Ed Note:As we head off to the IoT World forum, we have the honor of a Guest Post By Paula Puess. Paula Puess has over 25 years of experience in both the IT and Manufacturing industries.  She is currently the Global Market Development Manager, Visualization & Information software for Rockwell Automation.

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It's understandable if IT professionals reading this blog accused industrial manufacturing as being a technology laggard. Some hear "manufacturing" and immediately think "labor intensive," "isolated operations," and "dangerous and dirty."

Not exactly a cutting-edge image.

So, what perspective does Rockwell Automation -the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information -offer IT experts from around the globe during the inaugural Internet of Things World Forum?

At Rockwell Automation, we've long recognized the value of connecting independent systems in manufacturing environments over a "network of things," so the "Internet of Things" is a natural extension of our pioneering work. While our manufacturing customers have turned to us for decades to help them improve their production efficiency, safety and sustainability, and integrate operations, we believe the industry is at an inflection point. Accelerated by the arrival of the Internet of Things and driven by the convergence of integrated control and information technologies, we envision a Connected Industrial Enterprise in which operations are more productive, agile, secure and sustainable.

Establishing a Connected Industrial Enterprise is far more complex than simply connecting disparate systems and improving communications. Collecting data is not the challenge. The challenge is translating the right real-time and historical data into working information capital and putting it in an actionable context for the right person at the right time across the plant, enterprise, supply chain and demand chain.

We're looking forward to participating in the forum, learning from others, and sharing how the Internet of Things accelerates our vision of the Connected Enterprise. From safer, more accessible food supplies through tracking and tracing solutions across the entire supply chain and more efficient water treatment through high-efficient intelligent motor control solutions, to more affordable oil and gas production through advanced process control and high-availability systems, the implications of the Connected Enterprise in industrial manufacturing touches all of us.