by Gary Mintchell | Sep 23, 2015 | Automation, Data Management, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Software
Last month I wrote an article about whether SCADA is the future industrial technology given its enabling of the Industrial Internet of Things.
Then I wrote a piece that I hoped would stir up some controversy over SCADA suppliers and business models. Didn’t get much response, though.
This week I had an opportunity to discuss and learn more about these topics. I’ve been in Folsom, CA at the Inductive Automation “Build” Conference. I could have gone to the Profibus meeting in Phoenix as I’ve done for 12 or more years. But I had already committed to Inductive before I received notification of that event.
Schneider Electric Software (Wonderware) only informed me of its conference, also this week, a few weeks ago. Once again, I was committed to this trip. I’m trying to learn what is going on there. I’ve seen a couple of news releases. I thought there was going to be a “show daily” but I’ve seen nothing.
This is the third Inductive Automation user conference. I had heard good things about the last two. About 400 people attended this year. Conference sessions were packed—maybe because they limit the number of sessions. Some conferences are so broad and have so many sessions that it is unusual for a session to have more than 20 attendees. Not so here, where sessions were lively and packed with 100 or more.
Training
Travis Cox, co-director of sales engineering, highlighted the many applications publicized at the conference using the company’s Ignition software. The company has long held training sessions at its Sacramento and now Folsom headquarters. Answering demand for training that did not require a week’s missed work and travel expenses, Inductive built the online Inductive University. This site had 4,000 new users during past year. It has also initiated global training centers–run by integrators.
An engineer at partner INS built a homemade robot using Ignition as control and HMI platform.
Tech trends
Chief Strategy Officer Don Pearson discussed the company vision of empowering people through unlimited connections.
Unlimited connections thoughts lead to thoughts of the Industrial Internet of Things. Pearson acknowledged hype on IoT. He dubbed it “a network of intelligent computers, devices, and objects that collect and share data, aggregated in the Cloud, and sent to users. But he noted that raw data is of low value. Analysis is needed for making decisions and providing solutions. A four-step chart became the meme of the conference—data, information, knowledge, wisdom/innovation. “At the end of the day, some human must be empowered,” he concluded.
Taking a poke at existing HMI/SCADA suppliers, Pearson noted in 2003 when Inductive started competitors said it’s a mature industry and there is no innovation left. But they innovated. Competitors said there was no way to get growth out of SCADA (see my blog posts referenced above). But Inductive Automation has been growing consistently since its founding now numbering 100 people.
Connecting
Steve Hechtman, founder and president, said IIoT seems to be about data acquisition. Ignition is an enabling technology. The three parts of an IIoT system include open connectivity, unlimited storage, agile applications. Of the three, the last one is vital. And not just development but also deployment. Open connectivity in Ignition includes MQTT and OPC UA at the core. As for the store part, “Ignition is the king” working well with such standard databases as MySQL, PostgreSQL, IBM db2, Microsoft SQLServer, Oracle, and MariaDB. “Ignition doesn’t care if you use Oracle or Amazon or Azure.”
Regarding agile, Hechtman referred to Metcalfe’s Law—Network Value=the square of connected users. Ignition’s technology and pricing model reflect the company mantra of three 10s—10 times as much for one tenth of the resource, and ten times as fast.
Hechtman concluded, “Our mission is to create industrial software that empowers our customers to swiftly turn great ideas into reality by removing all technological and economic obstacles.” And executing that, Inductive is the “fastest growing SCADA company in the world.”
by Gary Mintchell | Sep 8, 2015 | Automation, Operations Management, Software
I have been contemplating what is going on over the past couple of years in the business of HMI / SCADA software.
This thinking was brought to an interim conclusion by the (sort of) announcement of another last-minute Wonderware conference.
I first heard about the Wonderware conference, distinct from the SimSci conference (another Schneider software company through the Invensys acquisiton) also announced for this year, about a month ago. To date, I have not received any official communication from Schneider as a writer/blogger/analyst. They have sent several emails out to me as a result of being on a few magazine subscription lists.
Schneider announced in July a new company formed with Schneider software (unspecified companies within the division) and Aveva with Schneider being the majority owner. Two months down the road there have been no further announcements. The only media relations people listed on the Website are in France. I never heard of any of them.
Meanwhile there are rumblings on LinkedIn that make it appear that Schneider has begun cutting some really talented executive staff.
Big Three
Only a few years ago there was sort of a Big Three with Wonderware, Intellution, and Rockwell Software. Intellution went first to Emerson which took the IP it needed and sold it to GE. That company originally thought it could blend Intellution and Cimplicity, but wound up rewriting its software now called Proficy. Evidently most of its sales are internal to GE, because all competitors claim they never see it in active quotation processes.
Wonderware went to Ivensys then to Schneider then to ??? Under Invensys it lost some of the California software company panache, but was still a major player. What is going on now is anyone’s guess.
Rockwell continues to pick up little companies (and some big ones for the overall software business) and keeps plugging away.
Meanwhile, Schneider, never a software company, picked up Citect through its Australian subsidiary. Then Invensys–now Schneider–picked up Indusoft. Consolidation continues. When the Aveva thing shakes out, we’ll see what other consolidation occurs.
MOM
Each of the Big Three picked up companies in the MES or the MOM space several years ago. They took over the “old boys” club that was MESA and attempted to make the organization into more of a supplier/user collaboration organization promoting the benefits of that layer of software.
There has not been as much movement in that space as I thought there would be a couple of years ago. I thought this new business “Manufacturing Connection” might capitalize on that layer of software. Nothing really happened there.
Question
So what I throw out to you–both of my readers–is just this:
1. Has HMI/SCADA reached commotity status where the business is not as attractive unless run as a cash cow?
2 Will the MES/MOM area remain so complex (there are good reasons for that) that suppliers in the space must maintain many engineers and IT professionals to help customers rationalize their businesses in order to gain the many benefits of the software?
3. Does this situation with the larger MES/MOM companies leave an gap for inroads to the market for smaller companies to begin grabbing market share?
Let me know what you think.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 19, 2015 | Internet of Things, Operations Management, Technology
The various parts of the Industrial Internet of Things ecosystem—smart devices, networks, databases, cloud, mobile HMI—really so help manufacturing and production operations, maintenance, and engineering perform better.
Fluke has made strategic acquisitions over the past several years that enhances its technology portfolio. It has brought together many of these technologies to make the IIoT useful. In the case of this new product, enhancing preventive maintenance.
Unplanned downtime due to equipment failure can cost manufacturers up to three percent of their revenue, according the U.S. Federal Energy Management Program. Manual methods of tracking equipment health to predict failures are time consuming and prone to errors and incomplete data, while existing computerized maintenance management systems can be costly and complex and often require significant IT resources to implement.
Fluke Connect Assets changes the way equipment maintenance is documented, reported, and managed.
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 preventive maintenance (PM) or condition-based maintenance (CBM) system easily with minimal investment.
It features wireless one-step measurement transfer from more than 30 Fluke Connect wireless test tools, eliminating manual recording of measurements so maintenance managers can be more confident that the equipment history is accurate.
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 allows you to compare multiple measurement types in one system, making it easy to see correlations and spot problems. 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 — is a hierarchy based overview of the status of all assets over time, with drill-downs to the individual asset record for more details. This permits managers to identify anomalies or correlations across equipment.
- Asset Analysis – is a record for each piece of equipment that is the single source for all of its maintenance information. Managers and technicians can trend and compare thermal, electrical and vibration data over time for each piece of equipment in order to make optimal repair and 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.
Entire maintenance teams can capture and share data via their smartphones regardless of their location using AutoRecord measurements to automatically record measurements from Fluke Connect wireless test tools, upload the data to Fluke Cloud storage and then assign it to a specific asset for sharing and analysis. Technicians can collaborate with their colleagues to discuss problems while sharing data and images in real time with ShareLive video calls, speeding up problem solving, decision-making and approvals.
With the Fluke Connect Assets system, maintenance managers and technicians generate more reliable data to make informed decisions about equipment health, reducing unexpected equipment downtime, improving costs, and enhancing the efficiency of their teams.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 6, 2015 | Automation, Industrial Computers, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management
Here is one of those press releases that attempts to use every current buzz word. Regardless, this business partnership shows how technology suppliers are partnering in order to move to the next level of manufacturing strategy.
EXOR International S.p.A. and NEXCOM International Co. announced a technology and business partnership to “enhance their worldwide presence in the automation and IT market by developing new HMI functions to fulfill the vision of Industry 4.0. Based on close cooperation between the two companies, NEXCOM has investing in EXOR International for 19.99% of the company.”
To achieve Industry 4.0‘s vision for smart manufacturing, NEXCOM has proposed PC-based IoT Automation Solutions consisting of intelligent controllers, IoT automation gateways, and big data collectors. Under the partnership, NEXCOM expands its product portfolio to EXOR’s virtualized human machine interface (HMI), a key element to Industry 4.0, offering all-around IoT Automation Solutions. Further, EXOR will extend its presence into the Asian market and grow JMobile platform to ensure global offering.
EXOR, with headquarters in Verona, Italy, is an international HMI supplier. EXOR HMI solutions span over industrial automation with an expertise in satisfying vertical markets and embedded design solutions.
NEXCOM, headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, is a leading international manufacturer of IoT Automation Solutions that offers comprehensive industrial computing solutions.
The partnership will leverage the synergy of EXOR and NEXCOM to enlarge and improve the quality of global offerings to the market, strengthen production capability, and enhance post-sales service with general maintenance and repair centers in Europe and Asia.
Co-development of new products will meet global demand of “ready-to-use products” with a stronger platform and exceptional time to market. Global service will be provided 24/7 to the needs of the market and customers.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 23, 2015 | Automation, Events, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Process Control
Since I have to follow the Honeywell User Group (number 40, by the way) from afar, I’m relying on tweets and any Web updates or articles I can find.
So far, Walt Boyes (@waltboyes, and Industrial Automation Insider) has posted a few things to Twitter, mostly slides from presentations that are barely legible; Aaron Hand (Automation World) has posted a few tweets; Mehul Shah (LNS Research) has a couple of tweets—interestingly saying he things as an analyst that Honeywell has all the elements of a complete IIoT solution—hmmm; and Larry O’Brien, analyst at ARC Advisory Group has published a few tweets. If they would post links to articles in the tweets, that would be interesting.
Putman Publishing (Control magazine) once again is doing a digital “show daily” and therefore is posting several articles a day and blasting out an email daily.
Walt sent a tweet about obsolescence of open systems to which software geek Andy Robinson (@Archestranaut) replied. I didn’t understand until I saw Paul Studebaker’s article online (see below). The open systems in use today are getting long in the tooth. They feature Microsoft Windows XP—evidently never getting upgrades. Now there is no Microsoft support, the world has moved on, and all these DCS interfaces based on PCs are getting ancient.
Paul Studebaker, Control magazine’s editor-in-chief, reported on the keynote presented by Vimal Kapur, Honeywell Process Solutions president.
“ ‘Since Q4 of last year, since oil prices have changed, capital investments have been reduced’, said Kapur. Investments were up about 20% in 2010 and 2011, and remained flat through 2014, but so far, 2015 is down about 12%. Operational expense spending is also off.”
Kapur described how Honeywell is helping operators meet those challenges with strategies, technologies and services.
1. Honeywell will expand the role of the distributed control system (DCS). Now, the DCS has become a focal point of all control functions, taking on the functionality of PLC, alarm, safety, power management, historian, turbine control and more. Having a single system and user leverages scarce resources, and a single platform leveraging standards does more with less.
2. Cloud computing is becoming a standard part of HPS automation projects, with a logarithmic increase in the number of virtual machines in the HPS cloud over the past two years.
3. While process safety management has always depended on detecting unsafe situations, preventing them from causing an incident or accident and protecting people from any consequences.
4. For cybersecurity, Honeywell has created a team of specialists who can do audits, identify vulnerabilities and recommend solutions. But cybersecurity requires constant monitoring, so consider using a cybersecurity dashboard, “a step toward enabling a much higher level of proactivity by identifying cyber threats before it’s too late,” Kapur said.
5. Standardization holds great promise for reducing cost and time to production by allowing pre-engineering of control systems.
6. Honeywell continues to expand and refine its field device products to offer a complete line of smart instrumentation that can be preconfigured and use the cloud for fast auto-commissioning, and that have full auto-alerts and diagnostics to enable predictive maintenance.
7. OPC UA is becoming the key to leveraging the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
8. Kapur told attendees their existing investments are not fully leveraged.
9. Expansion of mobility is changing workflows and the responsibilities of individuals.
10. Honeywell is driving more outcome-based solutions in services.
Jim Montague, Control executive editor, reported on the technology keynote.
(Jim, you need to update your bio on the Control Global page)
“This is a transformative time in process controls, rivaling the open process systems introduced in the early 1990s,” said Bruce Calder, new CTO and vice president of HPS, in the “Honeywell Technology Overview and New Innovations” session on the opening day of Honeywell User Group (HUG) Americas 2015, June 22 in San Antonio, Texas. “Today, the words are cloud, big data, predictive analytics and IoT, but this situation is similar to when Honeywell pioneered and invented the DCS in the early 1970s. For instance, our Experion PKS integrates input from many sources, which is what big data and the cloud aim to do, and our Matrikon OPC solution gives us the world’s leading contender for enabling IoT in the process industries. And all these devices are producing lots more data, so the question for everyone is how to manage it.
“This is all part of the digital transformation that Honeywell has been leading for years. So Experion and our Orion interfaces enable IoT because they collect and coordinate vast amounts of data, turn it into actionable information and turn process operators into profit operators. At the same time, Honeywell enables customers to retain their intellectual property assets as they modernize and do it safely, reliably and efficiently.”
My analysis:
1. The downturn in the price of a barrel of oil whose impact we first noticed with the decline in attendance at the ARC Forum in February has really impacted Honeywell’s business.
2. Honeywell, much like all technology suppliers, addresses the buzz around Internet of Things by saying we do it—and we’ve always done it. (mostly true, by the way)
3. Otherwise, I didn’t see much new from the technology keynote—at least as it was reported so far.
4. I got some good reporting, but It’s a shame that all the media has retrenched into traditional B2B—reporting what marketing people say. You can read that for yourself on their Websites. Context, analysis, expertise are all lost right now. Maybe someone will spring up with the new way of Web reporting.
At any rate, it sounds like a good conference. About 1,200 total attendance. Even with oil in the doldrums, the vibes should be strong.
