CRB, a global provider of advanced engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting solutions to the life sciences and food and beverage industries, has hired Ryan Thompson as its new Industry 4.0 lead.
With nearly two decades of driving digital transformation within CRB's core markets, Thompson will report to Niranjan Kulkarni, CRB's senior director of Consulting Services, and deepen CRB's ability to guide clients to safer, leaner, and more efficient operations.
Thompson has experience with the challenges faced by manufacturers and the solutions that Industry 4.0 tools and technology can deliver. The 4.0 movement enables digital transformation for companies, allowing them to gain new efficiencies, increase productivity and raise asset performance.
"Industry 4.0 is about manufacturers taking advantage of advances in connectivity and computing power," Thompson said. "CRB's understanding of life sciences and food and beverage manufacturers' businesses from the factory floor to the boardroom uniquely positions us to provide solutions our clients can count on to achieve their goals."
Industry 4.0 use cases include automatic and contextualized data flow, artificial intelligence and machine learning, asset and scheduling optimization, preventative maintenance, digital twins, and predictive quality.
Most importantly, these solutions allow for interconnectivity across a facility or enterprise to eventually achieve a smart factory, allowing teams to collaborate with real-time information and act on insights provided by enabling technologies. In the long term, factories will use these tools to self-optimize allowing for truly "lights out" manufacturing.
"Ryan brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our team, having worked with numerous industry-leading organizations to implement cutting-edge technology solutions," Kulkarni said. "We couldn't be more excited about the new capabilities he brings to CRB."
Thompson's experience spans the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and consumer packaged goods industries. He specializes in process and batch automation, data modeling and infrastructure, MES platforms, ERP integrations, FDA regulations such as 21 CFR Part 11, and a vast net of automation platforms and smart manufacturing tools and technologies.
Earlier this year, CRB announced the opening of its 21st office location, in Jacksonville, FL. Thompson will be working at the Jacksonville location.
Offices are located in the US, Canada and Europe.
