by Gary Mintchell | Jun 11, 2019 | Automation, Events, Manufacturing IT, News, Process Control
My wife’s family took me off for a week-long vacation to the beach last week. Eight days of much needed rest after a bunch of travel and a hectic (meaning wet) spring soccer season.
Last week was also Rockwell Automation TechED. That conference was once open only to distributer and integrator tech people. Several years ago it opened to media and became quite a thing for a few years. Last year I received an invitation to attend but they said that there was no media program. The timing was bad for me, so I passed. This year, there was no word at all. And I saw no news.
There are several industrial automation user conferences this week. PTC invited me to its conference in Boston. Then I was invited to Honeywell User Group (HUG). Then there were other invitations. Busy week. I initially told PTC I would attend, then putting it in my calendar, I realized that the week included my wedding anniversary. It’s big number (as in large). My better sense prevailed and I’m watching both of those conferences from afar.
So far this week, Honeywell Process Solutions has made a big announcement with some innovative product releases. Rockwell Automation, which owns about 8% of PTC and is banking on the partnership to bring its software into the new age, also issued a release. I’m still figuring that one out.
Honeywell Proclaims New Approach to Engineering
• Experion PKS Highly Integrated Virtual Environment (HIVE) significantly simplifies control system design, implementation and lifecycle management while reducing cost
• Market-first solution uniquely decouples the assignment of input/output (IO) modules and control strategies from specific controllers, and leverages IT capabilities in customers’ own data centers
My take on this announcement considers the HIVE product suite part of the growing trend under the umbrella of “digital twin.” Other companies have some somewhat similar products, but what I’ve found is that each company moves the ball forward a little more in a seemingly endless cycle of innovation. Honeywell labels it an evolution of the company’s flagship Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS).
Experion PKS HIVE uses Honeywell’s LEAP project execution principles, software, and networking to unchain control applications from physical equipment, and controllers from physical IO. This enables control systems to be engineered and implemented in less time, at lower cost and risk, and with simpler, modular builds. The solution also transforms the way control systems are maintained over their lifecycle, shifting day-to-day management of servers to a centralized data center, where experts and established protocols mitigate cybersecurity risk, allowing plant engineers to focus more proactively on optimization of their control systems.
Experion PKS HIVE incorporates three elements – IT HIVE, IO HIVE and Control HIVE – which can be used individually or collectively, in tandem with customers’ existing systems and infrastructure:
• Experion PKS IT HIVE centralizes up to 80% of the IT infrastructure traditionally used in project engineering to lower project delivery and lifecycle costs, better leverage skills, and drive consistent physical and cybersecurity management across an enterprise.
• Experion PKS IO HIVE provides flexible IO and control distribution enabling the control system to become a natural extension of process equipment and to facilitate modular and parallel project execution.
• Experion PKS Control HIVE uniquely applies control containers to provide flexibility and standardization of control hardware platform, control location, and control engineering. With multiple physically controllers operating as part of a Experion PKS Control HIVE, control engineering is dramatically simplified through automated load balancing.
“In developing Experion PKS HIVE, Honeywell worked closely with customers across the chemical, refining and oil and gas industries,” said Jason Urso, chief technology officer, Honeywell Process Solutions. “Many of these organizations want a more efficient approach to control system engineering, yet one that can be adopted incrementally and used interchangeably with their existing systems and infrastructure. Experion PKS HIVE provides these benefits and is truly a distributed control as it applies and geographically distributes technology to where it is needed.”
Experion PKS HIVE shifts IO to the field and makes it fully accessible to any controller, taking individual physical controllers and distributing the load so that they appear as a single controller to eliminate complexity. The solution distributes IT compute from onsite to offsite providing a seamless operations experience.
The Experion PKS IT HIVE and IO HIVE can be ordered now, with deliveries beginning Q1 2020. Experion PKS Control HIVE will be available in the second half of 2020.
Rockwell Automation Emphasizes PTC Partnership
Rockwell Automation announces its “unique combination of IT and OT software accelerates customers’ Digital Transformation Initiatives.” It says its solutions-oriented approach simplifies how manufacturers achieve business outcomes that transform operational processes, workforce productivity and efficiency.
Showcasing solutions during LiveWorx this week the company highlights:
Enterprise Operational Intelligence – cuts manufacturing costs and increases flexibility and agility of manufacturing networks by providing real-time manufacturing performance management across the industrial enterprise.
Digital Workforce Productivity – heightens productivity, improves quality, and avoids safety and compliance risk by equipping workers with actionable, augmented intelligence.
Intelligent Asset Optimization – reduces downtime and maximizes asset utilization through real-time monitoring, diagnostics, and predictive and prescriptive analytics into asset capacity, performance, and health status.
Scalable Production Management – lowers cost of inventory, improves quality, and compliance and accelerates time to market with effective planning and control of production processes.
by Gary Mintchell | Sep 15, 2017 | News, Operations Management, Software
Whether it is the Industrial Internet of Things or Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing no benefits are garnered at the end without a superb analytics engine. Recently I talked with Humera Malik, CEO of Canvass Analytics, about a new analytics company and product that brings Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to the field.
Early in my management career we called accounting “ancient historians” because reports only came out 10 days following a month end. That is too late to be what we call these days “actionable information.”
Turns out that a similar problem has existed in the predictive analytics field. OSIsoft and others have provided tools to capture huge amounts of industrial and manufacturing data. To get anything out of it you needed to establish a project, bring in a bunch of data scientists, and try to glean some trends or fit some models.
What was needed was a powerful engine that can use this data closer to real time, fit it into a model (selecting one from among several), and give operators, maintenance technicians, engineers, and others information in a useable time frame without bringing in a bunch of data scientists. These data scientists it turns out need to reside in the software. The entire process must be transparent to the user.
Enter Canvass Analytics, a provider of AI-enabled predictive analytics for Industrial IoT, which just announced a partnership with OSIsoft, a global leader in operational intelligence, that will enable Industrial companies to accelerate the return on investment of their IoT initiatives.
Malik commented, “Predictive and automated analytics gives operations teams the insights to answer questions such as, how can I increase yield, how can I reduce downtime and how can I reduce my maintenance costs? Canvass’ AI-enabled analytics platform accelerates the delivery of predictive insights by automating data analysis and leveraging machine learning technologies to adapt to data changes in real-time. For operations teams, this means they have the latest intelligence in order to make critical operational decisions.”
The combination of OSIsoft’s methodology to collect, store and stream data from any Industrial IoT source with Canvass’ AI-enabled automated analytics platform brings a new approach to creating predictive models that continually retrain themselves. With the resulting insight, Industrial companies have the potential to reduce plant maintenance by up to 50 percent and optimize plant operations by 30 percent.
“We are enthusiastic about the value that we see companies like Canvass Analytics extracting from the vast amounts of IIoT and other streaming data that we collect in our role as the single source of the truth,” said J. Patrick Kennedy, founder and CEO of OSIsoft.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 1, 2017 | News, Software
OSIsoft LLC, which now self-identifies as a leader in operational intelligence, has announced that SoftBank Group (“SoftBank”) has acquired a significant minority equity interest in the company.
The company is mostly known for its data historian, PI, which is used throughout industry. Over the past few years it has taken on some significant investments evidently in order to fund further growth as data and data analytics command center stage in the Internet of Things ecosystem.
The transaction is part of SoftBank’s strategy to invest in companies laying the foundational infrastructure for the next stage of the Information Revolution. SoftBank believes OSIsoft embodies this strategy, having been a longtime leader in enabling large industries to harness the massive amounts of data generated by their operational technology assets.
As part of the investment, OSIsoft and SoftBank will collaborate on developing new products and services enabling digital transformation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and strengthening OSIsoft’s presence in new markets.
“We are helping some of the world’s most innovative companies get smarter about how they use their data. Our industrial customers and utilities demand the highest levels of service and reliability. That’s why our focus has been, and will always be, on customer success and satisfaction,” said Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, CEO and founder of OSIsoft. “Collaborating with SoftBank will enable us to bring the concept of data infrastructure to more markets like telecommunications as well as strengthen our commitment to our customers. We’re very much looking forward to working together.”
“Industrial IoT is a central force in the digitization of the industrial economy. OSIsoft powers the key underpinnings of this digital transformation. OSIsoft’s relentless customer focus and masterfully engineered data infrastructure solutions are a direct outcome of Dr. Kennedy’s vision and passion,” said Deep Nishar, Managing Director at SoftBank. “We are excited to partner with the OSIsoft team to help realize their mission in new markets and customer segments.”
SoftBank purchased the significant minority interest in OSIsoft from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Kleiner Perkins), TCV and Tola Capital. Kleiner Perkins and TCV first invested in OSIsoft in 2011 while Tola invested in 2012. Last year, Mitsui & Co. became an investor in OSIsoft and maintains its ownership stake.
“OSIsoft is one of those rare success stories hiding in plain sight. The company’s PI System is pervasive across industries: you probably experience the impact of its technology several times a day without realizing it. OSIsoft has also cultivated an impressive and enthusiastic fan base of loyal customers,” said David Mount, a partner in the Green Growth Fund at Kleiner Perkins. “This has been a very positive investment for us and we’ve been very proud to be part of the company’s growth. SoftBank is an ideal partner to bring OSIsoft’s PI System technology to more markets and customers.”
“When we partnered with OSIsoft in 2011, it was already a forerunner in what we now call IIoT, a market that’s expected to reach over $120 billion by 2021,” said Jake Reynolds, General Partner at TCV. “During our 6-year investment in OSIsoft, we have been amazed at the company’s growing presence and importance in this burgeoning market. We are pleased that OSIsoft has the opportunity to partner with SoftBank during its next phase in making the world’s industrial infrastructure more connected, efficient, flexible, and sustainable.”
One of the world’s most widely-used technologies for digital transformation, OSIsoft’s PI System captures data from sensors, manufacturing equipment and other devices and transforms it into rich, real-time insights to reduce costs, improve overall productivity and/or create new services. Over 1,000 leading utilities, 95 percent of the largest oil and gas companies and more than 65 percent of the Fortune 500 industrial companies rely on the high-fidelity insights from the PI System to run their businesses. Worldwide, the PI System actively handles over 1.5 billion sensor-based data streams.
The company primarily focuses on six core markets—oil and gas; utilities; pharmaceutical development and production; metals and mining; pulp and paper; and water—and is rapidly expanding into food and beverage, facilities and transportation. Wind developers leverage the PI System to increase power production and reduce maintenance costs while mining operations use it to meet their goals for environmental compliance. Water utilities save millions of liters of water a day by pinpointing leaks within the PI System. The PI System can be found inside solar farms, breweries, data centers, cruise ships, leading research laboratories, power grids, stadiums and smart devices everywhere.
OSIsoft has also fostered an extensive partner ecosystem, including over 450 interfaces and connectors to translate and deliver PI System data to popular enterprise applications and cloud platforms. More than 300 hardware manufacturers, software developers and system integrators produce PI System-based products and services.
“We have examined many data-intensive companies who assert that they will change the face of enterprise computing leveraging big data. OSIsoft has been steadily transforming the industrial sector for decades using a quantum of data heretofore not even envisaged by competing companies. OSIsoft provides the essential bridge between operational and information technology,” said Sheila Gulati, Managing Director of Tola Capital. “Partnering with the OSIsoft team on their strategic growth has been a tremendously rewarding endeavor. The Kennedy culture puts people first through their unwavering commitment to their customers and employees: this has provided the basis for their winning formula.”
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 11, 2016 | Operations Management, Software
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) exists to help manufacturers manage the execution layer of a manufacturing enterprise. MES unfortunately can be quite complex. Moving a company from spreadsheet-driven execution to a specifically written application can take years of effort by a team of engineers.
Understandably that makes companies, especially medium sized ones, leery of even contemplating a move to the modern era.
Application developers, aware of this roadblock, have rushed to develop and deploy solutions that are easier to purchase and implement.
Enter Rockwell Automation’s latest entry into this arena. It has developed scalable and application-specific products to address this need. Solutions can start at the machine or work-area level with a single application and with minimal infrastructure requirements, and scale to an integrated MES solution as ROI is realized.
Rockwell Automation has released the following applications, with more to come in the future:
FactoryTalk Production Application – The FactoryTalk Production application addresses the challenges associated with enforcing processes in manufacturing. This application integrates with ERP, and tracks the order and recipe parameters necessary for production. The Production application supports end-to-end production management within a facility, offering a platform for continuous improvement.
FactoryTalk Quality Application – The newly expanded Quality application allows manufacturers to model and enforce their plant’s in-process quality regimens at a scalable rate. Manufacturers can use the Quality application on a project basis and scale up when value is proven. The application can be expanded to include other functionality within the FactoryTalk ProductionCentre MES system or run as a standalone.
FactoryTalk Performance Application – Performance is a modular application that assists manufacturing companies with factory efficiency and production improvement. By providing visibility into the operations performance, this application allows for lean and continuous improvement, preventive manufacturing, improved asset utilization and operational intelligence.
Each expanded MES application is implemented on thin clients for a modern user experience and reduced IT infrastructure cost. Users can add on each application to their current framework, helping protect their current investments while realizing these additional benefits.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 11, 2016 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, Internet of Things, Operations Management, Technology
Remote monitoring and diagnostics is a key driver for the Internet of Things strategy adoption in manufacturing and production. Advances in both the technology and services involved in this area appears to be the area of best economic return these days.
Rockwell Automation recently released news about its take on a diagnostic reliability service. Rockwell doesn’t tie it to the Internet of Things, much to its credit. But this solution fits within the broad trend I’ve seen developing.
The solution deploys a layer of technology across plant devices and equipment to monitor and perform analysis, and create a continuous improvement approach to reliability maintenance, reducing operational risk. As part of the service, a Rockwell Automation domain service expert also closely tracks equipment performance to advise on reliability improvements to the production facility.
“Our customers have access to a huge amount of data within their assets, but they often struggle to turn data into useful operational intelligence,” said Ryan Williams, product manager, Rockwell Automation. “In the past, companies relied on maintenance personnel on-site to check the status of equipment in the field and then develop corrective action plans. Now, with the diagnostic reliability service, they can transform maintenance data into asset intelligence. This helps build a more Connected Enterprise, leveraging interconnected data systems and producing actionable information. Companies can better prioritize choices on maintenance and production, and do more with less.”
The solution automatically collects identity and health data from all networked devices on the production control network. The data is then modeled with asset management information to trigger events and send alerts to necessary personnel for proactive maintenance. With the service, Rockwell Automation asset reliability professionals assist users in applying the intelligence on their critical equipment to inform data-driven maintenance decisions and increase productivity.
Case in diagnostics
Case in point: A major oil and gas company used the diagnostic reliability solution to help centralize information gathering and monitor hundreds of critical control assets across a California rural valley. The company also needed inventory of all the field devices in its process control network for a companywide cybersecurity policy. The automated identification and monitoring solution helped the company’s California business unit comply with the new corporate policy, reduce costs associated with field service manpower through proactive maintenance, and increase its daily oil production.
Through integrated, automated device identification and tracking, other customers using the diagnostic reliability service can realize approximately 70 percent reduction in manual data-collection time.
The diagnostic reliability offering is applicable to all manufacturers, with an industry emphasis including oil and gas, mining metals and cement, auto tire and rubber, and consumer packaged goods.
