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The top 50 global and North American automation suppliers show resilience in the face of chaos
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The top 50 global and North American automation suppliers show resilience in the face of chaos by Larry O'Brien and Allen Avery, ARC Advisory Group CONTROL (USPS 4853, ISSN 1049-5541) is published 8x annually by Endeavor Business Media, LLC. 201 N. Main Street, Fifth Floor, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. Periodicals postage paid at Fort Atkinson, WI, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CONTROL, PO Box 3257, Northbrook, IL 60065-3257. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Publisher reserves the right to reject non-qualified subscriptions. Subscription prices: U.S. ($120
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Confidence in the face of failure
A quick lesson from space on being ready for anything
New approach for automation books ISA university textbooks will co-publish with Wiley
ON THE BUS
When an uninterruptible power supply isn’t
Why it’s necessary to scrutinize systems for vulnerabilities and plan for emergencies
WITHOUT WIRES
SCADA makes connections
Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) evolved from a simple information aggregator to a data orchestrator
Bringing edge-based SCADA to mixed legacy systems
There’s a growing need to integrate OT data SCADA systems with business IT systems
Open automation treats Texas water
Inductive’s ICC event levels up again; FieldComm, FDT unify device integration
Reimagining
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Emerson is working to create intelligent enterprises powered by contextualized data
Don't fight the power supplies
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Safety gets down on the I/O ground
Device-level components diversify capabilities to take on multiple new responsibilities
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High price of easy answers Anyone up for shooting ourselves in the foot?
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A
quick lesson from space on being ready for anything
I never considered myself a space junkie, but I’ve always been awed by astronauts, who have the fortitude to venture beyond our planet. Personally, the thought of racing past the Kármán line—the point where one goes from Earth-bound to outer space—in a vessel small enough to ride piggyback on a jetliner frightens and thrills me simultaneously. Now imagine doing it shortly after a vessel similar to the one you’re commanding failed, exploded, and killed seven of your colleagues. Talk about guts.
I got a quick lesson in confidence a few weeks ago, while covering an event at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Thanks to Schneider Electric, I had a unique opportunity to meet Col. Eileen M. Collins, not only the first U.S. woman to command a space mission, but also the first astronaut to command a mission following the ill-fated, space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. The obvious intrigue of mine and everyone else present prompted us to ask the colonel just how hard it was to trust the space shuttle after that, and, of course, “Weren’t you scared?”
Her short answers were yes to trusting technology and no to fear because she and her crew were prepared for anything. To paraphrase, she reported there was no group of people in the world better qualified to handle that mission because of their pre-flight training. If you want her detailed answers, I’ll refer you to her own words in her book, Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars , which is also the basis of the soon-to-be-released documentary, Spacewoman (spacewoman.film).
Collins, who addressed the gathering under the shadow of NASA’s impressive Skylab exhibit, pointed out that she and the crew saw just about every failure imaginable by running simulations in their training. There’s no substitute for knowing what makes your systems fail before you run them. Control engineers do this regularly, of course. Between digital twins and artificial intelligence (AI) models, they launch control systems well-aware of where the dangers lie. These days, cybersecurity issues, market forces and more threaten to disrupt smooth operations in plants. In space, there are plenty more unknowns requiring quick actions. But, in either case, addressing possible failures in advance ensures calamity doesn't turn into catastrophe.
LEN VERMILLION Editor-in-Chief lvermillion@endeavorb2b.com
“There’s no substitute for knowing what makes your systems fail before you run them.”
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ISA university textbooks will be co-published with Wiley
WHEN I was teaching automation at Yale University, my course was listed among the chemical engineering department’s courses. When my automation handbooks were published by Chilton, they were promoted among their electrical engineering books. They didn’t have anything against our automation profession; they simply didn’t know if automation existed as a separate engineering profession.
In August, Rick Zabel, managing director of publications at the International Society of Automation (ISA.org), changed that perception by announcing that, beginning in 2026, ISA books that are intended to be used as university textbooks will be co-published with Wiley. The publisher will organize and direct the sale and distribution of ISA's textbooks among university libraries. Automation textbooks jointly published with Wiley in 2026 will include three of my earlier publications.
The first textbook of mine describes the conversion of our energy economy from fossil fuel. It will be gradually replaced during the coming decades by solar- and hydrogenfueled energy. This textbook emphasizes the role automation will play in that transition. While the book mentions the conclusions of sophisticated mathematical models, I intentionally left out complex equations and derivations that could make the text hard to follow by the average student.
In this volume, I also describe some of the roadblocks we’re already facing, and how their harmful consequences can be
anticipated and minimized. Some of these roadblocks are caused by our out-of-control artifi cial intelligence (AI) boom, which is colliding with the brutal infrastructure reality that there isn’t enough power available in our outdated and undersized grid to meet the demands of mushrooming AI data centers. Currently, grid capacities are limited, and can delay global AI potential by years. Replacing our existing grid with a new and larger electric grid that can supply all data centers would be too expensive, so another type of power supply distribution network should be considered. In this book, I describe a new power distribution network, which can be large and fl exible enough to meet the needs of all AI data centers. This power distribution network will transport hydrogen (instead of electricity), and provide a large energy storage capacity for backup and converting intermittent energy sources into continuous ones.
My second textbook included in this copublication project covers various methods of controlling industrial processes, and has the same contents as the earlier 4th edition.
These two volumes cover various methods of measuring and analyzing properties of industrial processes, which were already published in the 5th edition.
BÉLA LIPTÁK liptakbela@aol.com
“ The publisher will organize and direct the sale and distribution of ISA's textbooks among university libraries.”
JOHN REZABEK
Contributing Editor
JRezabek@ashland.com
“Likewise, it’s best if we’re not surprised when an aging UPS eventually fails to have some training and procedures in place to minimize the chaos.”
THE phone rang at 4:40 a.m. “The plant is down and half the DCS and ESD workstations aren’t working,” said the voice on the line. One of two uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems had become “interrupted,” and no one onsite knew where the bypass switch was to switch to line power. A critical piece of rotating machinery tripped, placing expensive catalyst at risk and bringing production to a halt. A pair of redundant, 15 KVA “uninterruptible” power supplies was supposed to contain this chaos and keep the process online.
Emil brought a PC or two back to life by replacing a power supply. Even when his spouse’s car was exhibiting curious faults and diagnostics, he replaced the battery—all the check-engine and VSA-disabled trouble lights, among others, went off, and the vehicle functioned normally. The precision scale he used for measuring hop additions for his homebrew became erratic, but cured when he swapped the batteries. But his skepticism about DC power wasn’t in his mind when it came to the three-phase, 15-KVA UPS supplying half the DC power and battery backup for his plant’s control system.
All of Emil’s basic process controls accommodated redundant, 120 VAC power from disparate sources. For both the DCS and the ESD system, the downstream AC-to-DC (typically 24 VDC or 12 VDC) power supplies were wired to rectifiers, where either DC power supply could bear the entire load of downstream consumers, switching in a bumpless fashion when one or the other’s output voltage waned. Even in remote panels, the modular, DINmount power supplies from a prominent manufacturer were already designed with built-in diode rectifiers to facilitate dual redundancy. The rotating machinery’s vibration, velocity and displacement-sensor I/O racks had a pair of power supplies, aiming to be redundant, which Emil ensured were fed from each of the two UPS system circuits.
It was common for modern servers, which provide engineering interfaces, database servers, domain controllers, historians and asset management platforms for the DCS, to have two redundant AC-to-DC power supplies that Emil also ensured were fed from the redundant UPS systems. The typical DCS workstation has one power supply, so the system was engineered to feed every other workstation with AC power from either UPS.
What he missed, possibly, was that each workstation’s monitors also needed UPS power from the same UPS as its workstation, as well as any line-powered speakers—useful or necessary to continue annunciating alarms during an upset. The control room’s workstation components had been plugged into outlets under the floor, fitted with twist-lock receptacles to discourage the random drill or toaster oven from corrupting the critical power source.
Emil’s scheme also left the door open to randomize the power source accessed by each component. Consequently, a workstation might keep running, but its monitors would go dark.
As control professionals, we might be inclined to treat our UPS as a “black box.” A 15-KVA UPS fed by three-phase, 480-VAC power is in the realm of electrical specialists.
Is the electrical engineer, tuned into our robustness assumptions, enough to challenge how we might choose to distribute the power supply he or she provided us? A UPS has a finite lifetime, as Emil found out, and its final throes might be erratic. High-amperage semiconductors are integral to rectifiers and inverters, and large capacitors are likewise subject to degradation, and will eventually fail.
There’s no clear specification or regulation encouraging us to review and document all permutations of the control system’s power infrastructure. Likewise, it’s best if we’re not surprised when an aging UPS eventually fails to have some training and procedures in place to minimize the chaos.
Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) evolved from a simple information aggregator to a data orchestrator
I may be biased because I work in the process control industry, but supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology is core to the future. My argument is that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is SCADA by another name. Why?
SCADA is normally considered as restricted to the operations technology (OT) domain, collecting data from local machines and sensors for immediate, real-time operator control. However, the resulting data hasn’t been limited to that domain for 20 years, with demilitarized zones (DMZ) and cybersecurity enabling integration with the enterprise layers, including cloud-based applications.
SCADA requires upfront investment, ongoing maintenance and licensing fees, making it costly for large-scale or highly distributed organizations. The Open Process Automation Standard’s (O-PAS) model is a partial step to change this paradigm by reducing hardware dependence, while maintaining traditional, centralized control, and associated designs and licensing requirements.
By using cloud and edge technologies to gather data from multiple sites and types of equipment for centralized analysis, IIoT extends process data gathering. It incorporates secondary and tertiary data sources to leverage cloud infrastructure and open-source software at reduced, per-point costs, potentially making enterprise-wide deployment more feasible for modern industrial operations. Payment is for cloud data processing, which is a more scalable, pay-for-use model than SCADA. With pure, roll-your-own IIoT, there’s less support, and far more permutations and uncontrolled elements than with traditional SCADA.
IIoT provides dynamic scalability compared to SCADA systems, which tend to be based on dedicated I/O interfaces, once the necessary infrastructure such as gateways and cybersecurity capabilities is in place. Because IIoT
capabilities are software-configured and use a limited set of protocols, each point is less costly than traditional systems. This allows rapid integration of new devices, using cloudbased architectures to provide connectivity for expansion across sites.
Risk management, licensing and lack of clear use cases to justify investments to support integrating IIoT as part of facility operating systems hold back expanding the SCADA envelope to include IIoT.
Some typical use cases for IIoT and SCADA integration are:
Predictive maintenance. The most referenced application collects high-frequency, granular data on measurements, such as vibration, temperature, acoustics and power consumption. It feeds the data to a platform that uses machine learning (ML) models to analyze patterns.
Energy management and optimization. Power meters and sensors are installed on machines, production lines or sections of a plant, and their resulting data is analyzed to identify energy-use patterns, peak loads and waste.
Smart automation and control. This virtual model analyzes real-time data to simulate scenarios, and identify optimal control settings, which can be pushed back to the SCADA system's controllers to adjust the process to selfoptimize, continuously improving its efficiency, yield and energy consumption.
Remote monitoring. For assets in remote or difficult-to-access locations where a physical presence is required for inspections and diagnostics, IIoT sensors with wireless connectivity can monitor the assets. Data is transmitted to the SCADA system and IIoT platform for realtime monitoring and analysis.
Enhanced operational visibility and data analysis. IIoT gateways and platforms can collect data from both the SCADA system's PLCs and new IIoT sensors.
IAN VERHAPPEN Solutions Architect Willowglen Systems Ian.Verhappen@ willowglensystems.com
“By using cloud and edge technologies to gather data from multiple sites and types of equipment for centralized analysis, IIoT extends process data gathering.”
BARRY BAKER Vice President Trihedral Engineering
IN today’s world of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and emerging artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, there’s a growing need to share operational technology (OT) data from supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and integrate it with the business information typically found in information technology (IT) systems. Much of this data originates from legacy control hardware performing dedicated functions that aren’t directly compatible with evolving IT environments supporting AI and other initiatives.
What are the key considerations for bridging this data divide to enable new applications in a safe, efficient and economical way? Control spoke with Barry Baker, vice president of Trihedral Engineering, about the benefits of adopting edge-based solutions for existing applications.
Q: Why not simply update the localized controller?
A: While localized control is well served by logical controllers like PLCs or RTUs, they share data in an ISA-95 pyramid model, which has a data flow of Level 0 to Level 5 in a point-topoint fashion. This is in contrast with a need to provide distributed data flows, where many nodes can share data on an event-driven basis with IT systems, commonly achieved with a publish-subscribe model.
This concept isn't new. Industrial protocols such as OPC, DNP3 and CIP have supported this paradigm for some time. However, they're largely used on the OT side due to high performance requirements, which are often achieved with tight coupling to specific brands of industrial hardware. It can be problematic to simply forward data to IT systems that rarely support these protocols, so there’s a need for data translation, where the data acquired by OT protocols is transformed for sharing across the enterprise.
Q: What's the advantage of using edge devices for OT to IT data transfer?
A: The common definition of edge computing is placing computation and data storage closer to the data source, increasing processing performance compared to older, database-centric models, where data is transmitted to a central historian. Subsequent processes read from this database to perform logic. While this model has the benefit of centralized storage of all elements, database performance can be a limiting factor in scalability. Tasking the database to support forwarding to other systems may impact the control system’s performance.
The alternative is to support distributed data flows, where many nodes can share data with IT systems on an event-driven basis. This is commonly done via a transport protocol such as message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT), where data is sent to a broker to which other systems can subscribe.
The data can be encapsulated in protocols such as JSON or Sparkplug B, which may not have the efficiency of industrial OT protocols, but are more easily consumed by IT systems. Since they're not responsible for primary control, these systems are more interested in summary data versus each elementary data change. For example, they might provide running hours, maximum current and temperature for a piece of equipment to monitor efficiency and schedule preventative maintenance, rather than sending many changes of state messages in an hour. In this regard, a SCADA edge node is well-suited for this type of work with common support for varying units of measurement encountered from industrial hardware.
Q: What are other considerations around data sharing?
VTScada by Trihedral’s edge node supports distributed data flows, where many nodes can share data with IT systems on an eventdriven basis. Source: VTScada by Trihedral
A: There's a lot of buzz around unified name space (UNS), as a centralized publisher-subscriber model to share data within an enterprise. The idea of UNS is that data is organized in a heuristic manner, with names following a structured convention, so subscribers can easily discern the origin of varied data elements without intricate knowledge of the SCADA system.
VTScada, our industrial monitoring and control platform, has supported hierarchical naming and data models for many years, as it provides better clarity for users about where the data is sourced if organized and named in a logical fashion. This contrasts with older methods of using an encrypted acronym for an I/O name, which was common in distributed control systems (DCS) that derived it from a control loop drawing. While this naming is logical, it's not a defined standard, but rather follows user conventions.
After supporting this for many years, we encountered the problem of users changing their hierarchy due to process realignment or expansion. An example of this is when a calculated KPI is initially used at a machine level, but is found
to be better suited across multiple machines as the process expands. As the hierarchical name is used by the historian, alarms and displays, changing the name could break links to historical data and displays.
In response, we designed a solution that supported the flexibility to rename as the process evolved, without losing historical information. While this may seem trivial, it's an example of the problems that can creep in as new technologies are adopted. In our 40 years of providing SCADA solutions in many industries, we found the one constant is change.
The solution of using an edge-enabled SCADA node is to recognize that, in support of IoT, Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing, data flows are more distributed versus the classical ISA-95 pyramid data flow. In this regard, the ideal edge device is part of the SCADA system, and performs localized processing, data storage and event-driven updates in a redundant and fault-tolerant manner. In addition, as it shares the OT network, it also must support OT security mechanisms, as well as those required to safely distribute data to other networks and systems.
Schneider Electric showcases open, software-defined automation at Conroe water treatment facility
AS the process industries experience increasingly volatile, uncertain and complex operating environments, control engineers must address competing market forces and technology challenges. Schneider Electric (www.se.com) meets those challenges with its open, software-driven automation solution, EcoStruxure Automation Expert (EAE), and displayed its capabilities on Sept. 10-12 at its Innovation Center in Houston. The event featured discussions about the future of open automation, and a look at how users, such as the City of Conroe, Texas, use EAE’s capabilities to address operational and efficiency goals.
“We can’t meet our industries’ fundamental needs purely with today’s systems—closed, propriety and hardwaredriven,” said Hany Fouda, process automation SVP at Schneider Electric. “That’s where open, software-defined automation comes in—making it easier to transition to an agile, digital way of operating.”
One of those industries is water/wastewater treatment, and a highlight of the event was a look inside the open, software-defined, automation systems used by Conroe at its Little Egypt water plant near Houston. Conroe invested in scalable, intelligent systems to meet water demand, and ensure long-term resilience. It deploys EAE at 19 water/wastewater facilities, while leveraging advanced automation to accelerate infrastructure delivery, improve service reliability and support sustainable development.
“Collaborating with Schneider Electric to implement EcoStruxure Automation Expert has been a valuable step in strengthening Conroe’s water systems,” said Daniel Robert, water superintendent for Conroe. “This initiative is helping us accelerate deployment, improve efficiency, while also supporting our broader goals around transparency and quality of life for residents.”
The City of Conroe invested in scalable, intelligent systems, including Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert software, at its Little Eqypt water plant. Source: Schneider Electric
The deployment is a shift for the treatment facility toward modular, software-defined automation that enables faster commissioning, reduced engineering complexity and secure remote operations. Built-in cybersecurity and disaster-recovery capabilities also bolster emergency response in a region still mindful of Hurricane Harvey’s impact.
“Water is vital to our communities and economy, yet cities face growing challenges with supply shortages, aging infrastructure and climate uncertainties,” said Sophie Borgne, president of water and environment for Schneider Electric. “Conroe’s forward-thinking approach demonstrates how open, software-defined automation can secure a city’s water future, while enabling scalable, efficient operations.”
The project includes a $50 million infrastructure upgrade focused on resilience, efficiency and transparency. Conroe's officials also expect accelerated site-development because EAE’s modular, software-defined architecture reduces the time and complexity of starting new plants. They also expect reduced water loss, optimized operations and lower costs. Meanwhile, the secure-by-operations architecture strengthens resilience against cyber-threats.
Open, software-defined automation is a vendor-neutral approach that separates control logic from hardware by using software to manage, orchestrate and monitor processes. To be successful, it relies on open standards for interoperable, scalable solutions. Schneider Electric’s works with:
• Margo’s (margo.org) open standard for edge-computing interoperability;
• The Open Process Automation Standard (O-PAS, www. opengroup.org/forum/open-process-automation-forum) that defines a vendor-neutral reference architecture for secure process automation systems;
• OPC Foundation’s (opcfoundation.org) platform for independent, service-oriented communications; and
• NAMUR’s Open Architecture (NOA, www.namur.net/en/ work-areas-and-project-groups/focus-topics/namur-openarchitecture.html) to enhance integration of field devices and control systems with IT systems.
Among the benefits of open, software-defined automation are faster time to market, 40% fewer errors in the development phase, 30% lower design and engineering costs, and reduced operating costs, according to Fouda. “This isn’t just about better automation," he added. "It’s about building a smarter, faster and more competitive enterprise.” — Len Vermillion
It can seem like Ignition web-based, HMI/SCADA software is everywhere, but the latest proof was the record-breaking attendance of 1,529 visitors at Inductive Automation’s 13th annual Inductive Community Conference (icc.inductiveautomation.com) 2025 on Sept. 16-18. After more than a decade at the Harris Center for the Arts at Folsom Community College, ICC gained some much-needed elbow room at the 240,000-sq-ft Safe Credit Union Convention Center in downtown Sacramento, which let it expand about 50% beyond the approximately 1,000 visitors ICC usually draws.
This year’s ICC also featured keynote addresses and updates, 34 technical and related sessions, 34 exhibitors, seven Firebrand Award winners, Discovery Gallery presentations, and its traditional Build-a-Thon competition, pitting two teams against each other to develop the best SCADA/HMI application in just 16 hours. This agility is proving crucial for modernizing interfaces and controls in process and other industries.
“The old, rigid paradigm of equipment, PLCs, and SCADA, MES and ERP systems each living in their own layer has unnecessary limits and costs that stifle interoperability and innovation. It’s also collapsing because it can’t keep up and handle modern industrial operations,” says Colby Clegg, CEO at Inductive Automation. “The new paradigm we’ve been working on for the last 10 years functions largely outside of these traditional layers, and connects information and its locations into a more unified system with a common foundation and a coherent platform for converging OT and IT users.”
This new platform organizes control, HMI, SCADA, ERP and MES function into an overall integration platform, and organizes field, industrial and business data into an aggregation platform. Clegg reports that Inductive’s newly released Ignition 8.3 software also supports this new paradigm, and enables beyond its SCADA/HMI functions to unify IT and OT data
A live feed shows three tanks in a three-color anodizing process (upper left) during the Build-a-Thon competition on Sept. 18 at Inductive Automation’s Ignition Community Conference (ICC) 2025 in Sacramento, Calif. The onscreen HMI display by Builda-Thon winner Safegroup Automation also shows video from an onboard camera (center) that lets users inspect the anodizing process. Source: Inductive Automation and Jim Montague
sources, and apply more flexible software applications, many developed by system integrators and other Ignition users. Building on its unlimited-license model that makes Ignition simple to deploy, Inductive introduced several new options and initiatives at ICC that will help users acquire the capabilities they need. These modular solutions include:
• Ignition Solution Suites that are curated sets of Ignition modules organized around specific use cases, which are easier to deploy and freely upgradable. The five initial suites are application building, industrial historian, data ops, alarm management and enterprise integration.
• Ignition Technology Ecosystem program that enables about 40 related suppliers and their connectors, cloud-based tools, analytics platforms, cybersecurity and other products to easily plug into Ignition and its user community.
• Sixteen exhibitor-led presentations developed by Inductive and the ProveIt! organization (www.proveitconference.com) that demonstrate real-time, Industry 4.0 solutions supported by Ignition and fueled by live data from ProveIt!’s virtual factory.
• Integrator Solutions program of highlighting productionready tools developed by Inductive’s gold and premier system integrator partners.
Further demonstrations of Ignition’s flexibility were provided by ICC 2025’s Firebrand award winners.
• ASE Global (asecuador.com) helped the two-site Galapagos project establish the world’s largest shrimp feed production facility in Guayaquil, Ecuador, by delivering a scalable, Ignition-based, Python-programmed
solution that unified production management, batch control and monitoring.
• Concera (concera.co.za) developed an abnormal situation management (ASM) SCADA platform in Ignition to replace legacy SCADA systems at metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater’s (www.sibanyestillwater.com) platinum facility in Rustenburg, South Africa.
• Insight Engineering (www.insighteng.com.au) developed a specialized, low-code, tag-less application called Specpro for Haymes Paint’s (www.haymespaint.com.au) project specification documents.
• The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DoE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is using Ignition to make sure research can proceed safely and efficiently, apply different voltages and frequencies in its labs, prevent dangerous power feedbacks, and manage customized recipes more quicky and safely at its Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF). Researchers use ESIF’s plug-and-play infrastructure to connect electrical, thermal and hydrogen systems across 18 laboratories to create forward-thinking energy scenarios that are secure and reliable.
• Sage Automation (sageautomation.com), replaced an aging SCADA, historian and airport management system (AMS) at Sydney Airport with a secure, scalable, unified, intuitive, Ignition-based solution that integrated more than 630 field devices.
• Nick Minchin, senior system engineer at Sage Automation, received the Community Impact Firebrand Award for more than 10 years of applying Ignition at his company, developing solutions for live Ignition projects, and mentoring colleagues worldwide via the Inductive Automation (AI) Forum.
• HebronSoft IT Academy (www.hebronsoft.com) won the Educational Engagement Firebrand Award for employing Ignition dashboards and Arduino-driven muscle sensors to train a 3D-printed hand prosthesis.
In its usual, dramatic demonstration of Ignition in action, ICC was capped off by its Build-a-Thon event. The earlier, preliminary competition took 27 system integrators through 10 challenges and tests, producing two finalists: BW Design Group (bwdesigngroup.com) and Safegroup Automation (SGA, safegroup.com.au). Just prior to ICC’s closing day, they were given 16 hours over two days to develop an Ignition SCADA/HMI application for a three-tank, threecolor anodizing process for large, souvenir coins designed and equipped by Opto 22 (www.opto22.com), which also included a payload hoist, conveyor motor, touch pads, linear encoder and other parts (Figure 1).
The interfaces developed by the two teams let users choose recipes for different colors or combinations,
and initiate outputs, positions and power to execute those steps. They accomplished these and other tasks by using Ignition Edge software to pull device tags into their SCADA/ HMI application, and used Ignition Design software to make user-defined data type (UDT) templates that could publish to a broker, function in the unified namespace (UNS) for their machines and other equipment, and show performance results, analytics and other data via Ignition Perspective software on Opto 22’s groov EPIC controllers and other networked displays.
Following each team’s presentation, the ICC audience cast their virtual ballots, and SGA won with 77% of the vote, earning the Build-a-Thon’s coveted orange sportscoats.
For more information and coverage of ICC 2025, visit icc.inductiveautomation.com
FieldComm Group (www.fieldcommgroup.org) reported Sept. 11 that its strategic integration committee (SIC) has released a timeline for updating the Field Device Integration (FDI) specification. This is a milestone toward unifying device integration across process, hybrid and factory automation. SIC consists of automation industry suppliers and standards development organizations (SDO).
FieldComm Group adds this update will enable manufacturers to transition toward more intelligent, responsive operations, and unlock the full value of industrial data and modern automation architectures. Primary updates to the FDI specification include:
• Compliance by incorporating requirements of the European Union’s recent Cyber Resilience Act (CRA);
• Unified, device-integration standard for process and factory automation;
• Support for legacy systems, enabling modernization without infrastructure replacement;
• Real-time OT/IT connectivity via a common information model, namely Process Automation/Device Information Model (PA-DIM);
• Support for modern platforms and development tools;
• Empowering intelligent device and lifecycle management with protocol-tunneling support, also known as nested communications.
Meanwhile, the schedule for migrating the FDI specification includes:
• Releasing updated FDI specification by end of 2026;
• Deploying updated FDI developer toolkit by end of 2027; and
• Market availability of registered FDI-enabled systems and devices during 2029.
• Emerson (emerson.com) reported Sept. 30 that it’s completed a multi-year modernization project at four of the Salt River Project’s (SRP) hydroelectric dams in Arizona. SRP’s Roosevelt, Horse Mesa, Mormon Flat and Stewart Mountain dams generate 265 megawatts of hydropower per year, and standardizing on Emerson’s Ovation automation platform is expected to reduce maintenance costs by 30% and cuts troubleshooting time in half.
• Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (www.mitsubishielectric.com) announced Sept. 9 that it’s agreed to acquire cybersecurity developer Nozomi Networks Inc. (www.nozominetworks. com), Their reverse-triangular-style merger is expected to close in 2025, subject to regulatory approval.
• The global Coriolis flowmeter market is projected to expand on multiple fronts, and grow at a 6.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from $1.9 billion in 2024 to more than $2.4 billion by 2029, according to a new study, The world market for Coriolis flowmeters , 8th edition, by Flow Research (www.flowresearch.com/coriolis).
• GE Vernova Inc. (www.gevernova.com) and alternative asset management firm TPG (www.tpg.com) reported Sept. 11 that TPG will acquire GE Vernova’s Proficy manufacturing software business for $600 million.
• E Tech Group (etechgroup.com) debuted Oct. 1 its Laboratory Automation and Industrial Robotics (LAIR) solutions that orchestrate instruments, robotics and enterprise platforms into scalable, compliant workflows.
• Yokogawa Electric Corp. (www.yokogawa.com/industries/ space) reported Sept. 22 that it’s partnering with Toyota Motor Corp. (www.toyota.com) on R&D activities that will include prototype measurement and control equipment for a manned, pressurized rover called Lunar Cruiser that Toyota and the Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency (JAXA) are developing to explore the moon’s surface.
• Honeywell (honeywell.com) announced Sept. 2 that its modular LNG pretreatment technology and integrated control and safety systems (ICSS) will be adopted at Amigo LNG S.A. de C.V.’s (www.lngalliance.com/projects-7) export terminal in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.
PETER ZORNIO Chief Technology Officer
Emerson
WITH a push toward artificial intelligence (AI), unified data fabrics and edge-to-cloud architectures, Emerson is working to create intelligent, self-optimizing enterprises powered by contextualized data and predictive ability. To find out more, Control talked to Peter Zornio, chief technology officer at Emerson, about the the future of industrial automation.
Q: What does Emerson envision as the future of automation, given the push to AI, data and the recent acquisition of AspenTech?
A: Emerson’s vision for an industrial automation platform integrates operations across the intelligent field, edge and cloud to empower enterprise-wide visibility, optimization and autonomous operations. We call it the Enterprise Operations Platform—a unified suite of software across those computing domains.
We believe we're in a unique position to deliver this given our unparalleled technology stack from field devices to optimization software. A big step in building this capability was our recent acquisition of AspenTech, with its deep software expertise as a leader in industrial AI, bringing decades of experience in process design and digital twin-based optimization to Emerson’s automation portfolio.
This direction represents a fundamental shift in how we approach automation, moving from a rigid, control-centric perspective to a more open, modular and data-centric model at the core of that unified suite. It’s designed to unlock siloed data, and enable information to move freely across those operating domains of production, reliability, safety and sustainability, much more than control.
The goal is to help customers use and manage both new and existing rule-based and AI applications, empowering enterprise-wide visibility, optimization and driving more autonomous operations.
Q: What must happen for a fully autonomous manufacturing plant to become a reality?
A: For some facilities, it’s not nearly as far off as you might think. The concept of self-optimizing plants and assets is nothing new. Simpler, more standardized facilities such as air separation processes and offshore platforms are unmanned today. Arguably, the industry has been on the path to full autonomy since digital transformation became the governing paradigm years ago, and industry leaders are implementing some aspects of it as we speak. What autonomous operations require are self-adapting, self-learning and self-sustaining software and process control technologies that work together to anticipate future conditions, and act accordingly, adjusting operations within the context of the enterprise. Predictive reliability is critical. You must avert potential production interruptions before they occur. I believe this is the biggest obstacle to true autonomous operations for more complex facilities, and has the biggest upside potential from the application of AI.
The transition to autonomous operations can't be about replacing what already exists— it must be about modernizing in place. As mentioned, pervasive, real-time data access— a “data fabric”—is critical for the next steps, especially the ability to combine equipment and process data to improve reliability prognostication and production impact. Sustainability data is necessary as most manufacturers have made commitments in that area; it must be accurately measured, tracked and figured into the overall optimization equation. Better OT/IT information convergence will enable integrated business processes, reducing the gap between planned and actual performance. Key functions, such as planning and scheduling, can become more closely integrated and aligned with closed-loop automation
systems, such as advanced process control and dynamic optimization. By incorporating the best insights from engineering, maintenance and supply chains, companies can gain the holistic view needed to achieve even higher levels of performance.
Each step on the path to autonomy will create incremental value along the way, as companies target AI-powered technology to address specific business needs, and empower their workforce in new ways. Complex, changing processes may never meet the nirvana of no human intervention; the level of effort necessary for that may not provide a justifiable ROI vs. having a small staff. But that staff can very likely be remote at that point.
Q: You’ve said data and the “unifying data fabric” are at the core of future industrial automation. Can you explain?
A: Manufacturing facilities today have lots of operational data. Core production data from automation systems is the heart of a facility's operational data; but reliability, safety, quality, energy, planning, inventory, emissions—many functions have their own sets of data repositories and the applications that use them. Those all grew up independently, driven by the functional organizations responsible for them. Different names, different sets of data, different perspectives for the same pieces of equipment or function exist in those different systems simultaneously. To truly optimize across all domains, all this data needs to enter the optimization calculation. Today, we build interfaces between these functional systems as needed for a particular application, creating a hodgepodge of hard-to-maintain, specialized connections.
A better approach is a unifying data fabric—a data infrastructure that provides uniform access to these fragmented sets of data under a common contextual model. Data that enters the fabric is confirmed to be accurate and reliable—for all uses. This enables AI and any applications to be much more easily developed and deployed; today; a large portion of the effort in deploying AI is making those connections and validating the data you bring into the AI application.
The more disparate types of data brought into the data fabric, the more AI can ascertain the correlations between them. Then, facilities can be fully optimized across what can be sometimes conflicting goals, such as production output vs. reliability vs. sustainability. What were previously undetected, unintended consequences of actions become known, and can figure into the calculations of autonomous agents.
For Emerson, this data fabric becomes the unifying infrastructure across our suite of offerings. This means products in the Emerson suite are inherently integrated with each other, eliminating expensive integration projects and the ongoing cost of maintaining custom connections. Security is
inherent and uniform across the suite. Building the data fabric at an existing facility the first time isn’t a trivial undertaking; but it’s the critical piece of infrastructure to unlock the future benefits we’ve discussed.
Q: The more connectivity that’s built into enterprise data systems, the more critical cybersecurity becomes. How does Emerson plan to address such a fundamental issue?
A: Traditional automation security solutions typically restrict data access in the plant environment, and to specific functional systems and organizations. As we’ve discussed, the free flow of “democratized” data across domains is necessary for true optimization and autonomy.
This is where we're counting on zero-trust principles to enhance security. Zero-trust assumes the network has been or will be compromised, and that no user or asset can be implicitly trusted. It means that security needs to come down to the application level, not just the physical network/system level. This would enable applications to be deployed at any level in the architecture, while ensuring security. It will be a journey to get there, and today’s segregation techniques will continue to play a role in security for quite a while. Careful integration of old and new communications protocols will be essential to ensure they operate together with confidence, and pave the way to building an open yet secure architecture based on flexible technology and intuitive integration.
Q: Data, AI, security—that’s a lot of technology. Is this the answer for digital transformation?
A: It’s certainly a large part, but of course, it’s not the whole answer. Clear business goals, change leaders, work process change that sticks, cross-department collaboration, long term commitment—all those “non-technical” aspects are often the make-or-break ones.
The top 50 global and North American automation suppliers show resilience in the face of chaos
by Larry O’Brien and Allen Avery, ARC Advisory Group
THESE are interesting times, aren’t they? It’s a world of constant chaos and disruption now.
Tariffs implemented by the U.S. government are disrupting global supply chains. Mutually beneficial and longstanding trade relationships with other nations are dissolving. Costs and consumer prices in the U.S. continue to rise with persistent inflation. Geopolitical tensions continue to increase at multiple flashpoints worldwide. Cyberattacks against industrial organizations are increasing at unprecedented rates.
ARC Advisory Group's analysts discover new firms to add to the Top 50 lists each year. If you find one that should be listed but isn't, let Larry O’Brien (LOBrien@arcweb.com) know, so it can be evaluated for potential inclusion. Though companies with increased sales are added, and those with decreased sales relative to the others or those that have been acquired are removed, the Top 50's basic analysis methodology hasn't changed for years. If anything, it's scope and focus on revenue generated by process control and automation activities have grown tighter.
Technologies included in the Top 50 definition:
• Process automation systems and related hardware software and services;
• PLC and related hardware, software, services, I/O and bundled HMI;
• Other control hardware components, such as third-party I/O, signal conditioners, intrinsic safety barriers, networking hardware, unit controllers, and single- and multi-loop controllers;
• Process safety systems;
• SCADA systems for oil and gas, water and wastewater, and power distribution;
• AC drives;
• Motion control systems;
• Computer numerical control (CNC) systems;
• Process field instrumentation, such as temperature and pressure transmitters, flowmeters, level transmitters and associated switches;
• Analytical equipment, including process electrochemical, all types of infrared technology, gas chromatographs for industrial manufacturing and related products;
• Control valves, actuators and positioners;
• Discrete sensors and actuators;
• All kinds of automation-related software from advanced process control, simulation and optimization to third-party HMI, plant asset management, production management (MES), ERP integration packages from the major automation suppliers and similar software, and other automation-related services provided by automation suppliers;
• Condition-monitoring equipment and systems; and
• Ancillary systems, such as burner management systems, quality control systems for pulp and paper, etc.
Technologies not included in the Top 50 definition:
• Pumps and motors
• Robotics
• Material-handling systems
• Supply chain management software
• Building automation systems
• Fire and security systems
• Processing equipment such as mixers, vessels, heaters, as well as process design licenses from suppliers that have engineering divisions
• Electrical equipment, such as low-voltage switchgear, etc.
It seems like you have to look hard to see any bright spots in the world of manufacturing and automation, but it’s not all bad. Both automation suppliers and end users are learning the value of resilience and planning. Those proficient at both will be able to find and capitalize on opportunities presented by these challenging market conditions.
The global and North American automation suppliers have generally been good at this. After a weak period in 2024, which seemed to get progressively worse through the fourth quarter, many automation suppliers are reporting positive financial results in their most recent quarterly reports. ARC Advisory Group (arcweb.com) anticipates that markets for process and discrete automation will continue to grow over the next several years, albeit more slowly. The end of 2024, however, was a difficult one for many automation suppliers.
Many end user companies delayed investments and sat on their cash in the year leading up to the U.S. presidential election, and the accompanying uncertainty was a big factor in automation suppliers continuing to see a slowdown in growth through the end of 2024. Overall, ARC viewed supplier performance in 2024 to be quite resilient considering market circumstances. Normalization of backlogs, destocking and strong declines in machine automation were key contributors to reduced growth toward the end of 2024.
Overall, however, it’s going to be a challenging journey to 2030 for the global automation market and North American market. Key indicators such as the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISMworld.org) PMI reports on manufacturing and services (formerly Report on Business) show a continued decline in U.S. domestic manufacturing activity. One of the primary reasons for this decline is the impact of tariffs.
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Tariffs pound U.S. manufacturing
Tariffs are wreaking havoc on businesses and supply chains both in the U.S. and worldwide. Raw materials are becoming more expensive, and the costs are being passed to consumers. End users can’t effectively plan and schedule because the availability and cost of materials is too variable and uncertain. This upheaval has resulted in the supply chain for overall manufacturing sputtering along with manufacturing in general. Many nations are no longer accepting orders from the U.S. because of tariffs.
In the U.S., tariffs are also increasing production costs, disrupting logistics networks, and forcing companies to rethink supply chains. Businesses are responding with production shifts, supply chain diversification, inventory stockpiling, and trade route adjustments in efforts to lessen financial burdens and avoid long-term instability. The North American auto industry is among the largest impacted because Mexico occupies a significant role in parts manufacturing and vehicle assembly. Approximately 40% of U.S. auto parts are sourced from Mexico, making the tariff impact immediate and severe.
In the oil and gas industry, tariffs are increasing prices for raw materials, increasing shipping costs, and decreasing demand for U.S. products because its trading partners are souring on trade. It’s hard to think of a sector of manufacturing across the spectrum of U.S. process and discrete applications that isn’t suffering due to tariffs.
These events are putting renewed emphasis on developing resilient supply chains and logistics organizations. ARC sees dramatically increasing investments in more advanced supply chain and logistics solutions. Companies must retune their supply chains to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions, pricing variability and overall raw material availability. Not all of this activity is tariff-driven either. For instance, the Colonial Pipeline cyber-attack required it to rapidly reroute product through alternative means since the pipeline was shut down. Supply chains are under constant threat of cyber-attacks, extreme, climate-related disruptions and other factors.
A primary argument favoring tariffs is that manufacturing will come back to the U.S., and there is in fact a huge reshoring effort underway. This effort actually started before the tariffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the tariffs are certainly jumpstarting reshoring initiatives. Many recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and software are making it increasingly possible and appealing to reshore. Many large manufacturers have committed or are investing substantially in reshoring, including TSMC, Apple, Intel, Hyundai and others.
However, most of these investments are related to sectors like semiconductors, computers and electronics,
though we’re also seeing activity in sectors like pharmaceuticals and electric equipment, including electric vehicle (EV) batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). Many of these reshoring efforts themselves depend on continuing government support, for example, from the National Science Foundation’s Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act (www.nsf.gov/chips). However, its future is also uncertain now, along with the fate of any government-funded programs.
Emerson’s acquisition of industrial software giant AspenTech, starting in November 2024, propelled the company into the No. 1 spots on Control and ARC's Top 50 Automation Suppliers lists of worldwide and in North American suppliers. This was perhaps the most significant change to the two lists during 2024.
Meanwhile, ABB and Siemens both moved up the ranks in the North American market in 2024. Many other companies also changed positions in North America during this challenging year. Small to mid-sized automation suppliers
focusing on the discrete manufacturing sector found the business environment particularly challenging.
Most of the big position shifts in the Top 50 lists over the years are the result of continued industry consolidation. And, as seems to occur every year, most of this consolidation involves large integrated automation suppliers boosting their capabilities in software and services. Emerson’s acquisition of AspenTech is just the latest example of this ongoing trend. It was preceded by Schneider Electric’s acquisition of Aveva, Hexagon’s acquisition of PAS, Siemens’ acquisition of Altair Engineering, and Yokogawa’s acquisition of KBC Advanced Technologies, among others. Likewise, we’re also seeing more acquisitions of industrial cybersecurity companies by the large automation suppliers, but more on that later.
New technologies can often be an impetus for growth. At ARC, we continuously emphasize the maxim that, “Technology for technology’s sake is not the answer.” Users need to look at the business value proposition of each proposed technology.
AI has triggered an explosion of new software applications, but cutting through the hype to determine what’s actually useful can be a challenge. However, AI is also moving beyond the hype phase as end users seek to apply AI-based solutions to solve real business problems. AI has a lot of potential to ease the burdens on operators, engineers and technicians in plants. While large language models (LLM) get much of the spotlight, ARC sees myriad applications, where capabilities like machine learning (ML) or deep learning streamline processes, reduce workloads, and optimize operations and procedures in plants.
To say AI is a data processing hog is a vast understatement. The volume of data used to make decisions is increasing rapidly with AI, even though it was already swelling thanks to cloud- and edge-computing before the AI revolution. This presents users with interesting issues regarding the storage, handling and security of their data.
One of the biggest aspects of this AI-fueled demand for data processing capacity is datacenters. Suddenly, datacenters are another important part of everyday operations for manufacturing end users. Evaluating datacenter providers has become just as important as evaluating control system suppliers. Datacenters are also enormous consumers of energy, and many automation suppliers are focusing on their business in the datacenter market to create OT solutions for datacenters that are energy-efficient and secure.
Many end users also find that implementing AI-based solutions poses some challenges when the data side of the equation is considered. For instance, AI necessitates separating data from applications. ARC is observing adoption of industrial data fabrics to give users the right information foundations to implement their AI strategies. In a further move beyond the hype phase, AI is being applied in the manufacturing sector with some very positive results. Huge advances continue to be made in industrial software and computing, with quantum computing lurking on the horizon as the next big technology shift.
AI offers promise, opportunity—and risks
AI is a huge opportunity for end users and suppliers, but it also presents huge risks. Users must secure their own AI implementations, but many aren’t even aware of the scope of AI tools used at their own companies. Consequently, their AI adoption strategies can lack the guardrails necessary to reduce risk, and maintain resilient security postures. This includes plant and enterprise operations, as well as internal software development activities.
Nonetheless, many end users in a range of industries from pulp and paper to oil and gas are developing their own LLMs and copilots to be used by their workers. Unfortunately, AI is also being used by attackers to mount more effective malware campaigns, identify and exploit vulnerabilities, and create more realistic and deceptive phishing campaigns.
If AI is the leading technology trend in manufacturing and automation, then sustainability is the leading business issue. Most business and operational challenges faced by end users can be traced back to sustainability, from increasing energy efficiency to reducing emissions, meeting regulatory reporting requirements, and reducing emissions.
Even if the U.S. experiences a rollback in environmental regulations, as the Trump Administration has promised, many companies view sustainability issues as a primary business imperative. Plus, for the rest of the world, sustainability laws are continuing to become more stringent.
However, sustainability is more than just regulatory compliance. Applications like carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen production, transportation and storage offer huge new opportunities for the automation industry and its manufacturers. End users continue to invest significantly in applications like low-carbon cement production, low-carbon steel production, plastic recycling processes, and renewable fuels such as sustainable diesel and ethanol.
Most of the new power generation capacity installed in North America was either wind or solar in 2024, and this
trend is expected to continue because it makes the most business sense for utilities and power providers. ARC also considers small modular reactor (SMR) technology in the nuclear industry to be a domain of sustainability, and we expect this sector to grow significantly in the future. Most of the gas-fired power generation capacity being built today is for on-demand power applications, where grid shortfalls require quick addition of new energy-producing sources.
ARC continues to see substantial growth in the industrial and operations technology (OT) cybersecurity market. Growth in
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System integrator Interstates, CESMII and ISA Houston demonstrate alternative workforce development strategies
by Jim Montague
IT’S no easy task to overcome the double whammy of high staff turnover rates and rapidly changing technical skills. However, that’s the task facing most process industry employers and manufacturers in general, and the only real solution is training, training and more training.
“About 40% of CESMII‘s members are manufacturers, and they’re telling us their top workforce issue is the average tenure of their senior staff has decreased from 15 years to less than five years,” says Conrad Leiva, VP for ecosystem and workforce development at the Collaborative Ecosystems for Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII.org). “This is about half due to retirements and about half due to high staff turnovers in recent years, especially among younger personnel.”
Overseen by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DoE), CESMII is hosted by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and is one of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST.gov) 18 Manufacturing USA institutes that spur adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies to increase the competitiveness of U.S. industries.
Leiva reports this rapidly changing workforce dynamic means employers require more training and tools to bring their remaining people and new hires up to speed. This
Danielle Crough, VP of people and culture at Interstates, reports it uses several basic steps for investing internally in personnel, including:
• Make sure employees like their jobs by giving them meaningful work, allow some level of autonomy and choice, and help them implement well-defined career paths, which guide them on what it takes to advance within the company.
• Establish and maintain productive and healthy team environments.
• Develop, practice and demonstrate leadership that’s strong, ethical and visionary.
• Provide competitive compensation and benefits.
• Encourage a supportive, healthy corporate culture.
• Interact and intertwine with local community colleges, high schools and other organizations by being part of their classes, guest lecturing, and helping develop curriculums.
Beyond simply losing experienced employees, workforce shortages also disrupt opportunities for veterans to pass along their irreplaceable knowledge to younger staffers. This situation makes it much more important to establish ties and maintain communications wherever possible.
“The pandemic really hurt relationships between longtime experts and new hires” says Leticia Zarpellon, president of ISA’s Houston section (www.houstonisa.org) and technology manager at Audubon Co.s (auduboncompanies.com) in Houston. “During that time, I’d also moved into a fully remote role, but starting a new position without in-person interaction made it difficult to build connections and learn from experienced colleagues nearing retirement. After about a year, I decided to leave because I didn’t have enough opportunities to contribute and demonstrate my strengths. In my current job, I’m onsite most days and travel as needed, which I believe provides a much better environment for building relationships and developing my career.”
Just like any employer, Zarpellon reports that her current company also needs to keep hiring to keep growing. It uses several familiar recruiting strategies, including personal recommendations and seeking new graduates. However, because educational backgrounds and experiences vary widely, it must also adapt candidates and new hires’ capabilities to the specific skills the company requires, and meet its staffers' needs at the same time.
“For example, we recently hired a newly graduated engineer, who majored in robotics, which was different from the chemical, electrical and controls engineers we usually hire,” explains Zarpellon. “We did this because his diverse background can bring fresh perspectives and ingenuity, helping us explore new opportunities for growth.”
Unfortunately, most colleges and universities don’t teach advanced process control skills, or how to program PLCs, DCSs, production processes and modeling. This shortcoming means process industry companies have long had to train new employees in many of the skills they want them to know and practice. Recent technological shifts and accelerating advances have increased this burden along with the value of candidates willing to learn and apply them.
“When we interview candidates, we want to know if they’re good with computers and have some technical knowledge, but we also want see if they’re fast learners,” adds Zarpellon. “We know we can’t expect new hires to immediately fit in and work perfectly. We’re also aware that lots of communication is needed, and we need to provide many opportunities for them to ask questions. That’s why we seek young and eager engineers, who are willing to travel, visit plants, talk to the engineers and operators, and catch on quickly to technological changes.”
Because persistent workforce shortages mean demand for many skills continues to exceed supply, Zarpellon adds that employers must offer competitive salaries, training, and work-life balance to secure and maintain the best talent. To help newly graduated students increase technical knowledge and get in contact with the workforce, Zarpellon reports that ISA Houston Section visits and makes presentations to introduce automation to local college students. It also revamped and streamlined its scholarship process last year, and began accepting not only written essays, but also video essays to keep up with new technologies. Consequently, where it previously had eight applicants, it now has 40 for six scholarships totaling $40,000.
“Recruiting and retaining also means going digital, using LinkedIn and other social media. It’s also useful to seek and meet people and companies at local events, and encourage everyone to participate in ISA activities, especially those seeking automation contacts and opportunities,” concludes Zarpellon. “However, all of this requires really getting out there, and talking to develop useful, word-of-mouth awareness. It may not be easy or come naturally, but none of us can afford to be shy about communicating.”
need is increasingly urgent because of the second major workforce issue reported by CESMII’s members, which is that job descriptions and required skills are also changing fast to keep up with recent technological advances. This means workers with those skills are hard to find, if not entirely scarce in many disciplines and locations.
“The other problem is that many small to medium-sized companies don’t have the resources or aren’t willing to grow skills internally. Only the largest companies typically have skills development programs like this,” explains Leiva. “Closing this gap depends on colleges adequately training workforces, so new workers won’t need as much training once they’re hired by smaller companies. We’re seeing more partnerships between colleges and manufacturers, but they’re still mostly led by large companies that can invest in them.”
Regardless of whether they’re small or large, most manufacturers and other businesses still face high staff turnover rates, especially among younger employees. Consequently, Leiva adds they need to think about bigger pictures and longer terms, and continue to train personnel, but also offer them career paths to higher pay and better internal opportunities. This can help reduce the risk of them gaining skills and leaving.
Because they’re typically implementing updated technologies for clients, system integrators must provide and maintain their own personnel with equally sophisticated skills—and attract new staff with the capability to learn and practice them.
“We’re always seeking new talent because our business has doubled in the past five or six years, and we’re anticipating it will double again in the next five or six years,” says Danielle Crough, VP of people and culture at Interstates (www.interstates.com), a
national, U.S. Midwest-based system integrator, and a certified member of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA, www.controlsys.org). “We also span quite a few industries, including consumer packaged goods (CPG), data centers, energy and chemical, food and beverage and valueadded agriculture, and we’re likely going to get into some new industries, too.”
Crough reports that Interstates is also dealing with retirements, and needs to attract new people with the skills required to handle rapid technical changes, including artificial intelligence (AI) and other types of digitalization. One of its primary methods for achieving this goal is developing those skills and capabilities internally.
“We’ve seen technical changes accelerate, so we’ve been doubling down on internal development because it isn’t enough to simply replace individuals. We also need to develop multiple people around them, including bringing in new leadership, who can help support them,” explains Crough. “Because everyone at Interstates needs some type of development, we started assigning everyone an internal career coach in 2019. We also introduced the expectation that our managers were responsible for developing others, and bringing them up in whatever career path they want to pursue when it aligns with organizational needs.”
This six-year-old, standardized development structure was established to convey Interstates’ philosophy and practices. It consists of the following primary areas, including engineering, construction, controls, operational technology, analytics and manufacturing, which are designed to operate as one overall strategy. This structure also enables clients to work more easily with the system integrator’s staff, and enables them to work more easily with each other.
“This development structure was inspired by our founder’s fundamental belief in investing in people and the culture that’s grown up based on that belief,” adds Crough. “This culture took hold more firmly when we adopted several ‘why’ statements in 2012, which are embraced by all team members, and include pursuing a better way, making a difference with our clients and communities, and providing opportunities for our people.
“This practical approach also led us to conclude that retaining existing employees is the best recruiting strategy. Logically, more retention means less recruiting is needed. Plus, employees who are retained can also help refer more new team members to us.”
Established 70 years ago as “Johnny’s Electric TV Repair,” Interstates’ founders and leaders have had plenty of time to develop their supportive, internal, invest-in-people culture.
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“Interstates is playing the long game because we want to be an enduring company that lasts,” explains Crough. “We’re not playing the quarterly game of short-term gains at the expense of the future, and we can do it because Interstates is still a leader-owned, private company. This long-term view also gives us the freedom to identify and achieve advantages that other organizations often don’t have the time to see.
We’ve learned that layoffs may save some revenue now, but they’re often detrimental in the long run. For example, layoffs in the 1990s made it much harder for veterans to pass along their knowledge, and contributed to many of the skills gaps that are still a persistent problem today.”
To alleviate these gaps and difficulties, Crough recommends that leaders and managers of other companies actually listen to their employees, especially when they’re leaving.
“If your organization does exit interviews and surveys, read them,” adds Crough. “Soon-to-be-former employees have little or nothing to lose when they’re leaving, so if they take the time to fill out an exit survey, it’s important to listen to what they’re saying. This is a good way to pick up useful nuggets that may apply to other employees. The majority of people who leave Interstates have been willing
to provide this kind of feedback. We can learn and identify patterns about workloads, items that leaders may have missed, positions that were unclear, and perhaps learn about missed benefits that we should have included earlier. This is all good input, but we must be willing to pay attention. It can seem counterintuitive to invest internally when we’re trying to attract new employees from outside, and we still have to do traditional recruiting. However, we also have to recognize it’s more important to invest in people, whether they’re external or internal.”
Competitive salaries are essential for retaining employees and reducing turnover, but CESMII’s Leiva explains it’s even more important for them to feel like they’re part of their company’s internal team and community, especially if some members are frequently offsite and working remotely.
“Increasing collaboration, enabling access across departments and levels, and sharing a pool of experts between sites can all build better teams by showing participants they’re supported and valued members of the team,” explains Leiva. “They also need to be shown there’s a clear
“Retaining existing employees is the best recruiting strategy. It also means less recruiting is needed. Plus, employees who are retained can refer more new team members to us.”
path from entry level to higher pay, which many employees say is frequently unclear in their organizations. Without well-defined training and advancement pathways, employees can quickly feel stuck, which may prompt them to move to other companies or industries.”
All of these and other workforce development efforts also need to be combined and coordinated, so they’ll have the best chance of engaging both new and experienced employees. For example, Leiva reports that CESMII’s smart manufacturing overall mission is to transform manufacturers at scale, but because these are very large topics, teaching them needs to be broken into approachable and digestible pieces. CESMII is using a micro-credential strategy for education and training modules that average 40 hours of content and working with the Smart Automation Certification Alliance (SACA.org). These micro-credentials include theory instruction and hands-on competency testing, and they can be earned and stacked to achieve competency along different professional pathways.
The micro-credential aligned classes can be taken at more than 300 colleges nationwide that are SACA members. While they’re typically attended by employees seeking new skills, high school students can also take them to earn career and technical education (CTE) credits, or college students can take them to earn credit towards two-year and four-year degrees in various states including Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan and Florida.
To attract better-educated, candidates and retain newly micro-credentialed staffers, Leiva adds that each company’s managers and leaders must talk directly with their team members, spend time with them, and know what they’re doing to develop a genuine sense of community. They must also reach out to and get involved with local community colleges and regional workforce agencies, develop curriculums and help teach them, and organize internships, co-ops programs and apprenticeships.
“Many community colleges have huge success rates with co-ops and apprenticeships, so much so that many students are hired before graduation,” adds Leiva. “This often means the colleges have to work with employers to have students
hired early finish their degrees, so they’ll have a more complete set of the skills for future jobs.”
Because digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are emerging and evolving so quickly, retraining and updating skills with modular methods like micro-credentialing is more important than ever.
“AI is the latest example of new technology that can assist users in their jobs and complex tasks. In manufacturing, AI can help users avoid errors like performing steps out of sequence,” says Leiva. “Previously, workers with specialized skills often did the same jobs for many years. Now, technologies are changing quickly and a more flexible workforce is needed that can handle a broader variety of jobs. This means employees will likely come to depend more on digital work instructions, including accessing micro-learning videos while performing the job. AI and other digital tools can help, but workers will also need to develop a new mindset that includes embracing and practicing continual education to regularly refresh their skills via closer, ongoing partnerships between workers, employers, and educators. Industry-vetted, micro-credentials can provide a framework for that education.”
Fisher ValveLink and AMS software link up with SpartanPRO Connect software and Iris cloud-based analytics to save $7.6 million over six years
DEALING with shutdown trips is no picnic for any process application, but they’re even more painful when facilities are spread over 465 miles. This was the reality faced by Canadian potash producer Nutrien (nutrien.com) at its mining sites extending northwest from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The company presently uses Emerson’s (emerson.com) AMS Device Manager to coordinate maintenance and reliability, including AMS Device Manager Wireless Snap-On and Alert Monitor Snap-On applications, Fisher ValveLink and ValveLink Solo applications, as well as Emerson’s AMS Trex Device Communicators. They let Nutrien’s staff use tuning practices and control philosophies to maximize efficiencies and identify savings.
However, despite these advantages, the company didn’t have a way to use AMS Device Manager and ValveLink to proactively identify failing assets at its mining facilities. More specifically, the challenges confronting Nutrien included:
• No formal, shared, site-based tracking system and database to record maintenance for more than 3,000 instrumentation assets from multiple manufacturers;
• Limited available site personnel at each potash mine; and
• Insufficient training on newly installed equipment.
“Depending on the run, a failure could cost $75,000 to $100,000 USD per hour,” says Ryley Blyth, instrument asset specialist at Spartan
by Jim Montague
Figure 1: To create better visibility into pending equipment failures at its potash mining sites, Nutrien worked with Spartan Controls to analyze about 300 control valve assemblies during outages at its pilot site in Allan, Saskatchewan; implemented remote access and monitoring to set alerts in Emerson’s AMS Device Manager and alert Monitor Snap-On software; adopted SpartanPRO Connect software on about 218 valves and 3,500 measurement devices at the pilot facility; and used remote monitoring to save about $7.6 million or 15,000 tonnes in the past six years. Source: Nutrien
Controls (www.spartancontrols.com), an Emerson Impact Partner that helped Nutrien create better visibility into pending equipment failures. “The company’s first goal was to identify weak links before they could break— and even catch problems before operators could see them.”
Nutrien and Spartan started by analyzing about 300 control valve assemblies during outages at its Allan, Saskatchewan, pilot site (Figure 1). This included monitoring transmitters and positioners to identify device failures, and proactively repairing issues identified during testing.
“The big picture goal was to work our way up to Nutrien’s Rocanville facility because it's the largest producing mine,” explains Blyth. “However, the
biggest initial roadblock was the travel required to each site, involving many kilometers and many hours of travel time.”
Nutrien could realize big cost savings with remote access and monitoring by an instrument asset specialist (IAS), which could correctly set device alerts in AMS Device Manager and Alert Monitor Snap-On to focus on the most important ones, and work with onsite technicians to decide what to do.
To establish the necessary links for remote monitoring, the partners initially implemented SpartanPRO Connect software on about 218 valves and measurement devices at Nutrien’s pilot facility, which let them access staff at the Spartan Controls Automation Centre in Calgary, Alberta, and use Iris cloud-based analysis and documentation services. This enabled reports for supervisors and technicians, approval
and work execution orders, and established a feedback loop with SpartanPRO for subsequent updates.
“Any special finds or gotchas can be shared among the instrument groups at each site,” adds Blyth. “This allows best practices for setting up instruments, and spreads valve assembly set up and tuning standards across all sites. Likewise, nuisance or irrelevant alerts can be eliminated by using cross-site sharing.”
Common detectable deficiencies in the valves included:
• Poor tuning,
• Friction or torque,
• Trim erosion,
• Actuator or accessory leaks,
• Low air supply pressure or volume,
• Plugging,
• Positioner or travel feedback failure,
• Incorrect bench set,
• Insufficient seat load, and
• Improper travel
Common detectable deficiencies in the measurement devices included:
• Electronics failure,
• Sensor failure or degradation,
• Low or high temperatures,
• Sensor over-range,
• Grounding issues, and
• Process out-of-limit conditions
“Using diagnostics in ValveLink during outages or turnarounds makes it easier to predict future valve failures. The most common issue in potash mining is torque increases in rotary valve signatures,” adds Blyth. “After testing and analysis, new trim can be ordered ahead of a scheduled outage, and installed during planned downtime. Catching these issues early prevents problems from propagating into process controls.”
Andrew Galambos, journeyman instrument technician at Nutrien, explains, “We usually have planned downtime for a day every two weeks. During that time, we can usually examine 90 to 140
In another recent project, Nutrien sought to release data from equipment, and use it to improve throughput and productivity, predict equipment failures, and achieve new insights. As the world’s largest producer of potash and the third largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer, Nutrien generates and stores data in many different forms and locations, such as plant automation systems, plant data historians, machinery protection at its 14 worldwide, nitrogen-production plants. This variety makes their data difficult to coordinate and consolidate, and requires performing labor-intensive, inefficient manual tasks to extract and share it.
Consequently, Nutrien required a facility-based platform that could combine data from different production systems and applications, and expose and relay enterprise-scale amounts of process data to a cloud-computing service, which could support data sharing across the organization and enable access to higherlevel advanced analytics. The company adopted Aspen Technology Inc.’s (aspentech. com) Inmation open-source software recommended by Spartan Controls to securely extract, centralize, manage and contextualize operations data from devices and enterprises, aggregate it with a data lake on Amazon Web Services (AWS.amazon. com), make it accessible to users, and centralize, manage and contextualize it for further analysis.
On the plant-floor, Inmation connects to Nutrien’s distributed controls and safety systems, PLCs, historians, manufacturing execution systems (MES) and maintenance management systems (MMS). It provides central management for orchestrating data movement from its initial locations across legacy networks and firewalls. Once data from each facility is collected, it flows from Inmation to AWS via Apache Kafka’s opensource, distributed, event-streaming platform and AWS’ IoT Core software.
“Inmation connects to AWS through MQTT publish-subscribe networking, Kafka, Kinesis or a web-based application program interface (API) that lets us choose which use case is better served by one or the other,” says Daniel Funk, senior data services manager at Nutrien. “Even though we don’t need it yet, I can see how this level of flexibility will be huge for us.”
Nutrien refers to its data lake as its Insights platform, which its business teams can access, work in, and securely explore consolidated content to improve uptime, make processes and equipment more reliable, and drive production improvements.
“This new capability is being implemented with minimal site effort, but it securely unlocks a bunch of data,” explains Funk. “We can access data with Inmation that used to just sit on the shopfloor, or took a lot of effort to extract, and perform new types of analysis for near real-time insights. It’s hard to have experts everywhere, especially in more remote locations. However, if we have experts that can see everything and share knowledge, we can solve problems faster and more efficiently across sites.”
Similarly, Nutrien plan to use AWS’ Industrial Data Platform to scale its work with a build-once, deploy-anywhere approach. Because moving to a single, common data lake means each site no longer does its own cloud implementation, Nutrien can also reduce the security risks of independent teams potentially using bespoke solutions that may not be as secure by default. In some cases, it’s also expected to let plants migrate from older solutions that aren’t as secure.
“It’s great to run development and exploration on AWS,” adds Funk. “Not everything ends up going to production, but when it does, we no longer have to stitch things together from desktops and servers, where we downloaded data to build and test. Plus, we can deploy it anywhere.”
valves. However, our log files were previously in Microsoft Word with entries that were typed in manually.”
More benefits, fewer shutdowns
Beyond turning up physical issues and required fixes, remote access
Address of
(Not
and monitoring also enabled Nutrien’s mentorship efforts. These occurred in several onsite areas, including system maintenance, device training, configuration, alert interpretation and setup best practices. The company could also offer formal, in-person training in Saskatoon,
Media, LLC, 201 N Main Street, Ste. 5, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538
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which was less costly than traveling to Edmonton, Alberta.
Thanks to the success of its remote monitoring pilot, Nutrien expanded its alert monitoring program from its initial 218 devices to more than 3,500 that handle temperature, pressure, flow density, level and valve control.
Remote monitoring also helped Nutrien prevent a shutdown of the alcohol injection process that keeps natural gas control at its Rocanville site from freezing during the winter. Located between the digital valve controller (DVC) and the actuator for natural gas, this injection assembly consists of a remotemount travel feedback isolated from the harsh, ambient environment.
“This is arguably the most critical valve at Rocanville because its failure would cause a plant shutdown and halt potash production,” says Blyth. “Initial diagnostics in 2019-20 showed this injection valve assembly was healthy and performing well, but diagnostics in 2021 showed signs it was leaking instrument air between the DVC and the actuator. The injector unit was disassembled, and a leak was found in its fittings, which were replaced before reassembly. Further testing showed the leak issue was resolved and the valve was operating normally.”
Likewise, testing indicated that a brine addition assembly at Nutrien’s Allan mine had a repeatable travel shift in its performance signature, and a field inspection showed that its feedback assembly was seized and cracked. A failure like this could cut production by 459 tonnes per hour.
Blyth adds that remote valve monitoring allowed many of these tasks to be digitalized, which saves more time. “The staff can go through their alerts and pre-plan maintenance more quickly,” he says. “Over about six years, remote monitoring enabled Nutrien to prevent significant downtime and production losses. In fact, tracked by Iris data analytics, the company has saved about $7.6 million or 15,000 tonnes.”
Control ’s monthly resources guide
CONTEXT CONSIDERATIONS
This 16-page guide, “Product focus: power products,” starts with a general introduction to all kinds of devices used in process control and automation applications, including DC supplies, converters, AC transformers, distribution blocks, circuit breakers, surge protectors, line filters, outlets, monitoring devices and panel meters. It also covers selection issues, such as input and output voltages, currents, mounting, environmental ratings, ripple, derating, redundancy and buffer modules, transformers and battery backups. It’s at cdn.automationdirect. com/static/press/Automationdirectpower.pdf
AUTOMATIONDIRECT www.automationdirect.com
REGULATE FOR CONSISTENCY
This four-minute video, “Power fundamentals: regulated power supplies,” is part of the “Control cabinet classroom” series. It covers the need for consistent power, linear-regulated components, primary switch-mode devices, and compact versions. It’s at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt3_ k7PNn6k. The series begins with “Power fundamentals: category overview,” and covers surge protection, power conversion, monitoring and distribution. It’s located at www.youtube. com/watch?v=zPcuVBd8s3k PHOENIX CONTACT www.phoenixcontact.com
PROGRAMMABLE
This online article, “Power supply fundamentals: modes of Operation, remote sense, ripple and noise,” compares constant current and constant voltage, shows how to take measurements, and covers accurate voltage
measurement with remote sensing, common specifications and choosing the right device. It’s at tinyurl.com/ afv45nx9
NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS www.ni.com
This 10-minute video, “How 24 VDC power supply issue affect PLC I/O accuracy,” explains how power supply issues can impact digital sensor connections and analog sensor loops. It also covers ripple, overload, unregulated supplies, voltage drops, 24 VDC requirements, diagnostics, and detecting overloads and voltage drops. It’s at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gi2bchtCE-0
REALPARS realpars.com
These two online articles, “The industrial automation dilemma: part 1—industrial control architecture” and “The industrial automation dilemma: part 2—synchronous regulators improve the power system,” cover voltage regulation, control architectures, DC-to-DC conversion, and high-voltage synchronous regulation. The first article is at tinyurl.com/a3k4n9r9 and includes a link to the second.
ANALOG DEVICES www.analog.com
This online article, “Automation: industrial power supplies,” covers basic concepts and operations, switchmode power supply (SMPS) types and topologies, differentiating characteristics, and applications like motor starting, circuit protection, decoupling redundant, parallel supplies, remote
operations and communications, and concludes with a glossary. It’s at tinyurl.com/5fv7u64w
ELEMENT14 COMMUNITY community.element14.com
This 10-minute video, “Industrial control panels in-depth look, part 1: power distribution,” covers power types and identification for safety, disconnects and branch/supplementary protection, proper grounding, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and conversion, power-fail relays, and AC-DC conversion using transformers. It’s at www. youtube.com/watch?v=1spLdOKVg94, which links to the rest of RSP's series.
RSP SUPPLY www.rspsupply.com
This online article, “Practical applications of PLC-based power supply control systems,” covers supply control via analog signals, RS-232C/RS-485 serial communications, application example, supply control via EtherCAT protocol, and industrial Ethernet. It’s at www.matsusada.com/column/plc.html
MATSUSADA www.matsusada.com
This 24-page document, “Fundamentals of DC power supplies,” covers linear, switched-mode and mixed architectures, output response and power, remote sensing, built-in measurements, digital voltmeters, graphical views, accuracy and resolution, logging, control and analog interfaces, safety, arbitrary and ramp functions. It’s at tinyurl.com/4wwh3bnb ROHDE & SCHWARZ www.rohde-schwarz.com
Device-level components diversify capabilities to take on multiple new responsibilities
PACSystems RX3i CPS400 safety controller enables SIL2 strategies. It's compact, secure and scalable with 2,000 I/O points, and has pre-built, certified blocks and templates. RX3i CPS400 has 64 megabytes of memory and a scalable, digital architecture, and uses built-in protocols, including OPC UA, Ethernet Global Data (EGD), and Modbus TCP. Available in simplex or redundant configurations, RX3i CPS400 relays safety data via duplex communications using black-channel over EGD.
EMERSON www.emerson.com/en-us/catalog/emerson-ic695cps400
EL14xx and EL24xx
EtherCAT terminals enable flexible logic configuration in I/O, and add an input filter. EL14xx’s I/O are all 24 V DC with a 3 ms input filter, and include three with 16-channel, digital inputs, one with a 32-channel, digital input, and positive or ground switching or both. EL24xx’s I/O are all 24 V DC, and include two with 16-channel, digital inputs, one with a 32-channel, digital input, and positive or ground switching.
BECKHOFF AUTOMATION
www.beckhoff.com/en-us/products/i-o/ethercat-terminals/el1xxx-digital-input or .../el2xxx-digital-output
NT2140 discrete AC I/O module has joined the BusWorks NT Ethernet I/O family, and provides six 120 V or 240 V AC optocoupler inputs for sensing voltages, plus two DC logic I/O channels to monitor/control TTL or 0-32 V logic levels. Its network interface supports Modbus TCP/IP, EtherNet/IP or Profinet, while an OPC UA server, MQTT client, and RESTful API support IIoT applications. NTE Ethernet models provide dual RJ45 ports, while NTX expansion modules add extra I/O channels. ACROMAG 248-295-0880; www.acromag.com
Twin Link point-to-point, wireless I/O devices from Define Instruments create a dedicated, bidirectional radio link between a pre-paired set to transmit analog or digital signals with minimal setup. These signals can be transmitted up to 0.9 miles line-of-sight or 500 feet through walls, while up to 15 repeaters improve their signal path or extend ranges. Twin Links’ sender/receiver pair accepts thermocouple, RTD, mA or frequency inputs, and provides two isolated, 4-20 mA outputs.
AUTOMATIONDIRECT
www.automationdirect.com/wireless-io
Push-in technology is now available in Harmony XB4 and XB5 22-mm contact and indicator blocks. Users simply connect wires to the block behind the pushbutton head. Because the wire is constantly in contact with the spring, there’s no need for tighten ing and no risk of vibrations loosening the cable. Harmony XB4 and XB5 are also 37% thinner than spring clamps, making them easier to fit into tight spaces.
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
www.se.com/us/en/product-range/61148-harmony-xb4-xb5-pushbuttons
Pisa-M four-channel, electronic circuit breakers (ECB) include six models that are 22.5 mm wide, and can be integrated into 12 V or 24 V systems without manual configuration. Its variations include 4ADJ modules that are adjustable, allowing each output channel to be set to the required current value from 1 to 8 A. Pisa-M also has fixed-output current settings, including 2 A, 4 A, 6 A, 8 A and NEC Class 2, which provide up to four protected NEC Class 2 loads from one power supply.
PULS products.pulspower.com/en/pisa-m-electronic-circuit-breakers
Mini Analog Pro Ex signal conditioners are intrinsically safe (IS), internationally Ex (Ex-i) approved, certified up to SIL 3 1oo1 (one out of one), and energy-limit to isolate, convert, filter and amplify signals in hazardous areas. They're 6.2 mm to save space in width and between cable ducts. and feature a current loop test. Mini Analog Pro Ex's protocol adapters can also integrate up to eight signals without interference.
PHOENIX CONTACT
LB/FB remote I/O systems consist of the slimmest available modules, and make analog field devices compat ible with digital communications. Existing cables can continue to be used. LB/FB feature a modular design, and can be installed in the immediate vicinity of sensors, even in Zones 1 and 2. They include a backplane, power supply, I/O modules and a gateway. LB remote I/O system is suitable for non-hazardous areas and for Zone 2/Div. 2. FB remote I/O system is available for Zone 1.
www.phoenixcontact.com/en-pc/milestone-miniaturization-minianalog-pro
OMX 333iUNI isolated, universal-input signal conditioner is control-programmable, and can be configured to use one of 10 input types. Each model has multiple ranges, while cold junction compensation (CJC) is provided for thermocouples. Output options are analog and RS 485 with ASCII and Modbus RTU. It also features accuracy to ±0.05% of full scale, depending on input type, settable measurement rate from 1 to 400 per second, and galvanic isolation of 2.5 kV AC.
BRISTOL INSTRUMENTS
877-866-8500; www.bristolinstruments.com
PEPPERL+FUCHS
www.pepperl-fuchs.com
RPS-429AA-40P-IS2 ultrasonic, intrinsically safe (IS) sensor performs precise measurements in explosive atmospheres and other hazardous areas without costly downtime. It fea tures approvals for use in Europe (ATEX), internationally (IECEx), and in North America (C-ULUS); built-in temperature compensation to provide accurate readings; IP66/IP67rated enclosure; and a user-friendly interface with a 4-20 mA 2-wire current loop design.
MIGATRON CORP.
815-338-5800; www.migatron.com/product/rps-429a-is
A102 actuator/ sensor cables are engineered for tray, onmachine and incabinet applications. Featuring 300 V, PLTC-ER and 600 V, TC-ER ratings, plus AWM 1,000 V approval, they offer flexible routing and exposed-run capability. Their durable, yellow, PVC jacket ensures resistance to hazards, making them ideal for IO-Link systems. This addition is reported to fill a gap in tray-rated sensor cabling, streamlining installation and reducing costs for OEMs, panel builders and contractors. LUTZE 800-447-2371; www.lutze.com
NXR Series IP67, remote I/O with IOLink networking streamlines operations across multiple organizational levels. It reduces inventory and setup time, offering a flexible solution for easier IIoT adoption. Combining IO-Link and digital I/O in one part number, NXR Series is available in EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT models. The EtherCAT model features PC-less maintenance for quick field replacement.
OMRON AUTOMATION
800-556-6766; automation.omron.com/en/ us/products/family/Remote-IO-NXR-Series
A look at input signal filtering, the problems it causes and solutions
Gregory K. McMillan captures the wisdom of talented leaders in process control, and adds his perspective based on more than 50 years of experience, cartoons by Ted Williams, and (web-only) Top 10 lists. Find more of Greg's conceptual and principle-based knowledge in his Control Talk blog. Greg welcomes comments and column suggestions at ControlTalk@ endeavorb2b.com
THIS is the first in a new series of discussions on ensuring data integrity for process control and industrial automation systems with Mike Glass, owner of Orion Technical Solutions. Orion specializes in instrumentation, automation training and skills assessments.
GREG: Mike, there's been considerable discussion lately about using advanced technology and artificial intelligence (AI) for predictive maintenance and improved plant control. Since good data is paramount to good process control, process safety and accurate analytics, I’d like to discuss issues related to data quality and integrity in I&C systems.
MIKE: Let's start by talking about signal filtering, which is both a logical first step and one of the biggest problem areas. Instruments inherently experience noise from process fluctuations and physical phenomena, such as differential pressure (DP) variations in flow measurements, surface turbulence in level sensors, induced electrical noise and others.
GREG: What are practical examples of how improper filtering affects different systems?
MIKE: In process control, inadequately filtered pressure fluctuations in a DP flow measurement might cause the PID loop to continually adjust the control valve, potentially causing premature valve failure through excessive cycling, among other problems. Excess filtering can make control difficult or even impossible.
For process safety, insufficient damping creates nuisance alarms and trips, while excessive damping could prevent safety systems from responding when truly needed.
With data analytics, poor filtering leads to corrupted data, resulting in phantom patterns that don't reflect actual process conditions, as well as incorrect conclusions.
GREG: Can you talk more about the aliasing problems you mentioned?
MIKE: Consider a level transmitter connected to an analog input sampling at 100 msec intervals. Without proper damping, the analog card captures random snapshots of the noisy signal at each sample interval. Once these digital sample snapshots are taken, their errors become permanently embedded in the digital data. If that noise is properly filtered at the source (the transmitter), aliasing errors are minimized, and the digitalized data will better represent actual measurements.
GREG: What about filtering in the controller via a filter block or similar logic function?
MIKE: I refer to this practice as “smoothing” instead of filtering because it’s different from filtering out noise. Once an error is digitally captured (the sampling snapshot), it can’t be effectively removed by smoothing with downstream filters.
To smooth aliasing errors, downstream filtering must be set very slow (high time constant), and this excessively filtered PV will likely lag behind the process during faster transients.
GREG: I’ve observed these mistakes as well. Why do you think this happens so often?
MIKE: The primary reason is because controller-based filtering is legitimately easier to track and control—a valid concern because field personnel often make mistakes when setting transmitter damping.
Some engineers feel it’s easier to have zero-damping and perform filtering inside the controller, but that can be problematic, especially on fast loops with high levels of noise.
GREG: How do you teach the concepts of filtering and damping?
MIKE: I start with the basics of observing good and bad filtering directly to visualize why it happens, and then visualize the concepts as much as possible.
Typically, I make filtering adjustments to a system, while observing the changes with a simulation, and then on our physical training stations.
The filtering discussion naturally leads to questions and a discussion about time constants, so I let that play out naturally via questions and discussion during lab exercises.
One lab exercise students perform to conceptualize the math of time constants is using an RTD simulator fed to an RTD transmitter, and then doing the following:
• Set transmitter damping (time constant) to 5 seconds. Then set the initial calibrator output to 0 ºF, letting it stabilize.
• Next, set the RTD simulator to 100 ºF (conveniently 100% in this example), and observe the response. I do this in the up and down direction several times, and ask the students to predict and record where the reading is at each 5-second interval. I repeat this exercise with different time constants until we can predict the readings at various time intervals.
I also ask the students what would happen if I only waited 15-20 seconds to record or adjust a calibration reading on that transmitter. Of course, the answer is that it will introduce a notable error into the calibration.
GREG: What are approaches for setting damping on a field transmitter?
MIKE: There are several approaches depending on what equipment is available and on details such as input card sampling rates, comms bandwidth, trending capabilities and so forth. However, the core concept boils down to what I refer to as “mowing the grass without excavating the hill.” If we add
enough filtering that it slows the overall response (excavating the hill), it’s likely to cause problems.
I explain that the objective is to cut the grass (noise) as short as possible without changing the shape of the hill (actual process response). It sounds simplistic, but it works, especially after they see it in action.
GREG: You mentioned some dangerous scenarios that you witnessed related to damping earlier. Can you share an example?
MIKE: While assessing an experienced instrument technician, he proudly described recently "fixing" a level transmitter on an offshore platform. Heavy seas were causing fluid to slosh in a horizontal separator vessel, triggering alarms. His solution was to set damping to maximum (60 seconds), which completely smoothed out the reading. The problem he overlooked was that the vessel was still experiencing dangerous high and lows, but the process safety system saw nice smooth trends with no alarms or trips.
GREG: That’s certainly a sobering thought, and shows why it’s important for us to keep covering these things. I appreciate your input and insights, Mike, and look forward to our next chat as we continue to work our way through the I&C data path. Let’s start talking about the issues in the digital parts of the data path next year. Right now, here are some process control alerts. A filter time less than the largest time constant in a loop becomes a deadtime in a first-order plus deadtime approximation. The ultimate limit to the peak and integrated error for a load disturbance is proportional to the deadtime and deadtime squared, respectively, for a large process time constant. The actual practical limit to the integrated error is proportional to the PID reset time plus filter time. Studies with a reset time much larger than optimum falsely concluded that the effect of a particularly large filter time is negligible.
MIKE: I greatly enjoy collaborating on these talks. Hopefully some of these insights will prove helpful to your readers, and help their plants run better and more safely.
Anyone up for shooting ourselves in the foot?
JIM MONTAGUE executive editor jmontague@endeavorb2b.com
“Long-ago recognized and discredited as indirect taxes on consumers in the nation trying to impose them, tariffs were minimized and restrained in recent decades because no one wanted to be blamed for their brainless drawbacks. Well, the blinders are back on.”
MY few remaining friends and relatives can confirm I’m a longtime fan of the lazy-man’s load. You know, carrying more and heavier items in increasingly precarious positions to avoid making safe and annoying extra trips.
Well, my devotion cost me plenty a few weeks ago, when my shopping cart with 80 pounds of kitty litter and 50 cans of cat food went off a curb, and I tried to use my lightning reflexes and pea brain to save it. I was reflexively unwilling to let go, allow the cart to fall, and go and pick it up. Instead, I held on, tumbled over it, and mashed my thigh muscle into a severe contusion and grapefruit-sized hematoma. This required a two-day hospital stay, and is still expected to take several months to reabsorb and heal. Brilliant, and even more so because it was easily avoidable.
Just a little side advice: be cautious about blood thinners. They may be good at reducing stroke risks, in my case, reportedly from 1.5% to less than 1%. However, the downside is they don’t just make shaving nicks hard to coagulate. They can turn simple bumps and bruises into more serious injuries, especially near the cranium. So, thoroughly quiz your clinicians, and be persistent because I’ve found many as difficult to interview as my most reticent and closed-mouthed sources.
Anyway, perhaps it’s my as-needed, opioid, painkillers talking, but I couldn’t help noticing multiple parallels between my own physical foolishness and the tariff-driven tempest tossing the Top 50 global and North American automation suppliers in this issue’s “Braced for a beating?” cover story (p. 20). They’re all facing the usual do-more-with-less pressures they’ve always encountered. And, since the COVID-19 pandemic waned in recent years, perhaps the biggest challenge was digitalization, and migrating many formerly hardware-based functions to software, which have been greatly energized by the matchless hype of artificial intelligence (AI) and its many permutations.
Unfortunately, the real monkey wrench this past year has been the Trump Administration’s arbitrary and chaotic imposition of unnecessary and self-destructive tariffs on products, nations and markets worldwide. Long-ago recognized and discredited as indirect taxes on consumers in the nation trying to impose them, tariffs were generally minimized and restrained in recent decades because no one wanted to participate in or be blamed for their brainless drawbacks, which also hobble jobs and companies in related industries. Well, the blinders are back on.
Maybe because I grew up there, I think tariffs are very similar to three-card Monte (no relation I know of) that reappears on the streets of New York and elsewhere every couple of decades. This ancient con from the 15th century periodically reemerges, and flourishes like measles after enough suckers have forgotten about it, and a new generation grows up thinking their awareness and/or their community’s shared immunity doesn’t require maintenance.
I used to be equally mystified by anti-immigrant sentiment, arguments and attacks in the U.S. and Europe. This is because I remember one of their biggest economic problems used to be—and still is—millions of unfilled jobs, and declining birthrates including looming, negative population growth. So, what’s the response when hundreds of thousands of people want to come and work for minimal pay, learn our languages, largely assimilate, and have their kids grow up in our educational system? Do we welcome them, and invest in some housing and training? Heck no. Keep them out, and violently attack immigrant families and communities that are already here, and typically working hard and paying taxes like everyone else.
Talk about an epic example of shooting ourselves in the foot for nothing. Brilliant, and also easily avoidable.
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