Stratus ztC Endurance Platform

I think this is the last of the meetings I had at Automation Fair last month. The team at Stratus discussed the ztC Endurance platform. Stratus is know for high availability, redundant server and compute technology. This new platform enables organizations to run critical applications without downtime or data loss, in edge or data center environments, using intelligent, predictive fault tolerance based on Stratus’ redundant hardware architecture, hardened drivers, and Stratus Automated Uptime Layer with Smart Exchange.

Both OT and IT teams face the challenge of delivering reliability to both centralized and distributed locations across their operations. They also may lack on-site technical staff needed to maintain complex infrastructure. Platforms running critical applications must be easy to deploy, easy to manage, and easy to service—and not just in data centers, but at the edge of corporate networks.

Stratus ztC Endurance provides continuous availability and ensures data integrity for mission-critical applications running at the edge, operations center, and data center. Delivering seven nines (99.99999%) uptime, its Automated Uptime Layer with Smart Exchange provides continual proactive health monitoring and automatically takes action to maintain system availability and protect against data loss when needed. Coupled with the platform’s modular design of hot-swappable customer replacement units (CRUs), ztC Endurance makes it easy for OT and IT teams to manage and support. ztC Endurance delivers the processing power and performance to host dozens of software applications as virtual machines (VMs), dramatically reducing the number of PCs or servers required for OT and IT teams to manage and maintain.

Key Benefits

  • Seven nines availability for critical applications: Built-in computing fault tolerance delivers 99.99999% availability to run critical applications.
  • No loss of data: Redundant computing architecture combined with intelligent automated management prevents in-flight data loss and ensures data integrity.
  • “Zero touch” management and support: Modular design plus pro-active remote health monitoring and self-healing simplifies system management and serviceability for both IT and OT teams.
  • Rapid modernization and workload consolidation: Modernize infrastructure and streamline operations by leveraging virtualization to consolidate multiple software workloads onto a single platform.
  • Multi-layered security: Supports multi-layered defense-in-depth approaches, with focus on both process and product security guidelines to ensure maximum protection.
  • Lower TCO: Reduce IT footprint and purchase fewer software licenses on a highly reliable platform with an expected 7-10 year lifespan, twice that of traditional servers.

Nvent at Automation Fair

A marketing person offered a meeting with Sanu Warrier, Software Product Director at nVent during the recent Automation Fair. I have not kept up with all mergers and acquisitions. NVent is the parent company of Hoffman enclosures and much more.

My last update from this company was several years ago. I was familiar with electrical enclosure layout CAD software. A customer actually bought one from me in the 90s. But why would there be a director of software and a meeting?

This software has progressed from my time. It provides digital twin technology. Manufacturers, machine builders, and OEMs find this helpful. The software provides information for wire routing, hydraulics and pneumatics information, schematics, panel layout for hole drilling, components library. They incorporate one of my favorite applications included is workflow for building the panel, provides information for cutting and putting connectors of each wire, then information for which wire to assemble next and where to connect it. And, of course, work instructions.

The application is called Assembly Task Manager, Connected Assembly.

Very interesting.

Plex Connected Worker at Automation Fair

Anthony Murphy, Vice President and Head of Product Management at Plex, a Rockwell Automation Company, met with me for a bit at the recent Automation Fair. I had toured the show floor captivated by the demo of the connected factory worker. I’ve followed the workflow technology for many years. Companies keep improving both the technology and the utility.

Murphy explained that Plex has a design philosophy of building a platform then constructing apps on top.

We’ve written about the “coming” worker shortage for more than 20 years. The fat is evidently finally in the fire. I know that my neighbor in suburban Chicago, by means of example, cannot find workers for his sheet metal fabricating company. Often when someone is hired they show up for a day without returning. This story repeats often.

The connected worker solution provides digital tools to retain, attract, and reskill workers. It empowers them with real-time guidance, visual aids, and multimedia content, enhancing comprehension and reducing errors on the job. By streamlining the number of applications manufacturers need, the solution also reduces total cost of ownership, time to value, and cybersecurity risk.

The connected worker offerings provide the following benefits:

  • Recruiting and retaining a connected workforce: The new capabilities provide digital tools and real-time information to enhance worker productivity and engagement.
  • Addressing the talent gap: Through these offerings, Plex helps manufacturers empower their workers with advanced training and tools to stay competitive in the evolving workforce landscape.
  • Knowledge retention and transfer: As a large amount of the current workforce in manufacturing retires, safeguarding industry expertise is critical to ensure smooth knowledge transition to the next generation. The capabilities create and capture the corpus of manufacturing knowledge in an organic way.
  • Guided and Interactive Work Instructions, providing step-by-step task guidance for people, machines, and devices. 
  • Interactive Work Instructions—developed in partnership with Canvas GFX and currently available—enables users to author and work with model-based 3D and 2D multimedia formats within a single document to drive better understanding of the work at hand. 

How Metso Reduced Costs, Boosted Communication, and Improved Transparency

I have been writing occasional blog posts regarding Quickbase and have also appeared at their annual user conference and on a podcast.* I first heard of the company at the beginning of the year. The customers who spoke at the user conference gave examples of the simplicity and speed of the nocode application development. The product is operations management software without the extensive overhead of many competitors.

I picked up this case study to show the application.

Managing complex engineered orders across the globe requires a high degree of synchronization across teams and technologies. It also presents many challenges like: how can employees track workloads and problems across facilities? How easily can facilities communicate with one another? How can disparate datasets be converted and accessible across the organization when silos exist?

Metso, a leading process performance provider in the oil and gas, mining and aggregates industry, has found a solution to these challenges by building a suite of Quickbase applications. The applications have not only streamlined processes, and provided insights across their systems, but have helped Metso save more than $1 million annually while boosting efficiencies, saving time, enhancing visibility and transparency, and standardizing its order management practices.

Challenge

  • Order management processes not standardized which made employee training and sharing workloads difficult
  • Difficulty tracking complex orders through the planning, engineering, procurement, and manufacturing processes
  • Employees used to have to dig through emails to track down orders or related actions
  • At-risk critical order paths and inventory data stored in ERP and other systems were difficult to track and identify
  • During the coronavirus outbreak office-based staff suddenly needed to work from home and lacked the equipment to efficiently keep up with daily tasks

Solution

  • A suite of applications built on Quickbase for managing orders, engineering, and inventory
  • Data from ERP, inventory, and data warehouses updated regularly to Quickbase applications
  • Easy creation, distribution, and management of action items to mitigate potential delays or issues
  • Custom reporting for tracking high-priority orders, inventory, and critical path issues
  • Automated time-critical Engineering Change Notices rather than manually
  • Rapid development of Quickbase applications to adapt an office-based workflow to an off-site system where engineering can continue to support manufacturing without being physically present at the plant

Benefits

  • Annual cost savings of $1 million from improvements to order management, engineering, and inventory processes
  • Improved training, increased effectiveness, and ability to share workload through order management process standardization
  • Enhanced visibility and customized applications to quickly view order history and activities
  • Automated tracking and notifications of Engineering Change Notices saves about 6 engineering man months per year
  • Time savings of up to 500 hours thanks to the easy visibility of impacted supply chains and the quick investigation of affected orders
  • Efficient customer service that is able to track orders for clients and keep them informed of deliveries

Metso Flow Control division, a leading provider of flow control solutions to the energy and other industries, is responsible for engineering and manufacturing valves and valve automation.

Controlling its own engineering and manufacturing processes was very resource intensive for Metso as information was stored across its ERP, order management and planning, engineering, and manufacturing processes. To solve these problems Metso built a suite of Quickbase applications focused on streamlining the order management process. The custom applications offered flexibility and transparency by providing all team members easy access to critical information.

Like many companies that handle complex orders, Metso struggled to coordinate its order management processes with its engineering, purchasing, and planning processes. Order managers had to dig deep into the data for order history and status of open issues. Email was the primary tool used to assign order tasks as well as communicate between departments meaning assignments were easily missed and problems became difficult to track.

If there was an issue, employees would often have to walk to other workers’ desks to try to collect signatures, taking time away from their actual jobs. It became time consuming to proactively identify issues and ensure that orders would be delivered on time.

While orders are still collected and stored in the ERP system, order-related data is exported regularly and entered into a Quickbase application for order management. Information from Metso’s promising logic tool is also loaded into Quickbase so order managers have quick insights into whether their orders will be delivered on schedule.

Inside the workflow, order managers can review each order and ensure that all the necessary engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing activities will be completed in time to match. If the order manager spots an issue, he or she can assign activities within the application to resolve it.

Custom reports enable order managers, their managers, and others to quickly drill down into orders to find any information they need to keep the process moving forward.

Metso’s Quickbase suite, Metso Global Operations Data Center, is now operational at its Helsinki, Shanghai, and Shrewsbury, MA manufacturing centers.

The combination of Quickbase suites covering order management, engineering, and inventory have actual cost savings in excess of $1 million annually. Metso’s development of these tools has given them greater control over the local and global execution of complex engineered orders.

“If we get an order that takes 40 weeks to manufacture, we need to pay close attention to the first two or three weeks. If we don’t get our materials driving in the first month or so, we’re going to have problems,” Rich Buckley, VP Global Operations Engineering and Order Management, Metso.

Order managers can “flag” high-priority orders for special tracking, utilizing the flexible reporting capabilities built into Quickbase.

The order management workflow in Quickbase has enabled Metso to standardize the order management process. This makes it easier to train employees and share workload.

Greater process efficiency and improved management tools have led to cost savings for Metso. For example, Metso automated their Engineering Change Notice process, so engineers were no longer physically collecting signatures from various departments. By eliminating manual processes, Metso has saved six engineering man months per year, according to Buckley.

* I am sometimes compensated for work for Quickbase.

Siemens Has Had a Busy Month

Several news items came my way while I have been traveling. These four are from Siemens. One follows the trend of industrial automation companies incorporating Microsoft Copilot for Augmented Intelligence (AI) application. The company announced expanded collaboration with Service Now. Finally, two releases reflect the ongoing portfolio realignment we are witnessing among all the major automation suppliers—further evidence of a market maturing and consolidating.

Siemens and Microsoft scale industrial AI

Siemens with its collaboration with Microsoft claim they have enabled AI to handle the most demanding environments at scale. Combining Siemens’ domain know-how across industries with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, the Copilot further improves handling of rigorous requirements in manufacturing and automation.

Over 100 companies, including Schaeffler and thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, are currently using the Siemens Industrial Copilot to streamline processes, address labor shortages, and drive innovation. With 120,000 users already leveraging the Siemens engineering software TIA Portal, they now have the opportunity to enhance their work with the genAI-powered assistant.

Since the product’s availability in July 2024, customers across various sectors have started using the Siemens Industrial Copilot for Engineering to boost efficiency. Engineers can now create panel visualizations in 30 seconds and generate code that requires only 20% adaptation. This streamlines workflows, reducing manual effort and addressing the skilled labor shortage. The chat function also provides instant, precise answers, eliminating the need for lengthy searches. By leveraging the Copilot, companies are driving productivity and innovation. 

Siemens and ServiceNow strengthen shopfloor security and drive generative AI-powered automation for shopfloor operations

Siemens and ServiceNow announced a new collaboration at the ServiceNow World Forum in Munich, Germany. The companies intend to enhance industrial cybersecurity and drive the integration of generative AI into shopfloor operations. This mutual cooperation leverages Siemens’ Sinec Security Guard for industrial vulnerability management and the Siemens Industrial Copilot for generative AI-powered automation – with ServiceNow providing the workflow automation needed to streamline and enhance factory operations. 

ServiceNow’s Operational Technology Service Management (OTSM) suite integrates IT and OT workflows, providing real-time visibility, and automating processes across the entire factory floor. With the addition of Sinec Security Guard, ServiceNow’s OT Vulnerability Response (OT VR) will be further enhanced to include more insights into vulnerabilities of OT equipment, enabling faster detection and remediation of security threats. 

Siemens strengthens leadership in industrial software and AI with acquisition of Altair Engineering

Siemens has signed an agreement to acquire Altair Engineering Inc., a leading provider of software in the industrial simulation and analysis market. Altair shareholders will receive USD 113 per share, representing an enterprise value of approximately USD 10 billion. The offer price represents a 19% premium to Altair’s unaffected closing price on October 21, 2024, the last trading day prior to media reports regarding a possible transaction. With this acquisition Siemens strengthens its position as a leading technology company and its leadership in industrial software.

“Acquiring Altair marks a significant milestone for Siemens. This strategic investment aligns with our commitment to accelerate the digital and sustainability transformations of our customers by combining the real and digital worlds. The addition of Altair’s capabilities in simulation, high performance computing, data science, and artificial intelligence together with Siemens Xcelerator will create the world’s most complete AI-powered design and simulation portfolio,” said Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG. “It is a logical next step: we have been building our leadership in industrial software for the last 15 years, most recently, democratizing the benefits of data and AI for entire industries.”

By adding Altair’s complementary simulation portfolio, with strength in mechanical and electromagnetic capabilities, Siemens enhances Digital Twin to deliver a full-suite, physics-based, simulation portfolio as part of Siemens Xcelerator. Altair’s data science and AI-powered simulation capabilities allow anyone, from engineers to generalists, to access simulation expertise to decrease time-to-market and accelerate design iterations. Additionally, Altair’s data science capabilities will unlock Siemens’ industrial domain expertise in product lifecycle and manufacturing processes.

Siemens to sell airport logistics business to Vanderlande

Siemens AG has agreed to sell its Siemens Logistics business to Vanderlande, a company owned by Toyota Industries Corporation. Vanderlande is a leading global partner for future-proof logistic process automation in the warehousing, airports, and parcel sectors, and with that will be a strategic long-term owner for Siemens Logistics. The purchase price (enterprise value) is €300 million. Closing is expected in the course of calendar year 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.

Universal Robots Unveils AI Accelerator

Augmented (Artificial) Intelligence (AI) must have a hidden marketing hype person somewhere in the metaverse. We must remind ourselves that the AI revolution-to-be has not yet really arrived.

Companies have begun releasing AI augmented products. These will become part of the learning curve we must all endure. Then we’ll figure out that these are just another tool in the kit.

This news comes from Universal Robots, the Danish collaborative robot (cobot) developer. Its UR AI Accelerator – a ready-to-use hardware and software toolkit created to enable development of AI-powered cobot applications.

Designed for commercial and research applications, the UR AI Accelerator provides developers with an extensible platform to build applications, accelerate research and reduce time to market of AI products.

The toolkit brings AI acceleration to Universal Robots’ (UR) next-generation software platform PolyScope X and is powered by NVIDIA Isaac accelerated libraries and AI models, running on the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin system-on-module. Specifically, NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator gives developers the ability to bring accelerated performance and state-of-the-art AI technologies to their robotics solutions. The toolkit also includes the high-quality, newly developed Orbbec Gemini 335Lg 3D camera.

Through in-built demo programs, the AI Accelerator leverages UR’s platform to enable features like pose estimation, tracking, object detection, path planning, image classification, quality inspection, state detection and more. Enabled by PolyScope X, the UR AI Accelerator also gives developers the freedom to choose exactly what toolsets, programming languages and libraries they want to use and the flexibility to create their own programs.

The PolyScope X platform is globally available and can be used for all cobot automation applications across industries. With a small hardware upgrade, the software is compatible with UR’s e-Series cobots and the new-generation cobots UR20 and UR30.

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