by Gary Mintchell | Apr 28, 2023 | Automation, Data Management, Edge, Internet of Things, Software, Technology
Moving past Mindsphere (now integrated into this platform), Siemens has integrated a new platform for industrial automation and business. The have launched Xcelerator and now add Industrial Operations X. I see this as part of a trend where established control and automation suppliers are scrambling to show financial markets that they are cool, hip software developers. We have seen many platforms touted over the past 5-7 years. We’ll have to wait and see how this one performs in the market.
In brief:
- Siemens expands Siemens Xcelerator open digital business platform with launch of Industrial Operations X
- Uniquely combining the real and digital worlds
- Production processes to become more efficient and highly adaptive
- Includes launch of first fully virtual controller
Industrial Operations X is the solution for production engineering, execution, and optimization. It focuses on integrating cutting-edge IT capabilities and proven methods from software operations in the world of automation: low code, edge, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) are combined with industry-leading automation technology and digital services.
Industrial Operations X solutions make data actionable by leveraging AI analysis capabilities. Independent studies suggest that a digitally enabled factory delivers production increases of up to 30 percent.
Based on the SIMATIC S7-1500, the virtual programmable logic controller (PLC) is hardware-independent, allowing applications to be centrally managed and flexibly modified to meet changing customer needs. PLC projects can be scaled with virtual control and easily integrated into other IT offerings through open data interfaces.
Making automation programmable with IT code: Simatic AX
Simatic AX provides IT professionals with a familiar development environment based on Visual Studio Code and version control via GIT and others. Simatic AX is cloud-based and is available as a service.
Visualization for the Industrial Edge environment: WinCC Unified for Industrial Edge
With Industrial Edge, administering software in machines is easier, more flexible, and more secure. A variety of apps is already available, focused on acquisition, preprocessing and analysis of machine or plant data.
Insights Hub: Turning Industrial IoT into actionable insights
Siemens will integrate MindSphere in the core of our operations software portfolio with an even stronger focus on delivering business value from IoT data. To emphasize our commitment to application value from industrial IoT, Siemens is evolving MindSphere (including partners and developers worldwide) into Insights Hub as part of Industrial Operations X and the Siemens Xcelerator ecosystem.
Insights Hub highlights the focus on empowering smart manufacturing to generate actionable insights from asset and operations data, by analyzing data locally or in the cloud, and transforming it into value. With Insights Hub, Siemens gives its customers proven industrial IoT solutions that include a variety of applications, like Insights Hub Quality Prediction for improving quality inspection and rework processes.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 27, 2023 | News, Organizations
OPC UA via HTTP REST allows IT-Applications access to OPC UA applications and their data described in over 90+ standardized domain-specific information models
The OPC Foundation has announced that it expands the OPC UA standard with a RESTful interface to allow access from anywhere in the world to information made available by implementations of over 90 standardized information models by IT-applications.
This extension was requested by IT companies to ensure efficient and standardized access to important information: IT-applications need the ability to utilize the data from OT to use it in concepts like Data Spaces, Digital Twins and the Metaverse. These solutions often share information between multiple companies. In many cases, they exchange the necessary information via proprietary HTTP REST-Interfaces.
OPC UA is already equipped with many building blocks, such as session-less services and security features. Those building blocks already cover many aspects required to provide standardized information via RESTful interfaces. With the addition of HTTP REST, applications outside of the OPC UA ecosystem can now access this information. The OPC UA specification includes the transfer of meta-information such as server timestamp, source timestamp, value, and quality of the individual information. Direct access via OPC UA allows these pieces of information to be shared up to the cloud and used in applications like the digital twin.
The expansion of OPC UA with REST is less likely to be adopted at the field level, but in gateways and cloud services. Cloud companies can now access standardized information and use it efficiently to optimize the business processes of their customers and unlock new use cases.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 27, 2023 | News, Organizations
A little news emanating from Hannover. I’ll have much more. This is one of few still dredging up the Industrie 4.0 term. It also brings up a concept dear to me—interoperability.
Bitkom and the OPC Foundation cooperate for the common goal of establishing and implementing interoperable interfaces for Industrie 4.0
The digital association Bitkom e.V. and the OPC Foundation announced a collaboration at Hannover Messe 2023. Together, they want to contribute to the establishment and implementation of interoperable interfaces in the context of Industrie 4.0 in a constructive exchange of views. The overall goal of the cooperation is to formulate requirements for interoperability with the digital economy to jointly promote harmonization efforts for machine and plant engineering.
“Lack of interoperability is a key barrier when exchanging data and information between different industrial platforms. OPC UA is an open and vendor-independent standard for the interoperability of systems and devices in industrial and automation technology. Especially in the context of data sharing and thus of data ecosystems, OPC UA can contribute to a uniform standard for the transmission of data between different systems in the context of Industrie 4.0. We are therefore very pleased that we are now entering into a direct exchange with the OPC Foundation through the MoU,” says Susanne Dehmel, member of the Bitkom management board.
“Interoperability is important to ensure seamless collaboration between different systems. The OPC Foundation manages a global standard for secure industrial interoperability for information modeling and data exchange in the context of industry that scales from OT to the IT world. As part of the collaboration with Bitkom, we want to ensure that industrial data aspects can be modeled quickly and accurately, taking into account all the needs of the IT world,” said Stefan Hoppe, President of the OPC Foundation.
Bitkom e.V. and the OPC Foundation will work together on the following topics:
• Promotion of interoperability and other elements
• Discussion of interoperability requirements together
• Derivation of actual interoperability and standardization needs based on specific use cases or business models
• Input on standardization requirements
• Promotion of security and trustworthiness
• Understanding aspects of open source and the relation to reference implementations
• Marketing activities to communicate the collaboration
Bitkom and OPC Foundation intend to share information on the above topics, host exchange formats and establish contacts with stakeholders to support productive collaboration.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 27, 2023 | Sensors, Technology
Imagine that you don’t have people to just stand and observe and take notes over three shifts a day for a week or so. What if you could position a few cameras in strategic locations. The video is captured and run through analytics. Engineers, operators, and managers would not have to manually parse through hours of video. They would be presented with data visualization designed to help them get to root causes of problems, assist worker ergonomics, improve safety, and boost productivity.
That is what the Sensable solution does.
Imagine another scenario. You are an operator on a production line. You have been trying to point out bottlenecks to production on your machine. Then engineers install streaming video pointing not just at a specific point on you or the machine but with wide enough scope to see the larger process. The video analytics point out the bottleneck. Voila. Vindicated. Proof in the data.
The video is not for spying on employees. It is designed to help them. Just what true digital transformation is—an aid to decision making and continuous improvement.
Key spots:
- Missed throughput targets—station utilization lower than expected, unplanned downtimes more than planned
- Low process efficiency—cycle time variability, too many interruptions
- Low operations visibility—safety challenges due to best practices violations, missed inspection or assembly steps
Use cases:
- Manage work area or assembly line—real-time feedback, identify bottlenecks, performance reports by shift/day, remote visibility-ideal for managing off shifts
- Perform long duration time studies—data-driven Kaizen setup/changeover analysis, run/analyzed over weeks, compare across time and facilities, store metrics for Kaizen, perform SMED analysis in large areas
- Identify missed inspection steps with 360 degree analysis—rapidly identify root cause of defects, search for video clips associated with product assembly
- Achieve healthier, safer, well trained workforce—capture near misses and best practice violations, capture the impact of fatigue by measuring throughput at beginning and end of shift, capture and share the best practices for training
- Build realistic engineering standards—capture data for the entire shift or multiple shifts before creating a standard to be enforced
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 26, 2023 | Networking, News, Organizations, Standards
ODVA announced that process device profiles have been added to The EtherNet/IPTM Specification to provide automation practitioners with another critical tool to help optimize plant operations. Process device profiles provide a standard format for process variables and diagnostics across an array of devices for smoother vendor interoperability and easier DCS and PLC data integration from EtherNet/IP-enabled field devices.
Device profiles are available for Coriolis flow, electromagnetic flow, vortex flow, standard pressure, and scaled pressure devices. Process end users can now take advantage of EtherNet/IP devices with better communication of critical diagnostics such as NAMUR NE 107 status signals, and improved alignment with the Process Automation Device Information Model (PA-DIM).
EtherNet/IP process device profiles are made up of process measurement value objects for variables such as current pressure, level, flow, etc., process totalized value objects that track cumulative data totals such as total flow, and process device diagnostics objects that enable plant operators and maintenance personnel easier access to additional device and process status information. Process device profiles help convert sensor signals and actuator positions into valuable information that enables action to be taken to improve product quality and operational efficiency. Additionally, process device profiles can help evaluate the reliability of the measuring signal and aid in preventing plant shutdowns by identifying premature device failures.
As an example, the process totalized value object can track total device usage and device health can be inferred from the process measurement value and diagnostics objects. This allows users to shift from time-based maintenance to condition-based maintenance, potentially saving devices from unnecessarily being replaced during plant shutdowns while identifying other devices that are failing prematurely, which can reduce both unnecessary maintenance costs and potential downtime.
The EtherNet/IP process device profiles were designed with additional parameters and modified data types to better align with PA-DIM, which is a joint standard between FieldComm Group, ISA100 WCI, NAMUR, ODVA, OPC Foundation, PI, VDMA, and ZVEI. PA-DIM represents information from process devices in a standardized way for easier access.
In addition to exposing measurement values and the quality or status of those values, EtherNet/IP process device profiles can also simulate the measurement values. This enables critical safety functions such as partial stroke tests in valves to take place without interfering with the process data. The standard formatting of live process variables, data totals, and diagnostics that process device profiles provide will also increase vendor interoperability for end users given that the information will be the same across EtherNet/IP devices, regardless of vendor.
The addition of process device profiles adds to the process automation capability of EtherNet/IP, including the ability to use the Ethernet-APL physical layer. Ethernet-APL unlocks the advantages of commercially based industrial control hardware, an object-oriented foundation, and standard internet protocol compatibility including TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, SNMP, and DHCP in process plants. Ethernet-APL is a combination of Single Pair Ethernet (IEEE 802.3cg-2019, 10BASE-T1L), engineered power, Intrinsic Safety (IEC 60079, 2-WISE), and Type A fieldbus cable (IEC 61158-2, for intrinsic safety) that is able to reach 1,000 meter distances and speeds of 10Mbit/s.
Additionally, EtherNet/IP supports process automation through NE 107 diagnostics, HART integration, and IO-Link integration. Further, ODVA is continuing to expand the EtherNet/IP ecosystem with the next generation of digitized device description files, including FDT, FDI, and xDS, to simplify integration into process asset management tools. Lastly, ODVA has also just released the availability of concurrent connections allowing for failsafe controller redundancy for the most critical of process applications.
“The introduction of process device profiles to EtherNet/IP is another critical step in meeting the full set of requirements of the process industries,” said Dr. Al Beydoun, President and Executive Director of ODVA. “EtherNet/IP process device profiles will help end users operate plants with superior yields, minimal downtime, and reduced costs. Additionally, better integration with PA-DIM will help process automation practitioners have the most valuable diagnostics and process variables available in both the control room and in the cloud to allow for enhanced insights and timely intervention measures for optimization of operations.”
EtherNet/IP process device profiles enable enhanced vendor interoperability, easier access to process variables and critical diagnostics such as NAMUR NE 107 status signals, and more seamless integration with PA-DIM. Additionally, process field device profiles will allow for simpler commissioning and enhanced asset monitoring and integration into higher level PLC, DCS, and cloud-based systems. Visit odva.org to obtain the latest version of The EtherNet/IP Specification including process devices profiles for EtherNet/IP.
