Technology
SPE as universal communicator advances IT/OT convergence SOURCE: PANDUIT
An industry expert provides a retrospective on the evolution of industry, the technology that enables it and how leaders can view their operations through a single pane of glass. As use cases and adoption of Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) continue to grow, so do our capabilities of actually making effective use of convergence.
“CONVERGENCE”, OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS or so, has become one of our industry’s most bastardized buzzwords. This once-novel concept has been relegated to an eye-roll inducing marketing fodder that has all but lost any real world meaning. Or has it? As we crossed the one year mark of living and working in the COVID era, I couldn’t help but reflect on the changes that industry has been through over the past few years. Changes that helped industrial manufacturing adapt during a year of unexpected and unprecedented operational and economic challenges.
Some changes better than others
Like most organizational bodies, the standards community moved to 100 percent virtual settings to conduct business. We were able to maintain effectiveness and accomplish goals, but it became abundantly clear that when it comes to clear communication there’s no substitute being in a room with somebody. Exchanging the option of asking a colleague to discuss the information they presented at a conference over a beer or coffee for the option of learning more by extending a three hour Zoom call isn’t something any rational person would prefer. Reflecting on this one change affirmed something that previously felt equal parts obvious and radical: That clear and direct communication is the key to developing and deploying the innovations that will define the future of manufacturing. This principle applies to both communication between people and the machines we rely on to build what we sell. For people, improved communication enabled convergence.
Walking down memory lane
Speaking as a representative of the OT community, I can say that we’ve benefited greatly from our IT brethren. The first spark of effective convergence that I recall goes
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back about 8 or 10 years when virtualization was new to OT and we were researching use cases and determining how to best productize the practice. We would have been working from square one if not for an IT colleague who decided to cross the IT/OT barrier by offering to share what he knew about virtualization -something that had been used in building automation for while at that point -- over a cup of coffee. Back then an invitation for IT/OT collaboration was rare because ambiguity surrounding which team was responsible for different data moving through our facility created an environment of perpetual territorial tension. We don’t do that anymore. We’ve evolved as people, professionals, and technologists and through years of improved communication we’ve learned to speak a lot of the same language. The Manufacturing IT discipline is an example of our evolution. Effective convergence is easier to realize with people who are capable of understanding control and process needs but can also bring the rigor to communicate clearly with the corporate IT folks. But the human element is only one side of the convergence coin. Unlocking the full potential of convergence requires that our machines also speak the same language and communicate clearly; with us and each other.
Current state of convergence
Convergence is already occurring in the modern industrial space and although each company may apply the practice a bit differently than the next, they all have the same question: What’s the next step to take full advantage of it?” Technology moves quickly and increased adoption of more sophisticated tech like IIoT devices means more bandwidth, more information, and more data...but the same
challenges with gateways. This is why companies that embrace the latest network solutions have the best foundations from a convergence standpoint and the best opportunity to take advantage of new data streams. Utilizing advanced elements of virtualization and automation, like digital twin, enables machine learning algorithms that find opportunities to optimize plant efficiency. Automating the data analysis gives plant operators a profound advantage. Since they’re spending less time manipulating data sets, they can focus on assessing the problem and deploying intelligent solutions. So what’s the catch? What’s the most promising network upgrade companies can deploy to realize all of the hypothetical benefits that propelled convergence to buzzword status?
SPE: universal communicator
Convergence can deliver the information needed to optimize efficiency in any scenario. Game changing agility is possible, but not as accessible when the critical information at the edge of the OT network is running on various protocols and needs to be translated. The sources of the mission critical information that’s absolutely needed to transact the manufacturing process, the components that are typically acquired from your favorite automation providers, are engineered to deliver specific data but not to connect any dots that will help increase operational efficiencies. Operating at peak performance requires more than networking analog and legacy machines by installing sensors throughout the plant floor, uploading data sets to the cloud and looking for trends. It’s possible that valuable insights can be discovered this way but they won’t give you access to the most critical element of
in d u s t r ial et h er ne t b o o k
06.2021
