Some marketers "get it" and some don't. I just had a meeting with Bengt and Victoria from the Swedish HMI manufacturer Beijer, and they "get it." That is, they understand where automation is today and how to build a smart company.

Many executives are moaning about the coming loss of expertise as baby boomers retire taking all their knowledge with them. As Dorothy Leonard details in her books "Wellsprings of Knowledge" and "Deep Smarts" they really should be building a learning organization and building their knowledge pools to avoid that disaster.

Manufacturing software industry consolidation took a new turn last week as Gary Mintchell describes in this podcast. Not only was one company acquired, but a venture firm took an equity stake in another company and raised the bidding for a third. RSS has had a tremendous impact on the way information flows over the Web. Shouldn’t manufacturing software suppliers be looking at this technology as well?