About AutomationEdge

Built by engineers, for engineers

AutomationEdge is an independent technical resource centre run by practitioners who have spent careers on the shop floor, in the control room, and at the intersection of IT and OT. No vendor agendas. No marketing fluff. Just rigorous, peer-reviewed analysis.

40+

Technical resources published

Domain experts on the team

60+

Years combined industry experience

100%

Independent, vendor-neutral

Our editorial mission

Industrial automation is moving faster than most organisations can absorb. New architectures, new threat vectors, new regulatory requirements — the pace of change creates a genuine knowledge gap between what practitioners need to know and what is available in accessible, technically credible form.

AutomationEdge exists to close that gap. Every article, guide, and resource we publish is written by someone who has implemented the technology in question, reviewed by at least one independent practitioner, and held to a standard of technical accuracy that we would apply to our own engineering work.

We cover industrial automation, robotics, cybersecurity in OT environments, digital manufacturing, and the convergence of IT and OT systems. We do not accept sponsored content, and we do not allow vendor relationships to influence our editorial positions.

Technical rigour

Every claim is sourced. Every recommendation is grounded in real implementation experience. We flag uncertainty rather than paper over it.

Practitioner perspective

Our contributors are working engineers and researchers, not generalist journalists. They write from direct experience, not secondary sources.

Editorial independence

No sponsored content. No vendor relationships that influence coverage. Our only obligation is to the accuracy of what we publish.

Accessible depth

Technical rigour does not require impenetrable prose. We write for experienced practitioners who value precision and clarity in equal measure.

Meet the editorial team

The people who research, write, and review everything on AutomationEdge.

Marcus Chen

Industrial Automation & Control Systems

Editor-in-Chief

Marcus spent 18 years as a controls engineer and systems integrator before founding AutomationEdge. He has designed and commissioned automation systems across automotive, food & beverage, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, with particular depth in PLC/SCADA architecture and functional safety (IEC 61508/61511). He holds a BEng in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester and is a Chartered Engineer with the IET.

Credentials

BEng Electrical Engineering, University of Manchester
Chartered Engineer (CEng), IET
TÜV Functional Safety Engineer (FSEng)
18 years industry experience

Focus areas

PLC/SCADA architectureFunctional safetySystems integrationIEC 61508/61511

Dr Priya Nair

Digital Thread & Industry 4.0

Lead Researcher — Digital Manufacturing

Priya holds a PhD in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Loughborough University, where her doctoral research focused on PLM-MES integration architectures and their impact on product quality traceability. She subsequently spent eight years as a principal consultant at a Big Four firm, leading digital transformation programmes for tier-1 automotive and aerospace manufacturers. Her work on digital thread security has been cited in IEC technical committee publications.

Credentials

PhD Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Loughborough University
MEng Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
8 years Big Four consulting
Published in Journal of Manufacturing Systems

Focus areas

PLM/MES/ERP integrationDigital thread architectureQuality traceabilityIndustry 4.0 strategy

James Okafor

Operational Technology Security

Senior Editor — OT Cybersecurity

James is a specialist in OT and ICS cybersecurity with a background that spans both the offensive and defensive sides of industrial security. He began his career as a penetration tester before moving into OT security architecture, where he has led security assessments and remediation programmes for critical infrastructure operators across energy, water, and manufacturing. He is a GIAC-certified ICS security professional and a contributing author to the ICS-CERT advisory programme.

Credentials

GIAC GICSP (ICS Security Professional)
CISSP
MSc Information Security, Royal Holloway
Contributing author, ICS-CERT advisories

Focus areas

ICS/SCADA securityOT network architectureThreat modellingIEC 62443

Sofia Reyes

Industrial Robotics & AMR

Senior Editor — Robotics & Autonomous Systems

Sofia is a robotics engineer with a decade of experience in industrial robot programming, cell design, and autonomous mobile robot deployment. She has led robotics integration projects for logistics, electronics assembly, and heavy manufacturing clients across Europe and North America. Her technical focus is on human-robot collaboration, robot safety standards (ISO 10218, ISO/TS 15066), and the integration of AMR fleets with warehouse management systems.

Credentials

MSc Robotics, ETH Zürich
BEng Mechatronics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Certified Robot Integrator (BARA)
ISO 10218 / ISO/TS 15066 practitioner

Focus areas

Industrial robot programmingHuman-robot collaborationAMR fleet managementRobot safety standards

Dr Thomas Wren

Machine Learning & Computer Vision

Contributing Editor — AI in Manufacturing

Thomas is a research scientist and engineer whose work sits at the intersection of machine learning and industrial applications. He completed his PhD at Imperial College London on adversarial robustness in computer vision systems, and has since applied that research to real-world deployments of AI-powered quality inspection, predictive maintenance, and process optimisation in manufacturing environments. He is a visiting lecturer at Imperial and a regular speaker at IMTS and Hannover Messe.

Credentials

PhD Computer Science (Machine Learning), Imperial College London
MEng Engineering Science, University of Oxford
Visiting Lecturer, Imperial College London
Speaker: IMTS, Hannover Messe

Focus areas

Computer vision for quality inspectionPredictive maintenance MLAdversarial robustnessAI deployment in OT environments

Editorial standards

Every article published on AutomationEdge meets the same bar we would apply to our own engineering work.

Practitioner authorship

All content is written by engineers and researchers with direct implementation experience in the subject area.

Independent peer review

Technical articles are reviewed by at least one subject-matter expert who is independent of the author.

Source transparency

Claims are sourced to primary documents — standards, peer-reviewed research, or named implementation experience.

No sponsored content

We do not accept sponsored articles, advertorials, or content that is influenced by vendor relationships.

Corrections policy

Factual errors are corrected promptly and transparently, with a dated correction notice appended to the article.

Conflict of interest disclosure

Contributors disclose any relevant commercial relationships. Editors recuse themselves from articles where a conflict exists.

Work with us

We welcome contributions from practitioners with deep domain expertise. If you have original research, a case study, or a technical perspective that would benefit the AutomationEdge readership, we would like to hear from you.

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