by Gary Mintchell | Aug 5, 2024 | Operations Management, Security
Without context more data becomes as useful as counting stars on a clear night in the desert. Too much; can’t comprehend. Such is the state of cybersecurity.
Tenable has released a couple of new capabilities to its portfolio using understanding of its vast data to provide context to users seeking to find real vulnerabilities in their systems.
First up, two definitions that Tenable provided (and I hate shortened words):
- Vulnerability Intelligence: brings together a vast number of sources pulled from decades of vulnerability data collection to streamline analysis and help security teams quickly understand the important details
- Exposure Response: prioritizes vulns and exposures based on criticality, monitors remediation trends, tracks progress and communicates value to stakeholders in business terms
Tenable, the Exposure Management company, announced August 5 the release of Vulnerability Intelligence and Exposure Response, two powerful context-driven prioritization and response features available in Tenable Vulnerability Management and Tenable One, and accessible through Tenable Cloud Security. The combined power of these features contextualizes vulnerability data from internal and external sources, enabling organizations to close the exposures that pose the greatest risks to their businesses.
Those of us in process control have dealt with the problem of too many alarms demanding response, many of which are not critical. Tools that evaluate context have alleviated pain for a generation of operators. Similarly, Tenable’s research reveals a similar lack of context driving problems.
Cybersecurity teams are inundated with troves of fragmented vulnerability and threat intelligence data. The lack of contextualization exacerbates their ability to effectively prioritize remediation efforts. Tenable Research reveals that only 3% of vulnerabilities most frequently result in impactful exposure. In addition, traditional tools lack comprehensive reporting, making it difficult to track progress, identify areas where teams may need additional support and communicate status to stakeholders.
Therefore introducing these new capabilities that allow customers to pinpoint these key vulnerabilities with rich context, curated by Tenable Research, and close risky exposures.
“Without threat context and research insights, every vulnerability is a priority, creating a high-stress, low efficiency whack-a-mole scenario for security teams,” said Tenable’s Gavin Millard, VP of product management for Vulnerability Management. “Tenable is unleashing more than two decades of carefully curated exposure data to enable security teams to focus on the risk that matters most to their organization and communicate succinctly to stakeholders. The enriched intelligence and contextualization takes prioritization and response to a new level, providing security teams with the critical data needed to identify and reduce risk.”
Cybersecurity companies are also watching you—for a good reason.
In the last two decades, Tenable has collected and analyzed 50 trillion data points on more than 240,000 vulnerabilities, capturing detailed vulnerability information and deep context. This enriched database supercharges Tenable Vulnerability Intelligence, enabling efficient proactive defense. Backed by the expertise of Tenable Research, Vulnerability Intelligence integrates comprehensive vulnerability sources, streamlining data analysis and enabling security teams to quickly understand vulnerability details. With comprehensive, action-oriented workflows from Exposure Response, security teams can prioritize asset exposures based on criticality, monitor remediation trends against SLAs and track progress against desired outcomes. This helps them to ensure resources are used efficiently, reduces risk and communicates value to stakeholders in business terms.
Vulnerability Intelligence and Exposure Response are available to Tenable Vulnerability Management and Tenable One customers, empowering proactive security for the modern enterprise. Vulnerability Intelligence is also accessible directly from Tenable Cloud Security.
Key features include:
- Threat Landscape Overview – Seven curated exposure risk categories provide a unique way to proactively surface key exposures that warrant further review by highlighting CVEs under CISA known exploits, active exploitation, ransomware campaigns, emerging threats in the news and more.
- Natural Language and Advanced Search – Easy to use search function that enables security teams to search for specific vulnerabilities by CVE number or common name, review distilled knowledge available on a vulnerability and surface impacted assets quickly. Buildable advanced query that enables security teams to zero in on high-impact vulnerabilities by identifying groups of vulnerabilities based on VPR key drivers, common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics and Tenable Research metadata.
- Campaign-Based Initiatives: Targeted campaigns and business segments using an end-to-end workflow that streamlines prioritization and mitigation of critical vulnerabilities, ensuring efficient use of resources and improved security outcomes.
- Progress Tracking and Advanced Reporting: Advanced reporting capabilities provides clear accountability and visibility into remediation efforts and detailed reports on vulnerability trends, empowering data-driven decision-making and proactive security improvements, such as identifying bottlenecks, assisting with resource allocation and facilitating data-driven decisions.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 2, 2024 | Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Productivity
How refreshing to talk to a true evangelist of American manufacturing. While I believe in international cooperation and market expansion, I recognize that as long as we have countries those countries will need a solid manufacturing base to survive.
The other day I received a pitch about a new company in the US trying to bring digital solutions to manufacturing—from small to large enterprises. This led to a conversation with Ryan Kuhlenbeck, CEO of Pico MES. His enthusiasm and evangelical fervor was a refreshing change from the usual corporate conversation. That was beyond even just a sales pitch.
Let’s set the stage. Human errors cause 80% of manufacturing defects, impacting employee retention, slowing efficiency & costing the industry $1T. On the brink of a huge labor shortage, factories need solutions that reduce headaches while improving quality standards.
Bosch-backed factory floor tech Pico MES is digitizing, error-proofing & increasing efficiency for the small/mid-sized factories (98% of the industry) at the heart of the American supply chain & providing a blueprint for how to transform our factories.
Ryan has worked at GM and Tesla. He told me that Elon drove an emphasis on data, something that he brings to his new company. He wants to fill the gap between enterprise and supply chain software.
The MES in the company name basically tells prospective customers that Pico’s application resides between the control/HMI layer and the ERP layer. He told me that their MES is bottom up rather than top down. They don’t try to use the complex integration of ISA 95. That requires too much custom code (and I’d add, too many consultants).
The Pico MES no code application (a recent theme) builds on a library of tools used in discrete manufacturing. The library is a digitization of all the information relevant to the tool. (Another thing he learned from Elon—the more digitizing, the better.) As they talk with prospects, “We see a lot of paper,” says Ryan.
Pico provides process workflows, worker guidance, traceability. The library includes videos to assist training and setup. The goal is to minimize setup and maximize work. The software is built on modularity for ease of use. Pico’s customers range from 6-person shops to large manufacturers—including some who manufacture semi-trucks.
Nothing theoretical here. All nitty-gritty shop floor tested systems.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 31, 2024 | Generative AI, Operations Management, Software
What I want to hear from marketing people is not that their products have built-in artificial intelligence (AI), or even Generative AI. What is more interesting is a real use for the technology. The world has been filled with technologies over the centuries that never really made it into something usable by the population.
The pitch was, where and why manufacturing businesses need to adopt AI to remain relevant and boost productivity. But I talked with serial entrepreneur and founder of Entytle, Vivek Joshi, anyway. You never know what you might learn.
The conversation took a turn into how can companies find a use and a market with the huge installed base of assets. My memory went back to the turn of the millennium and the term Machine-to-Machine, the precursor of IIoT, and the dream of OEMs to be able to watch the machines they sold in order to alert their customers to maintenance opportunities. The opportunity never really took off.
Joshi had a couple of points to make. One was the movement to services for additional revenue for many companies. The other focuses on the ongoing, and increasing, brain drain due to retirements.
He told me, much from his own experiences, that it’s hard to make money in this movement to services. Much of the installed base lacks sufficient technology making it difficult for OEMs and others to monetize the installed base.
Entytle attacks the problem through data. Every company has hordes of unstructured data lying around unused. This data could be used for predictive and preventive maintenance. It can be used along with other sources to retain the value from employees leaving the company due to retirement. Entytle wants to make the gap less painful. They unlock unstructured data along with video-based large language models (LLMs), adding prediction mechanisms based on experience. Real world generative AI.
Entytle provides a comprehensive solution that empowers Industrial and Equipment Manufacturers to transform service operations using Installed Base data. They can now use the insights from their Installed Base to optimize resource allocation and unlock new revenue opportunities. With Entytle, you gain a deeper understanding of your installed base, predict and prevent equipment failures, and build stronger customer relationships through proactive service and support.
Vivek is an engineer by education and spent his formative years in manufacturing and Aftermarket Service operations in companies like Johnson & Johnson, Booz Allen & Hamilton, General Electric and Sun Microsystems. He founded a sensor and instrumentation company called LumaSense that he took from an idea to almost $100MM revenue in a few years, and then turned his attention to building Entytle which developed a new category of software to solve critical and repetitive problems he faced while growing Aftermarket and Service businesses during his career.
Entytle, Inc. is the provider of Insyghts, the world’s first Installed Base Intelligence Platform for B2B OEMs to unify, organize & analyze their customer and asset information while significantly improving available data quality. Insyghts, a SaaS platform, incorporates purpose-built AI/ML analytics to identify sales and service opportunities to increase wallet share from the OEM’s installed base. Entytle is trusted by Industry leaders including Johnson Controls, Baker Hughes, Peerless Pump, GEA, Xylem and many more who use Entytle to drive organic growth at scale.
The cloud-based platform provides a complete 360 view of the Installed Base, intelligent hunting lists, and the ability to orchestrate automation between various tools, systems, or processes. This enables smarter, faster workflows leading to increases in productivity, capacity, and scalability.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 29, 2024 | Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Software, Workforce
Writer and computer science professor Cal Newport writes in his new book Slow Productivity about a condition we probably all have found ourselves mired in—pseudoproductivity. When I was younger we called it “busy work.” That is work designed to make us appear busy even while accomplishing almost nothing.
I began doing promotional work for a company called Quickbase this year. This company was completely new to me. They develop software for manufacturing and construction industries—ERP, Project Management, MES, and the like. Their competitive differential is no code. When you purchase their solutions you don’t need a few consultants and huge computer system.
They have defined an enemy to productivity they call “gray work.” Their solution is designed to render gray work moot.
Recently, Quickbase surveyed 2,000 workers in the United States and United Kingdom on the state of work and productivity. 54% of respondents reported that it’s harder than ever to be productive day-to-day.
58% of respondents said they spend less than 20 hours per week on meaningful work—the truly important stuff that that drives actual results. And 45% of respondents say they are spending 11+ hours per week doing nothing but chasing information from different people across multiple systems.
And despite our best technological innovations and intentions, more tools do not necessarily make things better—an immense nine out of 10 respondents report feeling overwhelmed to some degree by the sheer amount of software solutions they use daily—the very solutions that are supposed to increase productivity.
Now overlay this with the fact that 66% of respondents report that their organizations are actively increasing investments in software designed to theoretically enhance productivity, work management, and collaboration, and it adds up to a productivity gap that is growing every day. What can we do about it? You’re about to find out.
You can download the report at this link. It is worthwhile reading. And thinking about. And figuring out how to implement solutions that eliminate (or minimize) gray work or pseudoproductivity.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 26, 2024 | Personal Development
Publicity people deserve much empathy. They often undertake considerable work and ingenuity to meet the goals of their client’s over-optimistic marketing plans.
I accidentally got on a press news list. Few people check for compatibility. They just send me stuff.
This is one of those. Far from my core interest, but perhaps useful to some of you in your personal life and travels, comes news relevant to your smart phone. I’ve had no problems with my carrier traveling over much of Europe, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Mexico. But perhaps you have had either difficulty connecting or discovered exorbitantly high bills for the few days in another country.
Enter a South African company called Know Roaming. Their product is an eSIM for your smart phone. An eSIM, short for embedded SIM, is a SIM card that’s built into your smartphone and cannot be physically removed. Unlike traditional SIM cards, which require swapping when changing carriers or traveling abroad, eSIMs are programmable directly onto your phone.
Depending upon your travels, this could be a solution well worth checking out.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 25, 2024 | Generative AI, Operations Management, Workforce
Marketing people are pressing the accelerator all the way to make sure we all know they are using artificial intelligence (AI). I think this is a mistake because most of us know that we have been using AI within software and control products for decades. So, when I receive a press release that looks relevant to The Manufacturing Connection (which is becoming ever more rare), I probe.
Seeq is a pretty cool company in a software niche that is often difficult to explain. They recently sent a press release regarding the use of AI in workforce training. Possessing an inquiring mind, I had to ask for more. The following Q&A with Dustin Johnson, CTO at Seeq, satisfies most of my curiosity. There is some marketing stuff in the answers that I didn’t cut. You all know what that is.
Oh, and it’s not just the usual AI but the current hot topic of Generative AI that is the subject.
What areas or skills are being taught?
In our experience, the best way to encourage adoption of any new technology is to use it to solve a pressing problem quickly. This helps users build the initial trust and interest needed to pursue future work. Thus, integrating AI into our Foundations Analytics Skills and Bootcamp courses, or whatever courses a company is using to introduce a new technology, is crucial.
Our hands-on, industrial analytics AI training, which kicked off with Seeq users at our industry conference Conneqt 2024 in May, details how users can leverage GenAI to generate a workflow for solving an industry-specific problem. From generating an overall plan for an analysis to digging into specific analytics approach questions, such as how to cleanse a specific data set, to completing and modifying bulk calculations, then following the workplan through to visualization and reporting, the course empowers users to unlock new value throughout each step of the workflow. At each step, we emphasize the power of collaboration between people and AI: how to get and clarify answers, validate and adjust calculations the AI has performed, and troubleshoot if issues arise.
Above all, the Seeq AI training focuses on hands-on problem solving with real, relevant data, and does not shy away from the questions and concerns we know our users have. The bottom line is that users are still wary of using AI, which has, after all, only become “net productive” for most users in the past few months. So, it’s crucial that they experience value-add in the context of their own work as quickly as possible, while being realistic about the state of technology.
How successful has this initiative been?
After leveraging the Seeq AI Assistant, customers have reported that they can now complete tasks eight times faster and without interrupting other teams for help. Additionally, the ability to perform advanced calculations and obtain knowledge documented by previous team members has helped users cut the time required to become advanced analytics experts in half.
What are they learning?
Our approach includes integrating AI into our Foundations Analytics Skills™ courses and offering hands-on, industrial analytics AI training. These initiatives are designed to foster adoption from the start and empower users to apply AI for real-world problem solving.
The most needed skills include data analysis, problem-solving with AI, and applying AI for specific manufacturing challenges. Seeq is addressing this through in-product learning, in-house training programs, like our Foundations Analytics Skills™, and hands-on workshops at industry conferences.
Are they showing signs of retention?
More than 100 customer and partner organizations and thousands of users (and growing) are already leveraging the Seeq AI Assistant to accelerate insights and improve decision making in pursuit of operational excellence and sustainability.
Are these used in conjunction with other tools?
Seeq is at the forefront of integrating AI within the manufacturing sector, primarily through our AI Assistant and in-product learning tools. We’re focused on making advanced analytics accessible to industrial organizations, thereby accelerating their digital transformation journeys.
Seeq provides on-demand access to critical time series data, data contextualization capabilities, and established intellectual property. Utilizing the extensive body of advanced analytics, data science, machine learning and coding knowledge held in Seeq technical documentation and its knowledge base, Seeq is operationalizing the power of GenAI for its customers. Combining these competencies with prompt engineering curated by the world-class analytics and learning engineers at Seeq, the Seeq AI assistant generates accurate and actionable suggestions for analytical approaches and techniques, code generation and more. Seeq also supports multiple providers and LLMs for organizational flexibility.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 24, 2024 | Automation, Security
A cybersecurity in action warning. In April 2024, FrostyGoop, an ICS malware, was discovered in a publicly available malware scanning repository. FrostyGoop can target devices communicating over Modbus TCP to manipulate control, modify parameters, and send unauthorized command messages. Modbus TCP is a commonly used protocol across all industrial sectors.
The Cyber Security Situation Center (CSSC), a part of the Security Service of Ukraine, shared details with Dragos about a cyber attack that impacted a municipal district energy company in Ukraine in January 2024. At the time of the attack, this facility fed over 600 apartment buildings, supplying customers with central heating. Remediation of the incident took almost two days, during which time the civilian population had to endure sub-zero temperatures. Dragos assessed that FrostyGoop and internet-exposed ICS devices facilitated this attack.
Telling manufacturers that their technology systems are vulnerable to attack happens so often as to be almost trite. Yet, new vulnerabilities emerge with the regularity of a heartbeat. This attack perpetrated through Modbus TCP was detected in Ukraine.
This brief provides a strategic summary of information on this OT threat and attack as reported in Dragos WorldView threat intelligence, with clear guidance for OT asset owners and operators.
Information provided here is sourced from Dragos OT Cyber Threat Intelligence adversary hunters and analysts who conduct research on adversary operations and their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Dragos OT cyber threat intelligence is fully reported in Dragos WorldView threat intelligence reports and is also compiled into the Dragos Platform for threat detection and vulnerability management.
Dragos discovered the FrostyGoop ICS Malware in April 2024. FrostyGoop is the ninth known ICS malware. This malware can interact directly with industrial control systems (ICS) in operational technology (OT) environments using the Modbus protocol, a standard ICS protocol used across all industrial sectors and organizations worldwide.
Additionally, the Cyber Security Situation Center (CSSC), a part of the Security Service of Ukraine (Служба безпеки України), shared details with Dragos about a disruptive cyber attack on a district energy company in Ukraine, which resulted in a two-day loss of heating to customers. The adversaries sent Modbus commands to ENCO controllers, causing inaccurate measurements and system malfunctions – taking almost two days to remediate the issues. Dragos assesses that FrostyGoop was likely used in this attack. An associated FrostyGoop configuration file contained the IP address of an ENCO control device, leading Dragos to assess with moderate confidence that FrostyGoop was used to target ENCO controllers through Modbus TCP port 502 open to the internet.
We want to express our gratitude to the Cyber Security Situation Center (CSSC), a part of the Security Service of Ukraine (Служба безпеки України), for its continued commitment to collaborative intelligence sharing and for allowing us to report on the disruptive OT incident impacting communities in Lviv, Ukraine.
Dragos leaves us with a summary of recommended guidance:
- Identify impacted assets. Access your Asset Inventory and search for ENCO control servers and devices communicating over Modbus.
- Look for potential malicious behavior. Review the FrostyGoop-specific dashboard to determine if related detections and IOCs have been triggered.
- Perform a retrospective search for potential malicious behavior across your SiteStore forensics for signs of past activity involving this malware.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 23, 2024 | Automation, Generative AI, News
Honeywell commissioned Wakefield Research to survey AI leaders around the world. The online research, which was conducted from April 22 through May 2, 2024, involved 1,600 executives in 12 global markets (US, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan Mexico, United Kingdom, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.) Each respondent works at a company with at least 1,000 employees that is currently using AI to automate processes and tasks. All respondents are influencers or decision makers related to the use of AI within their departments or across their organizations.
This research includes the construction industry.
Here are a few out-takes.
Surveys of people using AI, rather than those just thinking about it, seem to be pushing aside thoughts of AI as evil. People are learning to use the various forms of the technology—as humans always have.
According to AI leaders in the construction industry, the top benefits of implementing industrial AI include:
- Improved job satisfaction – 51%
- More time for skills development – 49%
- Less manual work – 44%
- More creative thinking – 44%
Forms of artificial intelligence including machine learning have powered software for many years. Here are some updated examples:
AI-enabled buildings can help reduce power consumption, which accounts for approximately 37% of global CO2 emissions, while supported by other solutions to reduce overall energy use.
Sometimes it is downright scary what C-Suite occupants think about technology. The survey included these nuggets.
C-Suite Insight: AI leaders agree with AI’s potential as 94% expect their organization to expand the use of AI beyond its initial implementation. Even though a little more than a third (37%) of respondents expressed concern that their C-Suite does not fully understand AI, they and almost all of their peers (94%) said their corporate leadership is all in.
This finding should not surprise any of us who have worked in an organization for longer than a week.
Uneven Readiness: Uncertainty shows up in discussions of capital costs. Nearly half (48%) of respondents report they are constantly having to justify or request sufficient resources to implement AI plans. At the same time, two-thirds (63%) say a quarter of more of their equipment isn’t properly enabled for AI compatibility, yet most (59%) plan to let non-AI compatible equipment run through its lifespan before replacement.
Of course we are still in the early stages. We will be until it is no longer a buzz word—just another tool we use.
Still Early Stages: Just 17% of those surveyed have launched their initial plans for AI, and many are still in the scaling (43%) or prototyping (12%) stages. Why? Potentially, because it’s expensive. Most AI leaders (74%) believe that their organizations will replace non-AI-compatible equipment, but only 41% of them will do so early to maximize the benefits from AI. The other 33% will wait out the lifespan of legacy equipment.
Everyone I talk with is concerned with workers lacking skills. Of course, even though many say that “people are our greatest asset”, pay rates do not seem to reflect that. I wonder what the people who work there actually think.
Upskilling and Reskilling Workers: With a growing skills gap and the retirement wave of the baby boom generation, employers increasingly rely on AI to bridge the gap. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents to our research cited increasing worker efficiency and productivity as AI’s most promising use in their organizations.
At the same time, a quarter of those surveyed agree that people are their company’s greatest asset (25%). So, it makes sense that when looking at implementing AI, benefiting employees was top of mind. AI leaders say the technology will enhance flexibility (16%) as a key benefit for workers, along with improving efficiency and productivity (52%) and streamlining hiring and training (17%).
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 22, 2024 | Manufacturing IT, Operations Management
I told the publicity person that finding new technologies to write about in this market segment is as rare as a dry day in April here in Illinois. This case study falls a little short of my vision for Automation World when we began 20 years ago. I wanted to make the team of people the heroes of the story, not the product. This splits the difference.
My history with manufacturing software dates to 1977. I’ve seen a lot. The early Wonderware solved many problems. Inductive Automation entered the fray in 2003 upping the ante. I began with the early version of MES. Thankfully the ERP “revolution” eluded me. I wrote a bit about that last week. MES is incredibly complex and difficult. Companies have been working on ways to make it easier to implement especially over the last decade. ERP still tries to do too much with too little overall vision.
But…check out this case study sent to me by Plex (a Rockwell Automation company). The company tries. What do you think?
This case study was written by Plex. I hate to take the lazy way out, but this works.
Specializing in roll forming, stamping, laser welding and more, Advanced Vehicle Assemblies, LLC creates efficient products and solutions for the automotive industry. With four locations in both the United States and Mexico, Advanced Vehicle Assemblies is reimagining the production of complex metal assemblies with the use of multiple in-house forming and joining methodologies.
- Established real-time production reporting
- Increased insight into inventory tracking
- Enhanced visibility across production
THE SEARCH FOR A NEW SYSTEM
With over 500 employees across four locations, Advanced Vehicle Assemblies, LLC (AVA) is known for its unique, complementary manufacturing processes that enable the production of complex metal assemblies. Founded in 2021, AVA has expanded significantly and now ships approximately 52.2 million parts annually.
AVA split from its former sister company in June 2020 and this transition kicked off an urgent search for a new ERP system.
They were temporarily covered under a shared service agreement from their previous affiliation, but the end date was nearing. As a result, the company looked for an ERP solution that minimized hardware maintenance — a stark contrast to their previous experience — and could be implemented within their tight timeline.
Alongside the frequent maintenance required by the old ERP system, AVA also faced the fact that the old system did not include Manufacturing Execution System (MES) integration.
The absence of real-time production reporting and inventory tracking led to reliance on manual processes, causing significant delays and a lack of trust in the collected data. As AVA aimed for rapid independence and organizational rebuilding following the split, the selection of a new ERP system became a critical aspect of their strategic focus.
As it navigated the intricate landscape of ERP options during the summer of 2020, AVA conducted surveys, evaluations, and demonstrations to help identify their top priorities with the help of user feedback. Despite the tight timeframe, the culmination of this rigorous process led them to select Plex as their new ERP system in late 2020. This choice marked a pivotal step for Advanced Vehicle Assemblies, LLC as they embraced a new ERP system that promised to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and support their journey towards becoming a thriving, independent enterprise.
AN ACCELERATED TIMELINE
Embarking on their ERP system revamp journey, AVA utilized the Milan, Michigan facility as their first Plex implementation site in December 2020. This location shared the outdated ERP system with AVA’s sister company, adding an extra layer of complexity to the transition. Knowing time was of the essence, Milan aimed to go live on Plex within an ambitious 60 days.
To ensure a successful transition, AVA enlisted the support of Plex implementation services, who assigned a project manager to the Milan site. This project manager brought a deep understanding of the project’s parameters and the urgency of a rapid go-live timeframe. To bolster their eff orts, the Plex team tapped on outside consultants to assist with the critical data cleansing phase as it was loaded into Plex. Employee training sessions and workshops were also prioritized, acknowledging the importance of preparing users for the impending changes.
As the go-live date loomed, an impressive collaboration unfolded, with up to seven Plex team members present at the Milan location during each shift. This emphasis on teamwork from all sides underscored the collective commitment to a successful implementation.
Despite the challenge of a 60-day timeline, the Milan site successfully implemented Plex within the desired timeframe. Employees showcased resilience and adaptability as they mastered the main Plex functions, navigating the natural learning curve that comes with migrating to a new manufacturing solution.
NEWFOUND INSIGHT & DATA
The Plex implementation brought about a transformative wave of improvements for AVA, revolutionizing their operational landscape. One of the most notable enhancements was the establishment of real-time production reporting and inventory tracking. The newfound ability to access data in real time instilled a heightened sense of awareness of inventory for AVA, enabling employees to address issues promptly, fostering agility in their responses and elevating overall operational efficiency.
Furthermore, the implementation of Plex significantly augmented visibility across production. With operators more engaged and proactive on the shop floor, AVA witnessed quicker problem resolution. The benefits of Plex extended beyond the shop floor as it empowered AVA to successfully grow its business while maintaining a lean operational structure, minimizing the need for additional personnel to manage the Plex ERP system. Additionally, key Performance Indicators (KPIs) became more visible and dynamic, seamlessly integrating into Plex as native components rather than being extracted from external Excel sheets.
Plex also eliminated the necessity for financial consolidation software, streamlining processes and making contextual data easily available. The intuitiveness of the Plex system unlocked this accessibility, making it easy for users to navigate and find the information they need. The cloud-based nature of Plex, coupled with its highly configurable background settings, provided a foundation of flexibility that empowered AVA to continue to test and implement improvements. This adaptability positioned Plex as a transformative tool that not only met AVA’s original expectations for their ERP system but exceeds them into the present and future.
LOOKING AHEAD WITH PLEX
After the Plex implementation, Advanced Vehicle Assemblies, LLC has gone on a revolutionary journey marked by significant improvements across various facets of their operations. The shift from an outdated ERP system to Plex resulted not only in material improvements but also newfound capabilities and efficiencies. Perspectives have also evolved across departments, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and data utilization.
For AVA, the most significant achievement with Plex has been the ability to attain complete independence. Upon completion of the implementation, internal surveys affirmed the success of Plex as it earned high marks for reliability, speed, and ease of use. The adoption and integration of the software extends beyond that of the Milan, Michigan location, with AVA employees able to take on the remaining Plex implementations internally with little to no Plex support required on site.
As AVA looks towards the future, the success of the Plex implementation stands as a testament to the company’s resilience and adaptability, setting the stage for continued growth and operational excellence for years to come.
Plex, by Rockwell Automation, is a leader in cloud-delivered smart manufacturing solutions, empowering the world’s manufacturers to make awesome products. Our platform gives manufacturers the ability to connect, automate, track, and analyze every aspect of their business to drive transformation. The Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform includes solutions for manufacturing execution (MES), ERP, quality, supply chain planning and management, asset performance management, production monitoring, process automation and analytics to connect people, systems, machines and supply chains, enabling them to lead with precision, efficiency and agility.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 19, 2024 | News, Security
A major cybersecurity failure. I have not written about the “Blue Screen of Death” or BSOD since the late 90s and the PC-based control movement. Waking up this morning, that dreaded phrase returned to my mail reads. By now you’ve seen photos of lines at airports and other inconveniences. Someone in my community posted about difficulties finding a ride home from O’Hare in the early morning hours.
It seems an automatic update a security company called Crowdstrike crashed Windows PCs. One pessimist I read said this won’t be the last time something like this happens.
This news item was my first hint from John Ellis News Items (subscription).
Businesses across the world, from airlines to financial services and media groups, have been hit by a global IT outage, causing massive disruption to a wide range of services and operations. Thousands of workers were unable to log on to their computers on Friday morning, disrupting businesses from finance to healthcare, in what is shaping up to be one of the most widespread IT outages ever. Australian businesses were the first to warn of problems, with the operations of retailers including Woolworths and 7-Eleven hit. Sydney airport said “a global technical outage” had affected its operations. In Europe, airlines and airports warned of disruption. The US Federal Aviation Administration said Delta, United and American Airlines had asked to ground flights due to take off. “I don’t think it’s too early to call it: this will be the largest IT outage in history,” said Troy Hunt, a prominent security consultant, in a social media post. “This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it’s actually happened this time.” (Source: ft.com)
PR people started sending me quotes from a variety of cybersecurity people.
Commenting on this, Adam Pilton, Senior Cybersecrity Consultant at CyberSmart and former Detective Sergeant investigating cybercrime said:
“At the time of writing IT systems around the world are not operating. This is impacting many businesses and will impact our daily lives.
Currently, we do not know what has happened, there is no suggestion that this is a cyber attack. The belief is that this is a technical issue. Maybe not coincidently, the cyber security company Crowdstrike are having issues too. Time will tell whether these are directly related.
Crowdstrike has stated that they are aware of reports of crashes on Microsoft’s Windows operating system relating to its Falcon sensor.
There are some suggestions that this is two major incidents running simultaneously. A service-wide Azure outage and CrowdStrike Falcon blue screens.
What we are seeing now though are the businesses which have business continuity and incident response plans in place. These businesses are effectively communicating the issues and ensuring their customers are informed.
Society is dependent upon technology and this is why we must have both technical and non-technical controls in place to protect us when issues arise, whether malicious or not.
Social media is ablaze with users reporting that they are unable to work and one user on Reddit even stated they were commenting purely to be part of history on ‘The day that Crowdstrike took out the internet!’
This is very much the point of why all businesses must plan and prepare. As we are seeing, a huge dependency on individual suppliers can take down supply chains.”
And this one:
“Multiple StickmanCyber security engineering and our 24×7/365 security operations teams across the country support reports that this outage is related to a CrowdStrike update.
“It is our understanding that any business running versions 7.15 and 7.16 are affected by the outage, but 7.17 seems to be ok. We are waiting on official advisory from CrowdStrike on these findings but doing our best to help affected customers. It’s a lesson to always update your software, but obviously this is an extreme example. IT security tools are all designed to ensure that companies can continue to operate in the worst-case scenario of a data breach, so to be the root cause of a global IT outage is an unmitigated disaster.
“Crowdstrike support is offering a workaround to customers. It claims users may be able to fix the issue by booting windows in safe mode or in the Windows Recovery Environment and deleting a file named “C-00000291*.sys”.
