Four Automation Trends Reflected At Rockwell Automation TechED

Four Automation Trends Reflected At Rockwell Automation TechED

Some old issues were addressed in new ways by Rockwell people at Rockwell Automation TechED in San Diego Monday (June 1).

  • Workforce
  • IT/OT Convergence (or not)
  • Connected Enterprise
  • Mobility (or the breakdown of silos—finally)

Workforce

We continue to talk about the coming Armageddon of baby boomer retirements and domain expertise walking out the door. This conversation has been ongoing for more than 10 years. We’re still talking.
One proposal here at Rockwell is to increase use of the technology that Millennial generation understands. That suite of technologies and devices are integral to Rockwell’s Connected Enterprise vision.

Another solution comes through the training/workforce development business. That group has begun to provide training and education beyond traditional (to Rockwell) electrical, motor control, and automation. It offers basic math, leadership, mechanical crafts, and more.

IT/OT Convergence

Once again training comes to the front. Partnering with Cisco, Rockwell has developed a specialized class beyond the Cisco CCNA certification—CCNAI. This training goes beyond traditional enterprise networking to include networking crucial for manufacturing and production.

The target market for this training is also non-traditional. It includes those presently working in enterprise IT. The hope is that this training will bring together information technology and operations technology (IT/OT) people and finally move the needle on this sticky organizational problem.

Connected Enterprise

My meeting with a representative of this initiative is set for later this morning. However, I’ve already had many conversations and attended a “Super Session” on the topic.

Connected Enterprise at this point reflects the Internet of Things and is the vision pointing to smart manufacturing. According to an Accenture study about 84% CxO executives see potential revenue streams from IoT, but only about 6% doing something about it

The Rockwell mantra for this conference is Intelligent Assets Controlled by Intelligent Software.

Mobility

Mobility for Rockwell goes far beyond just adding a few visualization tools to smart phones and tablets. It actually reflects the breaking of silos within the company. I’ve seen this developing for several years—especially with the current executive management team.

So, mobility becomes a cross-division effort so that all the various product groups come together so that there is a Rockwell app, not a drives app, a motion app, a control app, and so on.

Mobility also leads to the next age of automation—management by exception. Steve Gillmor of the Gillmor Gang, a popular tech conversation (podcast), talks often about the power of notifications. Notification leads to management by exception. That is where Rockwell is heading.

Four Automation Trends Reflected At Rockwell Automation TechED

Never Stop Learning

How many careers have you had?

Some may have chemical engineering or computer science degrees and are still doing process control or computer networking. But many of us have wound up with a circuitous path to where we are now. In a different industry. Or doing sales or management rather than pure engineering.

The key for career flexibility and advancement is continuous learning.

For a very long time, I’ve been concerned with the prevailing “wisdom” that education exists solely for vocational enhancement.

Here is a voice from the Silicon Valley venture capital community issuing a warning much as I would. In Hard-Core Career Advice for a 13-year-old, James Altucher notes, “[My experience] shows that school is too focused on ‘education leads to a job.’ This is not true anymore. “

He continues, “The reality is the average person has 14 different careers in their lives and the average multi-millionaire has seven different sources of income. So anything that is ‘one-job focused’ will create a generation of kids that will learn the hard way that life doesn’t work like that.”

I have always believed that education is necessary for personal growth.

There are more of my thoughts on this topic in my (mostly) weekly newsletter that went out today.

I am typing this article outside the press room on the pool deck of the Grand Hyatt in San Diego. Press room? Yes, I’m at Rockwell Automation TechED. I find myself needing to cut back on the amount of travel. In a couple of weeks, I’ll have to report on both Honeywell and Siemens from the reports of my friends. Yes, they are the same week in different parts of the country. I just couldn’t make them. But this week in San Diego worked.

Plus, this is my 9th one of these, I think. Formerly RSTechED (they like the capital d–that makes it a logo rather than text), it is now dubbed Rockwell Automation TechED. The reason is there is an expansion of training opportunities beyond the initial HMI/SCADA and programming software. It now includes information systems, new commercial technologies, and discussion of new hardware products.

Attending these events is one way professionals participate in continuous learning.

Connected Enterprise

Rockwell has maintained a consistent theme for many years–the Connected Enterprise. It is still building upon that vision. Cisco, Panduit and Microsoft remain as top-tier partners. EtherNet/IP, the Industrial IP Consortium, and mobility remain as foundations.

There will be more to contemplate this week as I have four defined interviews and many other opportunities. The connected enterprise really is a vision beyond just the Industrial Internet of Things. And Manufacturing 4.0 remains a German initiative mostly targeting Germany’s strength in machine building. I’ve been removed from the US “Smart Manufacturing” circle, but I don’t see it really have a huge impact in the market.

But smart, connected devices, machines, lines, plants, and enterprises still point to the future of manufacturing.

Industrial Revolution Displayed at Hannover Messe 2015

Industrial Revolution Displayed at Hannover Messe 2015

Kuka at Hannover 2015In the rush of a lot of news and a vacation thrown in, I’m still digesting news from Hannover Messe in April. Microsoft had called and asked if I could stop by for an interview, but unfortunately I was not at Hannover.

Below is a Microsoft blog post. The writer posits three industrial ages, and then he surprises us by announcing the arrival of a fourth. Interestingly, it is at Hannover two years ago where Industrie 4.0 sprang forth into our consciousness. Here is Microsoft’s take on the fourth generation of manufacturing along with a few specific examples of what it means in practice.

I think this is a good, though not necessarily complete, look at aspects of Industry 4.0.

 

From the blog

 

When we think about what it takes to build a successful business, there were three main eras, which characterized important shifts in the global marketplace. The first was the industrial revolution when people began to mass-produce and distribute goods with tremendous scale and efficiency. Since everyone received information at the same time and speed was not an issue, change wasn’t particularly fast.

What followed was the Information Age where people weren’t just using technology to drive production efficiencies; they were using it to drive information efficiencies. During this time, competitive advantage began to shift to our access to information.

Today, information and data are ubiquitous which has had a tremendous effect on both our digital work and life experiences. The world has formed a giant network where everyone has access to anyone and everything. Some people refer to this as the Connected Age.

However, the ubiquity of data and connected devices, coupled with important advances in machine learning, are powering a new set of capabilities called the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is now at the forefront of a fourth era in business productivity. With IoT, companies worldwide are transforming the way they plant crops, assemble goods and maintain machinery. Now, several Microsoft customers and partners, including Fujitsu, KUKA Robotics, and Miele, are announcing IoT initiatives that will change the way people live and work.

IoT’s influence on those companies and many others is on display this week at the large industry fair Hannover Messe, where the term “Industry 4.0” was first coined. Everywhere we look there are examples of physical assets integrated with processes, systems and people, and exciting possibilities are being fueled by this transformation.

At this event, Microsoft is showing how we’re helping manufacturers innovate, bring products to market more quickly and transform into digital businesses. Aided by unlimited compute power and rich data platforms, the creation of “systems of intelligence” that enable reasoning over vast amounts of data are empowering individuals and organizations with actionable insights.

 

Blending physical with digital

 

Fujitsu is bringing together its Eco-Management Dashboard, IoT/M2MP platform, Microsoft cloud services, and Windows tablets in a way that can enable managers, engineers, and scientists to improve product quality, streamline systems, and enhance functionality while reducing costs. For example, at its facility in Aizu Wakamatsu, Japan, Fujitsu is able to grow lettuce that is both delicious and low in potassium so that it can be consumed by dialysis patients and people with chronic kidney disease. They can track all of the plant info from their Windows tablets through the cloud. These solutions will also be able to help other agriculture and manufacturing companies transform their businesses through innovation.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a fantastic vision for the future—it is happening today. KUKA, a manufacturer of industrial robots and automation solutions, is using the Microsoft IoT platform to create one of the world’s first showcases that blends IT with robotic technologies into a smart manufacturing solution with new capabilities.

Intelligent Industrial Work Assistant (LBR iiwa), a sensitive and safe lightweight robot, uses precise movements and sensor technology to perceive its surroundings around a complex task like performing the delicate action of threading a tube into a small hole in the back of a dishwasher. Errors in the supply chain are addressed in real time through Windows tablets, making the automated process faster and easier. Through this demonstration, KUKA is highlighting how its LBR iiwa can collaborate with humans to jointly perform the task as peers working together without being controlled by a human or using a vision system.

 

Eyeing physical assets through a digital lens

 

For companies trying to understand how this approach can help, look at the infrastructure you already have. How can these assets become connected and intelligent? What kind of data would help to reduce cost, or increase agility? How can you use insights to grow revenue in existing operations, or offer those insights to customers and create new revenue streams?

The focus here is on transforming existing business models and adding cloud-connected services. In the age of Industry 4.0, manufacturing and resource companies will no longer compete over the products and features they offer, but on new business models they can either pursue themselves or offer to customers.

Four Automation Trends Reflected At Rockwell Automation TechED

Industrial Internet Testbed Announced

Developing testbeds for testing development of technology extensions seems to be hot right now. The Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition has a couple going in conjunction with US government money. There is a bid out from the US government for development of some more, also related to energy efficiency.

The Industrial Internet Consortium announced its first energy-focused testbed: the Communication and Control Testbed for Microgrid Applications. Industrial Internet Consortium member organizations Real-Time Innovations (RTI), National Instruments, and Cisco, are collaborating on the project, working with power utilities CPS Energy and Southern California Edison. Additional industry collaborators include Duke Energy and the power industry organization – Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP).

I recently saw where an analyst positioned the IIC with the German Industry 4.0 initiative–while ignoring the US Smart Manufacturing group altogether. These advanced manufacturing strategies are showing some growth. Both of these have commercial technology companies solidly behind them. I would think that they will have more impact in the long run than SMLC. But we’ll see.

Here is some background from the IIC press release. “Today’s power grid relies on a central-station architecture not designed to interconnect distributed and renewable power sources such as roof-top solar and wind turbines. The system must over-generate power to compensate for rapid variation in power generation or demands. As a result, much of the benefit of renewable energy sources in neighborhoods or businesses is lost. Efficiently integrating variable and distributed generation requires architectural innovation.”

The goal of the Communication and Control Testbed is to introduce the flexibility of real-time analytics and control to increase efficiencies in this legacy process – ensuring that power is generated more accurately and reliably to match demand. This testbed proposes re-architecting electric power grids to include a series of distributed microgrids which will control smaller areas of demand with distributed generation and storage capacity.

These microgrids will operate independently from the main electric power grid but will still interact and be coordinated with the existing infrastructure.

The testbed participants will work closely with Duke Energy, which recently published a distributed intelligence reference architecture, as well as SGIP to help ensure a coordinated, accepted architecture based on modern, cross-industry industrial internet technologies.

The Communications and Control framework will be developed in three phases that will culminate in a field deployment that will take place at CPS Energy’s “Grid-of-the-Future” microgrid test area in San Antonio, Texas.

The initial phases will be tested in Southern California Edison’s Controls Lab in Westminster, CA.

Four Automation Trends Reflected At Rockwell Automation TechED

Yet Another View of Industry 4.0

A blog on the HP site by Christian Verstraete offers yet another opinion on Industry 4.0. However, he never really talks about Industry 4.0. Instead, he discusses the Internet of Things. Even though this is not “mainstream media,” it is still an example of sloppy thinking.

Beware of Industry 4.0 Misinformation

Verstraete first off confuses two terms. He never really touches on what Industry 4.0 is–including digital manufacturing, cyber physical systems, or, indeed, manufacturing. While making a couple of aside comments about manufacturing, he really only talks about the consumer side of the equation.

He links it directly to the Internet of Things–catering specifically to the usage of the internet of things in industries.

“Let’s start with the fact that companies increasingly cooperate in product development, across their supply chain and in their maintenance operations. Then, let’s look at where the Internet of Things can actually help enterprises deliver better products, cheaper and faster while maintaining or improving quality levels and services.”

He continues, “So, collecting market research as well as user data and then making it available to the developers would really help them defining the next generation product. But given market concerns about privacy, your data collection approach should be thought through very carefully.”

From a manufacturing point of view, this is one of the two promises of machine-to-machine (M2M) theory. An OEM, for example, could monitor its machine in the customer’s plant for both providing maintenance service and for collecting data on machine performance and component performance for the purpose of improving its product.

“An Industry 4.0 example would then be that you, as part of the product development process, desire user data, but you are not interested in the individual. You will need to demonstrate to customers that the information gathered is anonymous and there is no way for anybody receiving the information, legally or illegally to trace it back to the end-user.”

He misses an opportunity to inform his readers about the “industry” in Industry 4.0. Here he once again uses consumer point of view:

He then progresses to “maintenance operations.” I’m not sure if he is confusing maintenance and operations or simply referring to maintenance. But he misses a great opportunity to discuss the value of predictive maintenance or condition-based maintenance.

“Whether we talk about maintenance operations within the production environment or services to maintain equipment at the customer site, the problem remains the same. When is an intervention required? Typically we have two approaches. Either regular preventive maintenance (for example yearly) or maintenance triggered by usage (typical in the car industry), it always happens before the fact and does not take into account the actual status of the equipment.”

Let’s all press people to define terms and resist just mixing up all the terms and then running with a half-baked idea. There is the Internet of Things. There is Industry 4.0 (of which you have probably heard much). There is Smart Manufacturing (of which you have probably only heard of here–and you most likely won’t any longer because I have been removed from the formation group).

As the technologies evolve and engineers begin to implement, manufacturing efficiency and profitability should be experiencing a step change improvement.

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