by Gary Mintchell | May 20, 2015 | Automation, Data Management, Internet of Things, Networking, News, Operations Management, Security, Technology
GE announced it is the first to implement and release a new Global Discovery Server based on the new Part 12 of the OPC UA standards. I’m taking its word for being first, although I cannot find anyone else promoting it. This is a useful standard that should further expand use of OPC in industrial networks.
The GE Proficy Global Discover Server (GDS) automatically discovers OPC UA devices on the network and connects to them with no configuration, saving time and reducing costs.
GE has standardized on OPC UA as an interoperability standard across several GE businesses.
The Global Discovery Server automates the previously manual and complex processes associated with connectivity and certificate management. The technology supports both the push and pull of certificates.
GE has also released a new version of the company’s CIMPLICITY HMI/SCADA product. CIMPLICITY is now an OPC UA Client and future releases will deliver more OPC UA client and server capability. As an OPC UA-enabled HMI/SCADA, CIMPLICITY can aggregate data from other OPC UA devices, add context to that data for analysis, and even provide that contextual data to other OPC UA servers at other system layers within an enterprise. Security is improved through the use of secure-by-design OPC UA. Reliability is higher, as OPC UA is designed to work on lower bandwidth connections and devices like radio modems.
OPC-UA provides a standard for GE devices and equipment, and the company now has multiple OPC-UA enabled devices: the PACSystems RX3i and RXi and MarkVIe are OPC UA-enabled controllers. Other GE products adopting the standard include: ADAPT3701, GE Oil & Gas’ System 1 condition monitoring software, 8 Series for primary or backup protection for underground and overhead medium voltage feeders, and 3 Series multifunctional feeder relays.
In addition to multiple OS platforms, companies have a multitude of legacy systems and equipment in place. GE’s OPC UA-enabled software can aggregate the data from these legacy systems and equipment and eliminate these islands of information. Even for devices that are unaware of OPC UA, the GE server can still manage certificates and trust lists for those devices, using Proficy Agent which acts on their behalf.
by Gary Mintchell | May 14, 2015 | Automation, Industrial Computers, Internet of Things, Networking, Operations Management, Process Control
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about an open source hardware project for networked small controllers. Filament Tap began life as Pinoccio. The makers discovered a latent demand for these small, networked devices among manufacturers and decided to pivot away from the intended “maker” market to the industrial market.
Given networking as a core feature of Filament Tap, tying in with the Internet of Things is the natural next step. And that is just what Eric Jennings, co-founder and CEO did in this interview on the O’Reilly Radar podcast. Here he describes an openstack concept for connecting the Internet of Things.
As an aside, Tim O’Reilly is founder of the highly influential tech publishing house and conference organizer. The podcast highlights O’Reilly authors or speakers at one of its conferences.
Digital communication
Let’s go back 20 years or so. Engineers and executives saw the need for a solid method for connecting digitally all the industrial “things” out there. Maybe a network; maybe a fieldbus.
Then commenced the “fieldbus wars.” The net result came down to Foundation Fieldbus, HART, Profibus (and its derivatives), DeviceNet (and its offspring), and Ethernet (unfortunately with a variety of custom protocols stacked on the open TCP/IP stack.
Jennings comes to the industrial world from the Internet/Web world. He is just as amazed as others I have talked with who venture into our esoteric area of technology. Like his industrial network/fieldbus predecessors, he dreams of an openstack, standard method of connecting the Internet of Things—the decentralized Internet.
In the podcast he answers, “What would a decentralized Internet for the IoT look like and how would it work?” He likened it to the Web:
“We actually take a large portion of our model, our mental model, about a decentralized IoT from the early Web. If you imagine back in the early Web days — way back, mid-80s, early 90s — HTTP and websites had just started coming around, and they were originally focused and designed for academic research papers to link to each other.”
Jennings described the current landscape as “a death by a thousand paper cuts.” He said the situation isn’t ideal and that it “feels very much like a feudalist mentality of getting the largest number of people on your side for your consortium to get people to use yours versus others.”
Asked what the IoT would look like in 10 years if we continue down the path we’re on now:
“If we go on the same trajectory, it will end up probably looking a lot like what the industrial Internet looks like today. You’ve got companies that make their own proprietary solutions and their proprietary protocols — even if they’re not proprietary, they’re not open or standardized. If you buy a product from one company, you have to use all of the products that go along with that company in order to make that solution work. You can’t bring in another product from another company and have them inter-operate very well.”
The decentralized IoT stack, Jennings said, is really about creating a reality where devices don’t require a central authority to operate.
If a decentralized IoT openstack is fully realized and done right, we’ll see all sorts of things occurring that we can’t even imagine now: “I could see companies within an industry working together … the Caterpillars of the world and the John Deeres of the world letting their machines pay each other for data about loads a tractor is holding, or about how much capacity is left. … I have no idea what the future is going to look like, but it’s going to be pretty amazing if we can pull this off.”
Check out the entire podcast. It’s only about 30 minutes, but worth it.
If you are curious about the impact of the IoT or Industry 4.0 on your business, contact me. I have been advising clients on how they can adapt.
by Gary Mintchell | May 7, 2015 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, News, Operations Management, Technology
Fluke invited a group of partners, customers, and bloggers to its Everett, WA corporate facility on May 6 in order to take a deep technology dive into where Fluke is and where it is going from a product/technology point of view. The tone of the gathering was one of conversation where Fluke presented ideas and asked for push back and ideas from us.
And feedback was what they got. The small group I was part of came up with four flip chart pages of ideas regarding proposed new products and products we thought it should pursue.
We also toured labs and manufacturing. Here are some brief impressions.
Fluke has an impressive metrology lab, actually two. The electrical lab has been around for a long time. A new thermography lab has just been constructed. I’m familiar with measurement, but the level of measurement and the dedication to standards was amazing. The science behind all the Fluke tools is solid.
Manufacturing is probably a poster child for the Danaher Production System—the company’s Lean implementation. The facilities are clean, organized with information clearly posted at the cells.
Fluke is also moving further into software—databases and analysis. Initially, Fluke Connect was a cool collaborative app for smart phones. Now it is evolving into helping smaller companies who may not have CMMS or other systems improve asset management through the information gathered from Fluke tools.
This is a product that holds great promise for many who need to start along the predictive maintenance path. “We’d like to help change behaviors in the maintenance and reliability areas.”
Given that, here is the press release for the unveiling of Fluke Connect Assets.
Fluke Connect Assets is a cloud-based wireless system of software and test tools that gives maintenance managers a comprehensive view of all critical equipment — including baseline, historical, and current test tool measurement data, current status, and past inspection data — enabling them to set up and sustain a predictive maintenance (PdM) or condition-based maintenance (CBM) system easily with minimal investment.
It features one-touch measurement transfer from more than 30 Fluke Connect-enabled test tools, eliminating manual recording of measurements so maintenance managers can be confident that the equipment history is accurate.
The company says it’s easy to set up with minimal investment and no need for support from the IT department.
The system’s features allow maintenance managers to analyze multiple types of predictive data (for example, electrical, vibration, infrared images) all in one program, side by side, in a visual format that enables easy scanning. In fact, it’s the first software that offers results across multiple deployments (smart phone, web browser). This intuitive display of multiple measurements enhances the productive use of data and the ability to identify a problem, since each measurement type tests a different aspect of equipment health and together they present a more complete picture.
Key features of Fluke Connect Assets include:
- Asset Health Dashboard — Asset Health is a hierarchy based overview of aggregated status over time, aggregated alarms over time, and equipment status timeline, all with drill downs with more details. This permits managers to quickly identify where they need to focus efforts as part of a morning routine. They can trend and compare thermal, electrical and vibration data over time for each piece of equipment and drill down to the data needed for repair/replacement decisions.
- Asset Status Dashboard — allows managers to quickly scan the most recent status updates for key assets so they can better monitor team and equipment activity.
- Asset Hierarchy and Test Points — allows managers to easily create inspection routes, schedules and instructions and assign technicians to measure specific test points to create repeatable, comparable data.
by Gary Mintchell | May 6, 2015 | Automation, Internet of Things, Manufacturing IT, News, Operations Management, Technology
In the rush of a lot of news and a vacation thrown in, I’m still digesting news from Hannover Messe in April. Microsoft had called and asked if I could stop by for an interview, but unfortunately I was not at Hannover.
Below is a Microsoft blog post. The writer posits three industrial ages, and then he surprises us by announcing the arrival of a fourth. Interestingly, it is at Hannover two years ago where Industrie 4.0 sprang forth into our consciousness. Here is Microsoft’s take on the fourth generation of manufacturing along with a few specific examples of what it means in practice.
I think this is a good, though not necessarily complete, look at aspects of Industry 4.0.
From the blog
When we think about what it takes to build a successful business, there were three main eras, which characterized important shifts in the global marketplace. The first was the industrial revolution when people began to mass-produce and distribute goods with tremendous scale and efficiency. Since everyone received information at the same time and speed was not an issue, change wasn’t particularly fast.
What followed was the Information Age where people weren’t just using technology to drive production efficiencies; they were using it to drive information efficiencies. During this time, competitive advantage began to shift to our access to information.
Today, information and data are ubiquitous which has had a tremendous effect on both our digital work and life experiences. The world has formed a giant network where everyone has access to anyone and everything. Some people refer to this as the Connected Age.
However, the ubiquity of data and connected devices, coupled with important advances in machine learning, are powering a new set of capabilities called the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is now at the forefront of a fourth era in business productivity. With IoT, companies worldwide are transforming the way they plant crops, assemble goods and maintain machinery. Now, several Microsoft customers and partners, including Fujitsu, KUKA Robotics, and Miele, are announcing IoT initiatives that will change the way people live and work.
IoT’s influence on those companies and many others is on display this week at the large industry fair Hannover Messe, where the term “Industry 4.0” was first coined. Everywhere we look there are examples of physical assets integrated with processes, systems and people, and exciting possibilities are being fueled by this transformation.
At this event, Microsoft is showing how we’re helping manufacturers innovate, bring products to market more quickly and transform into digital businesses. Aided by unlimited compute power and rich data platforms, the creation of “systems of intelligence” that enable reasoning over vast amounts of data are empowering individuals and organizations with actionable insights.
Blending physical with digital
Fujitsu is bringing together its Eco-Management Dashboard, IoT/M2MP platform, Microsoft cloud services, and Windows tablets in a way that can enable managers, engineers, and scientists to improve product quality, streamline systems, and enhance functionality while reducing costs. For example, at its facility in Aizu Wakamatsu, Japan, Fujitsu is able to grow lettuce that is both delicious and low in potassium so that it can be consumed by dialysis patients and people with chronic kidney disease. They can track all of the plant info from their Windows tablets through the cloud. These solutions will also be able to help other agriculture and manufacturing companies transform their businesses through innovation.
Artificial intelligence is no longer a fantastic vision for the future—it is happening today. KUKA, a manufacturer of industrial robots and automation solutions, is using the Microsoft IoT platform to create one of the world’s first showcases that blends IT with robotic technologies into a smart manufacturing solution with new capabilities.
Intelligent Industrial Work Assistant (LBR iiwa), a sensitive and safe lightweight robot, uses precise movements and sensor technology to perceive its surroundings around a complex task like performing the delicate action of threading a tube into a small hole in the back of a dishwasher. Errors in the supply chain are addressed in real time through Windows tablets, making the automated process faster and easier. Through this demonstration, KUKA is highlighting how its LBR iiwa can collaborate with humans to jointly perform the task as peers working together without being controlled by a human or using a vision system.
Eyeing physical assets through a digital lens
For companies trying to understand how this approach can help, look at the infrastructure you already have. How can these assets become connected and intelligent? What kind of data would help to reduce cost, or increase agility? How can you use insights to grow revenue in existing operations, or offer those insights to customers and create new revenue streams?
The focus here is on transforming existing business models and adding cloud-connected services. In the age of Industry 4.0, manufacturing and resource companies will no longer compete over the products and features they offer, but on new business models they can either pursue themselves or offer to customers.
by Gary Mintchell | May 4, 2015 | Automation, Data Management, Internet of Things, Manufacturing IT, Networking, News, Operations Management, Technology
For being so quiet for so long, the OPC Foundation is certainly hitting the news often lately. There was news about a couple of open-source initiatives. Then the Foundation itself opened up a little with an “open-shared” program.
Then it was announced as the communication platform of Industry 4.0 in Germany.
Now a couple European automation rivals—Beckhoff Automation (Germany) and B&R Automation (Austria)—have made OPC news.
Taken in sum, these announcements plus the earlier ones reveal the importance of OPC to industrial communication. It became a standard for moving important data from control systems to human-machine interface systems and then on to SCADA and MES systems.
With the introduction of UA built on modern software technologies including built-in security and embeddable format, the technology everyone used but also everyone dissed finds itself on the cutting edge of modern connected industrial Internet strategies.
OPC and Beckhoff
News coming from last month’s Hannover Messe included this joint announcement from OPC and Beckhoff.
OPC UA is about scalable communication with integrated security by design up to MES / ERP systems and into the cloud, EtherCAT is about hard real-time capability in machines and factory control systems. Both technologies complement each other perfectly.
Industrie 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) architectures require consistent communication across all levels while using Internet technologies: both in as well as outside of the factory, for example to cloud-based services. That exactly is what the OPC Foundation and the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) want to account for by defining a common definition of open interfaces between their respective technologies.
At the Hanover Fair Thomas J. Burke, President and Executive Director of the OPC Foundation and Martin Rostan, Executive Director of the ETG signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which both organizations agree to closely co-operate developing these interfaces.
OPC and B&R
Not to be outdone, B&R Automation issued a press release announcing it will be supporting the OPC Foundation’s new real-time technology working groups, whose goal is to add real-time capability to the OPCUA communication standard. This will involve two key additions to the OPCUA standard. The first is a publisher-subscriber model; the other is utilization of the IEEE 802.1 standard for time-sensitive networking (TSN).
B&R will be contributing its real-time expertise to the working groups. “The updates to the OPC UA standard will benefit from our years of experience in developing real-time solutions,” says Stefan Schönegger, marketing manager at B&R.
OPC UA uses a publish/subscribe network model. B&R is the main proponent of PowerLink. PowerLink uses publish/subscribe technology, too. So, B&R wants to show compatibility.
“This is a fundamental requirement for the M2M communication you find in integrated systems such as packaging lines,” explains Schönegger.
In order to fulfill real-time requirements, the OPC UA standard will make use of the IEEE 802.1 TSN standard. “At the moment, TSN is still a working title for a group of new IEEE standards designed to provide native real-time capability for the IEEE 802 Ethernet standard,” says Schönegger. This would allow for a seamless transition to substantially faster Ethernet standards such as POWERLINK for field-level communication and demanding motion control tasks.
Beyond the automation industry, TSN is currently also being evaluated by the automotive and telecommunications industries. “The first cars based on TSN are expected to hit the market in the very near future,” reports Schönegger. This would help secure the widespread availability of this technology. In addition to B&R, the new OPC working groups will be also supported by other leaders in the field of automation, as was announced by KUKA on April 13, 2015.
OPC UA already plays a central role in the IT-related areas of modern production systems. “The addition of TSN and the publisher-subscriber model will greatly expand the range of potential OPC UA applications,” says Schönegger.
Takeaway
What all this means is that OPC can now become even faster and more usable than before. The little protocol that everyone uses and everyone complains about is getting cred as it becomes more modern. These technological advances should make it more valuable. And that will be significant in this new connected enterprise era.
