Lessons from the Floor
Practical, field-tested articles from the Unplugged IIoT community — written by industrial engineers and OT professionals, for industrial engineers and OT professionals.
Published Articles
Your FAT Test Sheet May Be Complete — and Still Fail to Test the Process
Why proving every I/O point doesn't prove the process works — a structured, architecture-first approach to functional acceptance testing using IEC 62381, IEC 62382 and ISA-88.
How to Learn Ignition from Scratch (Updated for 8.3)
A practical, free roadmap into Inductive Automation's Ignition — from the free trial and Inductive University to databases, version control, and working with AI. Updated for 8.3.
Practical OT Cybersecurity for Industrial Engineers
Six field-tested lessons — from asset inventory and backups to USB control, security culture, and a step-by-step path into ISA/IEC 62443.
Tag or Database? Where Your Data Belongs in Ignition
The 'now vs record' question, a 6-point decision checklist and the anti-patterns to avoid when placing data in Ignition Tags vs databases.
How to Tackle Industrial Programming in the Age of AI
You were never really a programmer. You were always an architect. How AI is changing industrial programming, and how to change with it.
More Articles
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Share Your Insights
Have a practical lesson, case study, or hard-won insight from the plant floor? We welcome community submissions and feature the best of them here and in the Unplugged IIoT Newsletter.
Submit
Send your draft article and a short author bio by email.
Review
Our team reviews for relevance, quality, and brand fit.
Approval
Approved pieces are scheduled for publication.
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Submission Guidelines
- Be practical. We favour field-tested, actionable insight over theory or product pitches.
- Stay on topic. Industrial IoT, automation, OT/ICS, digital transformation, and Industry 4.0.
- Keep it original. Submit your own work; cite any sources you reference.
- Include an author bio and a LinkedIn profile so we can credit you properly.
- Vetting applies. All submissions are reviewed and approved before publication. Community submissions carry a disclaimer noting the views are the author's own.