by Gary Mintchell | Mar 16, 2016 | Automation, Operations Management
Mike Boudreaux, director of performance and reliability monitoring for Emerson Process Management, has published an important article in Plant Services magazine discussing some limitations of the Purdue Model incorporating the Industrial Internet of Things. There are many more applications (safety, environmental, energy, reliability) that can be solved outside the control system. They just are not described within the current model.
Interestingly, about the same time I saw a blog post at Emerson Process Experts quoting Emerson Process Chief Strategic Officer Peter Zornio discussing the same topic.
I’ve been thinking about this for years. Mike’s article (which I recommend you read–now) brought the thoughts into focus.
Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture Model
The Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture Model has guided manufacturing enterprises and their suppliers for 25 years. The model is usually represented by a pyramid shape. I’ve used a diagram from Wikipedia that just uses circles and arrows.
This model describes various “levels” of applications and controls in a manufacturing enterprise. It describes components from the physical levels of the plant (Level 0) through control equipment and strategies (Level 2).
Level 3 describes the manufacturing control level. These are applications that “control” operations. This level once was labelled Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). The trade association for this level–MESA International–now labels this “Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions” to maintain the MES part but describe an increased role for applications at this level. The ISA95 Standard for Enterprise Control labels this level as Manufacturing Operations Management. It is quite common now to hear the phrase Operations Management referring to the various applications that inhabit this level. This is also the domain of Manufacturing IT professionals.
Level 4 is the domain of Enterprise Business Planning, or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. It’s the domain of corporate IT.
Hierarchical Data Flow
The Purdue Model also describes a data flow model. That may or may not have been the idea, but it does. The assumption of the model that sensors and other data-serving field devices are connected to the control system. The control system serves the dual purpose of controlling processes or machines as well as serving massaged data to the operations management level of applications. In turn, level 3 applications feed information to the enterprise business system level.
Alternative Data Flow
What Mike is describing, and I’ve tried sketching at various times, is a parallel diagram that shows data flow outside the control system. He rightly observes that the Industrial Internet of Things greatly expands the Purdue Model.
So I went to the white board. Here’s a sketch of some things I’ve been thinking about. What do you think? Steal it if you want. Or incorporate it into your own ideas. I’m not an analyst that gets six-figure contracts to think up this stuff. If you want to hire me to help you expand your business around the ideas, well that would be good.
I have some basic assumptions at this time:
- Data is not hierarchical
- Data has many sources and many clients
- Eventually we can expect smart systems automatically moving data and initiating applications
Perhaps 25 years ago we could consider a hierarchical data structure. Today we have moved to a federated data structure. There are data repositories all over the enterprise. We just need a standardized method of publish/subscribe so that the app that needs data can find it–and trust it.
Now some have written that technology means the end of Level 3. Of course it doesn’t. Enterprises still need all that work done. What it does mean the end of is silos of data behind unbreachable walls. It also means that there are many opportunities for new apps and connections. Once we blow away the static nature of the model, the way to innovation is cleared.
OpenO&M Model
Perhaps the future will get closer to a model that I’m writing a series of white papers to describe. Growing from the OpenO&M Initiative, the Open Industrial Interoperability Ecosystem model looks interesting. I’ve just about finished an executive summary white paper that I’ll link to my Webpage. The longer description white paper is in process. More on that later. And look for an article in Uptime magazine.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 11, 2016 | Automation, Operations Management, Process Control, Standards
The undercurrent talk of the ARC Advisory Group Industry Forum this week in Orlando was how ARC’s Andy Chatha promoted the ExxonMobil/Lockheed Martin initiative to develop a new type of distributed control system.
I have to dash this initial thought off since I have about 20 minutes to get to my plane home. My week has been non-stop meetings from 7 am until at least 11 pm all week. This morning was a bit of a breather. Lots of stuff going on.
However, the ExxonMobil initiative provoked much discussion, rumors, speculation, whatever.
Part of the problem is that the program has just been announced and therefore is not defined.
The basic problem seems to be that Exxon is operating with very old DCS technology and has a great need to upgrade. But “ripping and replacing” would be very expensive. From conversations that I can report without naming names, I gather that they are looking for a software-defined distributed control residing above the current hardware control layer. The further wish is that the hardware layer would include parts interchangeable from supplier to supplier.
It hopes that this would be an industry-wide consortium that would drive standards for the software and the hardware. It has requested cooperation from technology suppliers as well as its peers in the oil & gas industry.
There are pieces of this that look very interesting. And, of course pieces that stand probably the proverbial snowball’s chance.
“Software defined” is of course developing in several industries (think Ethernet switches?).
My experience is that this sort of industry-wide standards development takes so much time that the technology it envisions is obsolete.
I’ll have more later after giving the idea more thought.
Meanwhile, I have announcements from Inductive Automation, Honeywell, Bentley Systems, Yokogawa, ABB, Bedrock Automation, and more coming tomorrow when I get a chance to think and write.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 13, 2016 | Automation, Events, News, Operations Management
We are closing in on February and time to start thinking about the ARC Industry Forum in Orlando. I went to my first one in 1998 and have my airline and hotel reservations for this edition.
Given the demise of general industry trade shows, there are precious few opportunities to see a large cross section of the automation and control industry. This is one.
I have 2 or 3 appointments set. If you are there, ping me. Maybe we can do a “meet up” in the lounge before everyone splits for dinner or something. Or stop me to chat during the week. ARC has once again planned an afternoon of press conferences for its sponsors. I’ll arrive in time to listen if you are presenting.
The 20th Annual ARC Industry Forum has the theme, “Industry in Transition: Navigating the New Age of Innovation”.
The conference is February 8-11, 2016 at the Renaissance Sea World in Orlando, Florida.
ARC says, “New information technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Smart Manufacturing, Industrie 4.0, Digitization, and Connected Enterprise are ushering in a new age of innovation. These concepts are clearly moving past the hype, where real solutions are emerging backed by strong business cases. Expect to see innovations in smarter products, new service and operating models, new production techniques, and new approaches to design and sourcing. Join us to learn how this industrial transformation will unfold and what other companies are doing today to embrace innovation and improve their business performance.”
Questions they expect to address:
- How will inexpensive, easy-to-install sensors change existing products and plants?
- Will cyber security concerns impede disruptive innovation?
- What kind of intelligence will machines have and what value will this bring?
- What role will Wi-Fi and LTE play?
- How do Big Data and predictive and prescriptive analytics enable operational change?
- What is the opportunity in aftermarket services?
- What software capabilities are needed to achieve transformational change?
- Which industries are already changing?
- What steps can organizations take to foster innovative thinking?
Forum’s Keynote Presentations
Michael Carroll, Vice President, Innovation & Operations Excellence, Georgia-Pacific
Michael joined Georgia-Pacific in 2010 to focus his technological and entrepreneurial talents on innovation and leadership. Prior to that he and a partner formed McTech Group, a company focused on innovative products for the building products and construction industry. In addition to his Executive Vice President responsibilities, Michael formed a Joint Venture designed to sell consumer “DIY” products to big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. Previous positions include Director of Operations at Riverwood International, CEO of North and South American Operations at Shepherd, and Principal Change Agent at Mead Paper.
Sandy Vasser, Facilities I&E Manager, ExxonMobil Development
Sandy has been with Exxon or ExxonMobil for over 35 years and has been involved in a number of Upstream projects covering offshore facilities, onshore facilities, and cogeneration facilities. He currently manages a team of about 120 electrical and I&C professionals responsible for the design, installation, and commissioning of electrical generation and distribution systems, process control systems, and safety instrumented systems for all major ExxonMobil Upstream capital projects. This team is also responsible for developing, promoting and implementing strategies, practices, processes, and tools for successfully executing project automation and electrical activities.
Rob High, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Watson Solutions, IBM Software Group
Rob has overall responsibility to drive Watson Solutions technical strategy and thought leadership. He works collaboratively with the Watson engineering, research, and development teams across IBM. Prior to joining Watson Solutions, Rob was Chief Architect for the SOA Foundation and member of the IBM Academy of Technology. He championed an open industry architectural definition of the principles of business and IT alignment enabled by SOA and business process optimization, as well as ensuring IBM’s software and services portfolio is architecturally grounded to enable for efficient SOA-based solutions. Rob has 37 years of programming experience and has worked with distributed, object-oriented, component-based transaction monitors for the last 26 years.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 5, 2016 | Automation, News, Process Control, Technology
Just catching up on news that has built up over the extended holidays from Thanksgiving through New Years with one on process automation. I had a chat with Control Station’s Dennis Nash about the planned integration of its PlantESP Loop Performance Monitoring technology within the PlantPAx distributed control system from Rockwell Automation. Process data will be accessed natively from within the PlantPAx system environment using FactoryTalk Historian, and individual PID control loop configuration will be automatically populated to the new application’s dashboard.
Rockwell just keeps growing its process business. Its Process Systems User Group held last November in Chicago was yet another large gathering.
“Rockwell Automation continues its efforts to better serve the process industries by leveraging best-in-class solutions from its network of Encompass partners,” shared Tim Shope, Global Process Technical Consultant Manager from Rockwell Automation. “PlantESP is an obvious fit in that it will provide our customers with enhanced awareness of issues affecting their process’ day-to-day operational efficiency.”
Control Station’s PlantESP actively monitors the performance of PID control loops on a plant-wide basis and provides actionable insights. Equipped with a portfolio of key performance indices and advanced forensic tools, PlantESP simplifies the identification of performance issues and the isolation of the associated root-causes. Specific performance challenges addressed by PlantESP range from mechanical and controller tuning issues to constraints associated with process architecture. PlantESP uses a production facility’s existing process data and proactively alerts production staff of negative performance trends.
“The average plant has 100s if not 1000s of control loops which can be challenging for production staff to manage,” noted Rick Bontatibus, Control Station’s Vice President of Global Sales. “The combination of the PlantPAx System and PlantESP enables those same staff to focus their efforts on issues that will have the greatest impact on production efficiency and throughput.”
PlantESP is recognized as a leading control loop performance monitoring technology that has been successfully deployed at production facilities spanning the process industries. It is equipped with an array of highly effective and proprietary diagnostic tools, including advanced KPIs for identifying and quantifying stiction – a leading mechanical issue facing process engineers. PlantESP also includes a unique optimization utility called TuneVue that proactively captures everyday output changes for the purpose of isolating control loops that are in need of tuning. TuneVue is based on Control Station’s NSS Modeling Innovation and it is the only such utility that can accurately model the noisy, oscillatory process dynamics which are typical of industrial production and control environments. Collectively these and other PlantESP capabilities allow production staff to prioritize their efforts on issues that will have the greatest impact on performance.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 5, 2015 | Automation, Internet of Things, Networking, Operations Management, Standards
Katherine Voss, president and executive director of ODVA
ODVA announced several enhancements to its EtherNet/IP and CIP specifications during the SPS IPC Drives Trade Fair in Nuremberg. The first relates to cybersecurity. The second involves time-sensitive networking.
ODVA announced that it has achieved a milestone with the pending publication of a new volume in its specifications specifically dedicated to cybersecurity. This body of work will be released under the name of CIP Security and will join the family of distinctive CIP services which includes CIP Safety, CIP Energy, CIP Sync, and CIP Motion. CIP Security will be initially applicable to EtherNet/IP.
Because EtherNet/IP relies on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies for Ethernet and the Internet, users have been able to deploy traditional defense-in-depth techniques in EtherNet/IP systems for some time, explained by ODVA as early as 2011 in its publication “Securing EtherNet/IP Networks.” CIP Security will help users take additional steps to protect their industrial control systems with industry-proven techniques for securing transport of messages between EtherNet/IP devices and systems and thus reduce their exposure to cybersecurity threats.
The initial release of CIP Security includes mechanisms to address spoofing of identity, tampering with data and disclosing of information. Mechanisms supported in the initial release of CIP Security include device authorization, integrity of message transport and confidentiality of messages. To support these mechanisms, ODVA has adapted encryption standards from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for encryption based on Transport Layer Security (TLS), Data Transport Layer Security (DTLS) and authentication based on the X.509v3 standard for certificate handling. Details of ODVA’s initial implementation of CIP Security and outlook for the future were presented in a technical paper at ODVA’s 2015 Industry Conference and 17th Annual Meeting of Members.
“The publication of the volume dedicated to cybersecurity in The EtherNet/IP Specification is the next step in providing users with methods to help them manage threats and vulnerabilities in EtherNet/IP systems,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director. “Following this publication will be the realization of the mechanisms provided by CIP Security in ODVA CONFORMANT EtherNet/IP products.”
ODVA’s focus on cybersecurity is not only a function of increased emphasis on cybersecurity for industrial control systems but also because of the widespread adoption of EtherNet/IP in broad range of applications from manufacturing to critical infrastructure. As a result of the breadth of applications, the next edition of The EtherNet/IP Specification will expand support for IEC 62439-3 “Industrial communication networks – high availability automation networks – part 3” to include High Availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR) in addition to Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP). HSR is commonly used in electrical substation automation as specified in IEC-61850. Other high reliability techniques supported in The EtherNet/IP Specification include Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP) and Device Level Ring (DLR).
Other ODVA Industrial Networking News
One area of focus will be the adaptation of certain emerging standards for Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) to EtherNet/IP. In particular, ODVA will create enhancements to The EtherNet/IP Specification for frame preemption and stream reservation based on the standards being defined in the IEEE-802.1 projects. ODVA’s adaptation of TSN technologies is a straightforward evolution of the EtherNet/IP technology, which relies on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies for Ethernet and the Internet to solve demanding applications in industrial automation. Users of EtherNet/IP will be able to realize performance improvements in systems using EtherNet/IP by as much as two orders of magnitude by combining TSN with existing standards already included in The EtherNet/IP Specification, such as Quality of Service, Gigabit Ethernet and CIP Sync — ODVA’s adaptation of IEEE-1588.
To complement the adoption of EtherNet/IP in a diverse range of industries and applications, ODVA is expanding CIP to include data models to facilitate the exchange of application information within EtherNet/IP systems and between EtherNet/IP systems and supervisory systems which may or may not use EtherNet/IP. One application area where specification enhancements are underway is the adaptation of the recommendations in NAMUR NE-107 “Self-monitoring and Diagnosis of Field Devices“ to the data format and access methods needed to retrieve such process data from EtherNet/IP field devices. Another application area where enhancements to the ODVA specifications are expected in 2016 is the inclusion of a machine data model and services for machine-to-supervisory communications. By instantiating standards for application data models for process field devices and machinery, EtherNet/IP will provide yet another way for users to decrease their reliance on proprietary implementations by using vendor-independent standards designed for multi-vendor interoperablity.
ODVA is now expanding The EtherNet/IP Specification to include standards for the integration of data between EtherNet/IP and HART and IO-Link. Joining the already-published integration of data between EtherNet/IP and Modbus-TCP, these standards will allow users to accelerate their progress towards a converged network architecture.
“Because EtherNet/IP is based on commercial-off-the-shelf technologies and uses widely accepted standards from the Ethernet and Internet, EtherNet/IP is now a major industry catalyst for the realization of the Industrial Internet of Things,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director. “The enhancements to EtherNet/IP that are underway for 2016 are at the forefront of innovations that are driving the future of industrial automation toward the fourth industrial revolution.”
