like your team is stuck in an endless loop of manual data entry? (Automation Tip Tuesday 👇) That’s exactly where one of our clients — an education consulting firm — found themselves. They were juggling a whole tech stack of tools that didn’t “talk”  to each other, creating inefficiencies and double work. We started with a look into their sales workflow. 🔹 Sales data lived in HubSpot, but once a deal closed, someone had to manually update Asana to track project progress. 🔹 Internal teams worked from one Asana board, but clients needed visibility into their own project timelines — cue more manual updates. 🔹 With so much repetitive data entry, valuable time was being wasted on low-impact admin work. Here’s what we did: 🔗 HubSpot → Asana automation: We created an integration that auto-generates project tasks in Asana when a deal reaches a certain stage in HubSpot. No more copy-pasting! 📢 Internal and client boards sync: Internal progress updates in Asana now automatically reflect on client-facing Asana projects, reducing the back-and-forth. Less busywork, more productivity. By eliminating duplicate data entry, the team saved 10+ hours per week — time now spent on strategy and client success. When your tools work together, your team can focus on what really matters. Where is your team losing time? Drop a comment below! ⬇️ -- Hi, I’m Nathan Weill, a business process automation expert. ⚡️ These tips I share every Tuesday are drawn from real-world projects we've worked on with our clients at Flow Digital. We help businesses unlock the power of automation with customized solutions so they can run better, faster and smarter — and we can help you too! #automationtiptuesday  #automation #workflow #efficiency

AI adoption doesn’t happen through slide decks or when leaders buy subscriptions to a copilot—it happens when people feel the impact in their own work. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 At a recent company offsite, we ran an automation design sprint using n8n to help our departments eliminate repetitive tasks, free up time for high-impact work, and get hands-on with AI. We are definitely biased, but it seems like it was a solid success. 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 • Focused on one tool – People are overwhelmed by the speed of AI and all the tools and capabilities. We did the research, chose n8n as our automation platform (others include Make, Zapier), and simplified the choice for them. • Assigned an Automation Lead – Gave them time to ramp up, set up preconfigured APIs, and prep the environment. • Pre-reads & videos – Our automation leader met with departments in advance and shared primers so teams weren’t starting cold. 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 • Breakout sessions – Departments identified pain points and mapped potential automations. Each team had an assigned engineer to help execute or clear roadblocks. • Rapid prototyping – 1-hour workflow design → timeboxed builds. • Show & tell – Teams presented their automations, the "why" behind them, and their progress. Many were fully functional by the end. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦  A month later, live automations are running across all teams—with more in the pipeline. And to make automation stick, we put an initial structure in place: • Automation Lead role formalized. • Department-level automation roadmaps created. • Engineering leads assigned until teams are self-sufficient. • Focus on training team members in each department. • Regular check-ins between teams and automation leads. • “Automation of the Week” updates to highlight wins. We’ll share more on what’s working (and what’s not) as we scale this. I am curious what other teams are doing on this front and how they are executing. Would love to hear in the comments or directly from folks.  

As the demand for smarter, more connected systems continues to rise, PLCs are evolving beyond their traditional boundaries. What was once considered a rigid, low-level controller is now starting to behave more like a modern computer—bridging the gap between industrial automation and full-stack development. I experienced this first hand recently as I had a project where I needed to pull data from a third party system. The catch? The data was only accessible via a REST API. Instead of routing everything through a middleware PC, I implemented an HTTP GET request directly from the PLC. The response came back in JSON format, which I parsed on the controller to populate target parameters in real time—no external hardware or conversion layer needed. Today’s PLCs are capable of much more than deterministic scan cycles and I/O control. A lot of PLCs are adopting items we see in a regular software development setting: - HTTP requests can now be sent and received directly from many brands of controllers - JSON parsing is becoming supported across several PLC platforms - RESTful APIs can be integrated to communicate with cloud services or MES/ERP systems through PLCs - Secure communication over protocols like MQTT and OPC UA is becoming more common - File handling, string manipulation, and even structured object handling are part of the toolbox - Some platforms support object-oriented programming and event-driven architectures Why does this matter? Because the modern factory is no longer isolated—it’s part of a broader ecosystem. Smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and IIoT demand seamless data flow between machines, systems, and people. As system engineers, we’re entering an exciting time where the roles of industrial control and software development are blending. This shift opens up new possibilities, but it also means we must continue expanding our skill sets beyond traditional methods of PLC programming. P.S. the controller I used for those HTTP requests mentioned earlier was an AutomationDirect BRX Model PLC. #IndustrialAutomation #PLCs #IIoT #Industry40 #AutomationEngineering #SmartManufacturing #PLCProgramming #OTmeetsIT #ControlSystems #JSON #APIs #EdgeComputing

𝐀𝐈-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬, where AI plays a crucial role in creating and enhancing these virtual replicas, is one of the most exciting combos for the future of business and technology. Example one: Predictive Maintenance. Predictive maintenance is one of the most essential uses of artificial intelligence in engineering. AI systems can detect equipment breakdowns by evaluating real-time sensor data and optimizing maintenance plans, resulting in reduced downtime and operational expenses. Combining Digital Twins with AI enhances these advantages. AI improves the capability of Digital Twins by offering predictive analytics for real-time simulations and scenario modeling. This combination dramatically increases operational insights and decision-making capabilities. Example 2: Industry 4.0 (Cars) Consider the development of self-driving autos as an example. Training an AI-empowered Digital Twins model to mimic virtually billions of kilometers of driving scenarios is significantly faster, safer, and less expensive than physical testing. The AI model may predict behavior that contradicts physical laws, such as a car speeding suddenly or cornering impossibly. However, physics-based digital twin simulations provide the required safeguards, guaranteeing these virtual tests generate valid and actionable results and reassuring us of the safety and cost-effectiveness of this technology. Example 3: Healthcare/Medicines It is a computer-generated heart, or digital twin, used to test implantable cardiovascular devices such as stents and prosthetic valves, which, once proven safe, will be placed on actual patients. Using artificial intelligence and massive amounts of data, they constructed a variety of hearts. These AI-generated synthetic hearts may be customized to match not just biological characteristics such as weight, age, gender, and blood pressure but also health conditions and ethnicities. Because these disparities are frequently not represented in clinical data, Digital Twin Hearts can assist device manufacturers in conducting trials over a broader range of populations than human trials or trials utilizing only digital twins and no AI. Example 4: Education. The potential of AI and digital Twins has particularly piqued the interest of many in the EdTech industry. Creating accurate digital clones to support human educators is more than just a faddish trend. These AI-powered counterparts are highly trained productivity and support boosters who can free educators from demanding work schedules. Their outputs go beyond simple automated responses; they are crafted & capable of engaging the client in meaningful conversations, all while making well-informed decisions and capturing the intricate nuances of an individual's personality. The examples here can go on and on. It's fascinating (at least in my eyes) to see the combination of #IoT, #AI, #DigitalTwins, and #SaaS intertwined in such an innovative and productive means in the future.

****What do I know about OT data and how to use it to get ahead? **** I was once asked to help get a customer a custom heat exchanger skid to work with low pressure steam. So I designed a heat exchanger skid. I did the energy and material balances to size the pump, heat exchanger, steam control valve and all the instrumentation (mainly pressure and temperature.) I decided the size of the piping and all the flow rates it was going to maintain. I worked with vendors and application engineers to get the right HX, valve and pump, steam traps, hand valves, piping and fittings ordered in our company procurement system. I then brought all those process Instruments to intrinsically safe barriers and the pump motor to a hybrid motor starter. I designed the control panel and the motor power circuits as well. I then programmed all of that into a an allen bradley PLC and HMI. I made it so the HMI showed a picture of the pump curve so operators could still know the flow rate because I was measuring the pressure differential across the pump. I created Alarm messages to make sure operators could see exactly what faults were keeping them from running. I performed a Factory Acceptance Test with the operators and adjusted the HMI according to what made sense to them. The data can't stop here if it's going to be used for Predictive Maintenance. We can connect servers to PLCs and collect all the data from them to display in real time (on PC monitors) AND to bring it back to a database. This means that we can collect the history of the Skid while it was operating and we can watch what it's doing from a control room or even further today. An Manufacturing Execution System can take the vibration data and amperage data from the pump and tell you when it's time to check it out. Anyway I talk about automation because I do really know where it starts and where it COULD end if you're ready for Digital Transformation. The data behind that heating function and it's equipment above is move valuable than the product its helping produce... Industry 5.0 is feeding PLC, SCADA, MES, ERP, CRM, WMS data into AI and ML and getting spooky accurate data to put you ahead of people stuck on SCADA that's doesn't even talk to their ERP. Lets sit down and talk about how we could move what feels like an immovable object together? Its going to take buy in from all your people on every level. Process & Controls Engineering, LLC