by Gary Mintchell | Feb 4, 2015 | Automation, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Software, Technology
Predictive technology in the asset performance arena seems to be the trend of the week. I wrote yesterday about a solution. Today brings another announcement. I think I’ll learn more about this one next week at the 2015 ARC Forum in Orlando. (By the way, if you’re there, please look me up.)
The headline for this article came from GE. I’ve heard of predictive maintenance (which many aspire to and few achieve) and condition-based maintenance (similar but, I guess, different). Here they combine the two. Check it out and let me know what you think.
GE’s Measurement & Control business and Meridium Inc. introduce Production Asset Reliability (PAR), an integrated Asset Performance Management (APM) offering for an all-in-one view of equipment health. Combining GE Measurement & Control’s System 1 condition monitoring and diagnostic applications with Meridium’s suite of enterprise performance management and asset strategy solutions, PAR provides a holistic and quantifiable view of operations, maintenance, availability and overall operating performance for production assets.
System 1, GE’s patented condition monitoring software, helps users quickly diagnose potential equipment and instrument health issues which can lead to equipment failure. Meridium’s applications provide structured processes and analytics to identify critical assets and failure modes, calculate equipment reliability and determine downtime impacts. The integrated PAR solution provides an end-to-end process that connects the machine diagnostics to the business context and execution to drive optimized maintenance practices and production loss management for all asset-intensive industries.
“Today’s measurement, monitoring and management systems are disconnected, and, as a result, organizations fail to leverage quality data for actionable insights,” said Art Eunson, general manager for Bently Nevada, GE Measurement & Control, a GE Oil & Gas division. “GE and Meridium’s integrated PAR offering empowers our customers with the ability to connect identification, evaluation and execution for greater asset optimization and productivity.”
Asset intensive organizations are challenged to maximize production, minimize costs, follow regulations and manage risk. To balance the demanding requirements, operators require a more cohesive system that assesses equipment performance and manages the resulting data. GE and Meridium provide this comprehensive solution for customers to effectively measure, monitor and manage each connected asset.
“With greater availability of big data and connected assets, there is an end-to-end picture of plant operations waiting to be tapped by organizations from the plant floor to the corporate office in order to stay competitive on a global scale,” said Bonz Hart, Meridium Founder and CEO. “PAR measures performance, quantifies risk and delivers analytics in real-time, providing customers with the insight needed to effect real change, improve efficiency and reduce maintenance costs.”
The Oil & Gas industry demand solutions that can grow with business demand and adapt rapidly to changing technical environments. That is why GE’s industrial solutions such as System 1 are standardizing on GE’s software platform for the Industrial Internet, Predix.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 19, 2014 | Automation, Networking, Operations Management, Technology, Wireless
Wireless sensor network pioneer, Emerson Process Management, also recognizes the need for customers to manage the growing proliferation of wireless networks within a facility.
It has introduced the Smart Wireless Navigator, a new software platform that enables users with large wireless deployments to maximize the power of their wireless networks. The Navigator brings together Smart Wireless tools for planning, managing, and maintaining networks. Valuable wireless network and device diagnostics and data are organized in an intuitive interface, along with the wireless tools, to streamline the Smart Wireless experience.
“Wireless technology is as scalable as it is powerful,” commented Bob Karschnia, vice president of wireless at Emerson. “As users’ facilities grow, they are expanding to installations of multiple wireless networks managed by different groups.”
The Smart Wireless Navigator helps users effortlessly manage their expanding wireless infrastructure and get the most value from their networks. A single software platform design makes it easier for users with large deployments of wireless to manage their networks across functional groups, delivering actionable information to the people who need it.
“To maximize value, facilities also needed a central platform to plan and deploy new networks and to organize the influx of new data and diagnostics,” wireless continued Karschnia. “In answer, we developed a single window interface that brings together several Smart Wireless tools on a specially designed appliance to maximize visibility, efficiency and value.”
An intuitive design organizes large amounts of wireless diagnostic information and data, and existing infrastructure is illustrated and easily understood.
“The Smart Wireless Navigator is a comprehensive tool that helps users realize the value of wireless across the range of reliability, safety, environmental accountability and process performance,” summarized Karschnia, “it delivers value throughout the cycle of engineering, installation, operation and maintenance.”
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 | Aug 19, 2013 | Automation, Operations Management, Software, Technology
I’ve often written about how automation and operations management professionals should think beyond their boundaries and look for new problems to solve. Invensys (Wonderware) has been working at just that idea. This is what they wanted to talk to me about during my appointment in Hannover, Germany last April. Here’s a release about a new initiative–in this case working with long-time partner Microsoft.
Invensys is working with Microsoft on CityNext, an initiative designed to help governments, businesses and citizens reimagine what is next for their cities.
Problem statement
According to the United Nations, for the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and nearly 70 percent of people will live in cities by 2050. This ongoing migration creates unprecedented opportunities, but also intensifies problems such as aging infrastructure, hazards to public health and safety, pollution, crime and traffic. Through the CityNext initiative, Microsoft and Invensys will help leaders do “new with less.” By combining the power of technology with innovative ideas, CityNext will connect governments, businesses and citizens with city services that increase efficiencies, reduce costs, foster a more sustainable environment and cultivate communities where people thrive.
Invensys, through its Wonderware software product line and partner solutions, provides solutions that help cities provide essential, life-sustaining services like clean drinking water, sanitary wastewater treatment, reliable electricity, safe transportation and other services. Operational information of practically any kind can be securely viewed in real time from anywhere at any time, from a single, integrated and open Wonderware software platform.
“Our participation in Microsoft CityNext demonstrates our commitment to helping cities be smarter, more sustainable and more innovative now and to modernize for the future,” said Rob McGreevy, vice president of platforms and applications for Invensys. “Microsoft’s latest technologies will provide us with greater opportunities to help our municipal customers transform and modernize their city operations using familiar, secure Wonderware technology and devices. Through this program, cities will be able to engage their citizens and businesses using mobile applications and big data analytics, helping to accelerate innovation and opportunities through community development and workforce enablement programs.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with Invensys on CityNext. Microsoft prioritizes putting people and partners first in our initiatives and CityNext is no different,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector. “Even though cities are feeling the strain from economic challenges, we believe a new era of innovation will create opportunities for people to utilize technology to accomplish what they never thought possible. We’re inspired by our diverse partner ecosystem and know that working together we can help cities realize their full potential.”
