From Automation to Autonomy: Cisco and Rockwell Power a New Era for Manufacturing

Cisco and Rockwell Automation are partnering to help manufacturers scale AI from isolated pilots to full production deployments. The core argument is that the bottleneck to industrial AI isn't the model or compute, but the underlying infrastructure. Cisco's 2026 State of Industrial AI Report shows only 20% of industrial organizations have reached scaled AI deployments despite 61% using AI in live operations. The partnership combines Rockwell's factory domain intelligence with Cisco's secure, scalable edge infrastructure via platforms like Cisco Unified Edge, targeting use cases like real-time quality inspection, predictive maintenance, and closed-loop production optimization.