by Gary Mintchell | Aug 22, 2023 | Data Management, News, Operations Management
More robust alarm management, improved access to maintenance information, and enhanced support of international standards.
Once I knew many people at Yokogawa and had visited their offices outside Atlanta and Houston a few times. Now I see Dave Emerson and Penny Chen a couple of times a year and haven’t heard anything from marketing for years. Now I’m back on Yokogawa’s radar.
This news is interesting because data has become a meaningful topic. This news reveals updates to the Collaborative Information Server (CI Server) part of the OpreX Control and Safety System family. The update provides more robust alarm management than before, improved access to maintenance information, and expanded support for international communications standards.
This solution will bring together large volumes of data from various plant equipment and systems to enable the optimized management of production activities across an entire enterprise, and provide the environment needed to remotely monitor and control operations from any location and make swift decisions.
Yokogawa came out with the first release of CI Server in 2021. By integrating the handling of all kinds of data from plant equipment, devices, and systems, this solution facilitates the optimized management of production activities across an entire enterprise. With this latest upgrade to CI Server, the company has introduced new functions that enhance its connectivity with plant systems, equipment, and devices, and enable the integrated management of alarms and the use of field device data for such purposes as routine maintenance.
1. OPC UA A&C message reception function
CI Server now supports the client function of OPC Unified Architecture Alarms & Conditions (UA A&C). This enables CI Server to safely and securely receive alarms, system state information, and other kinds of data from any device that supports OPC UA A&C server function, including third-party products.
2. CENTUM VP and ProSafe-RS alarm receiving function through V net
In addition to the monitoring of plant operations, CI Server can now directly receive CENTUM VP and ProSafe-RS alarms through V net. With the addition of this function, linkage with Yokogawa’s CENTUM VP distributed control system and ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system has been enhanced.
3. Linkage with Plant Resource Manager (PRM)
CI Server can now link with Yokogawa’s PRM (R4.06 or later) and is thus able to handle and provide to higher-level systems all the information that is managed using this software package. By linking with data from multiple application programs, CI Server enables the comprehensive monitoring of field device status information, parameters, and other kinds of data.
CI Server alarm integration and linkage with PRM
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 21, 2023 | News
1. Antonio Di Vaira joins Schneider Electric to lead the company’s Power Products & Systems, North American Hub
2. In his new role, Antonio will accelerate the evolution of the New Energy Landscape and drive market growth
I seldom do new jobs, but he will be a leader in the electric power market. The press release only said he has more than 20 years experience and is passionate about sustainable product development. And, his job is to accelerate growth.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 18, 2023 | Leadership, Productivity
Executives, especially in Silicon Valley, have been on a concerted campaign to force their remote workers to return to the office. A few academic and/or journalist writers have tried to provide support by pointing to “studies” that show that when people work together they are more productive. On the other hand, there are studies (see links below) that show the opposite.
I recently listened to an interview with a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who wants employees in the office three days per week. The reason—meetings. He thinks meetings are great. And looking at the “Brady Bunch” gallery of faces unsettles him. He needs to focus on one face at a time.
I have always found meetings inherently unproductive wastes of time. Maybe if everyone is in the office impromptu one-on-one meetings have some value. But, those also interrupt one or both people from the thought work they need to be doing.
I also listen to Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson of 37 Signals and Michael Sliwinski of Nozbe and recently game developer Justin Gary. All run thriving companies with no office. Fried and Sliwinski have written books on the success of remote work.
The purpose of this recent movement is really control. Managers who do not know how to lead rely on control mechanisms to keep track of employees. I had a boss once whom I informed that I was going to spend more time working from home. “Well, as long as you’re working,” he replied.
How would you even calculate most knowledge worker productivity? Number of reports per week? Number of quotes sent per day? Projects per month?
People making things must be where the things are being made. And the number of cars or barrels or bottles can be counted. But reports? For the most part, who cares? Who reads them?
Productivity is nonsense in the knowledge worker domain. More important are impact and effectiveness. Peter Drucker saw this 40 years ago.
Questions for us:
What impact have you had on the success of the business or organization today?
How effective was your latest initiative for improving workflow?
These unfortunately cannot always be easily measured with a number. But everyone knows your impact and effectiveness. And for most, that doesn’t being chained to a cubicle. After all, how many CEOs are in the office every day? And how many are flying around the globe every week?
A good article from Forbes on the myths of productivity.
A study on knowledge worker productivity.
Measuring and Improving Productivity
Harvard Business Review, Knowledge Workers More Productive from Home
From Microsoft, new performance equation in the age of AI
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 16, 2023 | Design
Human-centered design. Designing products as if humans were going to use them. Designing human-machine interface in ways that make it easier to see what’s going on.
It was 2009 and again in 2010. Emerson Global Users Exchange. Emerson Process Marketing Director Bill Morrison grabbed me (figuratively) to show and explain how Emerson was working with a university using Human-Centered Design for its products. And the benefits.
Emerson has talked to me more about HCD over the ensuing years than any other company. But I think many are adopting at least a little of the concept.
Today I listened to a recent Guy Kawasaki Remarkable People podcast interview with Don Norman. He called the episode Putting the User Back in User Interface. The wide-ranging interview, including time that both spent at Apple, took a dive into “Humanity-Centered Design”. This includes ideas from the Circular Economy where we design not just for the immediate use but also for life after the useful life of the product.
Don Norman: Putting the User Back in User Interface
This is the Remarkable People podcast. We’re on a mission to make you remarkable. Today, we’ll discuss the life and work of Don Norman, professor and the founding director of the Design Lab at the University of California of San Diego.
He has a diverse range of history, including a university professor, Apple executive, company advisor, author, speaker, and curmudgeon; Don has contributed to many fields, including electrical engineering, psychology, computer science, cognitive science, and design.
And for a time, he was my boss at Apple when I was an Apple fellow. I’m surprised he doesn’t introduce himself that way.
Don is the author of one of the most influential books on design and usability called The Design of Everyday Things. He has a new book called Design for a Better World: How to Create a Meaningful, Sustainable, and Humanity-Centered Future.
Here’s a bonus episode. Kawasaki interviews Carol Dweck. If you have not read Mindset, get it and read it now. And pass it on to many others.
Carol Dweck: The Mother of the Growth Mindset Tells All
Welcome to Remarkable People. We’re on a mission to make you remarkable. Helping me in this episode is one of my idol’s, Carol Dweck,
Her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, is one of two most important influences in my life.
Carol is a professor of psychology at Stanford University.Her work spans developmental psychology, social psychology, and personality psychology, focusing on self-conceptions and their impact on behavior, motivation, achievement, and interpersonal dynamics.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 15, 2023 | Commentary, News, Sustainability
My career spans three technology/market cycles. I’ve seen the excitement of new companies, new technology adaptations, new markets three times. All as user and marketing/sales and writer/influencer.
I got involved thanks to a boss with the IT world in the late 70s. At the same time I started playing around with PCs—a Timex Sinclair that I wrote games and education aids for my wife’s 3rd grade class and a Radio Shack TRS-80 that I began setting my dad’s accounting business on. This was before 1980. The deep dive into automation for machinery came in the mid-80s. I’ve followed these passions ever since.
There were large and stimulating media around all three markets. Remember all the products in PC Magazine and its siblings in the 80s and 90s? When I switched to media in 1998 at Control Engineering, it also was packed with new products as many new companies sprang up with a new take on control platforms or software.
Then I experienced the consolidation and maturity of all three markets. IT magazines…gone. PC magazines…gone (maybe a couple on the web). Automation and control magazines are half the size of 15 years ago…and maybe even less. I saw it coming in 2013 when I left Automation World and struck out as an independent writer in the space.
The MacBook Air M2 I’m writing this on is faster and has more memory than the MacBook Air I had a decade ago. But really, it’s still the MacBook Air. Excitement in the PC industry has not been PCs but mobile phones that are really computing devices. There exist a few thriving companies in the industrial market right now—mostly software companies.
There is still innovation in each of the spaces. Certainly all the excitement of playing around with the tech is gone.
What is the next big question for each of these technology markets? Or, what big question will generate an entirely new technology market? Remember, the real reason humanity has developed new technology has been to solve a problem to help humanity (well, aside from gaining an advantage in war).
One interesting thing remains—sustainability. We made so many products enabling production and manufacturing that fouled the soil and atmosphere. Now engineers are taking the technology and using it to clean up the mess. I’ve had interesting conversations with Honeywell and Rockwell Automation and ABB. And even Siemens on the topic. As we forge into a world looking for cleaner energy than fossil fuels, theses companies will supply the technology to help entrepreneurs develop and market solutions.
On that subject, check out this podcast from HPE’s Michael Bird on new energy sources. Perhaps here is a place to apply all that creativity.
