by Gary Mintchell | Nov 8, 2016 | Asset Performance Management, Internet of Things, Operations Management
Fluke has drunk the Internet of Things kool-aid. It has taken a portfolio of measurement products and technology and connected them. I’ve followed it for a few years. It has recently announced an expansion of its cloud-based monitoring platform.
Fluke Connect reliability platform now offers cloud-based condition monitoring.
Monitoring plant equipment is crucial to avoiding costly downtime, but it is often too expensive, impractical, or complicated to capture performance data from all critical assets. The latest addition to the Fluke Connect reliability platform, Fluke Condition Monitoring, solves these problems with a new system of rugged voltage, current, temperature, and power sensors that can be moved from asset to asset or left in place for continuous monitoring. With Fluke Condition Monitoring, maintenance teams get a practical, scalable system that delivers the continuous data and alarms they need to prevent equipment downtime without costly equipment retrofits or specialized training.
“Adding Condition Monitoring to Fluke Connect revolutionizes maintenance workflows,” said Paul de la Port, President, Industrial Group, Fluke Corporation. “One system now manages the entire process — from equipment inspection and monitoring to setting alarm thresholds and assigning repairs. Certain types of plant equipment have fallen outside monitoring until now; the ROI just wasn’t there to retrofit with permanent sensors. The Fluke Condition Monitoring setup is so flexible and easy to install that technicians can put it wherever they need additional eyes on their equipment. And the new sensors funnel data into the same Fluke Connect reliability platform as all of our other connected test tools. With this system, technicians collect more data and engineers analyze more data in less time, with less work.”
Fluke Condition Monitoring consists of wireless sensors and a gateway that receives signals from the sensors from up to 30 feet away and works seamlessly with trusted, award-winning Fluke technologies, such as iFlex current probes, current clamps, temperature sensors and three-phase power monitoring.
Maintenance technicians can set the system up and begin monitoring in a matter of minutes, with the sensors transmitting measurements to the cloud as frequently as one measurement per second. Equipment data and alarm notifications are viewed through the Fluke Connect platform on a smartphone or web browser.
With this addition, the Fluke Connect reliability platform now compiles measurements from both the Fluke Condition Monitoring sensors and Fluke Connect wireless tools along with a history of work orders to create a comprehensive view of equipment health. The wireless, cloud-based solution overcomes legacy system silos and IT conflicts, works on any equipment type and helps teams stay effective while monitoring issues in different locations.
“The 3500 FC Series sensors operating with Fluke’s already well-established IIoT platform, Connect, create a strong value proposition for manufacturers, which seek to benefit from IIoT insights without a rip-and-replace greenfield buy,” said Christian Renaud, Research Director of 451 Research’s Internet of Things practice. “Products that are quick and easy to install and provide simple-to-determine ROI metrics should appeal to manufacturers.” 451 Research is focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation within emerging technology segments and provides timely insight to end user, service provider, vendor and investor organizations worldwide.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 11, 2016 | Operations Management, Software
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) exists to help manufacturers manage the execution layer of a manufacturing enterprise. MES unfortunately can be quite complex. Moving a company from spreadsheet-driven execution to a specifically written application can take years of effort by a team of engineers.
Understandably that makes companies, especially medium sized ones, leery of even contemplating a move to the modern era.
Application developers, aware of this roadblock, have rushed to develop and deploy solutions that are easier to purchase and implement.
Enter Rockwell Automation’s latest entry into this arena. It has developed scalable and application-specific products to address this need. Solutions can start at the machine or work-area level with a single application and with minimal infrastructure requirements, and scale to an integrated MES solution as ROI is realized.
Rockwell Automation has released the following applications, with more to come in the future:
FactoryTalk Production Application – The FactoryTalk Production application addresses the challenges associated with enforcing processes in manufacturing. This application integrates with ERP, and tracks the order and recipe parameters necessary for production. The Production application supports end-to-end production management within a facility, offering a platform for continuous improvement.
FactoryTalk Quality Application – The newly expanded Quality application allows manufacturers to model and enforce their plant’s in-process quality regimens at a scalable rate. Manufacturers can use the Quality application on a project basis and scale up when value is proven. The application can be expanded to include other functionality within the FactoryTalk ProductionCentre MES system or run as a standalone.
FactoryTalk Performance Application – Performance is a modular application that assists manufacturing companies with factory efficiency and production improvement. By providing visibility into the operations performance, this application allows for lean and continuous improvement, preventive manufacturing, improved asset utilization and operational intelligence.
Each expanded MES application is implemented on thin clients for a modern user experience and reduced IT infrastructure cost. Users can add on each application to their current framework, helping protect their current investments while realizing these additional benefits.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 22, 2016 | Automation, Operations Management, Software, Technology
Industry 4.0 provokes much discussion with little understanding. It began as a German government initiative ostensibly to support the German machine building industry. The idea was picked up in a variety of forms by other governments.
Exploring Industry 4.0 leads me to Tim Sowell’s latest blog post. Tim is a Schneider Electric Fellow and VP of System Strategy at Schneider Electric in the Common Architecture team in R&D. He is also the last remaining (that I can find) true blogger in the space. The company blogs have pivoted from blog format offering information and opinion to more of a press release format—where they use the Webpage to get out a company message directly to readers rather than going through the unreliable filter of the trade press. Sowell offers thoughtful discourse on important topics of the day.
If I thought I could meet with Tim and Stan DeVries at the upcoming Wonderware user conference, I’d make plans to get down there. As it is, the trip would lead to about five weeks of travel in a row. That is more expense and time away from home than a one-person entrepreneur can afford.
Sowell lists this set of viewpoints which are discussed in the white paper:
- Industry 4.0 is about the transformation from controlling focusing on process to “controlling the product/ order” and the “product/ order being self aware”.
- Industry 4.0 is about operations transformation, not about technology.
- Industry 4.0 provides a practical strategic framework for “lean” and “agile” industrial operations.
- Industry 4.0 addresses the needs of discrete and batch manufacturing, but it needs some adaptation for the heavy process and infrastructure industries.
He adds, “Cloud computing and IT/OT convergence are often linked to implementing Industry 4.0, but these need some adaptation to address “trustworthiness” of the architectures. One emerging topic is Fog computing.”
He argues that automation and operation management technologies are more relevant than ever before. Also important are information standards such as “IEC 61850/ISO9506, ISA-95/ISO62264, PRODML etc.”
You need to go back and read his entire paper. He discusses benefits of adopting this way of thinking about manufacturing (discrete and process). He looks at use cases. And the foundation of Industry 4.0—it requires better information, not just more data.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 1, 2016 | Manufacturing IT, Operations Management, Software
Schneider Electric software aims to boost process line improvement tool for food & beverage and consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers. It announced yesterday availability of Line Performance Suite for Food & Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturers.
This single purpose app is built atop Wonderware MES software. These apps are a growing trend in the industry. Another trend is moving the investment in software from the capital expenditure budget (CapEx) to operations budget (OpEx). Schneider Electric has priced this offering as a subscription service to meet those customer needs.
Turnkey productivity improvement software
Addressing process improvement, Line Performance Suite offers a turnkey line enhancement and productivity improvement solution that can be used across operations.
“Users of the Line Performance Suite can unlock hidden capacity in production lines to help drive improved profitability, higher quality and enhanced Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE),” said Doug Warren, Vice President, Industry Solutions at Schneider Electric Software. “Integrated reporting and analysis ensures packaging line output is optimized, providing greater understanding to locate process weaknesses and maintain maximum throughput. What results is better intelligence on line performance for more informed decision making.”
Benefits
Identified benefits of Line Performance Suite include:
- Line Performance – remove bottlenecks, reduce downtime and increase availability to gain process metrics for both automated and manual production lines
- Product Quality – lower scrap rates and improve first pass yields to achieve better quality and right first time metrics
- Visibility to Process Metrics – gain visibility to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to achieve real-time access to critical operating parameters
Included in the offering is Schneider Electric’s Customer FIRST Software Maintenance and Support Program. This program enables access to the latest software upgrades, expert technical assistance and self-help tools to improve operational effectiveness.
Economic development
In one of those interesting coincidences, last week I had a breakfast meeting with two people from the Singapore Economic Development agency. They touted an investment by Schneider Electric in a large software development division. That division—it’s the Industry Solutions Business.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 14, 2016 | Automation, Manufacturing IT, Networking, News, Operations Management, Process Control, Technology
Second day Rockwell Automation TechED keynote speakers drilled down into the weeds a little to flesh out the High Performance Architecture and Connected Enterprise themes from day one. Unusual for a second day general session, the room was about as packed as for day one.
There is little mention of Internet of Things at this conference—it’s sort of assumed as part of the Connected Enterprise. However, speakers went from one “standard, unmodified Ethernet” comment yesterday to many mentions today.
Product group vice presidents Fran Wlodarczyk (Control & Visualization), John Genovesi (Information & Process), and Scott Lapcewich (Customer Support & Maintenance) showed how their groups supported the company vision.
Wlodarczyk discussed controllers getting faster (leading to added yield for an automotive assembly plant), improved workflows and tighter integration with control in the visualization portfolio, and how the latest motion control products are self-aware (auto-tuning) and system-aware.
Genovesi, who has learned the languages of process automation and information systems well in his time leading the area, spoke to both.
“Rockwell Automation is uniquely positioned to drive value-based outcomes”:
- Integrated Architecture that includes integrated software
- Intelligent Motor Control (smart, connected assets)
- Domain Expertise (Solution delivery)
When Rockwell finally made a real commitment to entering the process automation business, it specifically avoided the term “DCS” and used its “PAC” (programmable automation controller) terminology. A couple of years ago spokespeople made a point of saying they have a DCS. Genovesi said the Rockwell DCS brings a modern approach that established competitors cannot match. Plus, the Rockwell approach can be less expensive.
The Rockwell DCS (built on the Logix platform, but not a PLC) advantage is that it can integrate with other plant automation and control assets such as motor control.
On the Information Services side, he emphasized the partnership with OSIsoft—a company now saying it has moved from just a historian company to providing a “real-time infrastructure.” We’ve been in the Industrial Internet of Things for 35 years, the OSIsoft spokesman proclaimed.
Lapcewich listed five sets of services his group provides:
- networks & security
- product & application lifecycle
- remote monitoring & cloud analytics
- asset management & reliability
- people & asset safety
[Note: when Rockwell discusses asset management, it refers to the types of electrical and automation assets/products it provides.]
