by Gary Mintchell | Aug 25, 2016 | Internet of Things, Interoperability, Podcast
Interoperability enables growth of an industry, innovation, and great benefits for users. We see it broadly in the Web and more specifically in industry with OPC. It is topic to which I return frequently. We can talk about all the components of the “Industrial Internet of Things” whether it be devices, databases, big data analytics, visualization, but without interoperability the IoT will be severely hampered.
Dave Winer developed outlining applications to help writers of prose and code organize their thoughts. He also developed RSS and knows something about interoperability and the politics of standards.
In this podcast, Winer talks with Allen Wirfs-Brock about how JSON came to be and the back story about how Tim Bray (a developer of XML) came to be interested in its evolution. “Along the way we get a lot of interesting tidbits about how JavaScript and JSON evolved,” says Winer.
Data is like air
This all reminded me of some previous blog posts about data wants to be free. Moira Gunn, host of TechNation, an NPR show and also a podcast, discussed this topic in her opening “Take Five” essay in that podcast. She said, “Like air, data just flows. The power of data lies in its being replicated over and over.” She was thinking about Google and the attempt to have your past eradicated. But the concept also works for us.
Interoperability
I was thinking about my thoughts voiced yesterday about the use of open technology. Arlen Nipper, co-developer of MQTT, likes to tout that his middleware powers the Internet of Things. He says this because MQTT is the backbone of Facebook Messenger.
Ah, there is my point about the use of open technologies. Messenger is a closed silo. Try to move your data. Try to use your data in another application. Try to text someone from another app to an address in Messenger. Nope. Can’t do anything. Facebook wants you captured completely within its silo.
What’s that old phrase? Buyer Beware?
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 10, 2016 | Internet of Things, Interoperability, Operations Management
I’ve been writing about standards used in applications for Industrial Internet of Things and parts of the IoT ecosystem such as Big Data lately—REST, MQTT, and OPC.
Dennis Nash, president of Control Station noticed the series and called about a big data and IoT application using Control Station software as part of a system for helping engineers optimize control loops in a process plant.
Even if a plant has installed and uses an APC or MPC application, things happen that loops eventually slip out of tune. These loops can cost a plant a lot of money even though the process does not generate alarms or does not appear to be generating problems.
The system builds from historical loop change data recorded in an OSI PI historian. The data flows into a model of a tuned loop. Says Nash, “The basis for our innovation starts with a unique ability to model highly variable process data (i.e. noisy, oscillatory data). We use a proprietary method that no one has successfully emulated.”
He continues, “With the ability to accurately model highly variable data, control loop performance monitoring (CLPM) tools like ours can capitalize on the 100s/1000s of output changes that happen everyday. By aggregating the model date and comparing results with existing tuning parameters, CLPM tools are now getting into the Big Data game.”
Checking loop performance, especially when there are hundreds or thousands, rarely hits an engineer’s to-do list. This system will send a notification of worst actor loops where action can actually improve plant efficiency and profits.
Interoperability
This system works in a one-off application. What if there are more applications in a plant? That is where interoperability and standards come to play. Not so much a standard within Control Station, but where an application such as Control Station can use standards and data interoperability to grab data from a variety of sources. The extensive use of these standards and data interoperability enable the continual push of innovation and process improvement.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 5, 2016 | Automation, Internet of Things, Operations Management, Technology
I ran a brief series on industrial data, interoperability, and the Purdue Model (see this one, for example, and others about that time). It’s about how data is becoming decoupled from the application. It’s not hierarchical, seeking out applications that need it.
This week I took a look at Opto 22’s latest innovation—use of RESTful APIs in an industrial controller. The next step seemed to be looking at MQTT. This is another IT-friendly technology that also serves as an open, standardized method of transporting data—and more.
Then I’ll follow up on a deeper discussion of OPC and where that may be fitting in within the new enterprise data architecture.
I’ll finish the brief series with an application of (perhaps) Big Data and IIoT. It’s not open standard, but shows where enterprises could be going.
MQTT and Sparkplug
Inductive Automation has been around for about 13 years, but it has shown rapid growth over the past 5. It is a cloud-based HMI/SCADA and IIoT platform. I finally made it to the user conference last September and was amazed at the turnout—and at the companies represented. Its product is targeted at the market dominated in the past by Wonderware, Rockwell Automation RS View, and GE Proficy (Intellution iFix in a former life). It’s a private company, but I’ve been trying to assemble some competitive market share guesses. My guess is that Inductive ranks very well with the old guard. Part of the reason is its business model that seems friendly to users.
Just as Opto 22 was an early strong supporter of OPC (and still supports it), so also is Inductive Automation a strong OPC shop. However, just as Opto 22 sees opportunities for better cloud and IT interoperability with REST, Inductive Automation has seen the same with MQTT. In fact, it just pulled off its own Webinar on the subject.
I put in a call and got into a conversation with Don Pearson and Travis Cox. Following is a synopsis of the conversation. It is also a preview of the ICC user conference in Folsom, CA Sept. 19-21. At the conference you can talk to both Arlen Nipper, president and CTO, Cirrus Link and co-developer of MQTT along with Tom Burke, president of the OPC Foundation.
Don and Travis explained that MQTT itself is a middleware “broker” technology. It describes a lightweight, publish/subscribe transport mechanism that is completely agnostic as to the message contained in the communication. So, you could send OPC UA information over MQTT or other types of data. The caveat, as always, is that the application on the receiving end must speak the same “language.”
They see apps talking directly to PLCs/PACs/controllers as going away. We are in the midst of a trend of decoupling data from the application or device.
MQTT is “stateful”, it can report the last state of the device. It rides on TCP/IP, uses TLS security, and it reports by exception.
Describing the message
MQTT is, in itself, agnostic as to the message itself. However, to be truly useful it needs a message specification. Enter Sparkplug. This technology describes the payload. So, it is needed on both sides of the communication. it doesn’t need to know the device itself, as it is all about information. it is a GitHub project and, as is MQTT, part of the eclipse foundation.
I have known Don and Travis for years. I have never heard them as passionate about technology as they were during our conversation.
If you are coming to Folsom, CA for the conference, you’ll hear more. I will be there and would love to have a breakfast or dinner with a group and dive into a deep discussion about all this. Let me know.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 30, 2016 | Automation, Internet of Things, Operations Management, Software
Software platforms that provide specific “apps” for industrial applications was the theme of the week for me. I received a better look at Siemens’ Mindsphere along with a competitor’s app that I’ll discuss in a later post. Tuesday and Wednesday this week found me in Las Vegas at the 2016 Automation Summit—Siemens US users group. There were many sessions and quite a lot of training for customers.
The keynote was given by Klaus Helmrich, a member of the managing board of Siemens. He continued the theme repeated during Hannover Messe—digitalization. His point was that digitalization enhances competitiveness, time to market, flexibility, quality, efficiency. You design in the virtual world; take it to real world; receive feedback from real world to the virtual world to assure design is current to reality.
Although I’ve been told that Europeans are not fond of the term “ecosystem” in this context, Helmrich uttered the “e-word”. The Digital Enterprise Ecosystem enables customers toe realize their wish to interact with the production process making their product.
Memorable quote—“using software is key to realization of Industry 4.0.”
Maintenance and Reliability
Terry O’Hanlon CEO of ReliabilityWeb.com and Uptime magazine invited me to a panel presentation he was on. From the description in the program, I’d probably have never looked a second time. Plus, I’m not fond of panels. Usually each one talks for 10-15 minutes and then there is 10-15 minutes at the end for questions.
This one went against that grain. Each panelist gave about 2 minutes of their interest in the topic, then moderator Bob Vavra, editor of Plant Engineering magazine, proceeded directly to asking questions of the panel. The panel did not just sit back but each chimed in appropriately.
They did hope to hold questions to the final 15-20 minutes of the 105-minute session, but the audience would have none of that and started waving hands to ask follow up questions soon after the beginning.
The other panelists were Jagannath Rao, President of Siemens Industry Services; Brian Clemons, process automation manager at Dow Chemical; and, Keith Jones, of Prism Systems—an integrator.
It was a wide-ranging discussion. So, here are some quotes that capture some of the flavor of the discussion.
O’Hanlon, “What maintenance delivers is capacity.”
Clemons, “We bring a new process into the plant, but we’re still dealing with the same people.”
Clemons, Reliability usually talks MTBF, but what is really important is MTTR (repair or recover).
Rao, “Technology Suppliers more than component sellers, but look at larger solution.”
Jones, “Big data going to analytics is a difficult proposition—both doing and defining.”
O’Hanlon, “You need sensors that are appropriate to the health of the asset. That’s why you need predictive analytics.”
Jones, “IoT increasing traffic on network is a burden and sometimes affects production.”
O’Hanlon, “Reliability as a function of the business case.”
Data Analytics — Mindsphere
MindSphere is Siemens Cloud for Industry built on SAP HANA. It is a platform, which Siemens, customers, and OEMs can build software apps (App Store) on top of.
Speakers acknowledged that some customers are still uncertain about the cloud, but the cloud is where analytics run.
One app already developed is control loops. Customers can connect selected control loops, send data to cloud, analytics check for status of tuning and other things. The customer gets a dashboard. The analytics can even see stiction in valves.
This solution (like many) moves the software expenditure from CapEx to OpEx (note: look for this as a theme for how technology suppliers are beginning to price software).
This formula:
Domain Knowhow + Context Knowhow + Analytics Knowhow = Customer Value
is the foundation of app development.
Siemens has a product “MindConnect” secure data acquisition box. This is a similar idea to the Dell IoT Gateway or Advantech. These edge computing and communicating engines are the current IoT trend.
Current apps include:
Drivetrains (gearboxes)
Energy
Networks
Machine Tools
Control Loops
Cyber-security
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 15, 2016 | Asset Performance Management, Operations Management
The overriding benefit we provide to enterprise business as operators of producing plants is production operational continuity—maximum output, greatest efficiency, best product margin.
Too often we get so wrapped up in our technology discussions that we forget the objectives. It’s not all about technology. It is all about using the appropriate technology to help build better businesses that serve customers well.
Editors face another problem writing articles about the industry. Marketing communications professionals delight in lining up interviews with appropriate people in their companies. The person interviewed has a story to tell. But most editors (I guess, I wasn’t one) have the theme and outline of the story already in mind, and they also have limited space. Therefore, they are looking for quotes they can pull out to support their theses, while the actual quote may only be a paragraph gleaned from a 30-45 minute interview.
So, Tim Sowell of Schneider Electric recently talked about an interview:
Basically the editor wanted to understand about “big data” being applied in a particular industry, again it was someone with a technology concept the market is throwing about vs really understanding the business / operational challenge the industry is facing.
But Sowell pointed to his recent theme about business needs:
- Operational Continuity: Maintaining their producing plants at the maximum output, with greatest efficiency, and best product margin
- Agility: to supply the market with the correct product at the right quality, and right price and the right time in an every dynamic market
- Asset Management/ Utilization: This is both fixed, mobile capital assets (non breathing assets, such as plants, trucks, ships) and the human assets (breathing assets).
I have been writing a long white paper focusing on these issues from an interoperable standards point of view. We’re looking especially at the lifecycle of critical assets. These observations from Sowell reflect the trends we’re experiencing.
We find that, as globalization increases, the buying and selling of capital assets increasingly happen, introducing of challenge of how do incorporate existing systems, automation, and practices into your overall value chain to provide the above “Operational Continuity” and “Agility”. Same when the asset is sold how you disengage it cleanly especially with IP in the products and process. Combine this with the dynamic Human Asset landscape where human assets are moving regularly between plants and locations. Causing on a site not to have the required experience to make decisions, but people are in a role of having to make the decisions. YES the asset world for both capital assets and human assets is shifting form traditional stability in both classes for the last 20 years to one of both dynamic.
He makes a crucial point. The importance of tying lifecycle asset management to operational continuity.
What are you doing with asset management?
