by Gary Mintchell | Oct 31, 2023 | Internet of Things, Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Software
Honeywell Connect 2023, the user conference of Honeywell Connected Enterprise the software business unit of Honeywell, was held in Dallas this year October 10-12. I had been waiting for some documents from Honeywell and got busy. I’ve written several news stories from Honeywell Connect over the past six months. This Strategic Business Unit of Honeywell has been quite busy.
This event was sort of a 5th anniversary celebration. I’m a slow learner and it took some time before it sunk into my consciousness just what was up with Honeywell Connected Enterprise and Honeywell Forge. Honeywell corporately has five strategic business units. Four are vertical business. Honeywell Connected Enterprise is the software arm that cuts across all the other SBUs plus reaches out in its own right.
CEO Kevin Dehoff referred to Forge as the “premier Industrial IoT Architecture.” At a time when other companies who had touted IIoT were moving to other marketing slogans, HCE proudly discusses IIoT as the connected of the Connected Enterprise. I think they are continuing on the correct track. After all, I named my new website 10 years ago as The Manufacturing Connection because I saw that connecting things (and processes and people and businesses) was where we as an industry needed to go.
Discussion centered on outcomes. I also like that approach. Too many product companies focus on features. Customers are interested in outcomes.
Everything connected becomes a hacking risk. HCE acquired SCADAfence a few months ago to strengthen an already rich cyber security portfolio. Shortly after the acquisition, the company announced CyberWatch and CyberInsights. Expect to see growing robustness from the cybersecurity portfolio.
No software event can be complete without bowing to Digital Transformation. “Digital Transformation isn’t an event—it’s an ongoing journey.” HCE talks of technology augmenting humans. Another topic here is the potential use of AI as an enabler of autonomous control—another sub theme of the conference.
Some ideas in this vein include AI co-pilots, cyber forensics and recovery, closed loop sustainability.
Digital Transformation as the sum of process, people, technology, and data.
Sustainability continues to be a strong theme. Companies are continuing the trend from manual to automated data collection. Carbon and demand management continue as an important trend. HCE continues to see opportunities with instrumentation for monitoring emissions, as well as, applying process control technologies to mitigate those.
One final thought. The last session I saw was with Vimal Kapur, Honeywell CEO. HCE has been developed to solve customers’ big problems. Doing so, Honeywell is building the largest industrial software company. “Maybe we already have.”
This is interesting because earlier this year I was at the Siemens Digital event where executives extolled the division as the market’s leading industrial software company. The week following AVEVA held its annual conference—a continuation of the OSIsoft PI user conference. Meanwhile, Emerson has been aggressively promoting itself as a software company. Yet, Rockwell Automation had been touting its software for a few years, but it has become the “digital transformation” company for the past year or more.
Where will software take all these companies? Is this where growth lies? Instrumentation and control are stable, but mature markets? I wonder.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 30, 2023 | News, Technology
AI, at least in the main media, generates as much hype and concern as it does real work. This company is trying to lay out guidelines for the ethical use of AI. Now, if only all business people were ethical…
INFORM has announced the launch of its in-depth “Responsible AI Guidelines” to support the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) while advancing the technology. These guidelines underscore the company’s commitment to ensuring AI technology operates with accountability and transparency and upholds an ethical foundation.
INFORM’s commitment to “Trustworthy AI” revolves around several pivotal principles:
1. Beneficial AI: Ensuring AI systems enrich both users and society, mitigating negative impacts like bias and misinformation.
2. Human-centric AI: Promoting AI’s supportive role to humans, enhancing decision-making processes, and upholding human responsibility.
3. Aligned AI: Guaranteeing AI is in sync with human and business values, with clear and understandable AI as a foundation.
4. Privacy-preserving AI: Upholding United States requirements and European Union’s GDPR standards, achieving top-tier security standards endorsed by ISO 27001 certifications.
5. Reliable AI: Prioritizing quality, consistency, and transparency in AI applications, especially in vital sectors.
6. Safe AI: Crafting AI algorithms that ensure safety and ward off potential threats.
Dr. Jörg Herbers, co-CEO of INFORM, commented, “We have taken to heart the importance of transparency and providing a human-centered approach. By leveraging the potential of AI and algorithms in close collaboration with our customers, we have created “Responsible AI Guidelines” that mirror our ideals around ensuring AI benefits humanity and is transparent and ethical in application. Our humanitarian ethos and in-depth experience in mitigating risk and optimizing productivity across a multitude of industries from manufacturing and supply chain to fintech and insurance, has contributed to the formulation of these crucial AI guidelines. INFORM’s guidelines arrive at a crucial juncture, emphasizing that as we progress, we do so with integrity.”
The “Responsible AI Guidelines” are available to the public, reinforcing INFORM’s dedication to open dialogue and collaborative growth within the AI sector. Download the full guidelines.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 30, 2023 | News, Services
What can you do when you have a product, but its lifecycle appears to be nearing saturation? Turn to services. That’s what all the big boys are doing. So also is Ocean Data Systems. Known for Dream Report, the company is launching Dream Report Professional Services.
New Dream Report services include:
• Project development
• Technical audits and review of existing projects
• Technical consulting and applying best practices
• Development of custom reporting objects and custom communication drivers
• Fundamental, advanced, and custom training programs
These and other customized initiatives offered by the newly formed services team will significantly increase user satisfaction by optimizing the value of their Dream Report software.
The professional services team is comprised of experts with in-depth regulatory and compliance expertise. Training and project consulting experts draw on an extensive knowledge base of product use cases, technical hints, and best practices. Direct access to Dream Report R&D will also give users a faster path to key technology experts, who can solve complexities and challenges in reporting. The Dream Report Services project development team members, experienced with a wide variety of automation platforms and product implementations, will deliver unique insights on how to achieve specific and customized requirements that drive ROI.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 27, 2023 | Business, News, Security
Rockwell Automation keeps its acquisition team busy. This announcement reveals an acquisition in the cybersecurity area bolstering the services business part of the company. Before long the services business will be larger than the software & control business. Still trailing the traditional product portfolio, though.
Rockwell Automation Inc., the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Verve Industrial Protection, a cybersecurity software and services company that focuses specifically on industrial environments, expanding the offerings of Rockwell with an industry-leading asset inventory system and vulnerability management solution.
The Verve Security Center platform enables real-time asset inventory, vulnerability management, and risk remediation that will strengthen Rockwell’s current offerings and address these issues.
“The foundation of OT cybersecurity starts with visibility into assets – you can’t protect what you don’t know you have. This continues to be a critical challenge for manufacturers,” said Matt Fordenwalt, Rockwell’s senior vice president, Lifecycle Services. “With the Verve acquisition, our customers can quickly assess their assets, prioritize risk, and apply countermeasures to mitigate vulnerabilities – all within a single platform. The addition of Verve to our suite of solutions allows customers to further build resiliency and continuously improve the security, safety, and availability of their operations.”
The Verve Security Center platform was built to provide IT-level security while addressing the unique challenges of the OT environment. At the center of the Verve platform is an asset inventory system that recognizes all industrial assets, regardless of manufacturer. Verve’s proprietary approach communicates directly with the assets, gathering critical information without impacting network performance and interrupting production. It then aggregates a wide range of data sources, including Rockwell’s partner technologies, into its platform as a “single pane of glass” that provides actionable insight for customers to quickly address their highest risk assets.
Verve professional services also provide ongoing remediation, along with strategic roadmap and business case development, further deepening Rockwell’s cybersecurity consulting capabilities. Going forward, customers will benefit from comprehensive capabilities that span the entire attack continuum with the combined expertise of Verve, Rockwell, and Rockwell’s technology partnerships.
The acquisition is subject to customary approvals and is expected to close in the first quarter of Rockwell’s fiscal year 2024. At close, Verve will report into Rockwell’s Lifecycle Services operating segment.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 26, 2023 | Automation, Networking, Security, Wireless
Betacom executives have been talking regularly with me about the company’s many wireless projects especially in manufacturing. This news release highlights working with MxD (Manufacturing x Digital), the National Center for Cybersecurity in Manufacturing along with Google Cloud and Ingram Micro. A case for partnerships advancing applications for practical use.
Private wireless pioneer Betacom, along with Google Cloud and Ingram Micro, today unveiled an exhibition of Industry 4.0 innovations at MxD (Manufacturing x Digital), the National Center for Cybersecurity in Manufacturing, that are redefining efficiency, productivity and competitiveness in manufacturing and supply chain industries. From smart automation and machine vision to predictive analytics and real-time inventory tracking, the technology leaders are showcasing real solutions for some of today’s most in-demand use cases, powered by private 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technology.
The interactive exhibit is part of a collaborative effort to equip manufacturers with digital tools and expertise needed to increase productivity and strengthen U.S. manufacturing. By bringing together diverse technologies and device manufacturers on the Factory Floor Lab, Betacom, Google Cloud and Ingram Micro aim to accelerate manufacturers’ automation and digitalization initiatives by demonstrating complete solutions that are available today.
Betacom became a partner of MxD in 2022 to provide the organization’s Chicago headquarters with a fully managed private 5G network built on Zero Trust design principles. The network, one of the first indoor private 5G deployments in the U.S., is the foundation to develop and enable technologies that power Industry 4.0, including several application areas on display in this joint showcase:
- Smart Manufacturing – How machine vision, AI, data analytics, robotics, 5G and other technologies are revolutionizing manufacturing processes through automation to improve the efficiency, output quality and uptime of modern production lines.
- Digital Workforce – How mobile devices and productivity tools enabled by AI, machine learning and assisted reality capabilities can streamline worker tasks, automate visual inspection and enable new levels of remote collaboration on and off the factory floor.
- Resilient Supply Chain – How cloud based data analytics can help manufacturers understand supply chain risks to improve demand planning and optimize execution, as well as how wireless technologies are enhancing inventory and asset tracking applications to provide end-to-end visibility from production to delivery.
- Safety and Security – How today’s solutions are protecting critical assets and data from physical and cyberthreats, as well as creating safer workplaces for employees in hazardous environments.
The exhibit is open year-round. Learn more about the technology exhibit or to schedule a meeting for an onsite demonstration with our experts.
