by Gary Mintchell | Sep 18, 2014 | Automation, Data Management, News, Operations Management, Organizations, Standards, Technology
OGI Pilot
MIMOSA, an Operations and Maintenance Information Open System Alliance association, held its annual meeting last week at the Chevron Innovation Center in Houston.
The most amazing thing about MIMOSA, the organization, and the Oil&Gas Interoperability Pilot specifically, is the amount of progress they have made over the past few years. Some of the work has been ongoing for over a decade. Emphases have shifted over time reflecting the needs of the moment and the readiness of technology.
MIMOSA is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to developing and encouraging the adoption of open information standards for Operations and Maintenance in manufacturing, fleet, and facility environments. MIMOSA’s open standards enable collaborative asset lifecycle management in both commercial and military applications.
Interoperability, not integration
The theme was manufacturing software interoperability from design to operations and maintenance. I use the term manufacturing in a generic sense, because I couldn’t find a more general, yet specific, term. The initial impetus for this work lies in the oil & gas industry.
MIMOSA’s strategy is a “federation of standards” approach. It does not try to write standards for every model, data, or object. It incorporates existing standards and attempts to tie them together into a workable system.
The beauty of this lies in the ability to just use data models from a variety of relevant sources and focus on the needs of owner/operators.
The OGI Pilot demonstration project, first unveiled in 2012 at ISA Automation Week, revealed that it is possible to pass live data from the engineering system (Aveva, Bentley, Intergraph in this case) into an operations & maintenance database (see the image accompanying the article).
Solves big headache
The beauty of the system is that as-designed data can be passed to operations. With proper business processes and management of change, updates can be made live. This means that when the project moves to handover and start up, engineers and technicians can find information they need quickly and can have a high degree of trust in that data. The way it is today, pdfs of the engineering data are handed over. These are hard to search. They are also hard to keep current.
Non-threatening
Two roadblocks have stood in the way of progress. One is that the voice of the owner/operator is often fragmented. They often settle for totally proprietary solutions entailing custom programming at great expense and little assurance of reliability. The other is the reluctance on the part of suppliers (understandably) to be told by a standard how to write their data.
Using the federated standards approach with what I’ll call translators, each software application can expose data in a format that allows interchange with other software applications without anyone tinkering with what’s “under the hood.”
Other standards organizations have failed on this latter point. They have tried to construct a standard that forced products to commodity status. This not only threatens suppliers, it also threatens innovation. The MIMOSA / OGI approach does away with that constraint.
We are starting to get to where the owner/operators need the technology to be. This work will benefit everyone.
by Gary Mintchell | May 15, 2014 | Education, Events, News
A Tale of Two Manufacturing Conferences
Reaching customers and prospects with a company’s message and involving them in educational and networking events evidently is becoming more difficult. Manufacturing technology trade shows—the staples of the 80s and 90s—are just about extinct. Some still exist, albeit in quite smaller form factors and with different twists.
Some vertical industry shows, such as packaging and oil & gas, still thrive. Others are on the downward slope.
The movement toward large single-company user conferences, spurred many years ago by Rockwell Automation’s Automation Fair replacing its appearance at control shows, has spread like kudzu. On the other hand, I’ve seen a few of those start to shrink.
What does it take to get people out of the office/plant even though there are many benefits? What do you think?
The PAS technology conference is next Tuesday. Eddie Habbibi, CEO, sent me a slide with five reasons to attend a live event.
ABB is taking a different approach. Last year it announced that it would turn its annual Automation and Power World event into a biennial event. There must have been some pressure within the company to do something. On June 4, it is sponsoring an online education event Optimizing technology for the changing face of industry.
ABB says the digital conference agenda reflects results of ABB’s recent survey of customer concerns; Aging workforce, cost pressures and infrastructure. The event will take place live online on June 4 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. EDT. The conference grants exclusive access to ABB’s global experts as they share their knowledge and experience virtually, making the information available around the world in real time.
Online presentations will offer best practices and practical guidance on today’s most pressing business and operational issues in automation and manufacturing. ABB recently conducted a survey among customers to determine their top concerns. The most pressing issues within electric utility and industry were found to be an aging workforce, cost pressures and infrastructure. In fact, more than 70 percent of respondents identified an aging workforce as their chief concern.
From the press release: Participation in the live, digital conference provides networking opportunities with ABB subject matter experts and industry peers, as well as an opportunity to earn Professional Development Hours (PDHs).
The conference will feature 25 sessions and 60 speakers. All sessions will be archived and available for on-demand viewing so those who are unable to attend live sessions of interest can still benefit from the valuable educational content at any time following the events. Registration is free for industry professionals.
Keynote speaker, Richard Worzel, best-selling author of “Who Owns Tomorrow?” will address how the world is changing and what manufacturers need to do about it.
The conference is organized around six learning tracks:
- Reliability
- Asset management
- Safety and compliance
- Productivity
- Best practices
- Doing more with less
June’s event will focus on automation, with a second power-focused SmartStream Digital Conference scheduled for November 2014.
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 25, 2013 | Automation, Events, News, Technology
There are some specific product launches from Rockwell Automation, as well as from some partners, to write about coming soon. Here is a general recap of some thoughts about last week’s Automation Fair.
Connectivity
As I reflect on the week and my many interviews, connectivity and safety stand out as key topics. CEO Keith Nosbusch addressed the media during a special media event on 12 November detailing the Rockwell vision of the Connected Manufacturing Enterprise. Connectivity defined by Rockwell means Ethernet and specifically EtherNet/IP its version with the CIP protocol and the standard Internet Protocol (IP). Rockwell’s partnership with Cisco Systems and Panduit for Ethernet connectivity seems to be growing stronger.
The three companies have joined forces on a website promoting IP connectivity. The site features a forum and training with additional training modules to be continually added.
Another company joining the EtherNet/IP movement is Endress + Hauser. This process instrumentation company has been busily adding EtherNet/IP connectivity to instrumentation. E+H and Rockwell together are bringing standard Ethernet into process automation. Rockwell has been seriously pursuing business expansion into the process automation arena for several years, and this year’s PSUG showed just how far it has progressed.
Safety
Charles Duhigg told the story of how Paul O’Neil transformed Alcoa by beginning with building safety as a habit in his recent book, “The Power of Habit.” Wall Street analysts were skeptical about how focus on such a seemingly simple strategy would turn around the aluminum industrial giant. However, by developing safety as a habit throughout the organization, O’Neil actually transformed the entire organization leading to growth and profitability.
My safety contacts at Rockwell had not yet read that book, but they were singing very much from the same hymnal. As the marketing leader told me, marketers like alliteration. The Rockwell safety story for factory automation (primarily) is Culture, Compliance, and Capital.
Cultural refers to the behavioral aspects of safety. Unless people adopt a safe lifestyle from home to work, then a safety-based organization will be impossible to achieve.
Compliance refers to the procedural aspects of safety. All employees must be aware of compliance to both legal requirements and company policies. Machines should be designed with the idea of compliance from the very beginning and not as an add-on at the end of the design or build process.
Capital refers to the technologies and equipment itself. All technologies selected for machines and other equipment must be appropriate to the designed safety level rating. They should be designed into the machine from the beginning. They must be installed, operated and maintained as intended.
Another safety-related announcement from the week involved process automation. Rockwell, benefiting from its acquisition of ICS/Triplex, developed and released new tools for designing and implementing safety systems in production applications. These are designed to support Rockwell’s initiatives in the oil & gas industry—particularly upstream applications.
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 11, 2013 | Data Management, Operations Management, Software
GE has announced 14 new Industrial Internet Predictivity technologies that will enable global industries to achieve outcomes such as minimal unplanned downtime, increased productivity, preventive maintenance, lower fuel costs and reduced emissions.
GE’s solutions will be powered by Predix, a first-of-its-kind industrial strength platform that provides a standard and secure way to connect machines, industrial big data and people. GE is also expanding its ecosystem to include AT&T, Cisco and Intel, which will boost wired and wireless machine connectivity.
Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO, GE, said, “Industrial data is not only big, it’s the most critical and complex type of big data. Our greatest challenge and opportunity is to manage and analyze this data in a highly secure way to deliver better outcomes for customers and society. We are developing more predictive solutions and equipping our products with sensors that constantly measure performance so our customers see major productivity gains and minimize no unplanned downtime. Observing, predicting and changing this performance is how the Industrial Internet will help airlines, railroads and power plants operate at peak efficiency.”
GE now offers customers 24 total Predictivity solutions, including 14 launched today. These solutions deliver asset optimization and operations optimization, providing more flexible solutions to manage machines and entire operations — helping them run better, consume less fuel, get serviced more efficiently and minimize unplanned downtime.
In the last year, customers have seen improved outcomes across the board. For St. Luke’s Medical Center, which is using GE software to manage and analyze patient and equipment data, this means a 51 minute reduction in bed turnaround time and reduced patient wait times. Gol Airlines is using software to better track, analyze and adapt its flight routes and fuel consumption and predicts it will see $90 million in savings over the next five years.
For the first ten products launched in the last year, revenues are $290 million year-to-date, with orders of $400 million. GE will leverage our high-margin $160 billion services backlog to develop more technologies, grow our dollars of revenue per installed base 3-5 percent annually, and increase software sales by more than 15 percent annually. GE has 14 launch customers for its 14 new technologies. New Predictivity products launched today include:
Asset Optimization
- The Drilling iBox System (Oil & Gas)
- ReliabilityMax (Oil & Gas)
- Field360 (Oil & Gas)
- System 1 Evolution (Oil & Gas)
- LifeMax* Advantage (Power & Water)
- PowerUp (Power & Water)
- Rail Connect 360 Monitoring and Diagnostics (Transportation)
Operations Optimization
- Non-destructive Testing Remote Collaboration (Oil & Gas)
- Hof SimSuite (Healthcare)
- Cloud Imaging (Healthcare)
- Grid IQ Insight (Energy Management)
- Proficy MaxxMine (Energy Management)
- Flight Efficiency Services (Aviation)
- ShipperConnect (Transportation)
Predix
Industry has entered an era where machine data is growing at twice the rate of any other big data segment. GE has built a new platform – Predix — to handle the complex demands associated with processing industrial big data. Applications can be built for any system or machine — from jet engines to MRI scanners – and be remotely managed while connected to the Industrial Internet. New solutions that leverage the platform can easily integrate with customers’ existing software and data management infrastructure to increase productivity, reduce waste and improve operations.
Predix combines on-premise or cloud technologies for distributed computing and analytics, asset management, machine-to-machine communication and mobility. New platform components include Predix Machine, Predix Insight, Predix Asset and Predix Experience. The enhanced functionality helps make machines more intelligent, provides advanced asset management capability for the unique requirements of industrial assets, and delivers more advanced, portable user experiences for industrial technicians and other users. For more information on Predix, visit www.gesoftware.com/predix.
In 2014, GE will also launch the Predix Technology Third-Party Partner/Developer program for solution providers, to integrate state-of-the art Predix platform technologies into their own solutions.
Industrial Internet Partnerships
As part of GE’s expanding Industrial Internet ecosystem of partners and providers, three new alliances announced today will bolster the Predix platform and enable the new Predictivity solutions to be utilized within global industries. These new partnerships follow GE’s recent collaborations with Amazon Web Services, Accenture, and Pivotal, which served to accelerate the development of the Predix platform. The new collaborations will improve wired and wireless communications between machines, develop a secure industrial strength network for machines connected to the Industrial Internet, and build virtual controls for machines.
- AT&T and GE will work together to allow GE machines to connect to the AT&T network and cloud, creating the first highly-secure wireless communications system for GE’s Industrial Internet. Workers using the system will have access to remote monitoring, diagnostics and the ability to resolve maintenance issues virtually anywhere in the world.
- Cisco and GE will extend their existing business relationship to include collaboration in industries that may include oil and gas, transportation, healthcare, and power generation. Using open standards, this collaboration will help enable intelligent networking of advanced analytics and data between machines.
- Intel and GE are collaborating to embed virtualization and cloud-based, standardized interfaces within the GE Predix platform. This will help enable shorter machine software upgrade cycles and an open infrastructure for global communication service providers to connect to GE’s industrial machines.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 31, 2013 | Automation, News, Organizations, Wireless
Here is an interesting acquisition. It shows Rockwell’s continuing commitment to developing solutions in the process / production industry. It also partially answers a question that came to mind when I saw a press release that CEO Keith Nosbusch was speaking at a world Internet of Things conference. This fits.
Rockwell Automation Inc. announced that it has agreed to purchase vMonitor, a global technology provider of wireless solutions in the oil and gas industry.
(from the press release—superlatives theirs, I don’t know the company but I presume I’ll learn more in Houston week after next) VMonitor is a pioneer in digital oilfield implementation and remote operations worldwide. It delivers innovative monitoring and control solutions for wellhead and upstream applications that combine cutting-edge wireless instrumentation and communication with visualization software to help customers make more informed decisions and improve production.
VMonitor has the world’s largest installed base of wireless wellhead monitoring systems for natural and artificially lifted wells with more than 6,000 well sites for major oil and gas companies around the world.
“Strategically, vMonitor’s world-class digital oilfield technology and services, combined with our comprehensive portfolio of solutions, strengthen our ability to deliver end-to-end projects for the oil and gas sector,” said Terry Gebert, vice president and general manager, Rockwell Automation Global Solutions.
“Equally important, vMonitor’s capabilities will accelerate our development of similar process solutions and remote-monitoring services for water/wastewater, mining and other industries globally,” said Gebert.
“Our customers will benefit from the Rockwell Automation global solutions capabilities and complementary product lines to ensure we can collectively provide a seamless integrated solution,” said Rashed Saif Al Suwaidi, chairman of vMonitor. “Our employees will also join an innovative, fast-growing technology leader serving the worldwide oil and gas industry.” VMonitor has about 120 employees at offices located in Houston, Mumbai, India, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and other Middle East locations.
The company’s technologies include an all-wireless portfolio of wellhead sensors and transmitters, remote terminal units, gateways and modems, as well as turnkey monitoring, and control systems and services. These offerings cover a broad range of applications from oil and gas wells, pipelines, pumping and lift stations, to refineries and tank farms.
The acquisition is expected to close within two months. VMonitor will then become part of the Rockwell Automation Control Products and Solutions operating segment.
