Automation World August 2022

AUGUST 2022 / www.AutomationWorld.com

34 FIELDBUS AND 4-20MA IN THE AGE OF IOT 12 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Section 06 08 40 42

Digital Twin Application Considerations Schneider Electric Continues its Open Automation Journey Johnson & Johnson’s Secure Data Pipeline New Product Spotlight: Festo and Universal Robots

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CONTENTS 3 AW AUGUST 2022

AUGUST 2022 | VOLUME 20 | NUMBER 8

EDITORIAL

David Greenfield Director of Content/Editor-in-Chief dgreenfield@automationworld.com / 678 662 3322 Stephanie Neil Senior Editor sneil@automationworld.com / 781 378 1652 Victoria Sanchez Managing Editor vsanchez@pmmimediagroup.com / 571-612-3200 x9298 James R. Koelsch, Lauren Paul, Jeanne Schweder and Beth Stackpole Contributing Writers

ART & PRODUCTION

Filippo Riello Marketing & Digital Publishing Art Director friello@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1200 George Shurtleff Ad Services & Production Manager gshurtleff@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1170

34 FEATURE 34

Making Sense of Industrial Networks: Fieldbus and 4-20mA in the Age of IoT

This installment in our series on key industrial network technologies explains why fieldbus and 4-20mA communications remain relevant despite the proliferation of Ethernet-based communications in industry’s digital transformation.

ADVERTISING

Kurt Belisle Publisher kbelisle@pmmimediagroup.com / 815 549 1034 West Coast Jim Powers Regional Manager jpowers@automationworld.com / 312 925 7793 Midwest, Southwest, and East Coast Kelly Greeby Senior Director, Client Success & Media Operations Alicia Pettigrew Director, Product Strategy

AUDIENCE & DIGITAL

CASE STUDY 40

David Newcorn Executive Vice President Elizabeth Kachoris Senior Director, Digital & Data Jen Krepelka Director, Websites + UX/UI

How Johnson & Johnson’s Secure Data Pipeline Helped Speed Covid-19 Vaccine Production

PMMI MEDIA GROUP

Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform and Cirrus Link’s MQTT modules are the heart of this secure data pipeline built for Johnson & Johnson by system integrator Automated Control Concepts.

ONLINE 4

Exclusive content from AutomationWorld.com: videos, podcasts, webinars, and more

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS 6 Digital Twin Application Considerations

BATCH OF IDEAS 8

Schneider Electric Continues its Open Automation Journey

Kurt Belisle Publisher kbelisle@pmmimediagroup.com / 815 549 1034 Reed Simonsis Brand Operations Manager rsimonsis@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 205 7919 Sharon Taylor Director of Marketing staylor@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1710 Amber Miller Marketing Manager amiller@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1130 Janet Fabiano Financial Services Manager jfabiano@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1330 All Automation World editorial is copyrighted by PMMI Media Group, Inc. including printed or electronic reproduction.

Magazine and Web site editorial may not be reproduced in any form without thewritten permission of the publisher.

NEWS 10

Siemens Expands Xcelerator, Begins Industrial Metaverse Development PMMI News Cyber Attacks Spread Along Influx of Technology

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SECTION 12 NEW PRODUCTS 42

NEW PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Festo Adds Motion Control to Universal Robots’ Cobots Linear Position Transducers Industrial Ethernet Encoders Medium Voltage Drive Industrial Metal Binder Jet 3D Printer

Automation World | PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611 Phone: 312 222 1010 | Fax: 312 222 1310 www.automationworld.com PMMI The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies 12930 Worldgate Dr., Suite 200, Herndon VA, 20170 Phone: 571 612 3200 • Fax: 703 243 8556 www.pmmi.org

KEY INSIGHTS 46

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4 ONLINE

AW AUGUST 2022

PODCAST SERIES Why Choose the Cloud for Engineering and Simulation Software?

How Emerson’s DeltaV Simulation Cloud is used to effectively train operators, what industries are using it, and how cloud-based engineering and simulation software stacks up to on-premises software.

AUTOMATION WORLD TV How SaaS and MaaS Impact Industry

From lowering barriers to entry to changing capex and opex strategies, software and machines as-a-service are changing the business of technology and manufacturing.

Watch this Take Five video to learn more.

EDITORS’ INSIGHTS ON VIDEO The Evolution of Robotics Engineering

Otto Motors and HP offer simulation and 3D printing technologies to improve robot performance.

AUTOMATION WORLD E-BOOK Augmented Reality Gets to Work

With their ability to minimize operator errors, reduce training time, and enable remote assistance, augmented and virtual reality technologies are seeing a growth in interest amid the pandemic. Read the full E-book to learn more about how these technologies are proving to be an operator’s best friend in discrete and process manufacturing.

SYSTEM INTEGRATOR BLOGS • Qualification and Validation Fluency: A Must Have for Highly Regulated Industries • The Significance of Historians • Enabling Human-Centric Manufacturing Through Digital Operations • Implementation of a Data Pump with Ignition • Retrofit or Upgrade: What’s Best for Your Facility?

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6 EDITORIAL AW AUGUST 2022

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS

Digital Twin Application Considerations

By David Greenfield

dgreenfield@automationworld.com Editor-In-Chief/ Director of Content

T

he emergence of the metaverse and Web 3.0 is adding to the possibilities around augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), simulation, and digital twin technologies. But it’s also creating some confusion given the multiple definitions circulating around each technology.

While the metaverse and Web 3.0 are something to keep an eye on, industrial use of these technologies is still likely years away from being a practical reality for use in most production operations. But simulation and digital twin technologies are here today and have been implemented by manufacturers and processors in multiple industry verticals. To answer a reader question about how digital twins work in practice in industry, we connected with Dan Riley from system integrator Interstates for a recent episode of the “Automation World Gets Your Questions Answered” podcast series.

To begin, we asked Dan to explain the digital twin concept to help our listeners better understand how it can be applied to devices and machines as well as an entire production operation.

“Generally speaking, a digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object or process,” Riley said. “At its most basic level, a digital twin is comprehensive operational dashboard [of the device, machine, or factory it is representing].

Something that most manufacturers have in their plants—an HMI—could be seen as a basic digital twin, in a sense, because it is the digital representation of their process [that relies on real-time data inputs and outputs].”

Because of its ability to accurately reflect realtime operating conditions, digital twin technology can be used in research and development as well as testing and commissioning, Riley said. “OEMs and process engineering firms are using the technology

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to test and improve physical aspects of production like temperature controls and flow rates.”

Level of difficulty

Because digital twin technology can be so widely applied—from individual devices to entire plants, we asked Riley to discuss the difficulty of implementing it for a typical manufacturer.

“First, you’re going to need to have a basic understanding of the digital twin technology you’re using before you can really begin—and that means you need to have a solid plant network supporting all the assets you want to have digitized,” he said. “That includes your alarming events, MES (manufacturing execution system) database, and your maintenance databases. So, you really need to have a pretty mature model of your data ready and as clean as possible before implementing the digital twin. And, if you want to use your digital twin to adjust control parameters, then you’re going to need to have some write capabilities [from the digital twin back] to your PLC, which means you need to have some access in your network and platform that has write permissions.”

These core, pre-implementation steps mean that digital twin technology is not an entry-level digitization use case, said Riley. “It is an advanced use case that requires you to have a plan in place and data champions at key layers in the organization to get the most value out of a digital twin.”

As daunting as the selection and implementation of digital twins may be, Riley said manufacturers of all sizes are doing it with good success. “We work with plenty of mid-tier manufacturers using digital twin technology, though it is still mostly larger manufacturers using it.”

to do with it; for example, if you want to have AR/ VR capabilities, that platform is going to be more expensive than a digital twin technology that [only] provides a comprehensive dashboard.”

Riley says you can save costs on digital twin technology by first making an investment in preparing your data and having it well understood across your operations.

Because of its ability to accurately reflect realtime operating conditions, digital twin technology can be used in research and development as well as testing and commissioning.

Cost factors

Cost considerations related to digtital twin technologies will vary widely depending on what vendor you’re working with and how extensive your use of the digital twin will be.

To better anticipate these costs factors, Riley says its important to recognize that there are two groups of cost associated with digital twin technology. “First there will be the platform cost that’s going to enable you to do the digital twin. The cost of the platform will be affected by what you plan

Hear the full podcast discussion about digital twin applications.

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8 EDITORIAL AW AUGUST 2022

BATCH OF IDEAS

Schneider Electric Continues its Open Automation Journey

By Stephanie Neil

sneil@automationworld.com Senior Editor

S

chneider Electric is taking a bold step toward the future by completely changing its control architecture, moving away from the hardware-dependent system of the past to an open, software-centric automation model. The company is also building out a partner ecosystem that promotes collaboration and co-innovation with customers, integrators, and even competitors.

The strategy was outlined at a press conference during the ARC Industry Forum in Orlando in early June. But there have been clues over the past few years that this was coming.

In 2017, Schneider Electric acquired nxtControl, a developer of runtime software based on the IEC 61499 standard. IEC 61499 uses event-driven function blocks for industrial process measurement and control systems, allowing distribution of applications across multiple devices and systems. It is not a programming language, but a system design language for distributed information.

The goal here is application portability independent of hardware, and it feeds well into the efforts underway by the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF). In fact, nxtControl was used in the ExxonMobil proof of concept testbed for the Open Process Automation Standard (O-PAS), and paved the way for Schneider Electric’s next steps.

In April of 2021, Schneider Electric outlined a plan for universal automation in the form of “plugand-produce” automation software components based on the IEC 61499 standard.

And in November 2021, Schneider Electric launched UniversalAutomation.org as an independent non-profit association. The group’s mission is

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to design interoperable automation software that enables vendor-agnostic portable applications. This is done, not surprisingly, by using a shared-source IEC 61499 runtime engine.

UniversalAutomation promotes portability and reusability of hardware-independent software components that can be plugged together to build applications that are distributed to the hardware architecture of choice, as defined by the user. Of course, it means that control system technology suppliers would have to adopt the shared-source approach (it is not open source, it is shared). Suppliers add the runtime software to their hardware to open it up to application portability.

“We are trying to break hardware and software free [of each other] to give flexibility and an advantage to the customer,” said Andre Babineau, director of strategic initiatives for Schneider Electric, who reinforced the notion that UniversalAutomation. org is an independent organization that will eventually be fully managed by the members. There are currently 24 members, which includes end users like Shell and ExxonMobil and industrial suppliers such as Yokogawa, Phoenix Contact, and Belden. At the ARC Industry Forum, UniversalAutomation.org demonstrated the first plug-and-produce offer from six member companies.

In the spirit of collaboration, Babineau also mentioned Schneider Electric Exchange, where partners and customers can come together to solve problems and participate in a technology offering while protecting IP. To that end, the digital marketplace enables third parties to buy, sell, and promote products compatible with its EcoStruxure open, interoperable IoT-enabled system architecture and ecosystem of experts.

“We believe in openness, collaboration and coinovation. It will happen no matter what we do so we are not fighting it, we are embracing it,” Babineau said.

Also at the ARC Forum, Schneider Electric announced an agreement with Claroty to build on the existing relationship between the two companies, enabling Schneider Electric to integrate the Claroty platform into its technologies. This will enable Schneider Electric to better address new cybersecurity concerns, including protection,

safety, and insurance for industrial customers.

This agreement focuses on issues associated with the digital transformation, as more and more industrial enterprises are connecting previously isolated operations technology (OT) to corporate IT networks, while also introducing new IoT and industrial IoT assets into these converged OT/IT environments.

As a result, industrial systems have become more exposed to new kinds of cyber threats with serious implications for physical safety and the environment.

Separately, Schneider Electric also announced a collaboration with Intel to extend EcoStruxure Automation Expert by creating a Distributed Control Node (DCN) software framework complimented by an associated Intel processor-based DCN hardware offering.

By combining the performance, security, and deployment capabilities of Intel Edge Controls for Industrial (ECI) technology with EcoStruxure Automation Expert, the DCN framework can simplify and speed the development of softwaredefined control systems. Additionally, the DCN will enable EcoStruxure Automation Expert—a software-centric automation system—to scale faster and further in process industries, including energy and chemicals, mining, water/wastewater, pharmaceuticals and hybrid markets.

This DCN development, based on UniversalAutomation.org, helps EcoStruxure Automation Expert represent the first of a new era of automation software based on this shared runtime, Schneider Electric officials said

The group’s mission is to design interoperable automation software that enables vendor-agnostic portable applications.

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10 NEWS

AW AUGUST 2022

Siemens Expands Xcelerator, Begins Industrial Metaverse Development

By David Greenfield

Director of Content, Automation World

E

arlier this year, Siemens announced it is in the process of becoming a “tech company” with software at the center and a focus on the integration of IT and OT (operations technology). Key aspects of this transition include a greater focus on small- to-mid-sized businesses supported by expanded delivery of Siemens technology via software as a service (SaaS) along with targeted investments in cloud and edge computing, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and 5G. In June, Siemens made two additional announcements in line with this new direction: the launch of Siemens Xcelerator as an open digital business platform and a partnership with Nvidia using digital twin technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to create an industrial metaverse.

“Xcelerator is expanding, said Brenda Discher, senior vice president of business strategy and marketing at Siemens Digital Industries Software.

“What started as a portfolio of engineering software, services, and application development platform is transforming into a unique digital business platform for the entire company.”

Xcelerator scope broadens

Peter Koerte, chief technology and strategy officer at Siemens, explained that Xcelerator is becoming “a curated portfolio of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled hardware, software, and digital services from Siemens and certified third parties. Beginning with 50 partners, Koerte said Xcelerator will comprise a growing ecosystem of partners along with an evolving marketplace to facilitate interactions and transactions between customers, partners, and developers.

Initial partners involved with Xcelerator include: Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Atos, Bentley, Deloitte, Microsoft, Nvidia (see additional information below), and SAP. “Customers have been telling us they are struggling to accelerate their digital transformation because data is still not flowing seamlessly between applications, therefore it's not fulfilling their business needs,” Koerte said explaining some of the industry drivers behind Siemens’ expansion of Xcelerator.

In line with Siemens earlier announcement about a heightened focus on SaaS, Koerte said the

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Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia (left), and Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG launch of Siemens Xcelerator will transform Siemens entire portfolio of hardware and software to become entirely modular, cloud-connected, and built on standard application programming interfaces (APIs). He added that Siemens and thirdparty offerings that are part of Xcelerator will adhere to the design principles of interoperability, flexibility, openness, and availability as-a-service.

Expanding on the open nature of Xcelerator, Koerte said, “We believe cutting edge technology will help us solve problems ranging from pandemic and supply chain issues to inflation and sustainability, but no single company can do it alone. We want to provide solutions, not a single product, that’s why we’re focused on bringing different elements together through the Xcelerator ecosystem of partners. It also means that IoT-enabled hardware, like SaaS, will be seamlessly updatable and linkable to any kind of edge or cloud device.

In the consumer space—from our iPhones to our connected cars—it's very important for the technology stack to flow seamlessly. That’s why we firmly believe that if we cover the entire stack— from hardware to software—we can bring the real and digital worlds together to make the digital transformation much easier for our customers.”

While the Xcelerator portfolio will include Siemens technology ranging from building automation to government and utilities-focused technologies, Siemens noted plans to include its industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies in the port-

folio as Industrial Operations X. This approach is designed to bring together Siemens industrial technologies from sensors to the cloud, the company’s IoT as-a-service and low-code development capabilities, and its ready-to-use-apps, such as Performance Insight and Energy Manager.

Nvidia metaverse partnership

The first major new partnership project announced as part the expanded Siemens Xcelerator platform is with Nvidia, a supplier of graphics processing unit, networking, cloud and data center, and gaming and entertainment technologies. This partnership will focus on building an industrial metaverse using AI-driven digital twin technology.

Siemens and Nvidia will first connect their respective Xcelerator and Omniverse (3D-design and collaboration) technologies. The industrial metaverse envisioned by the two companies will use physics-based digital models from Siemens and AI-enabled, physically accurate, real-time simulations from Nvidia.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, explained that what Siemens and Nvidia are creating in this industrial metaverse is “not an animation, but a simulation that closes the gap between the real world and the virtual world.”

In Siemens’ and Nvidia’s vision of the industrial metaverse, companies of all sizes will be able to “employ digital twins with real-time performance data; create innovative industrial IoT solutions;

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PMMI NEWS 11 AW AUGUST 2022

leverage actionable insights from analytics at the edge or in the cloud; and tackle engineering challenges by making visually rich, immersive simulations more accessible.”

Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG, said, “Photorealistic, physics-based digital twins embedded in the industrial metaverse offer enormous potential to transform our economies and industries by providing a virtual world where people can interact and collaborate to solve real-world problems. When Siemens Xcelerator is connected to Omniverse, we will enable a real-time, immersive metaverse that connects hardware and software—from the edge to the cloud—with rich data from Siemens’ software and solutions. Siemens and Nvidia share a common vision that the industrial metaverse will drive digital transformation. This is just the first step in our joint effort to make this vision real for our customers and all parts of the global manufacturing industry.”

Side-by-side image shows how Xcelerator visualizations will be made more life-like with Omniverse photo-realistic visuals.

Cyber Attacks Spread Along Influx of Technology

By Sean Riley, Senior Director, Media and Industry Communications, PMMI

T

he use of new and evolving technologies such as fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, cloud computing and connected machine sensor networks, remote access, and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity increased exponentially over the last two years.

While these technologies make manufacturing more efficient, they also create new exploitable points of vulnerability, according to the Cybersecurity: Assess Your Risk white paper from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

PACK EXPO International will showcase the latest solutions to keep your business safe. Cybersecurity will be a key topic of focus at The Forum during PACK EXPO International 2022, produced by PMMI (Oct. 23-26; McCormick Place, Chicago). These free, 45-minute interactive sessions begin with short presentations by top experts then move on to roundtable discussions.

“As our industry increases its reliance on digital technology, it is critical for manufacturers to improve cybersecurity preparedness and stay abreast of the latest tools and technologies to protect their operations,” says Jim Pittas, president and CEO, PMMI. “With top industry experts and leading suppliers all under one roof, PACK EXPO

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International is the best place to gain the knowledge and understanding needed to reduce the risk of a cyberattack on operations.”

According to PMMI’s white paper, in the first quarter of 2020, attacks targeting the manufacturing sector accounted for 11% of all cyberattacks that occurred across all industries. By the second quarter of 2020, cyberattacks targeting manufacturers accounted for 33% of all incidents across all industries.

This increase in attacks is especially alarming considering there are real, growing costs to manufacturers that experience a cyberattack. In 2020, the average cost of a cyberattack stood at around $3.86 million, and that is before factoring in ancillary impacts such as lost opportunity and damaged customer loyalty.

In addition to cybersecurity solutions and targeted thought-leading education sessions, PACK EXPO International will be the most comprehensive packaging and processing show in the world in 2022 and this year’s edition will offer attendees more features than ever before. No other event this year will showcase entire production line solutions and offer everything needed to compete in a changing marketplace. Attendees will experience 2,000+ exhibitors from 40+ vertical industry markets, over 1.2 million net square feet of exhibit space, 100+ free education sessions and discover solutions they didn’t know they were looking for.

With so much growth and change in the indus-

try, the new features in Chicago are a must-see for everyone in the industry, including The Processing Zone, which will integrate front-of-theline food and beverage processing solutions with the packaging advances on display to offer one convenient location for attendees to solve their biggest challenges.

The explosion of e-commerce has brought about the brand-new logistics pavilion where attendees can find warehousing, fulfillment, distribution, and transportation solutions.

Workforce remains a top priority for PACK EXPO, with many opportunities to get students excited about packaging and processing careers.

In addition to the prestigious Future Innovators Robotics Showcase and educational Amazing Packaging Race programs. Also this year, six teams will face-off in a brand-new machine building PACK Challenge competition.

Visit packexpointernational.com to learn more about the exciting show features, search exhibitors, and register. Registration for PACK EXPO International is $30 until Sept. 30, after which it increases to $130.

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12 dIgItAl tRaNsFoRmAtIoN AW AUGUST 2022 / SPONSORED CONTENT

How Network Communications Drive the IIoT Revolution Internet of Things communication methods such as OPC UA, MQTT, and REST API make field level data available to the cloud, creating flexible production networks to support efficient manufacturing.

By Lukas Pogoda, product manager for industrial communication, Pepperl+Fuchs

T

he properties of IIoT (industrial Internet of Things) communications differ significantly from more familiar control protocols, such as EtherNet/IP, Profinet, and EtherCAT. So, how can manufacturers assess the numerous communication methods available to them to take advantage of the IIoT? The first step is realizing that IIoT and Industry 4.0-based solutions require detailed data. IO-Link is a standardized sensor interface, which provides access to detailed sensor/actuator data from the lowest field level, meets this requirement. While digital switching sensors provide only individual bits, IO-Link provides access to detailed identification, diagnostic, and parameter data from a sensor or actuator.

Next, take note of the fact that most automation systems are based on a PLC that contains the logic of the application. For applications such as controlling a robot arm, sensor data needs to be highly accurate and reliable. In a few milliseconds, the PLC calculates the output signals and transfers them to actuators, such as valves and motors. Control-based Ethernet protocols, such as Profinet, EtherNet/IP, and EtherCAT, meet these requirements.

Although these protocols are essentially based on the Ethernet standard, specific properties have been changed to achieve the high degree of timing accuracy and quick millisecond cycle times required in industrial applications. The data carried by these protocols can only be exchanged using special hardware, such as a PLC, and processed using specific software offered by the control system manufacturers. But transferring data from the field level to higher-tier systems, such as cloud-based systems, is a basic requirement for IIoT.

OPC UA, MQTT, and REST APIs

This is where IIoT communications such as OPC UA, MQTT, and REST APIs come in. These communication methods rely less on real time data in

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the millisecond range and more on end-to-end data availability across different systems from different manufacturers. IIoT is not about the individual process data of sensors and actuators, but rather about the overall picture. The most important process may be collecting condition data to avoid any future failures or detecting correlations in process parameters that have an influence on product quality. In these operations, real time is not a top priority.

OPC UA is an entire framework with sophisticated security mechanisms. A key advantage of OPC UA is that no specific device description files are required. Each individual device has all the necessary data, such as its own data structure, in a format that can be read by both people and machines. OPC UA is especially suitable for larger IIoT projects, where devices from different manufacturers must be combined but the network can still be dimensioned accordingly.

While OPC UA largely operates using client/ server connections, MQTT is based on the publish/subscribe mechanism (note: OPC UA also now supports publish/subscribe, though most existing installations use the traditional client/ server method). In publish/subscribe, a publisher (data provider) provides its data to a centrally located server (often referred to as a broker) on the network.

Subscribers (data consumers) can flexibly subscribe to all the publisher’s data or to individually selected topics. Since there is no permanent connection between the publisher and each subscriber, the data overhead for MQTT is significantly lower. This makes MQTT especially

suitable in networks with limited availability or when information must be transmitted to several consumers at the same time.

An API (application programming interface) is a programming interface provided on a device.

REST stands for Representational State Transfer and outlines the conditions for designing the API. A REST API allows customers to create their own applications based on the device data, where basic conditions are defined without obligation.

The APIs for an organization’s own devices are standardized within that organization. This makes REST APIs especially suitable for applications where many different devices from the same manufacturer are used.

The key difference between IIoT communications and control network protocols is that IIoT communication methods were designed to allow for an end-to-end and transparent data flow from the sensor to the cloud, enabling the huge potential of Industry 4.0 and IIoT.

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14 dIgItAl tRaNsFoRmAtIoN AW AUGUST 2022 / SPONSORED CONTENT

Aligning Manufacturing Teams with Data, Collaboration, and Visibility How industrial organizations can leverage trustworthy information in real time to boost their ability to aggregate, contextualize, and share data to support key business drivers such as improving productivity and cost optimization.

By Rashesh Mody, executive vice president, operations business, Aveva

A

s organizations manage through ongoing value chain disruptions that have been contributing to worldwide inflationary pressures, many are taking a step back to assess their supply chain strategies, including the role of the plant. Organizations are looking deeper at the adoption of technology and how they connect data to their people at the right time and in the right way to stay competitive and drive value.

In a 2021 consumer packaged goods (CPG) study by Google, digital initiatives—including data platforms and connectivity—were recognized to have the potential to unlock US$490 billion by 2023.

Additionally, 90% of top CPG manufacturers are not yet using digital solutions at scale in support of workforce augmentation or automation, according to SmarterChains in a 2020 report. Taking these two data points together, one can recognize the potential opportunities and challenges manufacturers must navigate amid the ongoing need to drive agility and efficiency in support of operational excellence.

Whether the focus is on driving product quality and food safety, energy utilization, or increased production efficiency, one key step organizations should take is to give teams and individuals full visibility across operations relevant to their roles. This gives organizations the visibility and control to be agile and drive efficiency and collaboration from the edge to the enterprise. On the plant floor, this could translate to providing teams with access to information on their smart devices so that, when

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an anomaly is detected, operators can quickly access cloud collaboration tools and determine the next steps or call for help. Skills and knowledge development on the plant floor also becomes more critical as workers change roles or leave the organization. New technology that offers collaboration, skills development, and better ways to handle abnormal situations can help organizations manage through skills gaps and spread the knowledge held by plant floor subject matter experts.

Organizations can further expand awareness by leveraging trustworthy information, in real time, structured in a way to bring forward insights and amplify value. This becomes a stepping-stone toward an organization’s ability to aggregate, contextualize, and share its data throughout the enterprise. Then it can begin to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics to support key drivers like improving productivity and cost optimization. In the control room, supervisors could leverage their SCADA applications across a single or multi-site operation and push data to a centralized information management system. This enables organizations to gather AI-infused insights that support asset management and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) for proactive monitoring and downtime tracking.

Beyond the plant floor and control room, organizations are looking for new ways to drive awareness and performance guidance across the enterprise.

Deploying single-pane-of-glass enterprise visibility

is beginning to help some manufacturers uncover previously inaccessible value by converging engineering, operations, and other business data in context. These systems need to aggregate data from any available data sources, which could include HMI/SCADA, historians, information management, IIoT (industrial Internet of Things), ERP, finance, market data, maintenance, and connected worker systems. This convergence goes beyond charts and numbers to provide rich intelligence that helps analysts and decision-makers respond quickly to performance-influencing events. At this level, going beyond a plant-centric view can help guide strategies to mitigate immediate supply chain impacts and help organizations plan for the future.

To succeed in the current market environment, organizations must become more adaptable, agile, and collaborative and they must ensure that information gets in front of the right people quickly. Their technology must align to the needs of their teams and it must scale and adjust with their businesses over time.

To achieve this, they must continue their transition toward hybrid (on-premises and cloud) solutions and software-as-a-service (SaaS) for greater flexibility.

This helps to ensure that organizations achieve longterm benefits from the technology they employ, and specifically the software their teams require to be successful, independent of location or device, from the edge to the enterprise.

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Case Study: Launching a Nationwide Equipment Network A look at how Alta Refrigeration achieves faster, easier product development and servicing with groov EPIC and MQTT.

By Benson Hougland, vice president of product strategy, Opto 22

W

hat’s the secret to providing superior service and staying competitive in a changing market? Well, you might learn something from Alta Refrigeration’s experience. Over 10 years, it transformed itself from a custom engineering services company into a scalable industrial equipment manufacturer using an edge-oriented control architecture to efficiently manage a growing installed base.

Alta has been designing and installing refrigeration systems across the United States for more than 45 years. For many years, these systems were large, custom-designed systems that used a central machine room to deliver refrigerant to various facility areas through long, overhead pip-

ing runs. Due to their size, these systems required significant time to design and program, and competitors were able to steal some of their market share with cheaper, simpler offerings.

“Competitors could use 20-30 cheaper units with control limited to a dumb thermostat to compete against one of Alta’s large systems,” says Peter Santoro, controls engineer at Alta.

Alta knew it couldn’t compete by reducing its product quality, so the company looked for a way to standardize its offering without sacrificing features.

We’re the Experts

In 2013, Alta introduced its Expert series of modular refrigeration control units. Each unit

uses a standard, reliable design and can be mounted on the roof above the area it served, simplifying installation.

“A single Expert has almost as much I/O as an entire centralized system and, because the units are much smaller, the wiring and conduit runs are incredibly short, allowing us to cram in a ton of sensors,” explains Santoro. “The units themselves are also incredibly efficient. We analyze external ambient conditions and refrigerated space and do real-time thermodynamic calculations. This lets us do variable capacity refrigeration, and only run exactly the amount of refrigeration as needed.

All motors are on variable speed drives. We also design many of the sensors we use on the system,

Each Expert follows a standard, reliable design that can be mounted on the roof above the area it serves.

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 16

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allowing us to get precise valve positioning and monitor refrigerant levels throughout the system. We make good use of Hall effect sensors in various configurations to monitor refrigerant levels and motor positions. There is also a dedicated energy monitor on each unit so we can monitor voltages and power usage.”

Since all Expert systems are essentially the same, Santoro and his colleague, Todd Hedenstrom, were able to focus on creating a robust and complete solution that works for many different applications.

A good problem to have

Market response to Expert has been very positive. Alta has sold nearly 600 units and is typically sold out into the next year. But growth brings its own challenges. With only a small controls engineering team, servicing the growing installed base became time-consuming.

Adding to this time crunch, some aspects of Alta’s previous designs related to system maintenance issues. For example, the control system required numerous steps to properly update control strategies in the field, including exchanging files between the control engine and the web server used for remote connectivity. And because Alta had previously left the details of remote connectivity to each customer, this increased the team’s workload by requiring them to check in on each site every day using different methods—such as VPN, Citrix, LogMeIn, and TeamViewer.

Alta’s centralized control system design was built around an industrial PC (IPC) running custom C++ code on top of a distributed I/O system from Opto 22. When designing Expert, this control system was simplified by replacing the IPC with an Opto 22 PAC (programmable automation controller).

Though this change was an improvement because it allowed for all the components of the system to be managed through the PAC, it still required a multi-step update process and didn’t provide as much data access as Alta wanted. This led Alta to explore use of Opto 22’s groov EPIC (edge programmable industrial controller) system.

EPIC supports all the power, I/O, communications, storage, and networking functions of an IPC and PLC on a single backplane without the complexity of maintaining a full Windows OS environment.

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 18

Alta upgraded the Expert control system to Opto 22's groov EPIC to gain access to more flexible control and communication options.

Each Expert provides a local unit interface through an embedded web server that runs on the unit’s EPIC.

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Web interface via the controller

Santoro and Hedenstrom started by using groov EPIC’s operating system shell to port their PAC application to C++.

The new program controls the installed I/O modules—voltage and current sensing inputs and discrete AC outputs—using Opto 22’s C++ OptoMMP SDK (software development kit). The application also includes its own Modbus server that creates and manages connections to variable frequency drives, the local energy monitoring unit, and other remote devices.

“We [also] have our own REST API and webserver running on the C++ application,” Santoro adds, “allowing us to create our own web page interfaces in HTML and Javascript,” such as a Google Chart API (application programming interface) to display energy metrics in the HMI. Each Expert web interface is served from an EPIC controller. The interface includes prebuilt templates for different unit configurations and verifies system settings to help technicians identify configuration values that are out of range or not recommended. It also generates alarms as needed.

Alternatively, customers can access unit data through the Expert’s Modbus server or REST API. For managing groups of Experts, Alta uses a separate HMI server to read data from each unit and present a unified view of the entire system. “All of our sites are required to have a local interface for operators to see a global view of their refrigeration units, instead of having to manage network connections to hundreds of individual units,” Santoro explains.

To create this site-level HMI, each Expert stores transient data in the shared memory scratchpad area of the groov EPIC. Alta’s HMI server runs on Windows and uses Opto 22’s .Net OptoMMP SDK to retrieve data from all units in one-second increments.

Data is stored in cyclical files that maintain a oneweek buffer, and the HMI server uses this data to generate trends, charts, and email notifications.

Alta can also access this data remotely for troubleshooting recent events. By default, groov EPIC does not route traffic between its Ethernet ports, so Alta can use the controller to create a security zone for each Expert. One port on each EPIC connects to a private network exclusively for the controller and its remote devices. The other port is connected to a common network between all the units at a given site, as well as the local HMI server.

This server is connected to the internet and uses MQTT to send and receive data, acting as a middleman for each individual Expert to the MQTT bro-

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 20

Alta’s nationwide network connects each Expert to its central server through a local HMI and MQTT gateway. ker that resides in Alta’s headquarters. When Alta’s remote HMI requires new data, it sends a request to the local server over MQTT. The data is then queried and sent back. External connections to local HMI servers are restricted so that the only traffic allowed through is from outbound MQTT TLS connections.

Recently, Alta also made it possible for customers to access this remote server. The server has its own database that records temperatures and energy usage for each Expert in 10-minute intervals.

Nationwide data aggregation

Using groov EPIC, Alta has now built a nationwide HMI that aggregates data from its network of Expert units and highlights any issues the team needs to act on. Instead of spending hours every day to check on each site, they can monitor their entire installed base in minutes. They know when there is a problem, can input and track necessary work orders, track technicians’ locations, and monitor energy usage per unit. When an alarm occurs, the system creates an interactive timeline of events before and after the alarm event.

“Often, we know what the problem is before the customer calls. We just need to drive there and fix it,” says Santoro. “With the amount of data we get

from our units, we are capable of diagnosing the vast majority of problems remotely. This allows many of our end users to not even staff on-site maintenance.

And there’s no interfacing with third-party systems anymore. It’s all integral.”

Servicing the systems themselves has also become much simpler now that Alta can manage the entire platform—I/O configuration, control strategy, communications, and networking—through a single device. “One of the best features we introduced was the ability to update the programs through our web interface. Now a batch program packages all the program files into a .gz (compressed) file. Technicians can upload the file and restart the system,” Santoro says.

Alta also uses the groov EPIC’s touchscreen as a maintenance interface inside the control cabinet. The native groov Manage application allows them to view and modify I/O and network settings directly on the controller without using a separate computer interface. Using the EPIC’s native HMI server, groov View, Alta also provides technicians with local control options and basic information about the Linux program’s status.

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Why So Complicated?

A renewed focus on usability is required for today’s technologies to become tomorrow’s solutions.

By Michael Bowne, executive director, PI North America

A

s Industry 4.0 trends have taken shape over the last number of years, rapid advances in technology are now awaiting adoption by industry. But creating technology merely for technology’s sake serves the few rather than the many.

Focusing instead on addressing use-cases has proven effective, but something more is needed for adoption to occur. And that is: ease-of-use. A renewed focus on usability is required for today’s technologies to become tomorrow’s solutions.

Let’s all take a trip down memory lane to the days of Profibus DP. Which, by the way, isn’t going away and is still a great technology used in many factories today. If we think back to the way we installed these serial networks, there were certainly opportunities for mistakes. You had 9-pin D-Sub connectors, rotary switches for device addressing, segmentation with repeaters, termination resistors, and so on. It wasn’t overly complicated, but it wasn’t idiot-proof either.

The result was that the most common causes of problems on a Profibus network were wiring or installation issues. With industrial Ethernet all of that changed. Now, instead of an RS-485 physical layer, we use the Ethernet physical layer, eliminating all those wiring complications.

This means that, if you need to extend the network, you simply install an Ethernet switch. Rotary switches for addressing and termination resistors are no longer needed. With the step from Profibus DP to Profinet, we’ve eliminated most causes for problems on an industrial network.

With Profinet, we’ve made addressing easy

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 22

because the controller handles it. And with Profinet we use names—not numbers—to address devices.

BOOTP or DHCP are not needed (although they are optional). Instead, you assign the names, and the controller assigns the IP addresses. And it gets even easier. If you program the network topology into the controller, it can auto-assign device names, making the process even easier.

But what if you need to replace a device? The same underlying technologies—DCP (discovery and configuration protocol) and LLDP (link layer discovery protocol)—that enable easy naming and addressing also make it possible to swap a failed device for a replacement. Simply remove the failed device and swap in a replacement. That’s it. No computer or configuration tools are required. Just plug and play.

Profinet leverages these IT technologies to make it happen ‘automagically’.

TSN and APL

So how does the future look with TSN (time-sensitive networking) and Ethernet-APL (advanced physical layer)?

First things first. You might be asking: I have been hearing about TSN for years now, where is it? The reason TSN is taking time to reach fruition is because of how fundamental it is. And if fundamental networking aspects are not transparently usable by upper layer protocols, then the whole building collapses. So while the underpinnings of TSN were completed a few years ago, the work being done now is to make it easy to manage. At the end of the day, TSN is just

Ethernet. And just as Ethernet is easy to use today, TSN should be just as easy.

As for Ethernet-APL—an intrinsically safe version of Ethernet for explosive and hazardous environments—it is as fundamental as TSN, if not more so.

Whereas TSN is an ISO/OSI layer 2 technology, APL is a layer 1 technology. But the same principles should apply regarding usability. Profibus PA already exists as an intrinsically safe way to network instruments directly in hazardous areas, so the concept is not new.

Ethernet-APL now allows Profinet to do the same.

And just like the step from Profibus DP to Profinet, usability is greatly enhanced moving from a serial physical layer to Ethernet. It is left to the protocol to implement the naming, addressing, device replacement, and other usability features. In other words: Ethernet-APL takes Profinet down to the instrument, with Profinet making it all easy to manage.

Our goal at PI is to make technological advances like TSN and APL easy to use. Otherwise, adoption will lag. These technologies are foundational, but not the complete story. TSN gets us there for robust converged networks, but because it’s just Ethernet, it should have the same level of usability as non-deterministic Ethernet does today. That’s where efforts are focused now. APL brings Profinet into hazardous areas, but APL is just the physical layer. The Profinet protocol is what makes the difference in terms of usability.

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Why Edge Devices are Essential to IIoT Applications From reducing the amount of data that needs to be sent to the cloud for analysis to improving condition-based monitoring applications, edge computing devices are the local devices enabling an on-site industrial Internet of Things.

By Charlie Norz, product manager, automation, Wago Corp.

D

igitalization in today’s global economy has become a necessity for modern manufacturing facilities. When running IIoT (industrial Internet of Things) applications, most—if not all—data needs to be collected, sorted, and analyzed in real time. To move between the cloud and local devices, an edge device is needed. These edge devices can transmit data between protocols used by local devices into the protocols used by the cloud.

Instead of directly sending data to an off-site cloud to calculate analytics, edge devices can provide local execution of data analysis with low latency and a high level of determinism.

Data at the edge of the network can also be aggregated and contextualized to send rich, summary information directly to the cloud, ultimately reducing cloud data storage costs.

Other edge computing benefits include condition-based monitoring, which can help prevent critical failures and downtime, as well as lower parts inventory and maintenance costs.

Another advantage to many edge devices is their use of the future-proof Linux operating system. Linux has been around for more than 30 years, and its acceptance has been growing exponentially. Used in most servers as well as in many military applications, it is robust and users can be confident that this open-source platform will continue to be available. Not having to update to a new platform every few years makes Linux-based edge devices ideal for innovative IIoT applications.

How to begin using edge devices

The first step in using edge devices is to find a business problem you are looking to solve.

Instead of looking at the entire scope of the problem, try to break the issue down into small, manageable sections. Once you have

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 24

done that, determine the priority of each— from highest to lowest.

The next step is to start collecting your plant floor data using containerized applications to analyze all the data. The benefit here is that both the connected worker on the plant floor as well as management can use the data to troubleshoot problems at the manufacturing level as they happen. It also helps off-site management look at efficiency, logistics, and other data to determine what is working, what areas need to be looked at more closely, and formulate plans for improvement on a long-term basis.

Depending on your industry, a good place to start may be your asset management program. If we look at this as an example, there are many pieces of key data that can be analyzed to help improve your company’s bottom line. These may include power consumption, vibration, bearing temperature, pressure, and uptime. Using this information, patterns can be recognized to determine causes of failure and what can be done to avoid those failures in the future. This can all done using edge computers to track and store data for delivery straight to the user when needed.

Wago’s edge approach

Wago combines the advantages of decentralized cloud computing with local control networks with our Edge Controller and Edge Computer. The Edge Controller is used to collect plant floor data information from industrial fieldbuses. If the application calls for it, these data can then be published directly to the cloud.

If not, the Edge Computer can take the Edge Controller data, sort them and run analytics locally before posting to the cloud for anyone with proper access rights to see.

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26 dIgItAl tRaNsFoRmAtIoN AW AUGUST 2022 / SPONSORED CONTENT

Digital Transformation Lessons from a Smart Monitoring System for Potable Water Treatment How the German city of Oberzent connects decentralized measurement points using LoRaWAN and Endress+Hauser’s Netilion IIoT technologies.

A

critical task for a water master in Oberzent, the third largest city in terms of area in the German state of Hessen, is to visit each water reservoir and plant individually to read the measured values and check the instruments. That has changed with Oberzent’s adoption of a new low-power LoRaWAN network (long range wide area network) for

its water management system. The LoRaWAN specification is a networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect battery operated devices to the internet in regional, national, or global networks, and targets key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements such as bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility, and localization services.

In addition to the LoRaWAN adoption, parts of the city’s measuring systems have been modernized to integrate the individual reservoirs and plants into a cloud-based monitoring system. This provides the city’s water masters with all information they need at any time, whether they are using a mobile device or at their computer in the operations center.

A reservoir in Oberzent, Germany.

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Smart technology boosts efficiency

The reliability of the water supply in each of the city’s 19 districts has top priority in serving the city’s 10,248 citizens. The local water masters maintain a total of seven springs, two deep wells, and 18 reservoirs. As there are just four water masters in charge of maintaining the water network, each has a corresponding high workload. To ensure the water supply network is always running smoothly, the water masters had to deal with obstacles in the Odenwald forest every day, as they were required to gather and process information from 19 decentralized water infrastructure facilities spread out over a territory of 165 km2. To do this, water masters spent a large portion of their workday driving around to the facilities, taking away time that could be spent on other water management tasks.

The installation of a cloud-based monitoring system has now made all relevant information available in centralized form for the water masters. This makes it possible to visualize data from 60 decentralized sensors across 35 flowmeters, 17 level meters, seven pressure meters, and two analysis panels for quality monitoring. The lack of stable cellular service coverage in many areas of the Odenwald forest made it necessary to set up

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 28

wireless data transmission that does not use much energy. The LoRaWAN technology is ideal for this application where small amounts of data have to be transmitted over long distances (up to 15 km/9.3 miles). Additional benefits of LoRaWAN are low energy consumption, low costs, and secure data transfer. Even though the LoRa alliance specifies a uniform standard, LoRaWAN can be used without a contract with a mobile communications provider. The local energy utility, Entega, manages construction and operation of the LoRaWAN network in Oberzent.

Everything at a glance

The city’s water masters now see all relevant data points from their water treatment system on a cloud-based dashboard. The dashboard, developed

by Endress+Hauser using its Netilion IIoT (industrial Internet of Things) technology, shows the various networks and can be used by the water masters on a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. This makes it possible to skip the daily routine visits to the reservoirs and water treatment stations and perform work on various terminal devices remotely through the technology’s web-based service access. This allows the water masters to use their time much more effectively. It has also increased the water masters’

ability to react thanks to proactive processing of problems in the water network.

“Our water masters can now spend more time on their core tasks and less time making trips out to plants. This is key because these specialists are currently in short supply on the job market,” says Christian Kehrer, mayor of Oberzent.

With the Netilion IIoT ecosystem, Endress+Hauser offers a variety of solutions for a smart city. In Oberzent, Netilion provides the basic data needed for creating and programming individual dashboards that display the entire process of water treatment and storage. This is implemented in the online service Netilion Water Network Insights, which enables monitoring of water networks as well as process optimization via actions such as leak detection or reservoir management.

Endress+Hauser has vast process knowledge in the water and wastewater industry as well as in instrumentation. This makes us a strong partner, whether you need one individual sensor or a fullfledged cloud application as a complete solution.

Endress+Hauser offers plant operators certified instrumentation for all processes, combined with solutions for data transfer as well as data processing and visualization.

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30 dIgItAl tRaNsFoRmAtIoN AW AUGUST 2022 / SPONSORED CONTENT

Creating an Energy Management System With the help of Mitsubishi Electric technologies, automation and engineering company Versatech has developed a system to collect and visualize real time plant-wide energy consumption that can be accessed remotely.

V

ersatech, a multi-faceted engineering company based in Effingham, Ill., continually expands its offerings to meet the needs of its customers with automation, robotics, work holding, machining, contract manufacturing, and lean manufacturing consulting. Recently, Versatech has focused on offering energy management systems among their data management solutions.

As an authorized systems integrator for Mitsubishi Electric, Versatech uses Mitsubishi Electric technologies to deliver turnkey energy management solutions. The energy management offerings from Versatech can be used to perform ASHRAE energy assessments; provide in-depth analysis and reporting; identify specific energy conservation opportunities; and help design, integrate, and install energy saving hardware and software that deliver both immediate and ongoing savings.

The company’s energy management offerings are already providing significant cost savings for large industrial facilities.

Versatech. “Measuring energy costs is the first step in reducing them, and that’s where Versatech and Mitsubishi Electric come in.”

Agri-Fab uncovers hidden energy drains

As leader of Versatech’s Energy Management Solutions offering, Gillespie is working to open the

eyes of manufacturers to the significant results that can be achieved. A good example of this can be seen in Versatech’s work with lawn equipment manufacturer Agri-Fab, which asked Versatech to perform an energy assessment in its plant. Based on the resulting suggestions, Agri-Fab had Versatech install a customized energy management system to monitor its production equipment.

Cost reduction via better energy management

Energy costs around the use of water, air, gas, electric, and steam represent a large portion of the operating expenditures for most manufacturing facilities. They also represent a huge savings opportunity. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that energy management efforts at large American manufacturers have saved about $2.4 billion in the past five years alone. And this figure comes from facilities representing only a tiny fraction of the country’s overall manufacturing energy footprint, meaning that there are likely savings representing tens of billions of dollars more yet to be achieved through smart energy management solutions.

“Many times, companies assume that high energy costs are just a cost of doing business and that not much can be done to reduce them. This is simply not the case,” explained Greg Gillespie, data program manager at

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 30

A control cabinet created by Versatech for Agri-Fab featuring Mitsubishi Electric technology.

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An Agri-Fab 100-lb. two drop spiker/seeder/spreader.

Versatech specified Mitsubishi Electric energy management components for this system, including the high-speed, high-accuracy Q Series programmable logic controller and the EcoWebServer III, an easy-to-use, scalable system that collects energy consumption data throughout the plant and provides snapshots and trend data to be viewed in graph form in real time, 24/7, from anywhere using a standard web browser.

This web-based visualization method eliminated the need for a server and related management and maintenance costs.

Since Agri-Fab did not yet have any networked metering devices in place on its equipment, Versatech installed several networkable meters, including four Mitsubishi Electric meters, allowing for the capture and storage of equipment energy usage data.

Not long after Versatech installed the system, Gillespie said they received a call from Agri-Fab indicating the energy management system was malfunctioning. Agri-Fab thought the system was generating incorrect consumption data, but that wasn’t the case.

“We investigated right away and found that the energy management system was operating just fine. It had discovered a significant energy drain that Agri-Fab probably wouldn’t have found otherwise,” explained Gillespie.

The source of the energy drain was Agri-Fab’s paint curing ovens. After a recent maintenance

2208_DigitalTransformation.indd 32

procedure, the ovens weren’t reset properly, causing them start up for brief periods after hours when no one was likely to be in the facility and wasting significant amounts of energy.

Fixing this issue alone immediately led to annual energy cost savings of nearly $70,000 for Agri-Fab. But that was only the beginning of the fast and easy energy savings generated by the Mitsubishi Electric technologies in the Versatech system.

For example, an anomaly was discovered in air compressor use at the plant. Correcting this issue led to an estimated additional $50,000 in annual energy cost savings.

As with the paint curing ovens issue, Gillespie said “there was probably little chance of the air compressor issue being discovered without the Versatech system in place.”

Gillespie believes that there is much more savings yet to come with Agri-Fab continuing to monitor energy consumption over time.

“This is a continuous improvement tool that allows customers to benchmark, monitor, and continue to reduce their energy costs,” he explained.

“We provide training so that our customers can be self-sufficient in getting the most out of it, and we are also always at their service to provide any additional support that they might need.”

Other parts of the Mitsubishi Electric energy management product line carried by Versatech include the MC Works software with analytics package, which gives users highly customizable

dashboards and reporting capabilities, and MES Interface IT—a unique tool that allows the consolidation of data from nearly any brand of network equipment into a single database without the need for a PC. “MES Interface IT is a great product,” said Gillespie. “The integration is fast and seamless, with nearly no coding involved. And you avoid the hassles of a PC, alleviating the need for firmware upgrades and the threat of a computer crash or of the computer choking on the data flow. Once the MES is installed, it just sits in the rack and does its job very, very well. It’s the most robust solution out there.”

Getting started with energy management

No matter what system is ultimately chosen by a user, Gillespie says the most important step is to start the measurement process so that sources of wasted energy can be identified and addressed.

“Energy management is not a complex concept.

You collect your data, establish a baseline, and act on the information to effectively save energy and save money,” he explained. “Mitsubishi Electric products help give us the capability to do that very successfully for our clients—and they’re excellent products at very reasonable prices.”

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34 INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS AW AUGUST 2022

Making Sense of Industrial Networks

Fieldbus and 4-20mA in the Age of IoT This installment in our series on key industrial network technologies explains why fieldbus and 4-20mA communications remain relevant despite the proliferation of Ethernet-based communications amid industry’s digital transformation.

By James R. Koelsch, Contributing Writer

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INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS 35 AW AUGUST 2022

W

hat will be the fate of fieldbus and 4-20mA network communications in the face of Ethernet’s growing use in industrial networking? This is a question that many are asking as industrial Ethernet rapidly replaces legacy technologies that once dominated industrial networks.

In the discrete manufacturing industries, for example, the transition from fieldbus to industrial Ethernet is well underway. “It has been occurring rapidly over the last decade and doesn’t appear to be slowing,” reports Michael Bowne, executive director, PI North America (the organization supporting Profibus and Profinet).

As evidence for his point about the increasing use of Ethernet, Bowne notes the annual node counts that PI conducts for Profinet and Profibus devices used in factory automation. “There were 8.5 million Profinet (industrial Ethernet) devices installed in 2021—the largest annual figure yet,” he says. By contrast, 1.5 million Profibus (fieldbus) devices were installed. This amounts to nearly six Profinet devices installed for every one Profibus device.

It wasn’t all that long ago when the opposite was true. “2016 was the first year more Profinet devices were installed than Profibus,” notes Bowne. “In 2007, one Profinet device was sold for every 15 Profibus devices.”

Despite such advances in discrete manufacturing, the transition to Ethernet has been unfolding much more slowly in the process industries. Bowne reports that there the transition from fieldbus and 4-20mA to industrial Ethernet is really just getting started.

A big reason for the slow start has been safety, a concern eased recently by the development of Ethernet-APL (advanced physical layer), a version of Ethernet designed for hazardous environments. “With Ethernet-APL, there is now an intrinsically safe physical layer for Ethernet to allow direct connection to instruments in potentially explosive areas,” explains Bowne. “Ethernet-APL is poised to be a significant step change in the capabilities of process automation networks—a change that is long past due.”

Ethernet-APL is an extension of the specification for single-pair Ethernet (SPE) based on 10BASET-1L. Not only does it support all Ethernet-based protocols, it also provides power and communications over IEC 61158-2 Type A cables that can be as long as 1,000 meters. For intrinsic ignition protection, Ethernet-APL devices follow electrical parameters defined in IEC TS 6007947, the two-wire intrinsically safe Ethernet (2-WISE) technical specification.

Users in both the discrete and process industries, therefore, are able to benefit from the greater speed and bandwidth offered by industrial Ethernet. This greater speed and capacity can streamline both connectivity and the flow of ever more diagnostic and prognostic data. “When leveraged properly, this additional information can net significant gains in throughput, quality, and cost reduction,” notes Steve Fales, director of marketing at the ODVA (the group supporting EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, and the Common Industrial Protocol).

For these reasons, Fales and others see fieldbus and 4-20mA communications giving way to industrial Ethernet in most new installations. “The scales will generally tip toward industrial Ethernet for a new discrete manufacturing line or an island of automation in a process facility,” says Fales.

In response, fieldbus standards organizations have moved to Ethernet. “Serial topologies from numerous organizations have become Ethernet-based,” observes Arnold Offner, strategic marketing manager, automation infrastructure, at Phoenix Contact. He points to FieldComm Group’s addition of HART-IP, PI and Profinet (noted above), and ODVA’s increased focus on EtherNet/IP.

Replaced, but not erased

Does this mean that Ethernet devices will eventually replace fieldbus and 4-20mA networks? “Yes, but it will take a while for suppliers and end users to synchronize the replacement of the existing technology because the installed base is so large,” predicts Tom Burke, director of global standards at the CC-Link Partner Association Americas. “There has been a lot of investment [in these

2208_F1.indd 35

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36 INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS AW AUGUST 2022

legacy technologies], so there has to be a significant return on investment to justify replacing it.”

“Even though the cost difference between legacy and new technologies is nominal, it’s hard to justify ripping and replacing existing industrial automation devices,” adds Fales. Buying new devices to replace existing ones that are doing the job and then shutting down production long enough to make the switch doesn’t make a lot of economic sense, especially when capital budgets are limited.

In the process industries, another limiting factor is the newness of Ethernet-APL. Some time will need to pass before enough device manufacturers incorporate the new Ethernet-APL physical layer into their products. “A significant number of vendors must do this to create an ecosystem of products that allow end users to build plants and networks,” explains Bowne.

Another lifeline for fieldbus and 4-20mA communications has been the development of gateways and translators capable of sending data to Ethernet networks. These devices allow data to be extracted from legacy networks while enabling those data to be sent to the edge or the cloud for monitoring and analysis. “They help keep existing installations inte-

grated into the broader control network and thereby enable these legacy networks to stay in service as long as vendors are willing to make spares for the devices,” says Fales.

Offner at Phoenix Contact thinks that automation vendors will continue supporting fieldbus and 4-20mA technology with spares and services for quite a while yet. “We still have applications using pneumatics that were replaced by the 4-20mA loop circuits made with transistors,” he notes.

Unleashing stranded data

Ironically, the evolution of automation technology could help extend the life of fieldbus and 4-20mA technologies. “They [legacy networks] will still find use as newer digital devices using Ethernet include their capability,” predicts Offner.

For such reasons, Ted Masters, president and CEO of the FieldComm Group, thinks that traditional fieldbus and 4-20mA will always have a place in industrial networks. “Even in this era of digitalization, end users are not ripping out field devices,” he says. “They are instead protecting their investments by finding ways to unleash the valuable data

The Phoenix Contact FL ComServer UNI 232/422/485 converts a legacy serial 232/422/485 interface to Ethernet.

Source: Phoenix Contact

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Best fit for the job

Another reason that fieldbus and 4-20mA communications will continue to be relevant for a long time to come is that they remain sufficient for some jobs. One example is a simple weigh scale reporting only weight through fieldbus. In such cases, Ethernet’s ability to accommodate communications from multiple devices on one wire is unnecessary. “Simple point-to-point connections are more than sufficient,” notes Burke. “They provide enough bandwidth for the devices to work.”

Typically, users wanting to extract more information from plant floor devices will send data to a PLC and store it in memory. In this way, the “PLC serves as a kind of data federation because it aggregates data from all these different devices,” says Burke.

Open standards have also helped with transferring fieldbus data to higher-level applications in the

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network. “In 1995, OPC basically solved the problem of being able to grab data from all these different devices and send it up to client applications, such as typical small-scale HMI systems or even Microsoft Excel,” explains Burke. User companies and industry consortia have since developed data models and naming conventions to access the data

from the disparate devices on the network.

Such point-to-point architectures provide many manufacturing facilities the connectivity they need. “Therefore, as long as they can aggregate the data and plug into something to get the data out, they don’t see any significant value in replacing their current network,” says Burke.

| AT11-22USA |

stranded within these devices.”

For Masters, the challenge is to do this in ways that support digitalization. Besides using gateways and translators, another method involves upgrading 4-20mA signals with the HART protocol. “Higher-speed digital approaches to access 4-20mA data can use technologies such as HART-IP and WirelessHART,” says Masters.

Because the HART protocol can be superimposed on existing 4-20mA wiring, no changes to the connectivity infrastructure are necessary.

Moreover, many instruments and host systems already support HART natively, and those that don’t can add HART functionality with adapters and other devices. “This makes it easier and more cost-effective to bridge this data to applications that are either on-premises or cloud-based to create value,” notes Masters.

Another way to help fieldbus and 4-20mA technology support digitalization is to simplify the integration of field devices. Because industrial networks continue to include a variety of physical layers addressing Ethernet as well as fieldbus and 4-20mA wiring, the FieldComm Group is collaborating with the FDT Group, PI, and the OPC Foundation to develop new field-device integration (FDI) technology.

FDI provides a common approach for integrating information from intelligent field devices into higher-level asset management and automation/ control systems for configuration, commissioning, diagnostics, calibration, and other tasks. To be open for use across different protocols and network types, it also includes part of the NAMUR Open Architecture model and supports new and existing automation protocols. “FDI technology has been a major milestone for simplifying access to field device data in a standard way, regardless of communication protocol,” notes Masters.

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In fact, many of these facilities, especially the smaller ones, are wary of pursuing technologies driving digital transformation.

One reason is that they don’t know how to assess the value of turning data into actionable information to justify retooling their existing installations. Another reason is that they often don’t have the technical expertise and understanding in-house. “Over time, though, people will start to understand the benefits of using [greater levels of ] information and leveraging historians in a lot of these small manufacturing installations,” says Burke.

Beyond these reasons, there are at least two kinds of use cases that will continue to favor fieldbus and 4-20mA communications.

First is when the job requires a specific device that isn’t yet available with an industrial Ethernet interface. “While just about all device vendors in 2022 offer devices with both fieldbus and industrial Ethernet interface options, some still only have fieldbus or analog communications,” observes Bowne. Here, users wanting to connect these devices to Ether-

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net networks will need to deploy gateways to translate the data.

PI has taken this a step further with a proxy concept. “Proxies are like gateways in that they connect disparate networks,” explains Bowne. “But unlike gateways, the data mapping is defined in a specification.” Because the data are translated according to the proxy specification, the data always look the same, even if they are coming into Profinet from Profibus or some other legacy fieldbus.

This concept permits both migrating to Profinet in a piecemeal fashion and installing a new Profinet network without losing access to data from legacy systems.

The second use case for continuing to install fieldbus or 4-20mA occurs in the process automation market when the application requires intrinsic safety. Here, a fieldbus usually remains the preferred solution. As Ethernet-APL becomes more widely available, however, Bowne expects it to slowly replace fieldbuses in such cases.

The Wago 750-366 EtherNet/IP fieldbus coupler detects all connected I/O modules and creates a local process image. Two Etherent interfaces and an integrated switch allow the fieldbus to be wired in a line topology, eliminating the need for additional network devices, such as switches or hubs. Source: Wago

7/26/22 12:40 PM

40 CASE STUDY AW AUGUST 2022

How Johnson & Johnson’s Secure Data Pipeline Helped Speed the COVID-19 Vaccine Production Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform and Cirrus Link’s MQTT modules are the heart of the secure data pipeline built for Johnson & Johnson by system integrator Automated Control Concepts.

By Jeanne Schweder, contributing writer

A

s the world marshalled its resources in 2020 to fight the COVID-19 virus pandemic, major pharmaceutical companies were among those on the front lines, racing to develop, test and produce vaccines that could help protect billions of people. Technology played a key role in that effort, not only in creating new vaccines in record time but in ensuring they would be of the highest quality.

Johnson & Johnson challenged its pharmaceutical arm, Janssen, with producing one billion doses of its vaccine. To reach that goal, Janssen turned to a contract manufacturer that specialized in rapid manufacturing of vaccines and other treatments in large quantities during public health emergencies.

Janssen required access to near real-time data to monitor key production and quality metrics so that it could assure the success of each batch. This was difficult to achieve since the contract manufacturer’s operations technology (OT) infrastructure, including control systems and data collection,

2208_F2 (FRiello@pmmimediagroup.com).indd 40

is isolated from both internal and outside networks, particularly networks with internet access.

The manufacturer tasked independent system integrator Automated Control Concepts (ACC), which is headquartered in Neptune, N.J., with creating a secure data pipeline that could provide this critical information to Janssen.

A secure and scalable architecture was required to meet Janssen’s information needs, starting with an Microsoft Azure Internet of Things (IoT) Hub that Janssen provided to receive the production and batch data from the contract manufacturer’s system.

ACC then recommended using Inductive Automation’s Ignition software platform with Cirrus Link’s MQTT modules as the heart of this secure data pipeline. Ignition provided a robust development environment and support for MQTT messaging, which was ideal for this application because it is designed to be used for secure, realtime, mission-critical data.

Using MQTT, ACC was able to establish a se-

cure gateway that ensured only Janssen’s data was transmitted. This architecture proved to operate reliably in an external, unfamiliar environment while preserving data quality. It also supported the manufacturer’s ability to make the vaccine with fewer operators, which was particularly important with the social distancing requirements around COVID-19.

The Cirrus Link MQTT transmitter, distributor and engine, plus the Azure Injector, formed the heart of the system, all running on Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform. MQTT is a publish/subscribe messaging protocol originally developed more than 20 years ago to address the need for lightweight communications over low-bandwidth networks.

MQTT architectures need three components: MQTT transmitters—the clients that produce the data—usually directly connected to the control or SCADA system; the MQTT engine, the clients that consume the data; and the MQTT servers, which distribute the data from the transmitters to the engine.

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CASE STUDY 41 AW AUGUST 2022

The system created for Janssen by ACC consists of three main components that work together: • The Ignition Edge Server, which acts as the MQTT transmitter at the contract manufacturer’s plant, gathering only Janssen’s key process data directly from the control system and publishing it through an outbound-only port on the control network firewall to the MQTT server. This connection is also secured via user authentication.

• The MQTT Server, which acts as a secure bridge between the MQTT transmitter and the cloud. It contains a data and history buffer dedicated to Janssen’s data. Its store-andforward capability makes sure that data is not lost if the connection becomes unavailable.

The server also hosts the Azure Injector.

• Cloud Repository, which is the connection to the cloud made via an outbound-only port on the enterprise-level firewall. This cloud repository is based on the Azure IoT hub and is secured with SSL authentication certificates provided by Janssen.

With an open protocol based on TCP/IP, MQTT is up to 90% bandwidth efficient compared to traditional polled communications and client/server communications using the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). An HTTP header is typically around 8,000 bytes, while the MQTT protocol uses only two bytes and a few lines of code. This is key in an era where millions of Internet of Things devices have been deployed, many with low internal memory and processing power.

The open-source Sparkplug B specification for MQTT, released in 2016, defines the structure of this interoperable format for industrial applications, including the topic namespace definition (for operations technology communications), the payload definition (IT communications), and the state management for client connections, allowing Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications to talk to one another seamlessly.

The Sparkplug specification has driven MQTT’s explosive growth in both consumer and industrial applications. Major users include Facebook, Google, Amazon, IBM’s Watson, and Microsoft’s Azure, as well as a growing number of industrial

companies like Inductive Automation.

Besides having a much smaller network footprint, MQTT’s publish/subscribe architecture is also flatter than the architecture used by traditional industrial automation protocols, doing away with the automation pyramid familiar to control engineers.

While clients in a client/server architecture communicate directly with an endpoint or server, publishers and subscribers never talk directly to each other. Instead, they communicate with an intermediator called a broker. The publisher supplies the broker with data and the subscribers consume it.

The broker can be anywhere, such as in the cloud with the system ACC built for Janssen, or a private server or PC, filtering the incoming messages and distributing them to the appropriate subscribers.

It’s another example of how technology can deliver the right solution at the right time, making it possible for manufacturers to quickly produce many millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

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42 NEW PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT AW AUGUST 2022

Festo Adds Motion Control to Universal Robots’ Cobots The Festo technology can add up to four axes of motion beyond the six axes of motion provided by Universal Robots’ collaborative robot products.

R

obots with six axes of motion are commonly considered to have the highest level of axes available for articulated robots and cobots (collaborative robots). One well-known addition to this is a seventh axis that is sometimes added to move a robot between work cells.

To expand further upon the range of robot motion axes, Festo has developed a new multi-axis system for Universal Robots’ cobots. According to Festo, this system, which is certified by Universal Robots (UR), can add up to four axes of motion beyond the cobot’s six axes.

The multi-axis system features the Festo Motion Control Package (FMCP) for UR—a motion control panel for controlling up to four axes of motion. In addition to its capability to control a seventh axis used for linear transfer of the robot, the FMCP can control turning tables, automatic storage systems, conveyors, and transfer tables.

A seventh axis provided for by the FMCP can be used for extending the range of action for a UR cobot in applications such as palletizing and machine tending. Festo’s EGC belt-driven or ball-screw linear axes, which can be used

2208_Products.indd 42

with FMCP, come equipped with a cobot mounting plate. Standard EGC axes are available in lengths of up to 8 meters with up to 10 meter axes available by request.

The FMCP is integrated with the UR cobot control panel and HMI and features a UR safety I/O and communications interface. Festo adds that the FMCP includes extra space within the panel for future expansion and brackets for wall mounting to reduce its footprint.

In keeping with UR’s no programming needed to set up and operate their robots, the FMCP also does not require a user to have any programming skills to set it up and no additional PLC is required. The multiple axes of motion are configured through the UR HMI. Festo says users only need to set position, speed, and acceleration on the HMI or, using the URCap toolbar, move the axes in manual mode to configure the robot’s motion.

A range of vacuum, mechanical, and Magswitch magnetic grippers, including the cobot smart gripper E30, can be used with FMCP. Festo says automatic tool changers are also available.

A seventh axis used with a UR cobot for a palletizing application.

Source: Festo.

The Festo Motion Control Package for UR is a motion control panel for controlling an additional four axes of motion beyond the cobot’s built-in sixaxes of motion. Source: Festo.

7/26/22 9:08 AM

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44 NEW PRODUCTS AW AUGUST 2022

Linear Position Transducers

AutomationDirect, automationdirect.com New stainless steel linear variable inductance transducers (LVITs) from Alliance Sensors Group convert the linear displacement of an object into a proportional analog output of 0 to 10 V DC or 4 to 20mA (depending on model). The compact LZ13 series has a ½-in. diameter stainless steel body, a stainless-steel threaded rod, and is available in stroke lengths from 2.5 to 200 mm. The larger LZ19 series features a ¾-in. diameter stainless steel body, a stainless-steel threaded rod, and stroke lengths from 2.5 to 375 mm. The rugged LV series, designed for heavy-duty industrial applications, comes with a 45mm diameter stainless steel body, a ½-in. stainless steel rod, and a rod eye mounting system that provides freedom of motion while tracking linear movement along a single axis. The Alliance LVIT proprietary SenSet process provides the ability to match the endpoints of the sensor’s analog output with the ends of a workpiece’s range of motion in which the sensor is installed.

Industrial Ethernet Encoders

Siko, siko-global.com The new industrial Ethernet versions of Siko’s encoders—WV5850 and WH5850— are available in either single or multi-turn versions and offer high resolution and quick response in applications requiring extreme precision and fast response times.

The hollow- and solid-shaft versions—WH5850 and WV5850, respectively—come in several different diameter options. These rotary encoders meet conformance class C, encoder class 4, as well as identification and maintenance functions according to version 1.16. Additionally, the Media Redundancy Protocol and neighborhood detection via Linked Layer Discovery Protocol have been implemented, as well as the Shared Devices function which allow access to the encoder from several different PLCs. With a cycle time of 250µs, the WV5850 and WH5850 can be used in real-time applications. Furthermore, they support isochronous cycle times with a send cycle of up to 31.25µs and a jitter of less than 1µs.

Medium Voltage Drive

Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com The PowerFlex 6000T drive can now accept up to 13.8 kV primary voltage, nearly twice the original input voltage, in a footprint that is only 2310-3010mm (7.58. to 9.87 feet) wide. The drive can be applied to 3-4.16 kV applications with high voltage input built in. Plus, high-voltage feeds can be directly connected to the drive from the main distribution line without additional step-down transformer or substation equipment.

With real-time operational intelligence, this smart industrial control system can be used to monitor system performance; deliver faster commissioning with adaptive control; save energy with economizer mode; reduce downtime and repair costs with predictive maintenance alerts; and make it easy to start up and troubleshoot all drives on the common control platform. PowerFlex 6000T drives are engineered for managing motor control for demanding applications in heavy industries, such as oil and gas refining; mining, minerals and metal processing; power generation plants; and water and wastewater treatment facilities.

Industrial Metal Binder Jet 3D Printer

Digital Metal, digitalmetal.tech The new DMP/Pro binder jet system was developed as a modular component of a complete binder jet system to deliver maximum reliability, accuracy, and repeatability. The Pro architecture was developed for high volume manufacturing. The DMP/Pro features 70,400 nozzles to precisely deposit material, allowing the system to produce up to 1,000cm3 of parts per hour at 1600 dpi. Typical production values will see customers make around 500cm3 of parts per hour throughout the day. The DMP/Pro has been engineered for precision production of metal binder jet components for industry, luxury goods, medical manufacturing, and consumer products. The DMP/Pro comes equipped with linear motors, air bearings, and a diabase stone base. It is also customizable, with remote monitoring, key performance indicator monitoring, and traceability capabilities.

2208_Products.indd 44

7/26/22 9:08 AM

ADVERTISER INDEX 45 AW AUGUST 2022

COMPANY

WEBSITE

PAGE

Automation Direct

www.automationdirect.com

AVEVA Software, LLC

www.aveva.com/align-your-teams/

B&R Industrial Automation

www.br-automation.com

Beckhoff Automation

www.beckhoffautomation.com

37

Digi-Key Electronics

www.digikey.com/automation

5

Emerson

www.Emerson.com/DeltaV

48

Endress + Hauser USA

www.us.endress.com/fundamental

15

Festo Corporation

www.festo.us

19

Hammond Manufacturing

www.hammondmfg.com

39

Inductive Automation

www.demo.ia.io/automation

7

Inductive Automation

www.inductiveautomation.com

1

Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc.

https://go.meau.com/SmartFactoryAW2208P

25

mk North America, Inc

www.mkversaflex.com

41

Motion

www.motion.com

27

Opto 22

www.opto22.com

47

PACK EXPO International

www.packexpointernational.com

33

Pepperl + Fuchs

www.pepperl-fuchs.com

36

PI North America

us.profinet.com/go-digital

23

PMMI Emerging Brands Summit

www.emergingbrandssummit.com

29

PMMI ProSource

www.prosource.org

38

PMMI 365

www.pmmi.org

43

Tadiran Batteries

www.tadiranbat.com

13

Telemecanique Sensors

www.tesensors.com/XCMW

31

Wago Corporation

www.wago.us/IIOT

21

2 17 9

Automation World ® (ISSN # 15531244, USPS 22435) is a registered trademark of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

Automation World ® is published 12 a year by PMMI with its publishing office, PMMI Media Group, located at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611; 312.222.1010; Fax: 312.222.1310. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2022 by PMMI. All rights reserved. Materials in this publication must not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Applications for a free subscription may be made online at AutomationWorld.com/subscribe. Paid subscription rates per year are $105 in the U.S., $147 Canada and Mexico by surface mail; $250 Europe, South America. $325 Far East and Australia by air mail. To subscribe or manage your subscription to Automation World, visit AutomationWorld.com/subscribe. Free digital edition available to qualified individuals outside the United States. POSTMASTER; Send address changes to Automation World®, 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611. PRINTED IN USA by Quad Graphics. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of PMMI. Comments, questions and letters to the editor are welcome and can be sent to: editors@ automationworld.com. We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you would prefer that we don’t include your name, please write us at the Chicago, IL address. Volume 20, Number 8.

AugAW_AdIndex.indd 119

7/28/22 1:15 PM

46 KEY INSIGHTS AW AUGUST 2022

Advances in plant floor connectivity and increased availability of real-time data through Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platforms is putting a fresh face on OEE by expanding access to real-time and enterprise system data that can deliver additional context and insights to improve OEE scores.

Beth Stackpole on OEE as a continuous improvement tool.

The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) recently reported that food and consumer goods companies are among the fastest-growing sectors for robot orders, with purchases up 29% in 2021 from 2020. Also, Automation World parent organization PMMI has released a report that shows cobot use among CPG manufacturers is expected to at least double in the next five years.

David Greenfield on palletizing robots and the growth of robot use in the CPG industries.

UniversalAutomation promotes portability and reusability of hardware-independent software components that can be plugged together to build applications that are distributed to the hardware architecture of choice, as defined by the user.

Stephanie Neil on Schneider Electric’s open automation journey.

Too often organizations focus on increasing sales revenue or reducing product cost. This concentration of effort leaves a great deal of the customer experience unexplored. Revenue management focuses on the profitability of existing and new sales by understanding what segments customers value, are willing to pay for, and how the organization can adapt itself and customer behavior to meet those needs profitably.

Larry White on revenue management for manufacturers.

Quality management leaders must nurture a culture of quality in their organizations to have a chance at the meaningful transformation that a Quality 4.0 initiative should bring. This also will help defeat the perception that quality is synonymous with policing.

Diane Sacra of LNS Research on quality management in the digital transformation process.

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