Data-Driven Decision Making—Connected Vehicles

Data-Driven Decision Making—Connected Vehicles

The afternoon stream I moderated at the Industry of Things World conference focused on connected vehicles—Construction Equipment, Trucks, Airplanes. I also interviewed a farm equipment manufacturer about some perhaps surprising uses of data-driven decision making in agriculture.

But first, a thought from another keynote address:

From a NASA study—If you want to employ a creative genius, you’ll have 98% success employing a 3-5 year old; if you hire an adult, you probability of success drops to 2%.

Data-Driven Agriculture

I caught up with Alexander Purdy of John Deere between sessions. He’s not an engineer or IT manager like many of the attendees and speakers (he had a later keynote). He on the business end. How can John Deere grab a competitive advantage and serve customers through connected data? After a career as a consultant, he loves actually doing things.

His group deals in guidance systems and digital solutions. Guidance systems essentially link a GPS to large farm equipment. Not only does this ensure the rows of corn are nice and straight, the digital decision making increases coverage and yield.

Deere’s digital solutions include online JDLink, JDonline, and an ops center. A farmer can sit in her office and plot out planting regimes setting up everything before going into the field. There is even a way to collaborate on methods and local information.

Let’s take seeding for example. Sensors connected back to the system can feedback soil conditions. This helps the planter decide for each seed in a cornfield the optimum x, y, and z (yes, they measure depth of planted seed). The idea is to get each plant to grow at about the same rate.

Connected Construction Equipment

Kjell Jespersen, Caterpillar, spoke on huge construction equipment. Customers have been using the large amount of data generated by construction equipment mainly for improving maintenance. However, they crave better productivity data to manage their business. Developing the systems for gathering and analyzing all the data will become crucial as a competitive advantage—or failure to do so could force a company to exit the business.

Connected Trucking

Turning to the long-haul trucking business, companies are turning to truck suppliers such as Volvo and Mack Trucks to provide connected vehicle technology to provide data for improved customer support. According to Evandro Silva, Manager Connected Vehicle Services, Volvo Group Trucks North America, a telematics solution was used to develop a connected service that enables quick diagnosis of issues, proactive scheduling for repairs, and confirmation that needed parts are in stock and ready to install—all while the truck is still on the job.

Airplane Digital Twin

Robert Rencher, Senior Systems Engineer and Associate Technical Fellow, The Boeing Company, took the discussion to a new level—literally. From equipment that stays firmly on the ground, Rencher discussed the role of a “digital twin” throughout the lifecycle of an aircraft. A digital twin is defined within a system representing the characteristics of the object and the virtual environment in which the digital representation of objects and their physical equivalent, vice versa, are represented digitally and co-exist such that the object’s past, current, and future capabilities and can be assessed and evaluated in real-time. As an object progresses through each phase of its lifecycle, various systems interface with the digital twin.

Next Year

Look for information about next year’s conference and all the other conferences.  Next year will be about the same time of year in San Diego. Details are still being worked out. Check out twitter conversations at #IoTClan

Real-Time OEE Performance Management

Real-Time OEE Performance Management

One of my customers back in the 90s established an OEE office and placed an OEE engineer in each plant. OEE, of course is the popular abbreviation for Overall Equipment Effectiveness—a sum of ratios that places a numerical value on “true” productivity. I’ve always harbored some reservations about OEE, especially as a comparative metric, because of the inherent variability of inputs. Automated data collection and modern data base analytics are a solution.

A press release and email conversation with Parsec came my way this week. It sets the stage by pointing to the pressure to increase quality and quantity, while reducing costs, leading manufacturers to seek a deeper understanding of trends and patterns and new ways to drive efficiency. The very nature of OEE is to identify the percentage of manufacturing time that is truly productive. It is the key metric for measuring the performance of an operation, but many companies measure it incorrectly, or don’t measure it at all.

In the latest example of its efforts to help manufacturers maximize performance while reducing costs and complexity, Parsec launched its real-time Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Performance Management solution.

Most OEE measurement systems capture data from a single source and offer reports that may be visually appealing but actually contain very little substance. Other OEE systems capture lots of data but fail to give operators the necessary tools to act on that data. The TrakSYS OEE Performance Management solution collects and aggregates data from multiple sources, leveraging existing assets, resources and infrastructure, and provides insight into areas of the operation that need improvement with the tools to take action.

“We are challenging manufacturers to go beyond OEE measurement and to begin thinking about performance management,” said Gregory Newman, Parsec vice president of marketing. “Our TrakSYS OEE Performance Management solution pinpoints the root causes of poor performance and closes the loop by providing actionable intelligence and the tools necessary to fix the bottlenecks and improve productivity.”

 

The Power to Perform

When designing the TrakSYS OEE Performance Management solution, Parsec took into account three key criteria for measuring OEE: Availability, Performance and Quality. Availability, or downtime loss, encompasses changeovers, sanitation/cleaning, breakdowns, startup/shutdown, facility problems, etc. Performance, or speed loss, includes running a production system at a speed lower than the theoretical run rate, and short stop failures such as jams and overloads. Quality, or defect loss, is defined as production and startup rejects, process defects, reduction in yield, and products that need to be reworked to conform to quality standards. As part of the solution, Parsec created a variety of standard dashboards and reports as well as the ability to customize reports through powerful web-based configuration tools.

“Our goal is to empower manufacturers to unlock unseen potential with their existing infrastructure,” added Newman. “Even small tweaks can save a plant millions of dollars each year.”

TrakSYS is an integrated platform that contains all of the functionality of a full manufacturing execution system (MES) in one package. The modular nature of TrakSYS brings flexibility to deploy only the functions that are required, without a major software upgrade. TrakSYS business solutions include OEE, SPC, e-records, maintenance, traceability, workflow, batch processing, sustainability, labor, and more.

 

www.parsec-corp.com

GE Digital Expands Industrial Internet Application

GE Digital Expands Industrial Internet Application

Last week was GE Digital’s Minds + Machines Conference in San Francisco. This Industrial Internet (or Internet of Things to the rest of us) gathering showcases the latest of GE’s digital portfolio–including GE Automation and Control (the successor to GE Intelligent Platforms, successor to GE Fanuc Automation, whew).

Jim Walsh

Jim Walsh

Rich Carpenter

Rich Carpenter

I tried to arrange my schedule to make it out there, but there had been too many trips in Sept., Oct., and Nov. for my time and expense budget to make it. So, we had a conference call meeting with Jim Walsh, President and CEO of GE Automation & Controls, and Rich Carpenter, Product GM of Control Platforms also at GE Automation & Controls. We talked about the Industrial Internet, digitalization, and new products.

Included in my news below are additional news from the M+M event including acquisition and product news.

geac_see-think-do

The point most interesting was Walsh and Carpenter discussed the edge device of the network as the controller (PLC). (See the graphic) Almost all of the other companies I talk with are developing an edge device separate from the controller. Carpenter described the closed loop control as “see-think-do”, and then the Industrial Internet plus Predix (GE’s cloud-enabled software product) analytics adds an “optimize” loop to the controller. It can then reflect back on experience and make changes as necessary.

industrial-productivity-industrial-internet-control-system_-geac

Take for example large pumps in a water/wastewater application. They, of course, are energy consumers. By adding analytics from Predix, the controller could be modified to operate in a more energy efficient manner. One example proved out a $1.5 million per year savings. Another benefit is productivity improvements which Walsh said they had witnessed personally. They referred to the Industrial Internet Control System (IICS), which I will discuss later [Note: much like my Automation Fair update, this one will be long, because there is so much.]

And now, on to the news.

  • GE releases new suite of Predix applications and services; introduces the Predix System
  • Acquisition of Bit Stew Systems enables efficient data ingestion for industrial applications
  • Acquisition of Wise.io strengthens machine learning and data science capabilities for Predix and enables enhanced Digital Twin development
  • Meridium acquisition places GE in the lead for Asset Performance Management app development; acquisition of ServiceMax positions GE to lead in service transformation
  • Ecosystem expands with independent software vendor program to speed industrial application development; more than 19,000 developers now building on Predix
  • Digital orders on track to exceed $7B, a growth of 25%+ in 2016
  • Digital thread productivity exceeds $600 million and accelerating into 2017

In 2016, orders from GE’s portfolio of software solutions are on track to climb 25%+ to more than $7 billion. Demonstrating the strength of Predix within GE, digital thread productivity will exceed $600 million, accelerating into 2017.

“The opportunity for industry is now,” said Bill Ruh, Chief Digital Officer of GE and CEO, GE Digital. “The Industrial Internet is profoundly transforming how we operate and our ability to deliver greater productivity for GE and for our customers. Connected machines, coupled with deep machine learning, are more powerful than anything we have seen. These strategic investments in both the Predix platform and our partners continue to attract industrial companies and provide them with tools they need to embark on their own digital industrial transformations.”

EXTENDING PREDIX FROM THE EDGE TO THE CLOUD

GE unveiled a new suite of software and applications.

This release will focus on expanding the platform and scaling development of Digital Twins – virtual representations of physical assets that comprise the world’s industrial infrastructure – through Predix apps and toolkits.

This new set of components can run on a variety of operating systems, devices and form factors – from sensors and controllers to gateways, server appliances and the cloud – making Predix a distributed system for the Industrial Internet and a complete “edge-to-cloud” offering.

GE also launched new Predix-based solutions, designed to help customers harness the power of the Industrial Internet:

Current, designed to analyze and optimize energy use and operational efficiency use across lighting, HVAC and other systems.

Digital Substation, extends maintenance optimization to the electricity grid.

Health Cloud, Cloud-enabled patient outcomes are linking clinical feedback to transformative radiology pathways.

Predictive Corrosion Management, a new Asset Performance Management (APM) solution that provides continuous inspection data and cloud-based analytics of pipe conditions to help operators manage corrosion-related risk.

Digital Power Plant software for gas, steam and nuclear plants, which features new tools to help customers reduce unplanned downtime by up to 5%, reduce false positive alerts by up to 75%, and reduce operations and maintenance costs by up to 25%.

Digital Hydro Plant, a suite of apps combining both software and hardware solutions designed to support Hydro customers globally, helping them get the most out of assets over the lifetime of a plant.

ACQUISITIONS

GE Digital announced it has acquired Bit Stew Systems to bring its data intelligence capabilities to Predix and other industrial solutions. Bit Stew applies its machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to automate the process of data modeling, mapping and ingestion, accelerating time to value for customers, such as BC Hydro, Pacific Gas & Electric and Scottish & Southern Energy. This acquisition will help GE Digital provide a solution to organize large amounts of data through efficient data organization at the edge or at the source of the data – the asset.

GE Digital also acquired Wise.io, a leading machine learning and intelligent systems company. This acquisition will enable GE Digital to further accelerate development of advanced machine learning and data science offerings in the Predix platform. The Wise.io team deepens GE’s machine learning stack and will spearhead innovative solutions in GE’s vertical markets to develop its machine learning offerings.

GE also announced a program dedicated to independent software vendors (ISVs), aimed at spurring development of industrial solutions and extending the reach of the Predix platform. Through these partnerships, GE will share its industry expertise and allow partners to use Predix as the building block for new industrial applications to enhance various components of industrial operations – such as maintenance, content development and asset management.

Inaugural launch partners include:  Box, Decisyon App Composer, Entercoms, Ericsson, Mobideo, Nurego, OAG Analytics, Pitney Bowes and Splunk. The addition of ISVs enhances the growing ranks of the GE Digital Alliance Program, which launched in February. The alliance program now boasts more than 270 partners around the world, including major enterprise players such as AT&T, EY, Intel, Microsoft and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

GE’s Industrial Internet Control System

industrial-apps_industrial-internet-control-system_-geac

GE’s Automation & Controls business introduced GE’s new Industrial Internet Control System (IICS) at its 2016 Connected Controls Symposium at the company’s Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. IICS delivers new levels of productivity for industrial assets and processes by integrating controls with Industrial Internet analytics – at scale yet modular and flexible for industrial settings worldwide.

Early IICS adopters report a +7% gain in asset performance and 22% increase in efficiency. By leveraging GE’s deep domain and controller expertise, the IICS solution empowers customers to improve operational efficiency, optimize production and unlock new revenue opportunities.

The system utilizes GE’s Field Agent technology as the gateway between the asset and the Industrial Internet. Field Agent provides a rugged, pre-configured solution for secure data collection and conveyance from the machine to fuel analytics that improve operations.

GE’s Industrial Internet Control System also includes:

  • Industrial Cloud Platform – Provides real time process optimization and control; minimalizes disruption to deployed application; Creates new value over time without having to retrofit
  • Secure Cloud Connectivity – Predix ready; Provides secure data collection; Enables advanced analytics; Form factors to meet the need
  • Outcome Optimizing Controllers – Real-time control; Defense in-depth security; Decreases time to market; Helps reduce unplanned downtime and enhance system performance
  • Mix & Match I/O – Remote, real-time diagnostics; Wide range of communication options; Modularity-simple scalability; Drives improved availability and simplified maintenance
  • Professional Services – Real Time control; Security at its core; Decreases time to market; Helps reduce unplanned downtime and enhance system performance
  • Intelligent Apps – Real Time Control; Security at its core; Decreases time to market; Helps reduce unplanned downtime and enhances system performance

IICS features dual or quad core configuration which provides safe and secure communication with either cloud-based or locally hosted algorithms and applications.

Two structural innovations make the new solution “future proof” for customers, who want hardware assets to be long-lived but remain optimally functioning.

  • Industry-first Hypervisor control technology that separates operations from software so that the software can be upgraded without affecting the physical controller, allowing the hardware to stay in place and up to date.
  • ComExpress processor technology that allows the processor to be updated as needed, again without replacing the controller. This is critical to support the growing computational power available from the Industrial Internet, including GE’s Digital Twin predictive model for optimizing assets with minimal interruption.
Industry In Thailand Thriving, Especially Robotics

Industry In Thailand Thriving, Especially Robotics

Ms. Ajarin Pattanapanchai, Deputy Secretary General, of Thailand Board of Investment, talked with me last week about the state of industry and innovation in that country.

She told me that productivity in Thailand is quite high, citing Toyota assembly as an example where it produces a car every 55 seconds in Japan and a nearly equal 58 seconds in Thailand.

While the main topic was robotics, which I will discuss below, she also pointed out that Thailand has a large petrochemical complex—the 5th largest in the world—with the environment a considerable concern. So, the government agency partnered for a real-time monitoring of air direct to the agency.

3

Given Thailand’s dominance in ASEAN automotive markets, the country has seen an increase in investments from companies such as robotics giant Nachi and other firms providing technology and supply chain products to Thailand’s growing automotive markets. Growth of the robotics industry in Thailand is expected to increase, as the vehicle manufacturing industry in the Kingdom continues to expand in both commercial and private use motorcycles, trucks, and cars.

Robotic and Automation Machinery

Currently, there are more than 60 companies producing robotic and automation machinery in Thailand, such as Eureka Automation, CT Asia Robotic, Yutaka Robot Systems, Ryoei, and Robosis. These companies have developed and produced industrial robots that meet international standards and are gaining ground with the competition because of their high quality and competitive pricing.

Just last year, ABB opened a Robot Applications Center in Thailand and introduced “YuMi,” the world’s first truly collaborative dual-arm robot. Other companies who have located robotics operations in Thailand include:

  • Globax Robot System (Thailand) – a Japanese company that produces Robotic Production Line;
  • Kuka Robotics – a German company, a world leader in robotics systems, which has located a business operation in Thailand;
  • Fillomatic Global Industries – an Indonesian company that produces robotic bottle filling machines and robotic bottle capping machines;
  • Cal-comp Electronics –a Taiwanese company that produces robotic computers.

Thailand has the highest concentration of automotive companies in Asia and the 12th largest automotive production capacity in the world, directly providing vehicles for Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other nearby and ASEAN countries. Automotive companies with production facilities in Thailand include: Ford, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, BMW, General Motors, Daihatsu, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Tata, Toyota, and Volvo.

Thailand Imports

In 2016, Thai imports of industrial robotics and automation systems are estimated to top $47.3 million USD, and this number is expected to grow. The imported machinery has mostly been used for automotive, electrical appliances and electronics, and in the food processing industry.

TOYOTA265

Both automation and robotics have gained an important foothold in Thailand’s growth and development. Many universities in Thailand offer courses for students interested in this field, with the most specialized course being offered by the Institute of Field Robotics (FIBO) at King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi.

Many robots developed in-house by universities and private companies, in both the industrial and service categories, have also found use in real world applications. Mahidol University’s Bartlab Rescue Robot, Hive Ground’s Flare Stack Inspection Drone and Zeabus Autonomous Underwater vehicle (AUV), and CT Asia Robotics’s Dinsow Robot are some prominent examples. Given these advances, it is evident that Thai researchers and engineers possess the necessary skills and technical knowhow, and that Thailand is ready to be a hub for investment in these areas.

The country is a hub for automotive and electrical and electronics production in ASEAN. Thailand ranked 12th globally for motor vehicle production and 6th for commercial vehicle production in 2015. As for the electrical and electronics industry, Thailand has experienced a 7% growth in export value as measured from 2011, reaching an impressive figure of THB 435 billion (USD 12 billion) in 2015. The country is also renowned for being the second largest global producer and exporter of data storage units like Hard Disk Drives (HDD).

The BOI recognizes the importance of automation and robotics and they belong to the future industries promoted under the Super Cluster category. Examples of activities eligible for incentives in these industries include microelectronics design, embedded system design, and embedded software. Recently, the BOI approved additional activities to expedite investment projects in these future industries.

High value-added software development is one of those additional activities and it includes developing system software for advanced technology devices (including business process management) and developing industrial software used to support manufacturing. Investors can apply for general incentives that include an 8 year income tax exemption and import duty on machinery, and raw materials. However, they can apply for incentives under the Super Cluster policy if they meet certain specific criteria and not only get an 8 year income tax exemption, but also 50% Corporate Income Tax (CIT) reduction for 5 years. Non-tax incentives include the right to own land and work permits for expatriates.

Data-Driven Decision Making—Connected Vehicles

No Austin Technology Trip This Year

I’m sitting in Ohio’s 90-degree heat instead of the 100-degrees of Austin, Texas this week. After attending 18 straight NI Week technology events, I’ve taken a break. I have two things on this post while I think through my next post on Internet of Things and communication technologies.

National Instruments has changed tremendously over the past five years or so. All the marketing and media relations people I’ve known are gone. For the first time last year, I walked into the press room and no one knew me. There were no interviews. No suggestions on finding great information. Even the keynotes no longer brought awe and spontaneous applause at the technology advances. The applause was more perfunctory.

NI is no longer family with a tremendous enthusiasm for technology advancements. It’s a big company.

I’m saving the $1,200 or so it would have cost me to go to Austin in August. I’ll be there in October for Dell World. I’ll visit the other Austin technology companies then. (And run along Town Lake–er, Lady Bird Lake, eat good barbecue, take in some music.)

OPC and the REST of it

I’ve been seeing news and receiving press releases from companies promoting MQTT and REST–perhaps instead of OPC UA. (More in my next post.)

So, I have been researching industrial communications–protocols, platforms, architectures, standards. OPC has been a workhorse for moving structured data from control to HMI and beyond. It is developing a publish/subscribe technology to complement its client/server technology to enhance cloud communication.

I’m seeing interest from suppliers from alternatives, or, if not alternatives, other technologies that could complement or supplant much of the work of OPC UA. MQTT, AMQP, REST, DDS. Companies are exploring them.

I wonder why? I’m interviewing many people on the subject. There is much to read.

What do you think? Send email or comment. Is there something about OPC UA that makes you consider other technologies? Why would you pick MQPP? REST is an API specification most used to get large amounts of information into Web pages. Could you use that in place of an MES? Or, to assist your MES?

There are lots of questions. I’m looking for answers. Thoughts?

NI Announces LabView2016

I am receiving news from NI Week. Here is the first announcement.

NI announced LabVIEW 2016 system design software, empowering engineers to simplify development and effectively integrate software from the ecosystem into their systems. The latest version of LabVIEW introduces new channel wires to simplify complex communication between parallel sections of code. Available on both desktop and real-time versions of LabVIEW, the channel wire method helps improve code readability and reduces development time.

“The new channel wires in LabVIEW 2016 enable us to develop applications even faster by making architectures that are more transferable across domains,” said Christopher Relf, chief engineer at VI Engineering. “With channel wires, we can set up sophisticated software architectural patterns that natively have multiple sources, without having to create and maintain considerable amounts of custom software in the background.”

Much of the success that LabVIEW users have had relies on the openness of both the product itself and the ecosystem that supports it. LabVIEW 2016 continues this trend with enhanced interoperability with Python and third-party devices. This openness, combined with several new enhancements, helps users continue to improve productivity by streamlining code development and deployment. With the latest version of LabVIEW, users can:

  • Simplify development with new channel wires that reduce complex asynchronous communication to a single wire
  • Take advantage of more RAM and memory with new 64-bit add-on support for the LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module, LabVIEW MathScript Real-Time Module, LabVIEW Unit Test Framework Toolkit, LabVIEW Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit and LabVIEW VI Analyzer Toolkit
  • Streamline the automation of benchtop measurements with the Instrument Driver Network, which supports 500 new devices in addition to the existing 10,000 supported instruments
  • Integrate Python IP using the new Python Integration Toolkit for LabVIEW, which is a simple API from Enthought, Inc. (available in the LabVIEW Tools Network) that can integrate Python scripts into LabVIEW applications

 

Follow this blog

Get a weekly email of all new posts.