by Gary Mintchell | Oct 23, 2014 | Automation, Internet of Things, M2M, Manufacturing IT, News, Operations Management, Security, Software, Technology, Wireless
I guess this industrial internet thing has legs. Check this announcement (one of several) from GE.
GE announced recently it is on track to deliver over $1 billion in incremental revenue this year from more than 40 Industrial Internet offerings, with $1.3 billion in orders, helping customers improve asset performance management (APM) and business operations across the company.
In addition, Predix, GE’s software platform that powers the Industrial Internet, will be made available to any company in 2015, allowing them to create and deploy their own customized industry apps at speed and scale to better manage the performance of their assets.
“The tools are in place to realize the potential of the Industrial Internet to increase productivity for our customers and for GE,” said Jeff Immelt, Chairman & CEO of GE. “The more we can connect, monitor and manage the world’s machines, the more insight and visibility we can give our customers to reduce unplanned downtime and increase predictability. By opening up Predix to the world, companies of any size and in any industry can benefit from the investments GE has made by eliminating the barrier to entry.”
GE’s new APM solutions, launched today, focus on power optimization, providing customers 24×7 access to a remote monitoring and diagnostics platform, predictive maintenance insight and incremental power when needed.
Distributed Power’s current suite of data-driven solutions – On Site Power Visibility and On Site Power Performance – help to optimize the performance of GE’s aeroderivative gas turbines, reduce life-cycle costs, improve uptime, increase efficiency and drive profitability.
The Predictable Asset Toolbox for Industry: Predix + Predictivity + APM
GE currently monitors and analyzes 50 million data elements from 10 million sensors on $1 trillion of managed assets daily to move customers toward zero unplanned downtime. Powered by Predix, APM enables customers to put streams of data to work to proactively make the right decisions at the right time to keep assets safe, help them run better, consume less fuel, receive service more efficiently and minimize unplanned downtime.
Kristian Steenstrup of Gartner said, “Increased usage of APM solutions and services will help asset owners and operators reduce maintenance costs and operational risk while boosting reliability. The ultimate goal for any organization is the ‘perfectly predictable asset.’ For immature organizations, this might appear to be an unachievable goal. However, the pursuit is worthwhile, given the many benefits that accrue from getting closer to it. APM will be at the center of efforts to get there.”
GE will leverage its high-margin services backlog of more than $180 billion to develop new APM technologies, growing its dollars of revenue per installed base 3-to-5 percent annually. Reinforcing the importance of this opportunity, Immelt said: “The Industrial Internet is a win-win for GE and our customers. Our offerings will increase GE’s services margins and boost organic industrial growth, with the potential to drive as much as $20 billion in annual savings across our industries.”
For example, AirAsia is on track to save $10 million in fuel costs in 2014 by using Flight Efficiency Services. The solution enables airlines to optimize traffic flow aircraft sequence management, flight path design, and more by revealing patterns and transforming data into actionable insights. AirAsia fuel savings alone are expected to grow to $30 million by 2017.
Jonathan Sanjay, Regional Fuel Efficiency Manager at Air Asia, said, “If you generate a small savings on each flight it translates to big savings at the end of the year. Even a one percent savings can translate into millions of dollars.”
In addition, E.ON has achieved up to 4 percent more power output from 283 of its wind turbines enrolled in GE’s Wind PowerUp, a customized software-enabled platform that increases a wind farm’s output by up to 5 percent, taking into account environmental and site conditions.
This increased output results in an additional 40 gigawatt hours of annual energy production, the equivalent energy to power approximately 4,000 American homes for a year.
“E.ON is always innovating, and we are happy that GE’s PowerUp technology has made some of our best wind farms even better,” said Patrick Woodson, chairman, E.ON North America. “Advancements in wind energy technology, like PowerUp services, will continue to make renewable energy even more competitive in the energy market.”
To help businesses accelerate the adoption of Industrial Internet solutions, GE also announced a new APM tool that helps customers assess their current operations and identify the assets and processes that would benefit the most from increased connectivity, data analysis, and optimization. This initial assessment is the first step in realizing bottom line savings and minimizing unplanned downtime.
Designing Apps for Industry that Matter: Predix App Factory
To further the value of APM, GE today launched the Predix App Factory, an advanced methodology for rapidly prototyping, validating, and developing Industrial Internet applications that shortens typical development cycles from months to weeks. GE pioneered this collaborative approach with customers to drive innovation at scale, bringing together experts from user experience and design, data science, machine connectivity, and agile software development. GE is using the App Factory process at its state-of-the-art Design Center in San Ramon, California to develop new solutions that lead to better customer outcomes such as reduced resource consumption, improved operational efficiency, and lower risk. For example, GE Aviation created an industry app allowing airline and plane operators to blend current information with advanced analytics to actively monitor more than 30,000 jet engines for real-time detection and response to issues.
The Security Standard to Protect Critical Infrastructure: Wurldtech
Securing critical infrastructure is vital to the Industrial Internet, but it holds a unique set of complexities that are different from protecting a traditional IT environment. GE is focused on safeguarding operations technology and improving the reliability of the Industrial Internet for customers and industries. To do this, GE acquired Wurldtech earlier this year to leverage its Achilles industrial security products and services to certify GE and non-GE products and customer environments. GE plans to use Achilles as a standard for securing all of its technology for delivering security enhancements through Predix and GE Products.
Bill Ruh, Vice President, GE Software, said, “Protecting sensor networks and critical infrastructure is paramount to the reliability and safety of industrial operations as more machines and systems are brought online and connected to people at work. At GE, we are well positioned to help respond to this dynamic by bringing together three elements that include our industrial big data platform, an ecosystem of partners, and vigorous cyber security management through the acquisition of Wurldtech. All of these important elements will require continued progress across innovation to transform not just the industrial world, but the global economy as organizations realize the benefits of the Industrial Internet.”
Global Network Connectivity
GE also announced new global alliances with Softbank, Verizon, andVodafone to provide a wide range of wireless connectivity solutions optimized for Industrial Internet solutions. In addition, GE continues to fuel innovation with AT&T by connecting its machines and assets such as locomotives, fleet, and aircraft engines through the AT&T global network and highly secure cloud. Together, these relationships enable GE to provide its industrial customers with advanced connectivity services in virtually any geography.
by Gary Mintchell | Sep 30, 2014 | Operations Management, Software
MYNAH Technologies, a leader in life cycle dynamic simulation, for operator training and certification and ProSys, a leader in Dynamic Alarm Management have announced a strategic partnership to bring operator training and certification services to the process industries.
This partnership will provide a unique offering of MYNAH’s Mimic Simulation Software and dynamic model engineering services with ProSys operations optimization and training services. This partnership will provide the process industries with unique offerings for certifying operators and improving operations effectiveness.
“With ProSys’ knowledge of process engineering and controls and MYNAH’s simulation platform and process modeling, we are now teamed to deliver operator training solutions that address today’s problems in the process industries”, said Dustin Beebe, President and CEO of ProSys. “Simulations allow us the opportunity to train operators for the operational situations they need most – critical modes of operation like startup, shutdown and process upsets. With this we can train a new generation of operators without having to re-experience all of the incidents of the past 30 years.”
In addition to using the Mimic Simulation Software for training purposes, ProSys plans to utilize Mimic Simulation Software for testing of alarm management within plants. ProSys will be able to utilize Mimic to better predict and eliminate errors in alarm management systems.
by Gary Mintchell | Aug 29, 2014 | Automation, Operations Management, Safety, Safety, Technology
Happy Labor Day (in the US).
We’re still debating automation vs. manufacturing jobs or something like that.
My friend Walt Boyes, who left Control magazine a few months after I left Automation World, is finally blogging again. He started about the same time I did in late 2003 or early 2004, but his employer moved it from independent to part of its mothership. Evidently as part of his leaving, he was able to keep the name, Sound Off. And all of us who know and love Walt know that the title of the blog is well earned.
He recently wrote about automation and jobs and the mess in Ferguson, MO.
There is no doubt in my mind that automation and robotics have eliminated some working class jobs. Many of the jobs, however, were dirty, dangerous and physically debilitating. We needed machinery to improve the lot and safety of the workers.
Have you ever seen pictures of early manufacturing plants? Have you visited a modern automotive manufacturing plant? You could never imagine that they are doing the same thing. I think we are going through one of those disruptive times.
And it is not all machine vs. human. Some is economic. The things that we (as a society) purchase have changed. We keep cars longer. We buy electronics on a six-month cycle. We are also entering a period of reduced labor supply.
Shortly the baby boomers will really retire. They’ll have to be supported by the “baby bust” generation. We are going to have to learn to do more with less. We will need robots to help the aging boomers in their healthcare needs. We won’t have as many operators and technicians. We may not realize it, but we are preparing for a new era.
Walt brings up the closure of an automotive plant where Ferguson residents could formerly work and earn middle class wages. It is closed. It is not closed because of automation. It is closed because clueless managers could not design cars that people wanted. They did not understand supply chain economics and outsourced manufacturing only to learn (I wish) to their chagrin that the economics did not support that. These managers cared not for customers or their own employees (hourly and salaried alike). I could write a book just on the ethics of the past 50 years of manufacturing management and the impact on society.
I bet miners would love some automation that makes work safer underground. And we would all profit from managers in the coal industry less focused on beating down employees and more focused on finding better ways to use coal that would be less harmful to the environment.
America does not have much of a “labor movement” like in the first half of the 20th Century. But we still need to pause and appreciate the efforts of everyone who works to provide us with a better life.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 9, 2014 | News
We have all written and spoken about the coming expertise crisis in manufacturing employment (factory and process) that will be caused by the retirement of the current population of engineers, operators and maintenance technicians. Some of this attrition has already begun.
I spotted this chart on the Business Insider Web site. It look at the shift in population trends in the US. Note that this information emphasizes the decline of people in the prime employment age bracket. The 55+ age bracket has grown significantly over the past six years. People in this age bracket are increasingly opting for part-time or no work.
I think this explains much about the current state of employment elasticity.
Changing Demographics
From BI:
The above table comes from Bill McBride at Calculated risk, and it shows the changes to the populations of various age groups over the last six years.
There’s been a lot of talk about the declining Labor Force Participation Rate, and how much has to do with the weak economy and how much has to do with demographics. But you just can’t ignore the chart above, which shows there’s been a massive surge in the 55+ cohort, and a DECLINE in the prime working age cohort.
The key thing, as Bill notes, is that while it’s true that the Labor Force Participation Rate for the 55+ cohort has gone up in recent years, overall it’s relatively low, so the shift in people from prime to 55+ represents a drag on total workforce participation.
This isn’t the end of the story, by any means. But these are the basics: There’s been a big change in U.S. demographics in just the last few years, and you can’t begin to talk about the job market or anything else without seeing the above numbers.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 21, 2014 | Automation, Operator Interface, Technology
Iconics’ MobileHMI app
Another announcement at ARC in Orlando last week came from software developer Iconics blending mobile HMI and the Internet of Things. The company introduced its new MobileHMI solution delivered to “Any Glass, Anytime!”
Iconics, always on the cutting edge of commercial technology trends, sees the increasing use of mobile devices in industry along with improved cloud technologies as a chance to develop new solutions. MobileHMI, an “app”, is now available from the major app stores, including those from Microsoft, Apple, and Google.
MobileHMI is a full HMI/SCADA client on any platform or smart device and runs on hundreds of smartphones, tablets, browsers and Web-enabled HDTVs, enabling users to tap into the Internet of Things (IoT) and access critical data anytime, anywhere. With MobileHMI, industry leaders such as executives, engineers, maintenance technicians and operators can now utilize a fully featured mobile client designed for operations on the go. Configuration enhancements simplify development of screens for mobile users, making it easy to provide a clean experience on all devices without incurring the extra cost of development time. Additionally, preconfigured templates and the ability to target specific devices with displays make MobileHMI ready to handle any combination of devices.
Russ Agrusa, Iconics CEO and President, says about the new release, “The new MobileHMI product is a technology marvel. Creating rich, real-time universal visualization for smartphones, tablets, Web browsers or Web-enabled HDTVs is effortless. Simply download the MobileHMI App from the Windows Store, Apple or Google app stores and youâre ready to get going. What makes the MobileHMI technology unique is its simple patented configuration technology that delivers secure visualization natively to any device such as iPhones, iPads, Samsung Galaxy S4, Windows Phone and Microsoft Surface, as well as HTML5-enabled devices.”
