by Gary Mintchell | Aug 13, 2012 | Industrial Computers, Operations Management
[Guest post from Tim Sharpe]
Put your hands up if you have no customers or suppliers.
Sam springs out of his chair, ready to run out into the loading bay. It’s a cold, wet, windy night, but his coat is still on the back of his chair; a late change of plan means his team are unprepared. His Shift Manager’s out on the plant, nowhere to be seen. Has his operations team realised that Silo 42’s loading valve needs to be locked off?
If not, 40 tonnes of polymer worth $60K will go straight through that open valve onto the floor and cause a production stop costing about 20 times this. As the manager of the logistics company providing a service to the plant’s owner-operators, this is not a mistake he wants to make.
Yet businesses everywhere run this risk. Production plans often have to change to meet a valuable, urgent order at late notice. A late switch of grade or change of plan has a greater impact the further down the manufacturing process you go – so for a logistics function at the very end of the process the impact can be huge and the time to react short.
Never has it been more important to use real-time data to good effect. Suppliers want to react faster, to take advantage of the smallest advantage. Customers expect this kind of agility and build long and profitable relationships with suppliers who can meet their needs. Where once there was an acceptance that B2B operated under different rules to B2C, now we all expect excellent service in our work lives too – and reward it with loyalty.
Of course, real-time operational data is part of the story; the rest is locked up in your data warehouse, ERP, CRM, OEE or any of the other myriad systems around the enterprise. The context of a developing situation is in there in the purchase orders, maintenance reports and other data. Bringing this together with real-time data gives genuine visibility and allows everyone involved to react appropriately to developing situations.
The technology is available today to de-risk business processes and so build trust into our relationships and agility into our enterprises. We start by bringing together real-time and enterprise data, making it available to the whole virtual team regardless of their organisation structure or corporate identity.
Back in Sam’s office, as he goes for the door he checks the big screen TV in the corner of the office; Silo 42 is locked off, ready for product. Out in the loading bay his Shift Manager is just reviewing the loading plan on his iPad; he looks up, gives him a cheery wave and a shrug which says, “Customers eh? What can you do?”.
About the Author:
Tim Sharpe Co-founder and CEO/MD of Sabisu; a cloud application for seamlessly sharing your business information with communities of colleagues, clients and suppliers – your data stays safe and everyone can work with it. Google me, or my twitter handle @timjsharpe and you’ll find what you want to know.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 17, 2012 | Events, Industrial Computers, Operations Management
I’m in Atlanta at the Marriott beside the Atlanta airport for the ACP Thin Manager User Conference. Perhaps this could be called the “future of industrial computing” conference–at least according to Automation World columnist and technology futurist Jim Pinto. In his keynote, Pinto proclaimed the end of the PC era as the industry moves toward peer-to-peer, distributed, self-organizing technologies.
I first met Matt Crandell (president and CEO) and David Hancock (now COO) at the 1999 National Manufacturing Week. Someone said, “You have to go over and meet the Linux guys.” Well, they use Linux, but that wasn’t the game they were in. What they do is build a platform to enable thin client computing in an industrial environment. The company has grown slowly but steadily for the ensuing 13 years. About 200 people are attending this year’s event that includes the unveiling of Thin Manager 6.0, Screentronix and XManager.
Crandell explained to me that what ACP does is build a platform. The platform enables the use of safe and secure thin clients to use HMI/SCADA applications from companies such as Invensys Wonderware, Rockwell Automation and GE Intelligent Platforms (all represented in the exhibit area).
It’s really difficult to describe the details, but users seem to really like what they get with the product. The new edition unveils Screentronix–a secure connection technology that appears to be open and flexible enough to allow ACP to enter new markets if it so desires. It now supports mobile devices, such as Apple iPads, even in management mode. It allows users to log in and see the exact desktop and applications that they left open the last time they were on.
It’s interesting that there is still no one doing the exact thing. There are a couple of companies going into cloud computing. But Thin Manager is not really cloud in the sense that its core technology is not Web based.
But I have a sense that this is part of the new future of computing in manufacturing and production.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 19, 2012 | Industrial Computers
I have had a few discussions with technology people from suppliers of process control systems about whether the trend to open systems went too far. Maybe instead of the Microsoft method of opening things up and allowing lots of add-ons, maybe the process control market is ready for the Apple-style of closed control systems which optimize integration and user experience coupled with open communication.
I’ve asked the question at the Automation World LinkedIn Forum and am looking for comments.
Meanwhile, I spotted this excellent chart from Horace Dediu detailing the history of PCs. I was around at the dawn of using PCs in various manufacturing applications and I’ve seen several attempts to return to the centralized control model through “thin clients.” But this chart, from Business Insider, shows PC sales leveling off while various types of appliances experience skyrocketing sales. What do you think this means for the future of PCs in manufacturing? Do we need full-blown PCs for operator interfaces? Other apps? Or will the new “ultrabooks” boost PC sales again?
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 16, 2012 | Industrial Computers, Leadership, Operations Management
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thanks to Seth Godin for compiling these quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. I saw King in person just once—at a chapel service at Ohio Northern University. There were also the farmers at a downtown Ada breakfast spot who joked about running him off the road as he made has way from the airport out to the University through rural roads. We’ve come a long way since then—but there are still miles to travel.
These apply to our lives in many ways:
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”
“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”
. . .
“We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
. . .
“The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”
Chinese Process Automation Company
I’ve begun keeping an eye on Hollysys Automation Technologies, a China-based process automation company. It just announced a US$16.9 million contract win by its Singaporean subsidiary Concord. It signed a contract with Sendan International Co., Ltd to provide electrical, instrumentation and control installation works for Rabigh Power Plant in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Changli Wang, CEO and Chairman of Hollysys, commented: “We are pleased to announce the first sizable contract win by Concord and glad to see that Concord is continuously winning new business, while its integration into Hollysys has been well underway in both new products development and business development. We believe the combination of Concord’s customer base and industry know-how with Hollysys’ proprietary technology and products will pave our way to a broader market space of rail and industrial automation sectors in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, to create value for our shareholders.”
TE Connectivity and Elo Touch
I have had little contact with Tyco Electronics for the past several years and had totally lost track of one of the old, early touchscreen companies—Elo Touch. Then last week I received a call from an agency asking what I knew about TE Connectivity. Well, nothing—until they told me that was the new name for Tyco.
Today I saw a press release from TE Connectivity about the release of new touchscreen monitors from Elo TouchSystems—which is now a part of TE connectivity. I knew that years ago all the touchscreen and industrial computer companies were looking for far larger markets than industrial automation. Some found it in military or telecom. Evidently for Elo Touch, the market is retail and hospitality. That’s the trouble with industrial automation—for many companies it’s just too small of a market opportunity.
Elo Touch’s new monitors which featured zero-bezel surface acoustic wave technologies now also offer projected capacitive touchscreens with multi-touch capability.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 1, 2010 | Automation, Industrial Computers, Operations Management, Software
Welcome back from the three-day holiday weekend to my U.S. readers. I took time for one post. You just can’t shut off thinking. Here’s an interesting piece that came my way via a different Microsoft source than usual. And nothing from Siemens in the U.S.
Siemens has been working on various aspects of digital manufacturing for many years. I’ve had interviews with high level Siemens automation executives dating back at least five years where they have described their ideas and approaches. Microsoft, similarly, has been anxious to expand its reach into manufacturing. So, here is one of those “you got chocolate in my peanut butter”–“no, you got peanut butter in my chocolate” stories of combining technologies in an interesting way.
Siemens and Microsoft have teamed up to envision a factory production line that uses the latest Windows Embedded technology. Using Siemens industrial automation products running Windows Embedded operating systems, this Proof of Concept (POC) demonstrates end-to-end enterprise connectivity—from data collecting sensors and smart devices on factory floors, to server-based business intelligence applications in IT datacenters. Business benefits for manufacturers include process transparency from material ordering to goods delivery, continual production process optimization, and increased overall factory productivity.
“We are captivated by the endless possibilities that the new Windows Embedded technologies offer. We can’t wait to discuss with industrial users their requirements in using these new possibilities with the next generation of our industrial PCs or HMI and control software,” said Elske Meyer, marketing and promotion manager Simatic PC-based Automation, Siemens AG.
Thinking about customer business and technical requirements, Microsoft and Siemens engineers came together to conceptualize how information could travel from the factory floor to the IT center and back again, creating a beneficial feedback loop that optimizes production resources.
The Siemens industrial automation portfolio ranges from standard products for the manufacturing and process industries to solutions for whole industrial sectors that encompass the automation of entire automobile production facilities and chemical plants.
The Siemens-Microsoft industrial automation POC, which made its global debut at HANNOVER MESSE 2010, features familiar production line stations such as Enterprise Management, Materials Inbound Logistics, Assembly Line, and Quality Assurance.
Users can follow the progress of a customer order from station to station, as it is processed, assembled, and tested. Other user scenarios include Product Lifecycle Management, Safety, Traceability, and Green IT. A mobile handheld device roams and displays the screen of whichever station is nearby.
The entire system runs on Siemens industrial automation products that include different Simatic industrial PC models, such as 19” Rack PCs, Box PCs, embedded PCs, the modular embedded Controller S7-mEC, Mobile Panels, Flat Panel monitors and the failsafe Software PLC SIMATIC WinAC.
Windows Embedded operating systems used for the POC include: Windows Embedded Standard 7 for the specialized devices; Windows Embedded Enterprise for enterprise-class equipment; Windows Embedded CE for the handheld terminal, and Windows Embedded Server for the industrial server appliances.
At the heart of the POC is an end-to-end enterprise connectivity architecture that spans from production line sensors to IT datacenter servers. Real-time access to factory floor data from enterprise applications allows for continuous production process optimization and increases in overall factory productivity. Connecting the supply chain to the factory floor allows for manufacturing process transparency from material ordering, to energy consumption, to goods delivery. Direct data flow also reduces the need for human intervention, which can help minimize production delays.
The industrial automation POC demonstrates endless possibilities of differentiated experiences built with innovative Windows technologies. For example, immersive technologies, such as high fidelity 3D graphics and Natural User Interfaces (NUI), increase the engagement of workers, helping them to be more productive.
Another Microsoft technology, Profile for Web Services (DPWS), allows for dynamic auto-discovery and zero-configuration. This reduces the setup and re-configuration time of factories so they can adapt quicker to changing market demands.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 10, 2010 | Automation, Industrial Computers
The industrial computer market, following the general trend in commercial computing, has been consolidating for several years. Here is another example. Advantech just announced the acquisition of DLoG GmbH from Augusta Technologie for €12.85 million. DLoG was founded in 1985 with its headquarters in Munich, Germany. Consisting of about 75 employees, the company has design, R&D, sales and marketing departments. The company is a leading provider of rugged industrial computers placed as the number three player in Europe with a 19.3% market share. In 2008, DLoG achieved revenue of €18.5 million, followed by €13 million in 2009 due to world economic crises. The company is on track to grow again in 2010, which is reflected in this first quarter bookings and billings marked by steady and optimistic momentum.
Advantech will integrate both parties’ strengths and anticipates becoming a global market leader in industrial in-vehicle computing. In addition to DLoG’s focus in Europe, both parties will jointly develop the Asia and U.S. markets. After acquisition, the company will be rebranded to Advantech-DLoG to reflect the synergy of the integration. In the future, Advantech-DLoG will focus on four in-vehicle computing markets: Intralogistic, Heavy Duty, Stationary Applications, and Fleet Management.
Advantech CEO KC Liu states, “DLoG boasts sophisticated German craftsmanship, design quality and distinguished brand architecture in the European market. I highly appreciate the achievement of the current DLoG management team in the in-vehicle computing business. After the acquisition, the current DLoG CEO, Hans-Peter Nüdling will continue to lead Advantech-DLoG.”
