Smart Manufacturing Mindset™: i3X™ Explained

Manufacturers face critical challenges in their ongoing quest for productivity (AI-driven decision support, real-time visibility and efficiency, quality, predictive maintenance, supply chain resilience, and labor shortages) and today’s fragmented IT/OT systems trap data in silos. The solution is an intentional focus on OT infrastructure (plumbing) and reusable solutions that enable seamless data and workflow integration across systems, unlocking an ecosystem of portable apps – much like Apple® and Android® did for mobile device ecosystem.

At the API layer, this fragmentation compounds: every platform, historian, and application exposes data through its own proprietary API, creating integration complexity that slows innovation. The Industrial Information Interoperability eXchange (i3X) is emerging as an answer – an open, vendor-agnostic API designed to standardize how applications interact with contextualized manufacturing data across platforms.

In this episode of Smart Manufacturing Mindset, we sat down with three members of the i3X working group to explore the vision, architecture, and real-world implications of this initiative. Together, we’ll unpack how i3X aims to eliminate data silos and “API chaos,” enable portable manufacturing applications, and unlock AI at scale across heterogeneous industrial systems.

Whether you are a manufacturer, systems integrator, developer, or technology provider, this conversation will provide insight into the strategic importance of interoperable manufacturing architectures and how a common API could transform the way industrial software is built and deployed and creates value.

Bonus Content: Could i3X Finally Solve Manufacturing’s Interoperability Problem? Jonathan Wise also sat down with David Greenfield on the Automation World Podcast discussion to discuss all things i3X. Listen Here.

Reverse Engineering the Smart Manufacturing Mindset: CESMII’s roadmap process emphasizes culture and vision, not just tech

A recent Deloitte survey found that 98% of manufacturers have started a digital transformation project, yet the vast majority remain stuck, unable to scale. The culprit isn’t the technology. It’s that strategy and alignment get skipped in favor of jumping straight to tools and platforms.

Jim Wetzel, who leads CESMII’s Smart Manufacturing Roadmap Process, says it best: “We don’t even talk about technology until we’re about 80% of the way through.”

A new article from SME explores how the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap Framework is helping manufacturers flip that script, starting with business outcomes, getting the right people aligned, and building a path that actually holds up.

Manufacturing Information Modeling & Namespace Foundations Course™

Building the Foundation for Smart Manufacturing

📅 April 29-30, 2026
📍 Virtual

If your organization is struggling with fragmented systems, costly integrations, and data that doesn’t talk across platforms, this course was built for you.

CESMII’s Manufacturing Information Modeling & Namespace Foundations Course is a 2 day (12 hours) online training course designed for controls engineers,  system integrators, OT/IT professionals, and technology providers involved in building, architecting or implementing modern manufacturing data architectures, and more effective UNS solutions.

Learning Objectives:

• Establish a baseline of OT & IT principles to facilitate convergence of strategic methodologies from both domains
• Understand, define, and create information models and SM Profiles
• Grasp the underlying principles that make information modeling impactful
• Apply practical understanding and troubleshooting of OPC UA types and specifications
• Implement SM Profiles in several industry-leading platforms
• Recognize how the 3 SM Imperatives enable application interoperability, minimize data silos/stovepipe architectures, and lower the barriers to standardization

This online certification, developed in collaboration with CESMII and RPI, prepares consultants, advisors, and innovation champions to guide manufacturers through smart manufacturing transformation using the CESMII Acceleration Framework.

You’ll work through hands-on projects, build a capstone roadmap, and gain access to the SM Roadmap Professionals Community upon certification.

Curious about the program but want to see it in action before committing? This free 30-minute webinar gives you an inside look at the Smart Manufacturing Roadmap and the SMARP certification. Instructor Tim Stuart and certified professional Benjamin McGlaughlin share what the process actually looks like, the outcomes manufacturers are achieving, and how the certification is equipping professionals to lead that work.