Today’s automation is becoming intelligent and vital. So are the processes involved has to be innovative than just being upgraded. Automation is becoming a driving factor to new innovations in manufacturing processes with new modules. Here is an industry survey we bought to you discussing role of “Automation” in driving innovations in manufacturing and industrial processes.
Automation and IoT is creating a flood of new technology. As a result, industrial processes are fortunate to have an expanding range of technologies available to solve problems, improve operations, and increase productivity. The flood of new technology can be overwhelming and will inherently create a desire to try many of them. The challenge is to sort out the options and keep focused on worthy automation goals. The first impact of automation on the process is the use of tablet computers, smart phones, virtualized systems, and cloud storage of historian data. The industrial automation industry has always leveraged commercial technologies after they become main stream in commercial applications. Examples include PLCs displacing banks of relays, commercial PCs displacing custom build CRT consoles, Windows operating system displacing proprietary OS, digital control displacing pneumatic/analog electronic, Ethernet (802.11) displacing proprietary communications, and 802.15.4 wireless sensors. The bottom line is the application of new technology over the years has reduced the total cost of automation system ownership while increasing the value delivered. Over the years there have been only a handful of truly disruptive industrial automation and control technological shifts that significantly impacted manufacturing productivity and efficiency. Those technologies include, Fundamental Control – Pneumatic PID control, Direct Digital Control (DDC), Numerical Control, Distributed Control System (DCS), Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Microsoft Windows HMI’s/Historians/MES and Fieldbus Networks (i.e. Modbus, Profibus; DeviceNet).
During each technology shift, there was typically resistance by traditional suppliers to adopt new technologies. The shift to use Microsoft Windows on the plant floor illustrates this point. Wide adoption of Microsoft Windows to replace proprietary operating systems had a significant impact on the industry. The first versions of Windows were released in the late 1980s. Traditional automation vendors resisted the use of Microsoft Windows for a wide range of reasons. It was the early adopter startup Wonder-ware that used Windows to create the modern HMI. Wonder-ware was founded in 1987 based on co-founder Dennis Morin’s vision of Windows-based Human Machine Interfaces (HMI). His vision was inspired by an early 1980s video game that allowed players to digitally construct a pinball game. His idea was that operators monitoring factory operations would be more productive if they used a machine that was fun and easy to use. Automation users found Wonder-ware to be significantly more effective than any other offering on the market. Over time all major industrial automation suppliers adopted Microsoft Windows to satisfy user demand.
Modern automation technology has an excellent return on investment; it can be used to operate process plants with fewer qualified operators. Highly automated plants also have fewer operations-related errors. Modern control systems are very advanced and can handle many tasks quicker, safer, and at a lower cost than a human operator can. And advances in automation system and process technology allow process plants to operate longer without downtime.
However, in a highly automated plant, the role of the operator is different and more difficult. The operator now has to monitor a sophisticated system and make decisions about the health of the process and the performance of the system based on information from the operator console. With the industry trend to remove the operator from the dangerous process area, the control room operator station becomes the only window to the process in many plants.
Also, because the system and process are more reliable, operators may seldom or never see upset conditions. They can quickly lose critical skills necessary to deal with those situations. This often causes compromised operating conditions. Studies show that the greatest cause of operational loss in the process industries is due to operator error.
Industry 4.0 and other initiatives are driving change and leading to holistic, adaptive automation that integrates the manufacturing plant with other business functions, including inbound logistics, customer service, and outbound logistics. A major part of these initiatives is the application of technology to optimize the coordination of all aspects of industry, including design, supply chain, manufacturing automation, and lifecycle management. We are experiencing an evolution that will lead to more responsive and efficient ecosystems of customers, suppliers, manufacturers, and distribution logistics. Increased manufacturing performance and flexibly requires frictionless communications and interaction between enterprise systems and manufacturing field I/O (inputs/outputs), including sensors, actuators, analyzers, drives, vision, video, and robotics. In this environment, fully open communications, data and application interchange standards are required for successful integration.
Tighter integration of Operational Technology (OT) with Information Technology (IT) continues to grow. The value of tight integration between the plant floor and enterprise business systems is recognized for improving manufacturing efficiency, quality, and flexibility. This is the next logical step of business system integration with all systems evolving to real-time synchronized operations including PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), asset management, process optimization, manufacturing optimization, supply chain systems, quality systems, and customer service systems. Innovative industrial automation vendors are already providing building blocks to accomplish the vision of the connected enterprise. A development worth watching is the evolution of business enterprise systems becoming real time transaction processing systems that logically make them candidates to perform more of the industrial automation functions.
The evolution is poised to accelerate with initiatives such as Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing, and the Industrial Internet of Things Consortium. The industry is seeing the benefits from early steps in this evolution. Two examples are virtualization of system software to run on single hardware platforms and eliminating plant floor computers with thin clients. Another application is synchronization of manufacturing using RFID and other auto identification methods in the production process. This identification information was traditionally read into a PLC and eventually communicated to the ERP system to coordinate production. To achieve synchronized manufacturing and accomplish track and trace, these RFID and other readers now communicate directly to the enterprise system on the standard business Ethernet network. The trend to the lean automation architecture follows the general technology trends with high-level computing done in the cloud and more power at the edge. Consider the smart phone – a powerful computer, many times multi core – that performs a number of tasks locally but leverages the cloud and communications to achieve functions. Examples include finding an open table in a restaurant or determining the best traffic route to drive.
Innovations in Industrial Processes
- Democratizing Analytics
Significant developments are bringing to users a new generation of cloud services and tools to create analytics. Analytic software to accomplish advanced process control (APC), optimization, and predictive analytics have typically been expensive and difficult to use. This is changing. Driven by a wide range of Internet of Things applications these cloud based-tools with refined integrated design environments provide platforms for users and industry experts to create and deploy analytics economically. These platforms significantly lower the cost of implementation broadening the range of applications where analytics can be applied. This is analogous to how spreadsheets empowered users to use computers much more effectively. In addition to improving efficiency and productivity, more analytics can substantially improve decision-making to improve and refine manufacturing processes. Examples of these new offerings include Google Analytics & Measurement Protocol, Microsoft Azure machine learning and AWS IoT (Amazon Web Services IoT).
- Smart Sensors
Plug-n-play smart sensors and control devices that use embedded intelligence have proven to provide benefits. HART is an example of an open architecture that provides contextual data from sensors. The cost of implementing smart sensors has changed dramatically. The most recent implementation that is gaining rapid adoption is IO-Link. There are also some Ethernet sensors that communicate using industrial and other protocols that at some point may become practical in the future. Embedded intelligence in end devices will be used to perform local analytics and optimization for systems to provide greater value. Device examples include motor controls, analytic instruments, vision cameras, and sensors. IoT developments may provide some building blocks to accomplish plug-n-play without external software.
- Cooperative Robots
More collaborative robots were introduced in 2015. Based on discussions, vendors indicate that unit sales growth is high. These new breed of light and inexpensive robots can work cooperatively with people. The latest collaborative robots are integrating vision systems and more advanced software to provide situational awareness. These robots are priced less than $40,000, making them applicable for a very large number of applications. This breed of robots is following a same pattern that ignited the personal computer revolution. Vendors are providing a product with less power than larger offerings, but they add value for a broader number of users. The rate of robot adoption is accelerating. Particularly interesting is China is now the second largest purchaser of robots in the world.
- Wireless Cost Breakthroughs
IoT developments and products may be the driving factor that lowers the cost of wireless sensors. Cost has been limiting the number of applications deployed. The installation of wireless points is still in its infancy if you consider that it is only a fraction of hardwired devices being installed today. The prominent industrial wireless standards today include ISA100.11, IEC62591 (Wireless HART), IEC62601 (WIA-PA developed in China), ZigBee, 802.11 and many proprietary wireless devices. It is interesting that Bluetooth sensors are being used in some industrial applications. Bluetooth is a technology widely deployed in commercial applications and is now low cost and reliable.
- Panel Free Installation
Panel free installation continues to grow in Europe and is gaining adoption in the United States. The goal is to achieve significant cost savings by eliminating control cabinets and simplifying wiring using IP67 and IP20 connections. European automation and control suppliers are leading this trend by offering controllers, drives, servos, valves, and HMI devices that do not require a panel.
- Bottom Line – Competitive Risk/Opportunity
As these automation and control trends evolve, users and automation suppliers will experience risk and opportunity. The first risk is adopting these technologies before they are proven and suffering through growing pains. The second risk is not adopting them when they are stable and before competitors use them to be more responsive and efficient in the marketplace. The challenge with major shifts in technology is to determine what is valuable and when to invest. Companies that embrace transformational changes as an opportunity will outpace their competition and thrive.
- Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC)
SMLC was founded in the United States to overcome the costs and risks associated with commercialization of Smart Manufacturing (SM) systems. SMLC’s mission is to lead the industrial sector transformation into a networked, information-driven environment in which an open Smart Manufacturing Platform supports real-time, high value applications for manufacturers. The mission is to optimize production systems and value chains, and radically improve sustainability, productivity, innovation and customer-service. SMLC intends to develop a cloud-based, open architecture manufacturing infrastructure and marketplace through the collaboration of manufacturing thought leaders across industry, academia, consortia and government. SMLC’s goals include plant level systems and data integration, accelerate the development and deployment of reusable applications, provide an open and secure infrastructure accessible and affordable to all, embrace evolving business needs and new market opportunities agilely.
Life-Cycle Dynamic Simulation
Build the virtual plant using proven best practices. Life-cycle dynamic simulation, the virtual plant, is a proven technology to help plant operations like, oil and gas production to address operation challenges. A virtual “private cloud” implementation brings the greatest benefits of security, accessibility, and ease of use. The solution offers a dynamic simulation virtual server providing I/O and process simulation, offline control system virtual workstations, and a hypervisor management virtual appliance. Process plants need a virtual plant for risk assessment. The better approach is investing in a life-cycle dynamic simulator or virtual plant. The exact same operator graphics, alarms, and controls used in the online control system are copied into a control system simulator made by the control system vendor. The operator works on an exact replica of the system in the control room, and the organization uses a real-time, dynamic model of the I/O and process to provide I/O signals to the simulated control system. The operator and control system appear to be controlling the actual process. Finally, the entire solution is implemented in a virtual, private cloud environment. The investment in a virtual plant brings excellent returns for the life-cycle operation of the process plant. In addition, by using the virtual plant for capital projects, companies can realize additional business benefits. A life-cycle approach provides value across all aspects of running a process plant, including safety, environment, regulations, operator training, and process optimization.
Intelligent Automation driving Innovations
Intelligent automation the combination of artificial intelligence and automation is already helping companies transcend conventional performance tradeoffs to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and quality. Applications range from the routine to the revolutionary: from collecting, analyzing, and making decisions about textual information to guiding autonomous vehicles and advanced robots. Intelligent automation the combination of artificial intelligence and automation is starting to change the way business is done in nearly every sector of the economy. Intelligent automation systems sense and synthesize vast amounts of information and can automate entire processes or workflows, learning and adapting as they go. Applications range from the routine to the revolutionary: from collecting, analyzing, and making decisions about textual information to guiding autonomous vehicles and advanced robots. It is already helping companies transcend conventional performance tradeoffs to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and quality. Some intelligent automation technologies, such as those powering a new generation of collaborative robots and Google’s self-driving cars, analyze and respond to a stream of situational data from sensors. Others, like IBM’s Watson, ingest and analyze massive amounts of textual information to respond quickly to complex inquiries, such as a request for a medical treatment plan. Intelligent automation is sometimes used to streamline business processes and make complex decisions faster. Commercial examples include a marketing system that presents offers to customers based on their profile and market basket analysis, a credit card processing system that identifies and blocks fraudulent transactions, and an e-discovery system that classifies documents according to their meaning and relevance to ongoing litigation. The range of business problems to which intelligent automation can be applied is expanding as technologies for voice recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning improve and become usable by non-specialists. These technologies are increasingly available as open source or low-cost products or cloud-based services.
Quest of Innovating Processes
As the cost of automation declines and its capabilities grow, applications of the technology will proliferate. Confident use of automation starts as a competitive advantage and will become, over time, table stakes. Companies will need to consider a range of issues in order to take full advantage of the possibilities of automation:
- Strategy: discovering how to use intelligent automation to improve operations, innovate, or grow
- Technology selection and integration: choosing and integrating appropriate artificial intelligence technologies
- Information management: acquiring and readying information assets for machine learning applications
- Human capital: developing talent strategies and staffing and training plans as intelligent automation changes the skills, job descriptions, and organizational models that companies need
- Risk management: assessing and mitigating a host of risks, from cyber threats and privacy breaches to product liability and even claims of discrimination, which could be leveled at poorly trained robotic recruiting agents.
And so, companies may need outside expertise in artificial intelligence and data science to extract greater value from the rich data assets they already control. For others, benefiting from automation may require identifying and securing rights to third-party data sources that could power a machine learning system. Such data might be available from commercial aggregators or from participants in a company’s own value chain.
Secure Industrial Automation & Control Systems
Supporting business needs by improving defense-in-depth cyber security for industrial automation and control systems (IACSs) is a key challenge today. For example, oil, gas, and water plants need to access scattered and remote areas and wells, but cyber security can be a major challenge, which may require physical security and cyber security protections and controls. Therefore, wireless technology, such as 4G (long-term evolution [LTE]), is becoming the standard platform for Internet service provider cellular networks. In addition, it is being introduced to serve industrial applications. Its reliability may satisfy industrial business needs and connect many sites and plants easily to minimize cost and increase flexibility.
Automation drives Process innovation in existing industry – Schneider electric
Automation projects are often categorized as Greenfield – new automation systems going into new plants or plant expansions, or Brownfield – new automation systems going into existing plants to update or upgrade existing systems. For Greenfield projects, the primary value proposition for automation systems is to have competency in delivering the project to the customer in the defined time line, within the budget and an operating plant. The value proposition for Brownfield automation projects should be focused on the incremental value the automation system provides. Adhering to Budgetary aims along with time line plus existing installed base, although there is room for innovation.
Companies today are investing heavily into automating back office processes to make them more efficient and less costly. While this reduced human intervention saves labor, along with many other benefits, there is also an increased focus on way and means to increase the value delivered to customers. This is where one is required to move beyond automation to innovation in delivering what customers value the most. These innovations could be relating to improved transparency along with things like remote support and data availability as and when needed. However, their success will depend on how well document processes and information infrastructure have been engineered to support them. How well processes deliver what’s of real value to the customer is the real criteria for their success. Automation has, and should continue to eliminate many of the non-value add tasks, both in back-office and increasingly in customer-facing business processes as well. But once automation has accomplished goals for efficiency and cost control, the focus needs to shift to process innovation and optimization. From the point of view of customers lies in delivery of services rather than in processes at the start. For example, by automating your invoicing processes, you can help reduce error-prone and time-consuming manual processes, managing invoices more quickly and efficiently for cost reduction, faster revenue recognition and smoother quarterly closings. But at this point, focus should shift to process innovation. This will include training staff on tools like operator training simulators and other techniques to engage more deeply with customers. There is a need to understand customers better and more effectively attend to their concerns and needs. In this case, innovation in improving the plant efficiency by the way of process optimization, resource optimization by way of energy optimization can help turn what’s considered a back-office process into a customer-facing opportunity, with the potential for a very real impact on retention and increasing the lifetime value of the customer.
Schneider High-end Modicon M580 ePAC with native Ethernet
The high-availability solution is the first PAC built for the Industrial Internet of Things. The Modicon M580 ePAC provides the market with enhancements in cyber security through the Achilles™ Level 2 and ISA Certifications. For users who need traceability in their processes and programs, Modicon M580 is now equipped with larger memory and processing capabilities – allowing new integrated functions to improve cyber security capabilities and time stamping of values for all variables in process applications. Migration to the new Modicon M580 ePAC does not require a complete change of system thanks to the seamless, affordable step-by-step modernisation plans for existing Modicon Quantum and Modicon Premium platforms. The new Modicon M580 ePAC offers an affordable high-availability solution for mid-range to high-end process applications, providing hot standby CPUs and redundant power supplies. In addition to the redundancy features, the Modicon M580 ePAC maximises uptime with the capability for online configuration changes without stopping the process. Furthermore, CANopen Fieldbus is now natively integrated through a new embedded CANopen module.
Conclusion
Advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation, supported by substantial capital investments, are fueling a new era of automation in industrial processes, which is likely to become an important driver of organizational performance in the years to come. It is important for companies in all sectors to adopt automation and innovations in existing process to next era of advances.
