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Rockwell Expands Partnerships to Advance Industrial Cloud-Based Traceability Solutions

August 06, 2021 by Stephanie Leonida

Rockwell adds Kezzler to its growing list of partners to advance the digital transformation of manufacturing facilities with cloud-based solutions for product traceability.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (Rockwell) is a market-leading provider of industrial automation and digital transformation solutions for its global network of customers. The company operates its business within three main areas: architecture and software, control products, and solutions. Recently, Rockwell announced its entry into a partnership with Kezzler AS (Kezzler).


Rockwell has partnered with Kezzler to enhance cloud-based product traceability and management. Image used courtesy of Kezzler 


Kezzler specializes in product digitization, providing cloud-based digitization and traceability to manufacturers wishing to keep track of their products and components as they move through the supply chain. Rockwell’s partnership with Kezzler is expected to improve product traceability, sustainability, data safety and help manufacturers meet regulatory compliance. 

 

Rockwell and Kezzler's Existing Technology

Rockwell’s existing digital transformation legacy began with the company’s desire to bring together Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). This combination could allow customers in the manufacturing sector to access, monitor, and use operational, business, and transactional data to optimize processes and boost productivity. 

Rockwell created an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that could manage others globally and installed a manufacturing execution system (MES) as its centralized system of record. Over the years, the company endeavored to connect people, processes, and factories. Rockwell also standardized this factory connection system

 

Rockwell's CPGSuite MES. Image used courtesy of Rockwell 

 

Rockwell intends to integrate Kezzler’s traceability technologies with its existing digital transformation enterprise solutions to create a new platform. The new traceability platform will enable customers to connect with suppliers and consumers and logistics and manufacturing in one centralized space. 

In a recent press release, the Vice President and General Manager of Rockwell’s Systems and Solutions Business, Matt Fordenwalt, commented, “Our partnership with Kezzler will provide greater supply chain transparency to enhance safety and quality control measures, ensure regulatory compliance, and meet ESG goals with cloud-based technologies that are easy to implement and easy to use.” Regulatory compliance and enhanced safety are two very crucial aspects of achieving enhanced traceability. 

 

Combining Plex and Kezzler Software

To provide its customers with comprehensive product traceability, Rockwell will call upon industrial cloud software company Plex Systems (Plex). Following Rockwell’s acquisition of Plex, the former company intends to integrate Plex’s track and trace capabilities with Kezzler’s end-to-end capabilities. 

Like Rockwell’s software offerings, Plex’s software as a service (SaaS) manufacturing platform also offers solutions for ERP, MES, and the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Rockwell’s acquisition of Plex brings together the combined goal of bringing manufacturing to the cloud. 


A graphic showing the announcement between Rockwell and Plex Systems. Image used courtesy of Plex Systems 

 

In a news release from Kezzler, the company’s CEO,  Christine Akselsen, said, “Together, we can help manufacturers connect all points of a product’s journey, beginning with its inception and ending with its point of sale, consumption, or even where it’s recycled.”

Rockwell intends to integrate Plex’s cloud-native factory floor track-and-trace capabilities with the end-to-end capabilities of Kezzler. This fusion is hoped to provide improved and comprehensive supply chain visibility, and management capabilities for Rockwell’s customer’s in the manufacturing industry.