by Gary Mintchell | Jun 13, 2017 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, Operations Management
This is “TechED” week for Rockwell Automation with “Shelby” the chat bot collaboration tool featured prominently at the opening keynote presentations–a software startup within the organization.
TeamONE was one of two new products featured this week. The other an appliance to help manage an EtherNet/IP network.
More than 2,000 people gathered in Orlando for the 20th edition of this distributor and customer learning event. Most of the sessions were deep dives into product and technology. I’ve sat in a few sessions, and they reminded me of how much I miss the deep dives into how to use products and technology instead of the usual marketing overviews that I receive.
The goals seem to be offering new workforce additions tools that they’ll be familiar with, enabling quicker setup and troubleshooting, and supporting teams.
One other maintenance-oriented product I’ll touch on is a support service for predictive maintenance.
The new products are FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices appliance and a FactoryTalk TeamONE Standard Edition app. These off-the-shelf offerings require minimal configuration and can help solve common maintenance problems faster, which keeps unplanned downtime at a minimum. The appliance and app quickly help improve reaction time for maintenance teams and assist decision makers with health and diagnostics analytics for industrial devices and systems.
“These offerings were built with ease-of-use as a primary goal,” said Michael Pantaleano, global business manager, Rockwell Automation. “We’ve worked closely with our customers on these solutions, proving that an instantly available app and a scalable analytical appliance that work out-of-the-box can deliver immediate value. At Rockwell Automation, we are committed to building tools that are approachable for our customers’ current teams. These two new offerings help maintenance teams easily discover the health of their devices and better collaborate in context with insightful information.”
These offerings are some of the first subscription offerings from Rockwell Automation. To further streamline the adoption process, a new e-commerce portal is used to manage the new offerings. All subscriptions and management can take place within a single, self-service portal.
FactoryTalk TeamONE App
Focused on reducing mean time to repair, Rockwell Automation is releasing a new edition, dubbed the Standard Edition, of the FactoryTalk TeamONE app. The new edition adds an alarm module, enabling teams to collaborate with live alarm details. This gives users the ability to easily view all active alarms. They can also view, share and post new details, delivering better team collaboration by adding context with alarm information. Alarms requiring immediate action can be shared with specific team members or posted to the entire team for group management and resolution.
As a smart node, the FactoryTalk TeamONE app requires no server, device to cloud gateways, or IT setup for manufacturers to realize value, which expands as they go through their digital transformation. The app is currently available on the Apple App Store and Google Play store, and a new user account takes just minutes to set up.
The new Standard Edition is a paid yearly subscription and expands the features available in the free edition of the app. Released in 2016, the FactoryTalk TeamONE Free Edition app provides near-instantaneous incident and device data to plant-floor maintenance teams that include engineering, trades and IT workers. The free edition removes the barriers for industrial teams to collaborate and quickly solve issues with contextualized plant-floor data like trends and device status. Modules in this free edition include Incident, Device Status, Teamboard, Knowledgebase, Pinboard, Chat and Trend modules. Within the FactoryTalk TeamONE app, customers can even have a mix of free and subscription users on their teams.
FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices Appliance
FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices is a hardened appliance that helps avoid costly downtime and improve productivity by proactively identifying device health. With just a connection to power and a local control system network, the appliance begins providing analytics within minutes.
After the connections are made, the application detects automation devices on the network without disrupting performance. Plant-floor teams then gain access to specific calls-to-action, instant device displays and an advanced machine-learning-based chat bot, which are all available from within the appliance. The appliance learns what is important to users by continuously analyzing the devices on the network and delivering recommendations to help maintenance and engineering teams prevent unplanned downtime and repair systems more quickly.
“Our customers are trying to figure out how to take their first steps toward analytics and the industrial Internet of Things,” said Pantaleano. “This appliance is an excellent start to their journey, with tangible results that can help our customers within minutes.”
The FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices appliance can detect and perform a basic analysis on any EtherNet/IP device. The appliance also has detailed analytics for over 2,000 Allen-Bradley devices. The first year’s subscription is included for each appliance. Subsequent subscriptions are encouraged for customers to progressively receive updated analytics, features and device support, including third-party devices.
Predictive Maintenance
I attended a session on predictive maintenance. The topic was a support service from Rockwell Automation–some of which is ready to go now and some still under development. It combines software tools and human experts.
Research has revealed that about 74% of total downtime is figuring out what the problem is and developing a workflow to fix it. The goal of this service by Rockwell Automation is to shorten this time through application of predictive analytics combined with expert analysis.
They have set up a system to collect device data into a Microsoft Azure cloud–aka FactoryTalk Cloud–where analytics apps reside and then port the information into the services organization.
The team has been developing a series of software agents to look at a variety of situations from pattern recognition to anomaly detection to machine learning to help customers get their predictive program up and running “in weeks, not years.”
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 6, 2017 | Internet of Things, News
Digitalization is the current hot word describing the latest manufacturing strategies. The concept has morphed from Industrie 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things, and smart manufacturing. The word was all over Hannover Messe this year, and one of the more fervent advocates was Siemens.
How important is this, really?
“What’s at stake with digitalization is the future of manufacturing competitiveness,” says Dean Bartles, Founding Executive Director of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. “Germany is ahead, and China is making a big move in this area. More and more countries are adopting these technologies. To remain competitive, US manufacturers are going to have to master digital technologies.”
Bartles was quoted in a report commissioned by Siemens, The race to a digital future: Assessing digital intensity in US manufacturing.
On behalf of Siemens, Longitude Research surveyed 209 senior executives and directors of large US manufacturing organizations to understand the progress of digitalization among discrete and process manufacturers. Topics include trends in digitalization, examples of successful adaptation and suggestions to overcome barriers to moving forward in the digital age.
The Webpage includes a benchmarking tool so that you can compare your efforts to those in the study.
Based upon my own conversations with a variety of suppliers and implementers, I am not surprised that the researchers show two types of adopters: the ‘Efficiency Experts’ and the ‘Revenue Re-inventors’. Both groups are deploying digital technologies to improve productivity and efficiency, but the latter is leading the way in exploring how digital can be progressed even further – to transform their business model and unlock new markets.
Firms in the Revenue Re-inventors group are more likely than Efficiency Experts to say that their financial performance is ahead of their peers. In particular, Revenue Re-inventors are more likely to create new revenue streams from the provision of digital services – as Rolls-Royce has done through its Engine Health Management service, which uses onboard sensors and live satellite feeds to track the health of thousands of engines operating worldwide.
Once again, we should not be surprised. When did anyone cut their way to prosperity? On the other hand, I’d have expected the efficiency people to show more gains than they did. Wonder what their overall programs were?
The research evaluates manufacturers’ digital capabilities across the following core dimensions, using their relative progress in each to provide an overall score out of 100.
• Data intensity: data strategy, data collection, storage and analysis, and data-driven decision-making.
• Connectivity: sensor usage in production and output, and networking of production equipment and plants.
• Adaptability: customization capability, design and modeling, and robotics.
• Integration: enterprise and supply-chain data integration.
• Security: strategy and systems implementation.
• People: leadership, skills and training.
Does implementing a strategy show results, or is it more important as to how you implement a strategy? Research reveals that increased adoption rates do not necessarily translate into better results. Rather, the most successful manufacturers are those which take a bold and strategic approach to deploying the digital technologies they do invest in, and use this to predict trends and identify new opportunities to delight customers.
Here is a finding that is surprising—while 69% of the Revenue Re-inventers use predictive analytics, only 44% of the Efficiency Experts do. I’d figure that predictive analytics for such things as predictive maintenance would be enticing for the efficiency people.
Another finding that seems a little weird—the study sorted out the top five digital technologies. First off, this is definitely a Power Law curve, and secondly these don’t seem to fit together.
Cloud computing is almost universally adopted, a fact which should be no longer surprising. Drop some and then you have connected sensors—but we’ve been connecting sensors for years. Then a considerable drop off to 3D printing. The last is advanced data analytics—the one of all of these that seems to get the most media coverage.
This entire area has received at least four years of intense media coverage. Analyst firms have begun reformatting practices to specifically call out these strategies. Are we beyond the hype curve, yet? Or is it still in the smoke and mirrors stage?
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 1, 2017 | News, Software
OSIsoft LLC, which now self-identifies as a leader in operational intelligence, has announced that SoftBank Group (“SoftBank”) has acquired a significant minority equity interest in the company.
The company is mostly known for its data historian, PI, which is used throughout industry. Over the past few years it has taken on some significant investments evidently in order to fund further growth as data and data analytics command center stage in the Internet of Things ecosystem.
The transaction is part of SoftBank’s strategy to invest in companies laying the foundational infrastructure for the next stage of the Information Revolution. SoftBank believes OSIsoft embodies this strategy, having been a longtime leader in enabling large industries to harness the massive amounts of data generated by their operational technology assets.
As part of the investment, OSIsoft and SoftBank will collaborate on developing new products and services enabling digital transformation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and strengthening OSIsoft’s presence in new markets.
“We are helping some of the world’s most innovative companies get smarter about how they use their data. Our industrial customers and utilities demand the highest levels of service and reliability. That’s why our focus has been, and will always be, on customer success and satisfaction,” said Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, CEO and founder of OSIsoft. “Collaborating with SoftBank will enable us to bring the concept of data infrastructure to more markets like telecommunications as well as strengthen our commitment to our customers. We’re very much looking forward to working together.”
“Industrial IoT is a central force in the digitization of the industrial economy. OSIsoft powers the key underpinnings of this digital transformation. OSIsoft’s relentless customer focus and masterfully engineered data infrastructure solutions are a direct outcome of Dr. Kennedy’s vision and passion,” said Deep Nishar, Managing Director at SoftBank. “We are excited to partner with the OSIsoft team to help realize their mission in new markets and customer segments.”
SoftBank purchased the significant minority interest in OSIsoft from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Kleiner Perkins), TCV and Tola Capital. Kleiner Perkins and TCV first invested in OSIsoft in 2011 while Tola invested in 2012. Last year, Mitsui & Co. became an investor in OSIsoft and maintains its ownership stake.
“OSIsoft is one of those rare success stories hiding in plain sight. The company’s PI System is pervasive across industries: you probably experience the impact of its technology several times a day without realizing it. OSIsoft has also cultivated an impressive and enthusiastic fan base of loyal customers,” said David Mount, a partner in the Green Growth Fund at Kleiner Perkins. “This has been a very positive investment for us and we’ve been very proud to be part of the company’s growth. SoftBank is an ideal partner to bring OSIsoft’s PI System technology to more markets and customers.”
“When we partnered with OSIsoft in 2011, it was already a forerunner in what we now call IIoT, a market that’s expected to reach over $120 billion by 2021,” said Jake Reynolds, General Partner at TCV. “During our 6-year investment in OSIsoft, we have been amazed at the company’s growing presence and importance in this burgeoning market. We are pleased that OSIsoft has the opportunity to partner with SoftBank during its next phase in making the world’s industrial infrastructure more connected, efficient, flexible, and sustainable.”
One of the world’s most widely-used technologies for digital transformation, OSIsoft’s PI System captures data from sensors, manufacturing equipment and other devices and transforms it into rich, real-time insights to reduce costs, improve overall productivity and/or create new services. Over 1,000 leading utilities, 95 percent of the largest oil and gas companies and more than 65 percent of the Fortune 500 industrial companies rely on the high-fidelity insights from the PI System to run their businesses. Worldwide, the PI System actively handles over 1.5 billion sensor-based data streams.
The company primarily focuses on six core markets—oil and gas; utilities; pharmaceutical development and production; metals and mining; pulp and paper; and water—and is rapidly expanding into food and beverage, facilities and transportation. Wind developers leverage the PI System to increase power production and reduce maintenance costs while mining operations use it to meet their goals for environmental compliance. Water utilities save millions of liters of water a day by pinpointing leaks within the PI System. The PI System can be found inside solar farms, breweries, data centers, cruise ships, leading research laboratories, power grids, stadiums and smart devices everywhere.
OSIsoft has also fostered an extensive partner ecosystem, including over 450 interfaces and connectors to translate and deliver PI System data to popular enterprise applications and cloud platforms. More than 300 hardware manufacturers, software developers and system integrators produce PI System-based products and services.
“We have examined many data-intensive companies who assert that they will change the face of enterprise computing leveraging big data. OSIsoft has been steadily transforming the industrial sector for decades using a quantum of data heretofore not even envisaged by competing companies. OSIsoft provides the essential bridge between operational and information technology,” said Sheila Gulati, Managing Director of Tola Capital. “Partnering with the OSIsoft team on their strategic growth has been a tremendously rewarding endeavor. The Kennedy culture puts people first through their unwavering commitment to their customers and employees: this has provided the basis for their winning formula.”
by Gary Mintchell | May 19, 2017 | Automation, Internet of Things, Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Software
Software platforms, Internet of Things, Digital Transformation and many more manufacturing technologies brought 225,000 people to Hannover last April. I think I got the last available hotel room in the Hannover as I prepared for an intense three days of meetings. I’ve written a couple of posts already. But there is much more. My trip to Dell EMC World out of the way, I’m back to finishing some Hannover thoughts.
Check out these posts on IoT Platform Architecture, Augmented Reality, and a review of IoT platforms.
ABB and IBM partner for industrial artificial intelligence
ABB and IBM announced a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB’s ABB Ability with IBM Watson.
Customers will benefit from ABB’s deep domain knowledge and extensive portfolio of digital solutions combined with IBM’s expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as different industry verticals. The first two joint industry solutions powered by ABB Ability and Watson will bring real-time cognitive insights to the factory floor and smart grids.
“This powerful combination marks truly the next level of industrial technology, moving beyond current connected systems that simply gather data, to industrial operations and machines that use data to sense, analyze, optimize and take actions that drive greater uptime, speed and yield for industrial customers,” said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. “With an installed base of 70 million connected devices, 70,000 digital control systems and 6,000 enterprise software solutions, ABB is a trusted leader in the industrial space, and has a four decade long history of creating digital solutions for customers. IBM is a leader in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing. Together, IBM and ABB will create powerful solutions for customers to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Another quick note about ABB. It has been a leader in high voltage DC technology (HVDC). At Hannover it announced the latest development in high voltage direct current (HVDC) Light making it possible to reliably transmit large amounts of electricity over ever greater distances, economically and efficiently. The next level of ABB’s HVDC Light will enable more than doubling the power capacity to 3,000 megawatts (MW).
“We pioneered HVDC technology in the 1950’s as a game changer, and the birth of HVDC Light in 1997 was one of the most significant milestones in our innovation journey” said Claudio Facchin, President, ABB Power Grids. “As we mark 20 years of this breakthrough, we are ready to write the next chapter of this technology, with significant enhancements that will help transmit power further with minimum losses and bring major benefits to our customers. HVDC is a cornerstone of our Next Level strategy, reinforcing our position as a partner of choice in enabling a stronger, smarter and greener grid.”
GE Digital
I had several discussions with GE Digital and GE Automation & Control. Here is an announcement from GE.
GE Digital announced a major release of its Plant Applications Manufacturing Execution System (MES) solution for hybrid manufacturing industries, designed to manage highly automated production processes. This new version features a new user interface, using GE’s advanced UX design, to better enable operations staff to analyze equipment effectiveness and identify root causes of downtime. The first phase of the Plant Applications user interface enhancement makes it easier for plant personnel to utilize MES systems in their day to day work.
Plant Applications holistically automates and integrates data collection from assets on the plant floor used to manage production execution and performance optimization in hybrid manufacturers in industries such as Food & Beverage, Consumer Packaged Goods and Chemical.
And from GE Automation & Controls, it announced its Control Server and Control System Health App. These innovations are a part of GE’s Industrial Internet Control System (IICS). IICS is an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution that reliably, safely and securely connects thousands of machines to the power of the cloud and brings computing to the edge.
Utilizing GE’s Field Agent platform, Control Server also enables intensive optimizing apps like Model-based Optimizing Control (MBOC) to inject performance improvements that deliver greater profitability. In addition, the operating and maintenance costs are reduced through consolidation of PC functions provided by virtualization technology on a server-grade platform. With built-in security features, this innovation reduces the cyber-security attack surface and improves compliance with industry regulations.
As part of the industrial app economy, GE also launched the Control System Health App which allows customers to monitor the status of their control hardware from any location with internet access. The app collects real-time data in a time-series database and uses the power of analytics to recommend corrective actions based on faults.
“We are excited to unveil the next round of powerful analytics tools as part of our IICS system,” said Rob McKeel, President and CEO of GE’s Automation and Controls business. “These two innovations will not only help our customers continue to optimize business and asset performance, but now, with the app, they’ll be able to check in on their system in the palm of their hands from anywhere in the world.”
Honeywell Introduces IIoT SDK Utilizing OPC UA
Honeywell Process Solutions announced a software toolkit that simplifies the interconnection of industrial software systems, enabling them to communicate with each other regardless of platform, operating system or size. The Matrikon FLEX OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) Software Development Kit (SDK) is ideal for applications where minimal memory and processing resources are common.
“Honeywell Connected Plant is our holistic approach to anticipating and meeting the needs of customers by leveraging the power of the IIoT,” said Shree Dandekar, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Connected Plant. “Within this environment, OPC UA plays a key role in enabling outcome-based business solutions. Our introduction of Matrikon FLEX underscores the importance of this technology.”
Tom Burke, president and executive director, OPC Foundation, commented, “In order to quickly and efficiently implement OPC UA, suppliers need a toolkit to minimize development time and effort, and deliver secure and reliable products. Honeywell’s new SDK is ideal for companies getting started with OPC UA to take advantage of the growth of the IIoT. It provides a way to launch OPC UA-enabled products faster and with fewer changes.”
Parker Hannifin Unveils Voice of the Machine
Parker Hannifin Corp. unveiled the Voice of the Machine IoT platform, an open, interoperable and scalable ecosystem of connected products and services.
“From online platforms that enable users to engage with our broad portfolio of products, systems and engineering talent; to global monitoring and asset integrity management services that keep critical systems productive, we are creating better outcomes for our customers,” said Bob Bond, Vice President – eBusiness, IoT and Services. “Our Voice of the Machine offering operates at the sweet spot of our core competency at the component and system level. Parker is creating discrete insights across our broad range of motion and control products that we can then connect to enterprise IoT solutions.”
Parker is using a center-led approach and has adopted a common set of IoT standards and best practices for use across all its operating groups and technologies. Every connected product uses the same repository of digital services with an exchange-based platform architecture, designed by software experts at Exosite. The Exosite IoT architecture makes it easy to deploy a diverse set of connected solutions leveraging that same set of digital services and to integrate.
ODVA Launches Project to Develop Its Next Generation Platform for Device Description
ODVA has announced that it has embarked on a major new technical activity to develop standards and tools for its next generation of digitized descriptions for device data. ODVA has named the activity “Project xDS.” The project will focus on the development of specifications for workflow-driven device description files for device integration and digitized business models.
Project xDS will define the technologies and standards for “xDS” device description files that are based on a common format and syntax to enable workflow-driven device integration. Typical workflows include network and security configuration, network and security diagnostics, device configuration, and device diagnostics.
Another aspect of Project xDS is to further the realization of applications for a digitized industrial world. Digitization will require the virtual representation of physical devices as digital twins, and xDS device description files will be able to provide the device data needed for this virtual representation. The result will help enable services for configuration, command, monitoring, diagnostics, prognostics and simulation via asset management systems, cloud based analytics, and new command-control architectures for industrial control systems.
by Gary Mintchell | May 3, 2017 | Automation, Data Management, Networking, Operations Management, Security, Technology
OPC UA was everywhere in the Digital Factory and automation areas of Hannover Fair 2017. Not only was the expanded OPC Foundation stand busy, an “OPC Wall” at the Microsoft stand was constantly packed. Microsoft executives took attendees on a digital path using OPC UA from the factory to the Azure cloud.
Spokespeople pointed out that OPC UA was crucial to a solution that was open, secure, and agnostic. While waiting for the finalization of OPC UA pub/sub (publish / subscribe), they wrote a transport in JSON and AMQP to get there.
The OPC Foundation announced an open-source implementation of the OPC UA technology, available on GitHub to truly enable the OPC community successful adoption of OPC UA across all markets and all platforms.
Microsoft contributed a huge amount of lines of code to this open source effort.
OPC UA is the set of standards for multivendor multiplatform secure reliable interoperability for moving /information from the embedded world to the cloud. The testimonial to the standards is a complete reference implementation that is now been posted as an open-source implementation, replacing the original OPC Foundation .NET deliverables that were developed and maintained for the last 10 years.
The original OPC Foundation .NET OPC UA reference implementation has been available to OPC Foundation members and last year was provided as an open-source implementation on GitHub. This version was targeted and limited to Microsoft Windows only.
The new OPC Foundation reference stack, based on the new .NET Standard Library technology, was developed and optimized by Microsoft to serve as the complete platform-independent infrastructure, from the embedded world to the cloud. This new version is enabled on the following supported platforms: Various Linux distributions, iOS, Android, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Phone, HoloLens and the Azure cloud.
One of the important features of the .Net Standard stack is the expansion of the security features to meet the needs of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications, as well as the requirements of “Plattform Industrie 4.0”.
Additional benefits of the OPC UA .Net Standard Stack include:
- The .Net Standard stack is cross platform specifically enabling OPC UA applications.
- The .Net Standard API portability strategy is all about developing once and running everywhere: No need to special-case OS-specific functionality.
- The architecture of the .Net Standard stack focuses on managed code, which translates to rapid application development.
- Microsoft deliberately enabled the creation of NuGet packages, which allows suppliers to quickly integrate OPC UA support into their application with a few simple clicks.
- The .Net Standard stack includes increased security inclusive of support for SHA512.
- The .Net Standard stack enable support for cross-platform UI design tools through Xamarin.
- Microsoft has provided, in conjunction with the OPC Foundation, an extremely rich set of sample applications, inclusive of reference clients, reference servers, an aggregation server, an OPC classic wrapper and a web application to quickly display OPC UA telemetry data sent to the cloud.
- Microsoft has also provided, in conjunction with the OPC Foundation complete samples demonstrating Azure connectivity leveraging the OPC UA publish/subscribe technology (the specification of which is currently being finalized).
Microsoft’s Sam George, Director of Microsoft Azure IoT said “OPC UA has truly established itself as the interoperability standard for Industrial IoT. We are honored to work with the OPC Foundation on the continued evolution of the standard. The response from the Industrial IoT community to our .Net Standard reference stack contribution has been very positive.”
OPC Foundation’s President Thomas J. Burke said, “The Microsoft commitment to open standards, and specifically to the OPC Foundation is absolutely amazing. Microsoft is clearly a pioneer and a leader in developing and bringing to market the best technology that truly enables multivendor information integration and interoperability. It has been a pleasure to work with the Microsoft development team, and how they are enabling so many of the suppliers to have seamless connectivity to the Azure cloud, through their development and commitment providing an open-source implementation of the OPC UA technology”.
Stefan Hoppe, OPC Foundation’s Vice President said, “Microsoft is the strongest open-source contributor to the OPC Foundation’s industrial interoperability standard, OPC UA. Microsoft’s integration of the OPC UA code with Microsoft Azure IoT as well as Windows IoT allows companies to bring millions of devices and apps to the public cloud and manage them with one single application, no matter if the devices run on Windows, Linux, iOS or Android. Using this OPC UA implementation, IT and Manufacturing will merge seamlessly”.
Siemens’ Thomas Hahn said: “As a founding member, Siemens has supported the OPC Foundation for years. For us, open connectivity – from shop floor to the cloud – is a must. We therefore appreciate the availability of OPC UA technology as open source!”
The OPC Foundation will continue to develop, maintain and extend this new .NET technology as the new OPC Foundation endorsed open-source .NET reference implementation. Some of these significant new features to be added include the publish/subscribe extensions as well as support for important IoT protocols like AMQP and MQTT.
