by Gary Mintchell | Aug 14, 2020 | Data Management, Manufacturing IT, Software
Helps enable seamless test operations and data management across an entire organization
It begins with data and it’s all about data. “It” being improving production and profitability and safety. It doesn’t end with data, though. A system is required. Part of the system is software that gathers, analyzes, visualizes data.
NI began with data—test and measurement. It just kept growing. This week it announced the enterprise version of SystemLink software. By standardizing the way data is shared and analyzed, the new enterprise version enables increased visibility and control of test systems across an entire organization. In this way, SystemLink software serves as an important bridge between engineering and manufacturing departments in their efforts to improve overall operational efficiencies and drive digital transformation initiatives.
NI, in its release information, acknowledges data can be an organization’s greatest asset when used to make more informed decisions. It can also be a drain on time and resources when it creates incompatible silos. SystemLink software connects test workflows to business performance, linking people, processes and technology across the enterprise, from engineering to production to the field.
Engineers save time through focus on quickly spotting patterns and proactively addressing issues before they become a problem. “Freeing up engineers to focus on the work that has the largest impact for their organization is smart business,” said Josh Mueller, VP of Experience at NI. “But it is also one of the core components of our company mission — elevating and empowering the engineer.”
Cree Lighting, a leading manufacturer of indoor, outdoor and consumer lighting, has implemented real-time data monitoring and display, post-test analysis and factory management tools using SystemLink software. “SystemLink enables our production floor to step into the future. It equips us with the visibility to respond to market conditions more quickly while optimizing our team’s production efforts all around the world,” said Ian Yeager, test engineering manager at Cree Lighting. “Now, I spend less time managing deployments and post-processing data and more time using the built-in tools to take care of low-hanging opportunities and improve efficiency for my team.”
The new version of SystemLink software is NI’s first hardware-agnostic systems and data management tool. The announcement of enterprise support underscores NI’s enterprise software strategy to help customers accelerate digital transformation efforts by coupling test operations with advanced product analytics enabled through its recent acquisition of OptimalPlus. By unlocking the value of test data and allowing more groups across an enterprise to work together, NI is helping connect the bold people, ideas and technologies required to push our world forward.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 13, 2020 | Data Management, Enterprise IT, Internet of Things, Operations Management
In the beginning were data. Increasing amounts of data. But what good is a storehouse filled with data? Especially when you have to build additional storehouses to hold more data?
We all know that this is just a hole to throw good money into unless we can reap benefits from the data.
John Burton, CEO of Ursa Leo, recently gave some time to me to explain what this new company is up to. And it’s pretty cool. It begins with data formed into a digital twin of the factory, oil rig, equipment, and the like. But they asked how can company managers and operators reap benefits from their data? The company began by focusing on visual representations of the data. It hired engineers from the gaming industry to show photo realistic reproductions of the plant, equipment, building, and so on. Think things like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality brought to life by the latest in gaming technology.
They develop on the Unity gaming engine that is designed to run on just about anything (derivative of gaming industry). So, for example, you can get a bird’s eye view of the factory. Show sensors perhaps as green dots. Zoom in to see sensors; zoom in again for ever greater levels of detail including sensor data. It is a simple screen showing IoT data from sensors and asset data bases. It’s spatially related. The model resides in the cloud, so the same view and information is available to everyone making it great for remote maintenance support, for example, also training and remote control.
Visualization includes x-ray vision, rewind/replay events, “make pieces of equipment fly apart, visualize fluid flow, heat maps (like temperature of gas for example).
Recently, the company announced that it has closed its Seed Round B and raised $725K. The round was led by Keiretsu Forum and Bay Angels with additional private investors. As UrsaLeo continues to grow, the money will be used to expand operations into manufacturing and building management, further product development with collaboration and remote control modes, and enhance the company’s new social distancing technology.
With the closing of the Seed B, the company also announced the hiring of Michael Uribe and Alina Verdiyan as Senior Vice Presidents. Michael will lead the Building Information Management Division and work with developers and building operators to bring cutting edge 3D technology to public spaces. Alina will lead the Manufacturing Division and have worldwide responsibility for dedicated sales, marketing, and operations.
“The UrsaLeo team and traction they’ve achieved with early customers signals an opportunity for rapid growth in valuation,” said Chandika Mendis of Bay Angels. “With the adoption of social distancing technology and digital twinning, one of the hottest sectors at the moment, enterprise software that helps to simplify problem solving in challenging times is an attractive investment. We look forward to tracking their success.”
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 11, 2020 | Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Software
The idea that manufacturing and production enterprises make use of only a small fraction of the data it has accumulated apparently become common knowledge. ABB cites this as the driver for a new software platform called ABB Ability Genix Industrial Analytics and AI Suite.
ABB says it “operates as a digital data convergence point where streams of information from diverse sources across the plant and enterprise are put into context through a unified analytics model. Application of artificial intelligence on this data produces meaningful insights for prediction and optimization that improve business performance.”
“We believe that the place to start a data analytics journey in the process, energy and hybrid industries is by building on the existing digital technology – the automation that controls the production processes,” said Peter Terwiesch, President of ABB Industrial Automation. “We see a huge opportunity for our customers to use their data from operations better, by combining it with engineering and information technology data for multi-dimensional decision making. This new approach will help our customers make literally billions of better decisions.”
ABB Ability Genix is composed of a data analytics platform and applications, supplemented by ABB services, that help customers decide which assets, processes and risk profiles can be improved, and assists customers in designing and applying those analytics. Featuring a library of applications, customers can subscribe to a variety of analytics on demand, as business needs dictate, speeding up the traditional process of requesting and scheduling support from suppliers.
Get used to seeing these IT architecture phrases—supports a variety of deployments including cloud, hybrid and on-premise. Microsoft has also done a good job working with manufacturing as ABB also leverages Microsoft Azure for integrated cloud connectivity and services.
“The ABB Ability Genix Suite brings unique value by unlocking the combined power of diverse data, domain knowledge, technology and AI,” said Rajesh Ramachandran, Chief Digital Officer for ABB Industrial Automation. “ABB Ability Genix helps asset-intensive producers with complex processes to make timely and accurate decisions through deep analytics and optimization across the plant and enterprise.
“We have designed this modular and flexible suite so that customers at different stages in their digitalization journey can adopt ABB Ability Genix to accelerate business outcomes while protecting existing investments.”
A key component of ABB Ability Genix is the ABB Ability Edgenius Operations Data Manager that connects, collects, and analyzes operational technology data at the point of production. ABB Ability Edgenius uses data generated by operational technology such as DCS and devices to produce analytics that improve production processes and asset utilization. ABB Ability Edgenius can be deployed on its own or integrated with ABB Ability Genix so that operational data is combined with other data for strategic business analytics.
“There is great value in data generated by automation that controls real-time production,” said Bernhard Eschermann, Chief Technology Officer for ABB Industrial Automation. “With ABB Ability Edgenius, we can pull data from these real-time control systems and make it available to predict issues and prescribe actions that help us use assets better and fine-tune production processes.”
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 7, 2020 | Data Management, Operations Management
I first started hearing seriously about data ops last year at a couple of IT conferences. Then a group of former Kepware executives founded High Byte to point data ops specifically to the manufacturing industry. I told them I thought they had something there.
A representative of Seagate Technology sent me information about a study done with IDC about data in organizations. I haven’t had a relationship with Seagate for many years, but this is a timely report about enterprise data pointing out that 68% of data available goes unleveraged and that manufacturing is a laggard in this arena.
As enterprise data proliferates at an unprecedented pace – set to grow at a 42.2.% annual rate over the next two years – a new report from Seagate and IDC has revealed that the majority (68%) of data available to enterprises goes unleveraged, meaning data management has become more important than ever.
Furthermore and somewhat surprisingly, the manufacturing sector shows the lowest level of task automation in data management, lowest rate for full integration of data management functions as well as low adoption of both multicloud and hybrid cloud infrastructures.
The report also identifies the missing link of data management—DataOps—which can help organizations harness more of their data’s value and lead to better business outcomes.
The report, Rethink Data: Put More of Your Data to Work—From Edge to Cloud is based on a survey of 1500 global enterprise leaders commissioned by Seagate and conducted by the research firm IDC.
“The report and the survey make clear that winning businesses must have strong mass data operations,” says Seagate CEO Dave Mosley. “The value that a company derives from data directly affects its success.”
Some additional findings include:
- The top five barriers to putting data to work are: 1) making collected data usable, 2) managing the storage of collected data, 3) ensuring that needed data is collected, 4) ensuring the security of collected data, and 5) making the different silos of collected data available.
- Managing data in the multicloud and hybrid cloud are top data management challenges expected by businesses over the next two years.
- Two thirds of survey respondents report insufficient data security, making data security an essential element of any discussion of efficient data management.
The missing link of data management is reported to be data operations, or DataOps. IDC defines DataOps as “the discipline connecting data creators with data consumers.” While the majority of respondents say that DataOps is “very” or “extremely” important, only 10% of organizations report having implemented DataOps fully. The survey demonstrated that, along with other data management solutions, DataOps leads to measurably better business outcomes. It boosts customer loyalty, revenue, profit, cost savings, plus results in other benefits.
“The findings of this study illustrating that more than two-thirds of available data lies fallow in organizations may seem like disturbing news,” said Phil Goodwin, research director, IDC and principal analyst on the study. “But in truth, it shows how much opportunity and potential organizations already have at their fingertips. Organizations that can harness the value of their data wherever it resides—core, cloud or edge—can generate significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.”
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 4, 2020 | Internet of Things
Guidance to help organizations achieve better businesses outcomes
White papers can be an excellent learning tool. I’ve told marketing people for years that they should write these instead of all the overtly sales-y stuff they put out. Build trust and a sense of expertise by publishing documents that teach. It’s a bit like my sales “technique” back in the day. Here is a new one adding to the library of Digital Transformation.
The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) has published the Digital Transformation in Industry White Paper. This new white paper focuses on digital transformation in industry and the role innovation processes play in it. It also covers the disruptive technologies that transform the way companies operate, service and maintain equipment. The white paper is designed as a guide that business managers, technology managers and risk, security and safety managers can use to develop business models, leverage key technologies and determine the level of trustworthiness they will need as they begin their digital transformation journey.
“Digital Transformation is the next disruptive wave hitting industry. With this publication, we have described the key technologies that underpin digital transformation and the first steps for any enterprise looking to deploy them,” said Jim Morrish, Founding Partner of Transforma Insights and Co-chair of the IIC Digital Transformation Working Group.
Digital transformation initiatives fall into three categories:
- New business models – entails an enterprise transforming to offer a substantially changed service to technology users, often associated with new ways of charging for services
- Enterprise operations – focuses primarily on increasing the efficiency (or reducing the cost, or risk) of providing products and services to technology users
- Customer experience – focuses on changing the customer experience in absence of other changes. These projects tend to center on generating new service revenues or providing new services to customers, particularly field services.
“Digital transformation is a business strategy with the objective to improve business and industrial models and create new ones. This is achieved through the innovative and principled application of digital technologies along with business and organizational realignment,” said Bassam Zarkout, Founder of IGnPower and Co-chair of the IIC Digital Transformation Working Group. “Digital transformation is not a project. It is strategy led by a vision and powered by a committed program, which may involve multiple IIoT projects.”
The white paper covers a wide range of technologies that can enable digital transformation, such as:
- Edge Technology
- Hyper Connectivity
- Data Security
- Artificial Intelligence and Analytics
- Digital Twin
- Distributed Ledger
- Human-Machine Interface
- Additive Manufacturing
- Data Sharing
- IIoT
- Autonomous Robotic Systems
- Innovation at the IT/OT Boundary
- Micropower Generation–Energy Harvesting
- Servitization
- Technical Platforms for New Business Models and Payment Methods
Trustworthiness of systems is a key element of a digital transformation strategy; a lack of trustworthiness may place an organization at a disadvantage vis-à-vis its competitors and can have dire consequences. This could include human injury or worse, interruption of critical infrastructure, unintended disclosure of sensitive data, destruction of equipment, economic loss and reputational damage.
Overinvesting in trustworthiness, can on the other hand increase capital and maintenance costs, reduce flexibility and functionality and introduce cumbersome processes. “Companies embarking on digital transformation must weigh the risks and benefits of both underinvesting or overinvesting in trustworthiness,” added Morrish.
The IIC members who wrote the Digital Transformation in Industry White Paper include: Jim Morrish, Transforma Insights; Bassam Zarkout, IGnPower Inc.; Marcellus Buchheit, Wibu-Systems; Alex Ferraro, PwC; Chaisung Lim, Korea Industry 4.0 Association and Shi-Wan Lin, Yo-i Information Technology.
Also offered is a free IIC Webinar, “Digital Transformation – The Next Disruptive Wave Across Industries,” which runs on September 15, 2020 at 11am EDT, 8am PDT, 1700 CEST.
The Industrial Internet Consortium is a membership program transforming business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IIC delivers a trustworthy IIoT in which the world’s systems and devices are securely connected and controlled to deliver transformational outcomes. The Industrial Internet Consortium is a program of the Object Management Group (OMG).
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 30, 2020 | Productivity, Workforce
It almost sounds like a ’50s SciFi movie.
For a couple of months into the Covid pandemic, my inbox collected a steady stream of press releases about what this or that company was doing to either fight the coronavirus or prepare workplaces and workforces for the return to the office. That mighty river has turned into a stream at the end of summer.
The CTO of a Siemens company on NPR’s Tech Nation with Moira Gunn (good podcast, by the way) and I have interviewed Siemens about its combining of technologies to provide for safer workplaces in light of infectious viruses.
Then I received this note from Marty Edwards, VP of OT Security, Tenable, whom I’ve known for years as a reputable security specialist. “Prediction: Workers who return to the office may well bring new vulnerabilities with them.”
“While many critical infrastructure workers who operate, manage and secure the OT that underpins our economy can’t bring their work home, some of their colleagues certainly can. It’s likely that functions such as sales, marketing, HR, finance and legal of many essential services –food and beverage, manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies — have shifted to a remote-work model. When stay-at-home orders are eventually lifted, many of these folks will return to their offices with equipment that will be re-connected to corporate networks. With this comes the added risk of new vulnerabilities and threats being introduced to either the IT or OT side of mission- and safety-critical operations. During this transition, it’s imperative security teams have visibility into where the organization is exposed and to what extent, enabling them to effectively manage risk on a day-to-day basis. Put simply, the security challenges aren’t gone once everyone is back in the office.”
I have not worked in an office for years, unless you call a coffee house an office. But, many people will be returning to offices in the next few months. They will expect safe workspaces. As will all the factory workers (think about the morons running meat processing plants).
It took a while for cybersecurity to catch up with the sudden working-from-home IT challenge. Now, we’ll have millions returning to the corporate intranet bringing who knows what (computer) viruses with them. Another type of security to deal with.
One way or another, engineers will be busy dealing with this crisis for many months. Probably along with all their other work.
