Automation World October 2021

OCTOBER 2021 / www.AutomationWorld.com

24 IIOT RETROFITS FOR LEGACY EQUIPMENT 21 28 09 12 36 35

Evaluating Technology Support for the Internet of Things Autonomous Machine Vision Improves Injection Molding Top Industrial Uses Case for Cloud Computing The Maintenance-Finance-Safety Connection Understanding Cybersecurity Certification A Step-by-Step Guide to Predictive Maintenance

2110_Cover.indd 1

10/11/21 1:21 PM

Simple PLC control ...on STEROIDS! Wi-Fi (antenna sold separately) Bluetooth (provisioning only)

microSD

Stackable I/O Modules USB

Add up to 8 additional I/O modules for applications with larger I/O needs.

Ethernet

Built-in Option Module Slot For custom stand-alone PLC I/O configurations that exactly match your application (option module sold separately).

Serial (RS-232 & RS-485)

CPU unit starting at only

$89

We’ve taken our most practical, most popular PLC family and supercharged it with features you wouldn’t expect from a simple low-cost controller.

Data logging, Wi-Fi connectability, MQTT communication and increased security measures are just a few of the impressive features o ered with the new CLICK PLUS PLC series. With a starting at price of only $89.00 and free easy-peasy programming software, CLICK PLUS PLCs are a “must have” for simple, a ordable control...with a kick!

Check out what puts the “PLUS” in CLICK PLUS in this quick intro video: www.go2adc.com/CPVID

www.CLICKPLCs.com

Order Today, Ships Fast! * See our Web site for details and restrictions. © Copyright 2021 AutomationDirect, Cumming, GA USA. All rights reserved.

Full Page Ad.indd 73 2110-AutomationWorld-CLICKPLUS-MAG.indd 1

1-800-633-0405

the #1 value in automation

10/8/21 8:43 AM 9/17/2021 10:43:53 AM

CONTENTS 3 AW OCTOBER 2021

OCTOBER 2021 | VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 10

21 24 28

2110_TOC.indd 3

Evaluating Technology Support for the Internet of Things

As manufacturers digitally transform their operations, finding the right technologies can be an overwhelming process. Don’t overlook your supplier’s ability to provide the right level of support when assessing technological capabilities.

IIoT Retrofits for Legacy Equipment

If you’re like most manufacturers, you’re not operating a greenfield site with the latest internet-ready equipment. Nevertheless, you’re likely facing a number of digitalization initiatives. Here’s how you can do it via strategic retrofits to existing equipment.

Autonomous Machine Vision Improves Injection Molding Quality A Bosch plant that produces plastic molded connectors for automotive manufacturers implements Inspekto’s S70 machine vision system, resulting in immediate savings and an improvement in connector quality.

10/11/21 1:20 PM

4 CONTENTS AW OCTOBER 2021

EDITORIAL

ONLINE 8

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

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS 9

Top Industrial Uses Case for Cloud Computing

BATCH OF IDEAS 10

RoBex Rolls Out a Creative Way to Pay for Equipment

PRODUCTION POINTS 11

Emerson Combines LNG Inventory Management and Tank Gauging

PERSPECTIVES 12

David Greenfield Director of Content/Editor-in-Chief dgreenfield@automationworld.com / 678 662 3322 Stephanie Neil Senior Editor sneil@automationworld.com / 781 378 1652 David Miller Senior Technical Writer dmiller@automationworld.com / 312 205 7910 Emma Satchell Managing Editor esatchell@automationworld.com / 312 205 7898 Jim Chrzan VP/Content and Brand Strategy jchrzan@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1470 Kim Overstreet Senior Content Strategist, Alignment koverstreet@pmmimediagroup.com James R. Koelsch, Lauren Paul, Jeanne Schweder and Beth Stackpole Contributing Writers

ART & PRODUCTION

The Maintenance-Finance-Safety Connection Video Games and the Industrial Digital Twin

NEWS 16

Bringing Artificial Intelligence to Remote Access Adaptive Manufacturing Gets Real with New Materials Handling Tech PMMI News PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO, A Huge Success

NEW PRODUCTS 30

Machine Monitoring and Analytics Software ISO 6432 Round Cylinders Safety Door Switches Medium-Voltage Drive And more...

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

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

INDUSTRY VIEW 34

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

INTEGRATOR VIEW 35

PMMI MEDIA GROUP

Setting the Right Strategic Priorities for a Post-Pandemic World By Brian R. May

Kurt Belisle Publisher kbelisle@pmmimediagroup.com / 815 549 1034 Jake Brock Brand Operations Manager jbrock@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1320 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

A Step-by-Step Guide to Predictive Maintenance By Dan Riley

ENTERPRISE VIEW 36

Understanding Cybersecurity Certification By Eric C. Cosman

KEY INSIGHTS 38

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 the written permission of the publisher.

Automation World | PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, 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

28

2110_TOC.indd 4

10/11/21 1:20 PM

Full Page Ad.indd 73 210922_AutoPLC_AUTOW_US.indd 1

10/8/21 9/20/21 8:44 11:32AM AM

Galco.com • 888-526-0909 OVERVIEW For more than 45 years, Galco has been a leader in the industrial electronics LQGXVWU\ E\ R HULQJ UHOLDEOH LQGXVWULDO and commercial electrical, electronic control, automation, and motion products, with full-service repair and engineering support. Headquartered in Madison Heights, Michigan, Galco provides industry professionals with a variety of industrial electronic control capabilities and innovative solutions they can rely on.

Here at Galco, we are committed to being a trusted advisor to our customers and supply partners. We also strive to provide the best-in-class customer experience, the highest level of service and technical support, and a broad selection of products.

HIGHEST LEVEL OF SERVICE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT BROAD SELECTION OF PRODUCTS $V DQ DXWKRUL]HG GLVWULEXWRU ZLWK PLOOLRQV of industrial electronic products like circuit protection, enclosures, motors, drives, electronic controls, and more, we are stocked and ready to support thousands of applications across dozens of industries.

Galco is continuously adding new product lines to our catalog, to better meet demand and help our clients solve tough problems.

We go above and beyond to provide alternative VROXWLRQV LQ W IRUP DQG

BEST-IN-CLASS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE function across multiple brands to help the customer gain more functionality and better value. No matter the job, our goal is WR QG WKH ULJKW SDUW DQG KHOS RXU SDUWQHUV get to work.

With simple online ordering, helpful customer service, and 24/7 expert technical support, we strive to make ordering products from top manufacturers as smooth as possible.

HIGHEST LEVEL OF SERVICE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT To better assist our customers, Galco invests in its employees with in-depth product training programs and seminars to improve familiarity with new technologies and cutting-edge industrial solutions.

With extensive product knowledge, we can provide our customers with the means to stay modern, operate reliably, and improve productivity.

Our expertise extends beyond intimate SURGXFW NQRZOHGJH *DOFR R HUV VHQG LQ repair, onsite repair, and engineering services to assist customers long-term, specializing in industrial electronic equipment, motion control and CNC engineering, and control panel fabrication.

SPREAD_AW.indd 2

BEST-IN-CLASS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE We strive to provide products and services for all your application needs with reliability and speed in mind. With dedicated phone support, knowledgeable sales representatives, and a robust digital footprint, we have the ability to assist our customers in-channel immediately or guide them to the channel that might PHHW WKHLU QHHGV PRUH H HFWLYHO\ TKHVH H RUWV LQFOXGH *DOFR79 our in-house media department that works every day producing product introductions, technical demonstrations, “How-To’s”, and other instructional and informational videos that FXVWRPHUV QG XVHIXO $OO this rich content is embedded on the website and broadcast across our social media channels, including YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and the Galco Blog.

For additional information like resources, technical tips, new suppliers, new products, and more visit our website at Galco.com.

BROAD SELECTION OF PRODUCTS

10/8/21 8:55 AM

M T Y

Y E

F c s

REPAIR PARTS

LEVEL, PRESSURE & FLOW

ELECTRICAL

MILLIONS OF PRODUCTS. THOUSANDS OF APPLICATIONS. YOUR GLOBAL RESOURCE. Your Source for Industrial Electronics & Automation Finding the right part for the job has never been easier. Galco carries more than 3 million electrical products, with free technical support to help you find the part you need and get it quickly.

SPREAD_AW.indd 3

WORLDWIDE SHIPPING

10/8/21 8:55 AM

8 ONLINE

AW OCTOBER 2021

PODCAST SERIES

How Can New Material Handling Technologies Support Adaptive Manufacturing Concepts?

In this episode, we connect with Jeff Johnson, U.S. mechatronics product manager at Beckhoff, to learn more about how Beckhoff’s XPlanar material handling system uses levitation to move parts and products for assembly and/or packaging applications.

awgo.to/1260

AUTOMATION WORLD TV Drones as an Automation Tool

Drones are being used to aid worker safety, perform facility inspections, detect anomalies, and collect data for Internet of Things applications in the discrete and process manufacturing industries.

Find out more in this Take Five with Automation World video.

awgo.to/1261

THE AUTOMATION PLAYBOOK The Automation Playbook is a useful source of information as you look for guidance in how to approach the Industrial Internet of Things, communication protocols, controls implementation, safety, asset management, predictive maintenance, the mobile workforce, and much more.

awgo.to/1056

AUTOMATION WORLD E-BOOK

The Long Term Effects of Remote Access

As the virtual world creates new end user expectations, OEMs and technology suppliers are required to partner in new ways. Download “The Long Term Effects of Remote Access” E-Book to learn more about the industry’s response to a rapidly growing virtual world.

awgo.to/1262

ON-DEMAND WEBINARS 7 Ways to Reduce Total Cost of Ownership for Automated Motion Systems

The pandemic accelerated the need for reliable automation and data-driven intelligence in manufacturing. This webinar outlines tips for incorporating reliable motion systems that lower total cost of ownership and increase predictability of system performance.

How to Engineer Energy-Efficient Automation

In this webinar, experts from Rittal and EPLAN offer an in-depth look at how they find opportunities for energy efficiency at each automation stage: design, engineering, sourcing, manufacturing, and operations. You’ll also discover how to design for energy efficiency in the future, how to begin keeping your own energy efficiency inventory, real-life savings examples from Rittal customers, and how to find out if an energy-efficient control program could qualify you for local rebate programs.

2110_WebTOC.indd 8

awgo.to/1040

10/8/21 8:31 AM

EDITORIAL 9 AW OCTOBER 2021

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS

Top Industrial Uses Case for Cloud Computing

By David Greenfield

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

A

sk 10 manufacturers how COVID-19 impacted their operations and business plans moving forward and you’re very likely to get 10 different answers. There will, of course, be as many similarities as there are differences in responses to such a question, but a few clear trends are becoming more evident among industrial companies.

Based on a survey of nearly 1,000 hightech and manufacturing companies, the Infosys Knowledge Institute has determined that a core shift in manufacturers’ strategy has taken place over the past year—with businesses moving from defensive to offensive priorities and using cloud computing as a key part of this change.

According to the Infosys Knowledge Institute, “Manufacturers have taken the lessons [of the pandemic] seriously and doubled down on digital transformation leading to greater cloud adoption. While many were forced to focus solely on defensive priorities during the pandemic, the high-tech and manufacturing cluster targeted both defensive and offensive goals. The top technology objective of this group in 2020 was to speed up cloud deployment. To enable employees to work from home, they also concentrated their efforts on providing their workforce with mobile access.”

Infosys contends that, as businesses in this cluster shift their cloud adoption goals over time, a “severe decline in defensive strategies” is expected—as early as 2022—accompanied by a climb in offensive priorities.

Key to these more offense-oriented uses of cloud computing to propel business opera-

2110_E1.indd 8

tions include improving visibility during quality checks, advancing product development with cloud-based engineering and CAD tools, and deploying new sensor-driven capabilities.

These tactical applications of cloud computing outweigh this cluster’s use of the cloud for broader applications, such as technology integration and supply chain improvement.

“Enhancing supply chain visibility requires cooperation and collaboration across multiple value chain partners and therefore is more complex to address via an IT solution,” according to the Infosys Knowledge Institute, noting that this fact may slow wider adoption of cloud computing for such applications.

A breakdown of the top use cases of cloud computing in the high-tech and industrial manufacturing sectors, according to the Infosys Knowledge Institute, are as follows: • 63% — Improve visibility for inspection and quality check functions; • 61% — Use cloud-based engineering and CAD tools for product development; • 58% — Deploy new sensor-driven capabilities such as telematics and IoT (Internet of Things); • 50% — Create intelligent energy optimization capabilities; • 44% — Better integrate with suppliers and partners; • 25% — Improve supply chain planning, forecasting visibility and inventory management.

To clarify who the targets of Infosys’s research were, its use of the term “high-tech” refers to chip manufacturers, network product manufacturers, and consumer device makers. Infosys included this sector along with more traditional industrial manufacturers, such as automotive. Beyond these two industrial groups, the research project also looked at cloud use among financial services, retail, and logistics. Results from those sectors are not included in this article, but you can see those results in the full Cloud Radar report (awgo.to/1258).

“Key to these more offense-oriented uses of cloud computing to propel business operations include improving visibility during quality checks, advancing product development with cloud-based engineering and CAD tools, and deploying new sensor-driven capabilities.”

10/8/21 8:28 AM

10 EDITORIAL AW OCTOBER 2021

BATCH OF IDEAS

RoBex Rolls Out a Creative Way to Pay for Equipment

By Stephanie Neil

sneil@automationworld.com Senior Editor

T

he skills shortage has manufacturers turning to automation. But buying the equipment and technology that will fill the void of workers on production or packaging lines presents yet another problem. These systems are expensive. So expensive, in fact, that manufacturers—especially those with multiple plants—have to prioritize projects and sometimes put off purchases indefinitely.

Of course, in the past, savvy CFOs have skirted the issue by leasing rather than buying equipment—creating an OpEx versus a CapEx expense. But another obstacle has appeared in the form of ASC 842, which is the new lease accounting standard published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). In short, ASC 842 considers equipment leasing long-term debt that needs to be put on the company balance sheet.

Understanding the need to get creative with how automation is delivered, RoBex, an engineering-based integrator of automated systems, ripped a page from the software industry, offering its equipment as a structured technology licensing agreement that only requires a monthly fee. Introduced in May, it’s called RoBex Flexx.

“We spent time with our CPA firm, several attorneys, and end users to come up with an agreement that is not considered a lease,” said Craig Francisco, president of RoBex, during the company’s Automation Solution podcast.

“This technology agreement drives it, and the things in there are unique to RoBex, as there’s

2110_E2.indd 10

a patent pending on the process.”

What this means is that RoBex can build a custom-designed, integrated robotic system based on a manufacturer’s unique needs that RoBex ultimately owns and is responsible for.

For example, a palletizing application for finished goods that typically takes six people to manually do the work across multiple shifts can be replaced with an automated robotic palletizing system that creates a significant cost savings on the line—estimated at up to 50%—while allowing organizations to redistribute valuable talent to other areas of the factory where they are needed most.

“There is a huge labor problem and every manufacturer is understaffed,” Francisco told Automation World. “We are going in and automating a job that will free up people to do valuable tasks. But we are not seeing customers let people go, they are repositioning them, pulling them away from monotonous, demanding, physical tasks.”

Many will liken this set-up to the latest machine-as-a-service (MaaS) technology trend. But Francisco says, that, while MaaS is a great model, it does require measuring performance and output to calculate payments.

The Flexx difference is in the simplicity of a flat monthly fee. How much it costs is dependent upon the machine. First, RoBex works with the customer on what they are trying to accomplish to create a system that works for them. The price of such a system can range from $150,000 to $1 million, but the average system is in the $250,000 to $300,000 range, from which a flat monthly fee is determined that is easy to budget.

“The other beautiful thing is that [customers] are allowed to exit as there is no shortterm termination clause,” Francisco said. “If they are not happy they are allowed out of the contract without hoops to jump through. Typical leases don’t give you the ability to exit.”

Of course, RoBex is responsible for making sure the system works, as well as providing parts, equipment maintenance, and service.

“We are putting in a lot of the risk and the money upfront to make this happen for our customers, but we think we have something special and unique,” Francisco said, noting that he foresees 20% of the company’s future automation solution sales being delivered via Flexx.

“As more people understand the [Flexx] program and run it through their accounting team, senior leadership team, and legal team, and they see what we offer, it will take off quickly. We already have a couple of multibillion dollar companies that understand it now and are looking at second, third, and fourth systems, so I believe it has tremendous opportunity for growth,” Francisco said.

“For example, a palletizing application for finished goods that typically takes six people to manually do the work across multiple shifts can be replaced with an automated robotic palletizing system that creates a significant cost savings on the line—estimated at up to 50% —while allowing organizations to redistribute valuable talent to other areas of the factory where they are needed most.”

10/11/21 1:20 PM

EDITORIAL 11 AW OCTOBER 2021

PRODUCTION POINTS

Emerson Combines LNG Inventory Management and Tank Gauging

By David Miller

dmiller@pmmimediagroup.com Senior Technical Writer

A

ccording to a 2021 report from Insight Partners, the market for liquified natural gas (LNG) storage tanks is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9% from 2022 to 2028. This uptick follows directly from the increasing popularity of natural gas as an energy source.

Not only is natural gas considered to be the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel, the ability of power plants fueled by natural gas to ramp up and down quickly has allowed for the peaks and troughs in energy generated by wind and solar to be smoothed over with minimal waste. As such, natural gas is often considered an intermediary step between fossil fuels and renewable energy.

However, even as the market for natural gas expands, attaining a return on investment (ROI) on newly built LNG tanks can be difficult. A typical LNG tank has a capacity of up to 200,000 cubic meters, and includes both an interior steel tank to contain liquid gas and an exterior concrete tank that serves as a secondary containment measure.

The scale and complexity of these structures means that upfront costs are extremely high.

That’s why many companies look to achieve a faster ROI through the use of tank gauging systems that allow operators to optimize tank usage, increase safety, and minimize operating and maintenance costs.

One such system is Emerson’s Rosemount

2110_E3.indd 11

TankMaster, which serves as both an inventory management system and a tank gauging system capable of predicting roll-overs.

A roll-over is a rapid release of LNG vapors from a storage tank that occurs when two separate layers of different densities exist in the tank, leading to a volatile and hazardous reaction. Roll-overs can result in added financial costs due to a loss of valuable product, safety risks, and a failure to meet environmental compliance requirements.

According to Emerson, inventory management and roll-over prediction are typically performed by separate pieces of software, but by combining the two functions into a unified package, Rosemount TankMaster offers end-users several benefits, including lowered costs, improved ease-of-use, and a minimization of training requirements.

Moreover, the software offers monitoring and alarm functionalities, cool-down and leak detection, temperature measurement overview, and remote proof-testing support.

“Many industrial accidents are traceable to human factors, so vendors are increasingly required to provide software and instrumentation that reduce the risk of human error by being easier to use,” said AnnCharlott Enberg, global functional safety manager at Emerson. “The fact that Rosemount TankMaster now provides a single software for inventory management and roll-over prediction not only increases ease-of-use but also accelerates operator training and increases safety by reducing the potential for human error.”

In particular, Rosemount Tankmaster’s remote proof-testing capabilities can result in significant cost reductions, says Victoria Lund Mattsson, solutions engineer at Emerson.

When level gauges are deployed in a safety instrumented environment, they are required to be periodically proof-tested in compliance with IEC 61511 and the American Petroleum

Institute’s API 2350 standards. This can be performed either as a comprehensive or a partial proof-test. In the case of a comprehensive proof-test, technicians must climb inside the tanks themselves, mandating downtime that could affect profitability.

In contrast, partial proof-testing can be performed remotely using Rosemount TankMaster. While a partial proof-test only detects a certain percentage of possible failures and cannot be considered a substitute for a comprehensive proof-test indefinitely, it can be used to extend the amount of time between comprehensive proof-tests, thereby reducing shutdown costs.

“…even as the market for natural gas expands, attaining a return on investment on newly built LNG tanks can be difficult.”

10/8/21 8:27 AM

12 PERSPECTIVES AW OCTOBER 2021

e aintenance inance afety Connection

By David Greenfield

Editor-in-Chief/Director of Content

M

ost coverage of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) tends to focus on their ability to reduce downtime, guide maintenance teams, and improve production operations. What’s not typically discussed is how CMMS can be used to mitigate physical and financial risks.

Paul Lachance, senior manufacturing advisor at Dude Solutions (a CMMS supplier), noted the following downtime statistics for industrial shop floor operations: • In 2016, the average cost of downtime across all businesses was $260,000 per hour—a 60% jump from 2014, according to Aberdeen Research. In some industries, the cost is considerably higher. In the auto industry, for example, downtime can cost up to $50,000 per minute or $3

2110_Perspectives.indd 12

million per hour.

• The true cost of downtime is unknown.

Consultants believe that 80% of industrial facilities are unable to accurately estimate their downtime. A common estimate is that factories lose anywhere from 5% to 20% of their productivity due to downtime.

• Human error causes 23% of unplanned downtime in manufacturing—2.5x higher than other sectors, according to ServiceMax. • A 2017 ServiceMax survey found that 70% of companies lack complete awareness of when equipment is due for maintenance or upgrade.

• Manufacturers experience an average of 800 hours of downtime every year.

“There are risks all around us. Life and work are all about balancing those risks,” said

Lachance. “Some are financial risks, like unplanned downtime, poor financial planning due to inadequate information, or even compliance gaps. Others are more operationsand team-related risks, such as safety, team inefficiencies, or even poor communication.”

Compliance

Providing an example of how CMMS can be used to mitigate operational risks, Lachance pointed to ISO and OSHA compliance. “ISO 9000 is a way of measuring your quality management systems,” he said. “Failing an ISO audit can lead to extra burdens, increased direct and indirect costs, and loss of goodwill with clients, vendors, and suppliers. OSHA-related violations certainly create financial and operational risks. Team safety is clearly a primary goal, but the secondary costs of an OSHA-

10/8/21 8:27 AM

PERSPECTIVES 13 AW OCTOBER 2021

related issue can be significant.”

Lachance said a well-implemented CMMS can be used to address numerous ISO 9000-related needs via features such as: • Automated preventive maintenance; • Well-documented work and safety procedures; • Reporting and record-keeping for audits.

“Having your job safety analysis, safety data sheets, and lockout/tagout procedures alongside your standard preventive and corrective maintenance work order instructions will help mitigate safety issues in the first place and also show an auditor you are serious about that mitigation should an issue arise,” said Lachance.

CMMS software can also recognize a safety-related work order and automatically associate a safety officer with the order, bump up the priority of the issue, and send an email notification. Likewise, a CMMS can automatically re-alert the team about a work order that’s been sitting around too long.

“Your CMMS can also manage approvals for a project, purchase, or closing a work order,” Lachance said. “Mitigating operational shop floor risks is greatly aided by a CMMS with dynamic routing, notification, and escalation.”

Communication

A CMMS can also be used to help your team, vendors, contractors, and even assets communicate.

“Your CMMS dashboard can be setup to show you many KPIs (key performance indicators). For example, improving your ratio of preventive-to-corrective maintenance is essential. To do this, set a goal and publish it on your dashboard. That way it will be hard to ignore if you see it all the time and continue to work with your team to help improve.”

In addition to the safety-related notifications Lachance pointed out above, notifications are another example of how to improve communications with CMMS. “When you are low on parts, a CMMS can alert you via email or notification on your dashboard,” he said. “This will help you avoid those dreaded stock-outs or missing a key spare part when you need it. Likewise, as work orders are assigned to team members, contractors, etc., you can make sure they get a notification with a quick link into the CMMS. This will help shorten response times and catch problems quicker. All of this is assisted with a mobile CMMS.”

$* 1)) ,)) 22*/

2110_Perspectives.indd 13

ppp'\bfhg'\hf

lZe^l9\bfhgbg\'\hf

10/8/21 8:27 AM

14 PERSPECTIVES AW OCTOBER 2021

Video Games and the Industrial Digital Twin

By David Miller

Senior Technical Writer

D

igital twin simulations that provide end-users with a virtual copy of plant assets and production systems, though not yet ubiquitous in industry, have been used for tasks such as production monitoring for some time now. However, new contributions from the field of video game development may both expand the core functionality of digital twins and extend their use from operations management to other departments such as sales and marketing.

According to Brad Hart, chief technology officer at Perforce Software, video game engines such as Unreal, which gave its name to the popular “Unreal” first person shooter franchise, boast sophisticated visualization capabilities and complex physics engines that make them the perfect tool for enhancing digital twin simulations. Current industrial digital twin software is, for the most part, highly technical and may require an engineering background to fully comprehend. By improving the accessibility, quality, and realism of the visualizations, game engines like Unreal could help unlock new applications for digital twin technology.

For instance, automotive manufacturer Audi has brought physical data from its digital twin production pipeline into the Unreal engine to simulate the design of new vehicles.

Not only can the performance of these vehicles be tested in a virtual environment, but their designs can more easily be exhibited to corporate executives in a highly realistic and interactive manner long before a single unit is actually produced. Similarly, aerospace companies that build private jets can share design blue prints with customers far more effectively via the use of a digital twin simulation.

“Think about 3D models put out by digital twins in the past. They’re still for engineering minds—not for the sales team, marketing executives, or consumers,” Hart says. “These

2110_Perspectives.indd 14

people want to be as close to feeling the end product as possible. They want to be able to touch it before it’s physically built. These more sophisticated visualizations open up the utility of the digital twin to more people.”

In addition, the use of powerful game engines may make rapid prototyping, digital planning, and virtual commissioning of plants and equipment easier to achieve. Tests that previously involved complex calculations— even with the aid of a digital twin—can be iterated more quickly through the use of a more robust simulation.

Still, those in industry working on digital twin technology need not fear game developers stealing their jobs. While automotive, aviation, and several other manufacturing sectors are seeking game developers to help them build more realistic industrial simulations, the tasks they are performing complement rather than replace those performed by others.

“Without a doubt, some of the biggest manufacturing industries are bringing game developers onto their staffs to assist with this.

It really is opening up opportunities for people

in game development to branch out into new industries,” Hart says. “But it doesn’t preclude what people already in manufacturing working on digital twins are doing. We’re just augmenting the skillsets that already exist within these organizations.”

Want to watch this story instead? Tune in to our Take Five with Automation World video. awgo.to/1263

10/11/21 1:19 PM

L?34 Û á ËÈ Û O³ v¨ 9 v %Ë L?34 Û Ã v À vÈ ³½½³ÀÈË® Èâ to encourage your professional network to stay ahead of the latest trends in industrial automation.

Your executive thought leadership is v ½³Ü À ˨ Üvâ ȳ v­½¨ â È Ã Û ®ÈƜ ®³ ­vÈÈ À ³Ü ­v®â ³¨¨³Ü Àà â³Ë vÛ . As we head into this event we encourage you to share your enthusiasm for the ROKLive event on social media. ` ƺÛ ­v È vÃâ ³À â³Ë â Àv È ® È Ã Ãv­½¨ ½³ÃÈà ³À â³ËÀ Ë® ¿Ë ½À³ Ãà ³®v¨ vË ® ƛ

I?OS ŭƝ Join me at #ROKLive to explore the explosion of digital technologies in manufacturing today and learn how industry-leading companies are applying analytics for actual insights. Register now: rok.auto/roklive I?OS ŮƝ The #ROKLive virtual event is your one-stop shop for hot topics in industry. Join us for executive keynotes, exclusive workshops, the DX Idea Exchange and more. Register now: rok.auto/roklive I?OS ůƝ How can we help you shape your digital future? Join us at #ROKLive for keynote discussions on this, digital insights driving innovation, and more.

Regster now: rok.auto/roklive

Full PageAd.indd Ad.indd 7373 Full Page

10/8/21 AMPM 9/26/218:47 6:02

16 NEWS

AW OCTOBER 2021

Bringing Artificial Intelligence to Remote Access

By David Miller

Senior Technical Writer

I

BM announced a new collaboration with engineering consultancy firm Black and Veatch to combine IBM’s Maximo Application Suite of software products with Black and Veatch’s experience in the field of realtime data analytics.

Remote access use has boomed over the past few years, as companies have sought to maximize productivity with fewer onsite workers. According to Automation World’s 2021 remote access survey, 67% of respondent companies are currently using some form of the technology (awgo.to/1264).

However, while pulling so much more data out of plants than in the past can provide new opportunities for optimization, it can also introduce unwieldly complexity. As the volume of data grows, software dashboards can become so overwhelmed with updates, signals, and alarms that important information winds up being ignored entirely. AI (artificial intelligence) can solve this issue by helping end-users sort through the many incoming datapoints more efficiently.

The collaboration between IBM and Black and Veatch will allow intelligence from Black and Veatch’s monitoring and diagnostic centers to be delivered to end-users via IBM’s Maximo Application Suite, which includes applications for predictive maintenance, worker safety, visual inspection, and an assortment of other tasks performed on the plant floor and in the IT department.

As an example of how AI can assist in optimizing maintenance procedures, consider that much maintenance work currently being carried out is preventative in nature.

This means it is performed at pre-determined time intervals or in conjunction with pre-selected events believed to precede equipment failures. While this method can be effective, it can be inexact, and may lead to either too much or too little maintenance work being done. In addition, the rigid guidelines preventative maintenance schedules employ fail to take into account contextual factors.

2110_News.indd 16

By contrast, AI can help operators shift to a predictive model of maintenance that couples large, complex datasets with contextual information such as weather conditions to construct real-time analytics that can greatly increase the efficiency of maintenance procedures. Without AI, the utility of the additional data may go to waste, as its uses could be limited by the narrow expertise of individual operators.

“Organizations in every industry need to figure out how to use the vast amounts of data generated within their own systems,” said Kareem Yusuf, IBM general manager for AI applications and blockchain. “Monitoring insights that combine AI and machine learning technology with deep industry expertise can help organizations make better sense of their data and use it to manage their assets better. IBM and Black and Veatch are collaborating to deliver insights that can be applied to improve the performance of assets and extend their lifespans."

The Maximo Application Suite is a cloud-

based platform, which means maintenance crews, plant managers, and other staff can share a unified view of all operational data across multiple sites. According to IBM, having access to this single source of truth is imperative to achieving optimal results.

To further this drive for unified data, IBM is also adding Black and Veatch’s digital twin asset models to its Digital Twin Exchange, an online resource available to IBM customers that allows them to attain information made available by asset providers. Types of data shared on the exchange include: Bills of material, parts lists, AI models, maintenance plans, user manuals, and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models for digital twin visualization.

10/8/21 8:18 AM

NEWS 17

Adaptive Manufacturing Gets Real with New Materials Handling Tech

By David Greenfield

Editor-In-Chief/Director of Content

A

AW OCTOBER 2021

“By generating electromagnetic fields, the coils float and propel the mover above the surface. And then, by varying these electromagnetic fields, we’re able create free 2D motion, which allows for six degrees of freedom, enabling the mover to travel in any direction we want.” — Jeff Johnson, Beckhoff Automation

daptive manufacturing is a concept that centers on a manufacturer’s ability to rapidly change production operations to meet the need for demanddriven products—an increasingly important capability for manufacturers as more products are designed for customizability.

Meeting such demands is leading technology suppliers to develop automated material handling systems that allow manufacturers to more easily meet the market’s demand for custom products.

To learn more about how technology suppliers are creating these new material handling systems, we connected with Jeff Johnson, U.S. mechatronics product manager at

ONE source.

Simply easy!

Unlimited sensor options. www.tesensors.com

AW202101-Telemecanique.indd 1 2110_News.indd 17

12/16/2020 10:09:03 AM 10/8/21 8:26 AM

18 NEWS

AW OCTOBER 2021

Beckhoff Automation, for a recent episode of the “Automation World Gets Your Questions Answered” podcast series (awgo.to/1260).

Beckhoff is well known for its release of two new mechatronic material handling technologies designed for adaptive manufacturing— XPlanar, which uses levitating tiles to move products or components in any number of directions for processing, assembly, or packaging; and the eXtended Transport System (XTS), which provides for independent control of magnetically driven movers along a customizable, guided path.

In our discussion for this podcast, we focused on XPlanar and how it allows manufacturers to more quickly and easily adapt product flow to meet changing demands because it has no mechanical track to follow.

With XPlanar, “you have free motion for quick process changes,” said Johnson. “You can add processes or skip processes simply by changing the path that the movers follow.”

Johnson explained that XPlanar can do this because the movers on the system that transport materials float above the tiled surface based on magnetic levitation principles.

These principles are well known and have been used for years in transportation, such as with maglev trains. “With XPlanar, the mover is passive,” said Johnson. “It has permanent magnets arranged in a Halbach array, where you’ve got really strong magnetic fields on one side—in our case on the bottom of the mover—and very weak magnetic fields on the top. The tile contains all the electronics for powering the coils to create electromagnetic fields, as well as all the feedback and diagnostics. So, on the surface of the tile, there are a lot of very flat coils; and that’s where the name XPlanar comes from—these very thin, planar coils in the surface of the tile. By generating electromagnetic fields, the coils float and propel the mover above the surface. And then, by varying these electromagnetic fields, we’re able create free 2D motion, which allows for six degrees of freedom, enabling the mover to travel in any direction we want.”

The XPlanar movers can levitate zero to five millimeters above the surface, with a two-millimeter height being the sweet spot, said Johnson. “At a two-millimeter flying height, we can move up to two meters per second with a 1 g acceleration. We have different mover sizes, and the payloads range from 0.4 to 4.2 kilograms. But they can also be linked mechanically or via software to

2110_News.indd 18

carry even heavier loads.”

Collision avoidance is handled automatically by Beckhoff’s TwinCAT software, which is the only platform needed for XPlanar configuration, programming, and runtime.

Why levitating movers?

As fascinating as it can be to watch XPlanar in action, practical manufacturing requirements tend to bring cutting edge technology ideas into an understandable and easily deployable form. So how did the futuristic idea of using levitating movers evolve into a material handling reality?

According to Johnson, the idea began not long after Beckhoff’s creation of the XTS more than eight years ago. “We started developing XPlanar six years ago because we were seeing lots of applications that would benefit from free 2D motion,” he said. “With XTS, we have done lots of applications with it, but that’s 1D motion—where we can do very fast, highspeed applications with heavier loads. We saw that need for free movement capability, and XPlanar allows for six degrees of freedom. We can move in the X-Y plane over the entire surface, raise and lower the movers from zero to five millimeters, tilt the movers plus or minus 15 degrees, and we can also rotate plus or minus five degrees while in motion, and perform up

to 600 RPMs while stationary. So, the six degrees of freedom opens up the door for many different applications.”

In terms of getting manufacturers to use such a new technology rather than sticking with more well-known material handling systems like conveyors or track systems like the XTS, Johnson said, “if you’re just trying to move product from point A to point B, standard conveyors are probably the right solution. But we’ve found that when you design your process around the XTS or the XPlanar, you can reduce your [materials handling] footprint by 30% to 60%. And from an end user standpoint, XPlanar with the free 2D motion opens up the door to new and innovative designs because your tooling becomes simpler.”

Describing how XPlanar makes tooling requirements easier for end users, Johnson offered an example of processing a carton on which you want to place a glue pattern.

“Typically, you’d have a three-axis glue head come over the carton and lay the glue pattern down. That glue head tool can now become a one-axis tool because we can bring it out and drop it down the Z-axis to dispense the glue, and then do the X-Y motions using the mover.

That’s how XPlanar enables your tooling to become simpler.”

This even applies to the positioning of tools. “Your tooling doesn’t have to be perfectly level to function because we can tilt

“Every mover can follow a different path or go to different stations, which delivers on the goal of lot size one. Different products can even be running at the same time on the same machine because you’ve got the freedom to layout your machine in any X-Y format.” — Jeff Johnson, Beckhoff Automation

10/11/21 1:19 PM

NEWS 19

AW OCTOBER 2021

Integration

Because material handling technologies need to integrate with other systems for processing, assembly, and/or packaging, Johnson explained how XPlanar is designed to work with other systems in a manufacturing environment.

“The standard TwinCAT software that comes with XPlanar handles all the functions necessary to synchronize the movers to robots or any other external device for loading and unloading on the fly,” he said. “We can even handle transfer of materials coming in on a conveyor, where the tooling allows for the product to drop into a pocket on the mover.

The position and speed of the movers can be sent to external devices to either follow a robot or have the robot follow the XPlanar movers. We could also send speed and position data to cameras for inspection applications.

And if you want to do printing on the fly, the position and speed of the mover can be shared for printing in a stationary position or as materials move through the process.

New capabilities

Further highlighting Beckhoff’s new capabilities for XPlanar—the ability to rotate 360 degrees and continuously operate at up to 600 RPMs—Johnson said: “This allows us to apply labels to materials as they are moved, do 360-degree inspection of a part so that the cameras used can be simpler, and orient parts for loading and unloading. The movers’ rotating and tilting motion can be used to create a controlled wobbling motion that’s useful for mixing applications.”

Johnson pointed out that Beckhoff is

2110_News.indd 19

preparing another new update for XPlanar around a new mover bumper with a unique ID to further enhance mover identification.

“This unique ID allows you to track your products even through an XPlanar power cycle,” he explained. “This means you can recover

from a power cycle and still know exactly where the movers are to determine if you can continue production as is or if operators need to make adjustments.”

| EC11-17USA |

the mover so that the material being moved is level in relationship to the tooling. Plus, every mover can follow a different path or go to different stations, which delivers on the goal of lot size one—as every tile does not have to index and follow in line.

They can jump out of line to perform any task. Different products can even be running at the same time on the same machine because you’ve got the freedom to layout your machine in any X-Y format.”

And because the 9.5-inch square XPlanar tiles can be grouped in any grid pattern, users can form rectangles, lanes, squares, or even U-shapes with the tiles. “It gives you this flexibility to assemble your transport system around your machine and around your factory,” Johnson said.

I/Os built in, powered by TwinCAT: Ultra-compact CX7000 Embedded PC

480 MHz ARM processor

100 mm

Support the most versatile applications: safety technology compatible with EJ system motion control explosion protection EtherCAT

www.beckhoff.com/cx7000 The CX7000 Embedded PC delivers the efficiency and performance of TwinCAT 3 software in an ultra-compact controller format. This further enhances the scalability of PC-based control technology from Beckhoff ranging from DIN rail mounted mini-PLCs to many-core Industrial PCs. Equipped with a 480 MHz processor and 12 configurable multi-functional I/Os, the CX7000 offers an attractive price-performance ratio and exceptional flexibility. The CX7000 supports simple system expansions using the Beckhoff I/O terminal system.

ARM Cortex™-M7 processor (32-bit, 480 MHz) Compact dimensions: just 49 x 100 x 72 mm Multi-functional I/Os allow variable use: 8 digital inputs, 24 V DC, type 3 4 digital outputs, 24 V DC, 0.5 A, 1-wire technology fast counter input encoder input 2 analog 0…10 V inputs 2 PWM outputs

10/11/21 1:19 PM

20 PMMI NEWS AW OCTOBER 2021

PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO, A Huge Success

By Sean Riley

Senior Director, Media and Industry Communications, PMMI

T

he packaging and processing community came together September 27-29, 2021, for perhaps the most important PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO in its history, according to show producer PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. More than 23,000 attendees, eager to find help with current challenges, engaged with more than 1,500 exhibitors across four expansive halls with more than 740,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

It serves as the largest trade show in the U.S. in 2021 so far.

“In a word, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO was a success,”

said Jim Pittas, president and CEO, PMMI. “Exhibitors and attendees alike were energized by the number of people who attended and— more importantly—the business conducted from the moment we opened the doors on Monday.”

As PMMI’s State of the Industry report highlights, 2020 was a record year for packaging machinery, with the total size of the market in the U.S. increasing to $12.3 billion, growing 14.4%. In the case of domestic shipments, growth of 14.7% reached $9.4 billion for this segment, reported Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of market development for PMMI, during Monday’s media briefing at the event. This record year led to the industry’s readiness to come together to see the latest innovations in person.

PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO was more than just a packaging and processing equipment show, with more than 80 free educational sessions. Hungry for new information, attendees took advantage of the opportunities at the Forum and at the PACK to the Future and Innovation Stages located throughout the show floors. Many also accessed digital showrooms and select show content online via PACK EXPO Xpress, which debuted this year to extend the show’s reach beyond the convention center’s walls. All registered show attendees can continue to access PACK EXPO Xpress

ROUTING ALL KINDS OF CABLES AND CONNECTORS THROUGH 1 KNOCK-OUT WITH IMAS-CONNECT™ www.icotek.com

2110_News.indd 20

until Nov. 19.

Thousands of attendees flocked to the North Hall to take a journey through the evolution of packaging and processing at PACK to the Future. The curated exhibit included 26 historic packaging machines dating from the late 1890s. The machinery was surrounded by imagery supplied by museums and manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kellogg, Hormel, Anheuser-Busch, and Merck.

A highlight of the show’s second day came early when nearly 500 industry professionals gathered for the Packaging and Processing Women’s Leadership Network (PPWLN) breakfast. Keynote speaker Tracey Noonan, co-founder and CEO of Wicked Good Cupcakes, reflected on her experience scaling an e-commerce business and managing a growing workforce. She was joined by Yolanda Malone, vice president of global R&D Foods at PepsiCo, and PPWLN co-chairs Jan Tharp, president and CEO, Bumble Bee Seafood Company, and Sharron Gilbert, president and CEO of Septimatech Group Inc., for a candid conversation about the new world of work and what it means for the future of manufacturing.

PMMI heads east for the next event in the PACK EXPO portfolio of trade shows, with registration officially open for PACK EXPO East (March 21-23, 2022; Pennsylvania Convention Center). Now in its fifth edition, the three-day event returns to Philadelphia after a record-breaking PACK EXPO East 2020 that featured 7,100-plus attendees and its largest show floor to date. For more information, visit packexpoeast.com, and for all show related information visit packexpo.com.

10/8/21 8:58 AM

IIOT SUPPORT 21 AW OCTOBER 2021

Evaluating Support For The Internet of Things As manufacturers digitally transform their operations, finding the right technologies can be an overwhelming process. Don’t overlook your supplier’s ability to provide the right level of support when assessing technological capabilities.

By Lauren Gibbons Paul, Contributing Writer

T

hough the devices used in many Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) projects may not be entirely new, the architectures used to facilitate IIoT levels of data aggregation, sharing, and analysis tend to be of a more recent vintage. So, even though you may be experienced in working with the

2110_F1.indd 21

types of controllers, sensors, and I/O systems used for IIoT initiatives, having access to quality support from your technology supplier(s) is critical to your project’s success.

But how do you go about assessing the level of support you should expect from a technology supplier for an IIoT project?

First, it’s important to realize that the evaluation should go far beyond knowing who will pick up the phone when you call—though this is an important aspect. The supplier’s support team should also be able to help you figure out the value proposition of the IIoT project you’re looking to implement. They should be

10/8/21 8:13 AM

22 IIOT SUPPORT AW OCTOBER 2021

able to help guide you in understanding what you can realistically expect to get out of the project, in operational terms, as well as the return on investment (ROI).

The support you get from your technology supplier should also address the design work typical at the beginning of an IIoT project.

Scott McWilliams, vice president of global operations consulting at Emerson Automation Solutions, says, “IIoT opens up a new world and a new approach to how we design [automated production systems]. A vendor on a typical continuous-improvement project might only consider process design issues, but that typically just covers the inputs and outputs of one part of the process. Now, with IIoT, you’ve got to look at the inputs across an entire endto-end process—because some critical inputs may originate in a business system outside of the plant. You’ll need the vendor to sit down and help you think out the whole process from the very beginning with a focus on how to improve both process efficiency and efficacy.”

Swagelok’s experience

Swagelok, a manufacturer of components for gas and fluid systems, was looking for a way to automatically monitor, record, and escalate its assembly process. To do this, the company needed to make information from its Allen-Bradley PLCs more readily available so that its support team could have quicker visibility into its shop floor operations.

Doing this via an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) project seemed a natural fit for collecting, sharing, and analyzing the relevant

IIoT Vendor Support Checklist Look for suppliers with support staff featuring engineers and those who’ve had hands-on experience with the products.

Make sure the vendor doesn’t overly rely on the use of scripts.

Ask if product support engineers have equipment available in their workspace to emulate customer issues.

Find out if the support staff can share best practices.

Support staff should be interested in hearing how the company can improve its products and services.

data. Matt DeLuca, quality engineer for Swagelok, says the company selected Opto 22’s groov EPIC (Edge Programmable Industrial Controller) for this project in no small part due to the quality of Opto 22’s support.

“When we first started, they gave us a very in-depth demo to explain the capabilities of the devices. Between then and now, we have done a handful of virtual training sessions and webinars that have helped us take our implementations to the next level,” says DeLuca. “Any time I have a question or issue, I have direct contacts with Opto 22, not an automated phone service. Their team has been more than willing to meet with our engineers and support teams to talk about additional features we would like to see or if

Opto 22’s groov EPIC (Edge Programmable Industrial Controller). Source: Opto 22

2110_F1.indd 22

a best practice could benefit us.”

Opto 22’s support staff are all engineers with access to an array of test equipment on hand to duplicate customers’ exact issues.

IIoT support: What to look for

Customers beginning an IIoT project should look to their vendors not just for expertise in the products they sell, but for an understanding of the larger technology landscape, says Garrick Reichert, application engineer at Opto 22.

“They might need help setting up their IIoT solution to succeed,” adds Reichert. “That’s why we engage in these conversations very early on. We get involved in designing the architecture of the system so that when it comes to any support needs they have later, we understand it from start to finish.”

Emerson’s McWilliams advises end users to question how they are supported in three stages of an IIoT project: pre-sale, go live, and post-implementation. “It’s not enough that you can call someone when the green light doesn't go on,” he says. That’s why pre-sales consultations are critical to ensuring you pick the right architecture and support to achieve the benefits you seek.

The customer needs to fully understand IIoT and the implications of the choices they make, says Travis Cox, co-director of sales engineering at Inductive Automation. “That means being transparent about things like data transport—do they own the data or not; and is it transported through an open mechanism where they can use a different cloud service. These aspects are really important.”

Cox adds that customers need to see

10/8/21 8:14 AM

w

IIOT SUPPORT 23 AW OCTOBER 2021

that their technology supplier will be a committed partner. “You don’t want to call in and always get somebody different or have a person reading off a script. You need to be able to talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about.”

Swagelok production operator. Source: Swagelok

The vetting process

Labor shortages driven by COVID-19, coupled with increasing retirements in the manufacturing workforce and the relative newness of IIoT architectures, means that finding knowledgeable support personnel can be difficult.

“Many IoT platforms are relatively new to the market, so finding experienced IoT developers and solution architects to work on and maintain a system is a challenge,” says Richard Mizuno, Asia-Pacific principal and regional director at Kalypso, a Rockwell Automation company.

When vetting potential suppliers, keep in mind your need for support will stretch beyond system design, implementation, and maintenance.

Keith Chambers, Aveva’s vice president of operations management software, notes that one of the most critical moments in an IIoT project is when you revisit it to determine if it is delivering on its promise. After finishing a proof-of-concept project is a perfect time to make key adjustments to ensure ROI, he says.

It’s important to realize that “you’ll likely need to fine-tune the solution to deliver real value before you can justify any bigger investments to expand it in one plant or roll it out to others,” says Chambers.

Improve Quality and Output by streamlining applications with pallet-handling conveyor systems

Standard Products for Custom Solutions: Pallet loads up to 800 lbs./ea Pallet sizes up to 1,200x1,200 mm Repeat accuracy ± 0.1 mm Indexing or accumulation Now with ALL ELECTRIC devices

® (860) 769-5500 | info@mknorthamerica.com VersaMove is a product of mk North America, Inc.

www.mkversamove.com/AW 2110_F1.indd 23

10/8/21 8:14 AM

24 LEGACY EQUIPMENT RETROFITS AW OCTOBER 2021

IIoT Retrofits for Legacy Equipment If you’re like most manufacturers, you’re not operating a greenfield site with the latest internet-ready equipment. Nevertheless, you’re likely facing a number of digitalization initiatives. Here’s how you can do it via strategic retrofits to existing equipment.

2110_F2.indd 24

10/8/21 8:10 AM

LEGACY EQUIPMENT RETROFITS 25 AW OCTOBER 2021

By James R. Koelsch, Contributing Writer

D

on’t cry over spilled milk, beer, or anything else for that matter. Why? Because there’s no longer any need to put up with spillage and other forms of waste just because your installed base of equipment is too old. You can solve many of these problems by retrofitting your legacy equipment to give you the connectivity and visibility promised by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to reduce waste.

Just ask Joe Vogelbacher, CEO and co-founder of the Sugar Creek Brewing Co., a craft brewery in Charlotte, N.C. Retrofitting a bottling line there with IIoT technology has allowed operators to control foaming as beer moves from tank to tank. Even slight variations in pressure and temperature can generate foam, which translates into enough spillage to cost the brewery $30,000 a month in lost revenue.

Operators can now interact with the process in real time from anywhere in the brewery, thanks to help from Bosch Rexroth Corp.

“Together with Sugar Creek, we mapped the value stream and began to analyze specific pain points,” said Armando Gonzalez, Industry 4.0 business leader at Bosch Rexroth. “From there, we were able to determine the amount of waste and how that translated in terms of value.”

Bosch Rexroth engineers then helped the brewery’s staff understand how IIoT technology could help them achieve some quick success.

The retrofit team added not only IIoT sensors to the beer tanks, but also Rexroth’s IIoT Gateway to report fill levels and temperature. Once analyzed, these data points are available to operators on their laptops, tablets, or mobile phones. With information easily accessible and the ability to adjust setpoints remotely, Sugar Creek Brewing Co. saved $120,000 in 2019 alone.

Planning is crucial

Like any other technology, successful IIoT implementation requires a plan that makes good business sense.

Developing such a plan helps avoid over-retrofitting, the most common mistake that users make, according to Manish Chawla, general manager for the industrial sector at IBM Corp. “The primary consideration should be clearly identifying what the ultimate goals and business benefits are for retrofitting a given piece of equipment,” he advises. “There needs to be a business purpose for every single sensor that someone wants to install.”

These purposes usually include some benefit for such things as cost, safety, quality, and throughput. “The most impactful place to start one would be to look at where your biggest problems are,” suggests Dave Eifert, senior business development manager for IIoT at Phoenix Contact USA. “Look at one of these aspects in a very granular way and imagine what it would take to eliminate that one problem.” If more data and information about

2110_F2.indd 25

the process will help you to understand and solve the problem, then it could be a good application for IIoT. Automation experts warn beginners to be selective when deciding what data to collect. “The influx of too much data can create analysis paralysis,” explains Trevor Diehl, vice president of research and development at DelmiaWorks, a supplier of enterprise resource planning software. To avoid this problem, he suggests working with quality professionals to identify three to five signals to start with—and certainly no more than eight.

An oft-forgotten consideration in the planning process is the long-term maintenance of any added sensors. “Making sure that sensors are calibrated appropriately is a long-term difficulty that few people plan for,” observes Diehl. Besides experiencing some drift that occurs naturally over time, sensors also eventually fail in industrial settings because they are installed in hostile environments, such as on vibrating machinery, in electromagnetic fields, and near heat sources.

IIoT with existing controllers

Once the goals and benefits are established, the next step for planning is to weigh them against the value and cost of the technology available to achieve them. The good news is that adding IIoT devices usually does not require replacing the existing controller. One reason is that IIoT is no longer limited to adding discrete sensors decoupled from the traditional control hierarchy. It can now include distributing data already available through PLCs. “The controls world has been rapidly assimilating more IIoT technology,” explains Diehl. He points to the ability of technology like Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk View to connect to an OPC server, which is a common IIoT aggregator of data from a PLC. “So, it’s very possible to get relevant IIoT information from your existing equipment once it’s hooked into the right aggregator.”

“Many older controllers have some way of communicating valuable data, even if it’s over older protocols such as serial or DeviceNet,” adds Daymon Thompson, U.S. software product manager at Beckhoff Automation. Consequently, IIoT and other digitalization technologies can usually read data from these legacy controllers and then transmit it via an IIoT communication standard like MQTT, HTTP, and REST. “However, doing this requires adding a device to the system as a communications gateway.”

These gateways work alongside existing PLCs to send selected data to an on-premises or cloud-based system for the application of analytics. Eifert at Phoenix Contact recommends starting by leaving the existing control system in place and applying edge gateways in parallel. “It’s usually best to start small and learn to avoid potential pitfalls before pursuing projects with higher risk-reward profiles,” he says.

Then, you can weigh the benefits of replacing the

10/8/21 8:10 AM

26 LEGACY EQUIPMENT RETROFITS AW OCTOBER 2021

PLCs as it makes sense during subsequent upgrade cycles. To permit this option, Eifert suggests using IIoT technology that can be applied incrementally. An example is Phoenix Contact’s PLCnext, which can serve as both an edge gateway and a PLC. It can be applied incrementally alongside an existing PLC, communicating locally with the PLC via such protocols as Modbus TCP, EtherNet/IP, or even Modbus RTU. Its Linux-based operating system allows using open-source programming tools like Node-Red as a link to the IIoT world.

Thompson reports that most IIoT upgrades involving Beckhoff Automation’s PC-based controls have entailed updating software to add functionality and communications in the controller. “In cases with very old equipment, it is straightforward to add a small gateway device and use our Data Agent software to read data from the existing controller and then map it to IoT communications protocols,” he says.

Such hardware can typically do much more than that, though. “A local IoT gateway

can also do some of the computing at the edge before sending any information to the enterprise level or to the cloud,” says Thompson. Processing information at the edge can reduce network traffic and minimize the data being sent to higher-level systems.

An application requiring high-speed data will mostly likely need on-premises or edge computing. “These datasets often also need to roll up into an overarching corporate or enterprise view to assess holistic impact,” notes Chawla at IBM. “So, you need a welldefined architecture that specifies where data needs to be processed.”

Here, a common mistake is to take a strictly linear approach of processing the data either on-premises or in the cloud. “This approach can limit the value you’re able to gain from the data,” says Chawla. To avoid such limitations, he urges users to consider an open, hybrid architecture because it offers the flexibility to process data on-premises for speed and agility, as well as to reap the benefits of access to the cloud.

A tale of two constraints

Two important constraints for planning an IIoT retrofit are whether the equipment is instrumented and designed to communicate externally. “An application consisting of multiple connected, instrumented systems using controllers capable of communicating with industrial protocols is going to be a lot more straightforward,” notes Josh Eastburn, director of technical marketing at Opto 22. “Basically, you just need some good gateways or a single edge controller to bridge those different automation networks, and then pipe that information to wherever you want it to go.”

He adds, however, that establishing connectivity has been more difficult for un-instrumented equipment not designed to communicate externally. The low-cost option was to add the necessary instrumentation, send the data to a datalogger, and manually transfer the collected data to a spreadsheet. A more expensive option was to invest in a continuous logger, RTU, or PLC—which was pricey for just one piece of equipment and didn’t scale well for multiple machines. A Raspberry Pi was

The slightest change in temperature and pressure can cause foaming on the bottling line at Sugar Creek Brewing. To control this form of waste, the brewery turned to Bosch Rexroth to retrofit its line with IIoT technology. Source: Bosch Rexroth Corp.

Technicians at Sugar Creek Brewing receive data from the bottling process via IIoT sensors and a Bosch Rexroth IIoT Gateway. Source: Bosch Rexroth Corp.

2110_F2.indd 26

10/8/21 8:11 AM

LEGACY EQUIPMENT RETROFITS 27 AW OCTOBER 2021

cheaper, but it tended not to work well with industrial I/O signals and was often too fragile for industrial environments.

For simplicity and scalability, Eastburn suggests an edge-oriented approach, such as that used in a predictive-maintenance program developed for a CNC mill by Enginuity Inc., an engineering firm in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Because CNC machines are usually not designed to collect or publish all of the necessary information for overall equipment efficiency (OEE) tracking, Enginuity’s engineers added sensors for measuring vibration, temperature, and current. They then wired the signals into a groovRIO edge I/O module from Opto 22. Using the module’s embedded Node-Red IoT engine, they collected the signal data, created a real-time mobile dashboard, and pushed data to OSIsoft PI (analytics system) using REST calls.

When either the existing controller is closed or the machine is old enough to be controlled via relay logic, Thompson at Beckhoff Automation says an IoT coupler is another option for reading sensor and

2110_F2.indd 27

motor data directly. In such cases, consider extracting uptime and other OEE data.

Beckhoff’s EK9160 IoT Coupler can write sensor or electrical-input data to higherlevel systems in the cloud or on premises using OPC UA or MQTT.

On-machine IIoT

Although IIoT devices are often added at the I/O level, another important place for retrofitting is at the machine level, the same level as an HMI in the control hierarchy, according to Alexander Bergner, director, IIoT product management at TTTech Industrial Automation. This is where TTTec’s Nerve edge computing platform runs.

By operating just above the PLC, the platform is able to draw upon much more computing power than is typically available at the I/O level. And by operating below the SCADA level, the algorithms are still close enough to the operation itself that the data are received in real time and experience no loss of granularity. Consequently, Nerve can support predictive maintenance and other

analytics at the edge.

Because the platform has a virtualization function, it can run new applications and services alongside existing infrastructure. In fact, this ability captured the attention of the engineering staff at Fill Gesellschaft, a builder of CNC machine tools based in Gurten, Austria. Nerve now hosts the company’s Cybernetics smart factory software.

Running on edge devices built into each of Fill’s machines, Nerve collects data from the machines and sends it to the Cybernetics applications without any loss of granularity. Fill then processes the data on its software at the edge before sending the information to the cloud.

Fill is also using global datasets to check wear on components across its entire fleet of machines and to offer the results to its customer base as a service. The builder expects as much as 12% of its revenue to come from such services in a few years.

10/8/21 8:11 AM

28 CASE STUDY AW OCTOBER 2021

A technician calibrates an Inspekto S70 autonomous machine vision system.

Autonomous Machine Vision Improves Injection Molding Quality A Bosch plant that produces plastic molded connectors for automotive manufacturers implements Inspekto’s S70 machine vision system, resulting in immediate savings and an improvement in connector quality.

By David Greenfield, Editor-in-Chief/Director of Content

2110_F3.indd 28

10/8/21 8:06 AM

CASE STUDY 29

G

AW OCTOBER 2021

A plant’s own staff can set up and train the system without using an lobal competition and market expectations put ever-increasexternal systems integrator.” ing pressures on automotive manufacturers to enhance their More importantly the S70 only requires an average of 20 to 30 good quality assurance (QA) procedures. This is leading manufactursamples to learn the characteristics of a perfect product, according ers away from manual inspection procedures and toward automated to Nir. “Therefore, there’s no need to set up parameters to train the inspection to reduce costs and improve product quality. system to recognize mistakes, like with traditional solutions,” he said.

The challenge in making this move is finding and implementing Because of these advantages, Bosch decided to run a pilot project the right machine vision systems for each application. A new trend in Waiblingen and see if it would help where traditional machine vision in automated vision inspection is the use of autonomous machine systems had failed. vision (AMV).

Engineers at the plant have extensive experience in machine vision, Plastic injection molding, a common component of automotive so it wasn’t difficult to integrate the pilot system. The initial installation manufacturing, “poses a lot of problems for traditional machine vision took about an hour, plus less than a day to factor in the small adjustsystems,” explains Ofer Nir, CEO of Inspekto, a supplier of AMV techments that were made to optimize the speed of the process. It took nology. “The highly reflective surface of plastic is hard to illuminate another 20 minutes to learn the software program; then, all that was correctly. In addition, if the mold and the plastic polymer are a similar necessary was to plug in the camera so that inspections could begin. color, and the available illumination is anything but ideal, a lack of conDuring installation, the production line kept running as normal and trast can make it very difficult for the machine vision system to work. the plant didn’t experience any downtime. Since the Inspekto S70 can Combine this with the fact that traditional vision systems can only run without any input from the control system, it ran in parallel with inspect one type of product at a time—though manufacturers need the production line. to create product lines in different colors and sizes—and it’s easy to The cost of the initial system was amortized in less than a month, see why a fundamental change in machine vision is needed,” he adds. with immediate savings and an improvement in quality. Because This color contrast issue with machine vision technology is exactly the pilot system worked so well, Inspekto says Bosch ordered an the problem Bosch was facing at its plant in Waiblingen, Germany. This additional S70 for an overseas subsidiary and another for an older plant produces plastic molded connectors for vehicles that are made application in Waiblingen. using multiple production lines and injection molding machines.

The plant uses conventional state-of-the-art machine vision systems, some developed internally, with others created and integrated by external machine vision experts. Unfortunately, these systems aren’t well suited at inspecting black polymer parts on a black background. As a result, it is virtually impossible to set the parameters for a machine vision QA system to recognize defects.

This means that quality inspectors have to check the connectors manually, a tedious and repetitive job. Not only are these defects easy to overlook when inspected with the human eye, but the personnel costs are significant. After reading about autonomous machine vision in an industrial report, Bosch development engineers asked Inspekto to see if the company could provide a solution for its machine vision challenges.

“This [Inspekto’s S70 AMV product] is the first standalone product for visual QA, gating, and sorting,” says Nir. “It is self-setting, self-learning, and self-adjusting and can be used to inspect any item produced with any handling method.” Inspekto claims the abilities of the S70 eliminate the costly integration and customized developments that characterize traditional machine vision technology.

Inspekto’s S70 runs three AI (artificial intelligence) engines in tandem. It merges computer vision, deep learning, and real-time software optimization technoloDELMIAWorks’ ERP and MES software provides the freedom to improve the way you do business to best serve your customers, gies to achieve plug-and-play vision inspection, accordchanging the world with every product you ship. ing to Nir. “With AMV, light conditions, line vibrations and varying handling conditions have become nightmares of the past. Changes in the inspected object’s placement, tolerance, and orientation will no longer halt production. We’ve essentially Apple-ized visual inspection with this product, which comes out of the box with everything the user needs to start inspecting products.

The installation process is designed to be quick and easy.

Manufacturing software that

gives you the freedom to change the world one product at a time

866.367.3772 • www.3ds.com/delmiaworks • delmiaworks.sales@3ds.com

2110_F3.indd 29

10/8/21 8:06 AM

30 NEW PRODUCTS AW OCTOBER 2021

Machine Monitoring and Analytics Software

Beckhoff, Beckhoff.com TwinCAT Analytics software from Beckhoff offers a complete workflow from acquisition of data through to its storage and analysis to dashboards for continuous machine monitoring. Traditional condition monitoring algorithms are also now available in TwinCAT Analytics with no programming requirements. This addition optimizes standard workflow and spontaneous measurements. The TwinCAT Condition Monitoring library includes numerous algorithms that support moment coefficients, discrete classification, and vibration assessment according to ISO standards, in addition to functions such as magnitude spectrum, envelope spectrum, zoom FFT, and multiple RMS calculations.

ISO 6432 Round Cylinders

Festo, festo.com The new DSNU-S round cylinder is the latest response from Festo to the need of machine designers for smaller versions of standard components so they can shrink the footprint of their machines or production lines accordingly. The DSNU-S is up to 40% slimmer, 35 mm shorter, and 50% lighter than its ISO counterpart DSNU of the same bore and stroke length. The DSNU-S is designed for direct mount installation and built for reliability and a long service life thanks to its low-wear polyurethane (PUR) seals and corrosion resistant piston rod and housing.

Safety Door Switches

Omron, omron.com The Omron D41 RFID-monitored door switches minimize accident possibilities while simplifying the design process with a single product family. This new door switch series is a flexible option that protects operators requiring partial or full-body access to machinery in various applications across different industries. All models offer quick automatic pairing that helps reduce commissioning time, along with three-color LED indicators and diagnostic outputs that ensure the highest level of protection according to ISO 14119.

Medium-Voltage Drive

Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com The new PowerFlex 6000T medium-voltage drive from Rockwell Automation delivers high performance in a reduced space. The drive accepts up to 13.8 kV primary voltage and is 2,310 to 3,010 mm wide. The PowerFlex 6000T drive provides cost savings by allowing the direct connection of high-voltage feeds from the main distribution line without any additional step-down transformer or substation equipment. The new A-Frame PowerFlex 6000T drive also offers faster commissioning with adaptive control, energy savings with an economizer mode, and reduced downtime with predictive maintenance.

2110_Products.indd 30

10/11/21 1:18 PM

NEW PRODUCTS 31 AW OCTOBER 2021

Mass Flow Controller

Brooks Instrument, brooksinstrument.com The new GP200 Series from Brooks Instrument is the first fully pressure-insensitive pressurebased mass flow controller (P-MFC) designed specifically for etch and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes in semiconductor manufacturing. Mass flow controllers (MFCs) are the most important component in the gas delivery systems used to produce silicon wafers.

MFCs must precisely deliver inert, corrosive, and reactive gases to the process chamber, even when operating at very low vapor pressures. The GP200 Series P-MFC operates well in highvacuum conditions and above atmospheric pressure conditions that are intrinsic to etch and CVD processes. In comparison, conventional discrete P-MFCs can operate under high-vacuum conditions but degrade in performance and control range as the outlet pressures increase. By offering a greater operating range than conventional P-MFCs, the GP200 Series can improve etch process performance and expand the application scope to include CVD processes.

Parallel Shaft Gear Units

Nord Gear Corporation, nord.com Nord’s redesigned line of small “clincher” parallel gear units showcase increased power and torque capacity for a variety of applications. These reengineered versions will be replacing the existing SK0182NB, 0282NB, and 1382NB units. They are lightweight, have improved heat dissipation, are more cost-effective, and are available with Nord nsd tupHTM sealed surface conversion for wash-down and extreme environments. Small clincher units include the SK0182.1, 0282.1, and 1282.1/1382.1, and are offered with a standard die-cast aluminum housing. Additionally, the SK1282.1/1382.1 unit are also available with a cast-iron housing, which is required for the Nord screw conveyor package and spread bearing designs (VL2/VL3).

Serial Controller and Carrier Card

Abaco Systems, abaco.com Abaco Systems has announced the PMC523 16-port serial controller and the SPR518 PCI Express XMC carrier card. The PMC523 is a flexible technology insertion which integrates multiple serial I/O channels onto single board computers (SBCs) with PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) sites. Its efficient design packages 16 serial channels onto a single PMC. Additionally, this serial controller utilizes dual octal UARTs to increase overall performance through reduction of programmed I/O operations. The SPR518 provides an upgrade path for customers by offering a replacement for the existing SPR418A. This card is a short form factor PCI Express (PCIe) carrier for XMC modules which allows for use with traditional PCs. The PCIe interface provides for unimpeded data transfers at the full rate supported by the mezzanine card and is enhanced by a PCIe Gen3 Redriver.

Edge AI Platform

Lenovo, lenovo.com The ThinkEdge SE70 is an artificial intelligence (AI) edge platform for the enterprise. A version of the ThinkEdge SE70 will be offered with AWS Panorama Device SDK pre-installed, allowing enterprise customers to transform every-day IP cameras into ‘smart’ cameras that run CV apps at the edge. AWS Panorama enables tasks to be automated that have traditionally required human inspection to improve visibility into potential issues. For example, AWS Panorama can be used to track assets in facilities and monitor inventory levels on shelves–even in environments with limited internet bandwidth. Moreover, the new ThinkEdge AI-capable edge appliance is powered

by NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX, a production ready, high-performance, small form factor, powerefficient system on module that is cloud-managed for enhanced security and ease of training and deploying a variety of AI and machine learning models to the edge.

2110_Products.indd 31

10/8/21 8:03 AM

32 NEW PRODUCTS AW OCTOBER 2021

Industrial Grade Solid State Drives

Innodisk, innodisk.com The SATA 3TG6-P and 3TE7 series, as well as the PCIe Gen3x4 and Gen4x4 series are the world’s first industrial-grade 112-Layer 3D TLC solid state drives (SSDs). The new TLC SSD Series marks Innodisk’s continued development with 3D NAND design, bringing better efficiency, faster performance, and increased capacity. Compared to the previous 96-layer technology that offered a maximum of 2TB storage, the new 112-layer PCIe Gen 4x4 series increase the capacity to 8TB for U.2 SSD and 4TB for M.2 (P80). Beyond capacity increases, 112-layer is also faster, with the PCIe Gen 4x4 series clocking in at speeds up to 7500/6700 MB/s (8CH) and 3800/3000 MB/s (4CH).

Stereoscopic 3D Depth Sensing Cameras

eCapture, ecapturecamera.com The new LifeSense G53 is 50x14.9x20mm in size and is designed for depth capture and object tracking in industrial applications driven by AI. eCapture plans to introduce a full range of depth map cameras to address the growing need for stereo imaging equipment over the next quarter. The first in the eCapture line, the G53 provides a 50-degree field of view and includes two mono sensor pairs for various resolutions of stereo, mono and depth disparity/distance map output via USB. The camera is designed for development of robots, automated guided vehicles, and autonomous mobile robots, as well as fast-motion depth capture.

Deep Learning Software for Machine Vision

Cognex Corporation, Cognex.com Cognex Corporation has announced VisionPro 10.0 and VisionPro Deep Learning 2.0, two new releases in its VisionPro line of vision software.

VisionPro 10.0 is an update to the company’s PC-based platform that delivers faster application performance and simpler application setup.

VisionPro Deep Learning 2.0 is designed to integrate with VisionPro 10.0, enabling customers to combine deep learning and traditional vision tools in the same application. These new releases also introduce advanced vision tools for precision gauging and inspection applications.

Electric Actuator

Asahi/America, asahi-america.com The Series 19 electric actuator from Asahi/America is offered in both smart and basic options. Compact and lightweight, the Series 19 is available in four operating configurations: on/off, modulating, failsafe, and modulating failsafe; and three sizes to meet valve torque requirements. The multi-voltage general purpose unit operates at a 75% duty cycle for more frequent cycling of the valve. Compatible with most PLCs, the Series 19 is designed for OEMs and skid manufacturers where space is at a premium, but power cannot be sacrificed. All Asahi/America Series 19 electric actuators come standard with multi-voltage capability, a visual position indicator; an LED light to indicate valve position or fault; auxiliary contacts; and a QR code for access to user manuals. The Series 19 also features a corrosion resistant NEMA 4X engineered resin enclosure with stainless steel trim to protect the unit’s reversing, brushless DC motor and permanently lubricated steel gear train.

2110_Products.indd 32

10/8/21 8:04 AM

Produced by:

YOUR EAST COAST CONNECTION FOR PACKAGING AND PROCESSING FIND THE RIGHT SOLUTIONS TO MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD At PACK EXPO East 2022, you can: Explore state-of-the-art packaging and processing technologies from 400+ exhibitors Discover innovative applications from other industries Expand your network and have one-on-one conversations with experts Attend with confidence and know what to expect onsite. Learn more at packexpoeast.com/packready

Gain new perspectives with engaging educational sessions Be there when the industry comes together again in 2022!

REGISTER NOW FOR ONLY $30!

Full Page Ad.indd 73

packexpoeast.com 10/11/21 3:51 PM

34 INDUSTRY VIEW AW OCTOBER 2021

Setting the Right Strategic Priorities for a Post-Pandemic World

By Brian R. May Managing Director, Industrial North America, Accenture

F

or some companies, COVID-19 led to a complete realignment of their strategic priorities. For others, it simply meant to carry on doing what they do already, but at a much higher speed. No matter which category your company falls into, many big transformations now take place simultaneously, all requiring immediate attention from leadership. All this taken together makes it even harder for industrial companies to define their long-term strategic priorities.

What should executives at industrial companies focus on? Which trends should they pay attention to, and where do they need to invest today in order to stay competitive tomorrow?

Here’s are a few thoughts that may make sense to have at the top of your agenda. #1: Build resilient supply chains. The need to make supply chains resilient before there are shortages is now more important than ever. The semiconductor shortage, which has hit the automotive industry particularly hard, should be seen as a wake-up call by industrial companies. Improving forecasting and scenario planning is mandatory. It needs to be based on real-time data, and it must cover the complete supply chain—including the suppliers of your suppliers. #2: Diversify your core business. Twentyfive of the top 35 automotive suppliers already generate, on average, around 30% of their revenues from non-automotive businesses—a trend that is increasing. This shift shows how important it is for many industrial companies to create new business models and diversify their core business. Diversification is the key to future competitiveness for companies that serve rapidly changing customer industries. #3: Be brave enough to divest weak divisions. For some companies, particularly industrial and electric equipment (I&EE) firms, divesting weak divisions to focus on their core

2110_IndustryView.indd 34

business might be the right thing to do. There are examples where companies listed business divisions as a separate entity on the stock market, and increased their EBIT margin significantly. This approach shows that a “back to core” strategy can help I&EE companies focus on becoming a champion in the space where they have differentiating capabilities. #4: Invest in your digital portfolio. Many industrial companies rebounded faster from the economic impact of the pandemic than forecasted. They profit from strong growth in major markets and the quicker-thanexpected rebound in some customer industries. To translate this short-term rebound into long-term growth, industrial companies must strengthen their digital solution portfolios to respond to evolving customer expectations and benefit from the new opportunities in a post-pandemic world. #5: Adopt sustainable practices. Sustainability is not a trend; it’s a source of future competitiveness for industrial companies and their customers. Industrial equipment companies, for example, see a growing demand for green solutions from their customers to reduce their emissions and enable circular economy models. In addition, industrial companies should anticipate future regulation on carbon pricing and act today to create a competitive edge. #6: Take digital sales seriously. Industrial buyers have a clear idea of what a “good” B2B buying experience should look like. Yet many industrial companies are still not in tune with that trend. Their investments into expanding digital sales capabilities do not match the rapidly evolving B2B commerce landscape at all.

It’s time to act and create new buying experiences based on customized recommendations; predictive, data-driven customer insights; and automated sales processes. #7: Mind the talent gap. To realize their ambitious digitization goals, industrial companies must have the team to make it happen.

However, IT specialists are and will continue to be in high demand. It is essential to have a long-term talent strategy and not only hire new talent, but also invest in retooling talent.

Working closely together with ecosystem partners also helps to address the talent gap and overcome shortages.

#8: Focus on the long-term opportunities. The digital revolution is putting many of today’s business models into question.

This is not only true for consumer industries, but also for industrial companies. Executives need to accept this new reality, challenge convention, and focus on the long-term opportunities for growth. We believe that five key growth drivers will become particularly important: cloud transformation, connected products and services, consumerization and growth, intelligent operations, and responsible and sustainable business.

Executives need to make timely investments in talent and technology to shape customercentric, digitally driven businesses primed for growth. #9: Design operating models to support profitable growth. Industrial equipment companies have benefited greatly by allowing business units to be autonomous and control their own destiny. Business unit heads become entrepreneurs, motivated by innovating and delivering results in their part of the company. However, these models can be hard to scale profitably as the business grows. The magic happens when core processes are leaned out and standardized while still maintaining that entrepreneurial spirit. #10: Build resilience to cyber-attacks.

The risk of cyber-attacks against industrial companies is no longer theoretical. According to the latest “Cyber Investigations, Forensics & Response” update from Accenture, 16% of all cyber intrusion activity targets industrial companies. C-levels need to understand the urgency and address this new threat. We believe that companies have to look at cyber threats holistically and make sure to fully protect their supply chain, subsidiaries, and affiliates.

Acting on the ten strategic priorities above will allow companies to build a good base and weather any storms that may come.

10/11/21 1:18 PM

INTEGRATOR VIEW 35 AW OCTOBER 2021

A Step-by-Step Guide to Predictive Maintenance

By Dan Riley Analytics Manager, Interstates

P

redictive maintenance is the analysis of the condition and performance of critical machines in a plant to reduce instances of machine failure. In the past, highly experienced plant operators may have predicted outcomes through experience, sound of operation, or other asset behaviors. Today, this is done with a variety of software tools and analysis types.

Understanding predictive maintenance is essential if you have major assets or machines nearing end of life, or if unplanned downtime would have a high impact on your production schedules. Choosing it as a solution for your plant can lead to savings by way of more operational uptime and faster diagnoses of issues.

To get the most value out of predictive maintenance for your plant, you should understand the following process: 1. Data acquisition. For predictive maintenance, the data collected are usually time series process data such as historian data. Common tags analyzed include current, temperature, pressure, flow, vibration, etc.

2. Data cleansing. To avoid using your data ineffectively, you must find the outliers and missing values and use corrective techniques to preserve the data. This includes removing outliers, filtering out meaningless data, and correcting offset time parameters. Cleaning your data reduces problems down the road and adds value to the insights an analytics team can provide.

3. Identifying conditional indicators. This involves distinguishing between normal asset operation and various fault types.

Examples include healthy motor opera-

2110_IntegratorView.indd 35

tional parameters, seal leakages, worn bearings, blocked inlets, or a combination of faults. Methods to identify fault features include time-based and frequency analyses.

4. Training the model. After healthy operation and fault states are identified, the model is trained. This is an important step for understanding the accuracy of the fault indicators. By running multiple tests and ensuring consistency, you can accurately choose your data model type. Machine learning algorithms come in many varieties. The five families of algorithms used to build advanced models are: classification, regression, clustering, density estimation, and dimensionality reduction. The regression family is most commonly used with continuous data.

5. Deployment and integration. These steps can occur in three places: Onpremises, where your local networks and data systems are stored; at the edge, where data is so high speed you need it as close to the data source as possible to reduce latency; or in the cloud, where your company already has cloud-based systems to serve a network of remote engineers who need to see the data.

6. Retraining the model. Retraining is based on live process data, as new features or faults appear over time. As new faults occur, analysts can identify the issue and seek resolution with the client and client teams.

These steps encompass the process of predictive maintenance. You will achieve more operational uptime when you can observe the trend of your assets and can see when a machine is going down. As a result, unplanned downtime is turned into planned, effective maintenance. Additionally, when you avoid suddenly shutting down machines, you extend their life by reducing wear and tear.

Fault type identification provides value by getting your machines up and working faster. When you can see the behavior, you can fix the break rather than relying on guesswork. Predictive maintenance also

helps you estimate the time of failure, taking away the guessing game and giving you a solid idea of when a machine will fail so you can prepare for maintenance and shutdowns on your own time.

Ultimately, investing in predictive maintenance can pay off for many types of industrial plants with various machine types. To learn more about how predictive maintenance can benefit your plant and prevent downtime, choose an analytics team with proven experience in industrial analytics.

Understanding predictive maintenance is essential if you have major assets or machines nearing end of life, or if unplanned downtime would have a high impact on your production schedules. Choosing it as a solution for your plant can lead to savings by way of more operational uptime and faster diagnoses of issues.

10/11/21 1:18 PM

36 ENTERPRISE VIEW AW OCTOBER 2021

Understanding Cybersecurity Certification

By Eric C. Cosman Contributing Consultant, ARC Advisory Group

V

irtually any discussion about securing operations and automation systems arrives at the question of how to affirm the performance and effectiveness of the cybersecurity program. Independent certification of product or system capability and expertise is a valuable tool for the end user as they determine how to best secure their systems. However, it is not a panacea, or even fully adequate for the task. A complete response to this question must address the three major elements of any such program—generally described as people, process, and technology.

Lack of applicable guidance is generally no longer the issue. On the contrary, many stakeholders are most challenged by the need to choose from several possible sources. In addition, standards are intended to be used as references, supported by associated guidance and practical examples. These examples can take the form of representative case studies or use cases that allow the reader to interpret and extrapolate successful examples to their situation.

Considerable effort has gone into the development of frameworks, standards, and recommended practices. These may be sector specific, or more generally focused to enable broader application. While essential for setting minimum expectations, these are often not sufficient to fully address the needs associated with securing operations systems.

How to respond

A solid understanding of the principles, concepts, and terminology is an essential prerequisite, but this is not solely sufficient for the development of an effective cybersecurity program. While there are many possible approaches for accomplishing this, most share several common elements.

2110_EnterpriseView.indd 36

As obvious as this may sound, the first element is the identification of clear objectives for the proposed program. Several of these are possible, and each requires a slightly different response.

Perhaps the simplest and most compelling is compliance, typically to a specific regulation or set of external requirements. In regulated industries these may have already been defined by the regulatory body. Examples include the CIP standards defined by NERC, or the CFATS standards for the chemical industry. While compliance is generally forced by an external entity like a government agency or industry group, conformance is voluntary adherence to a standard, rule, specification, requirement, design, process, or practice. It most commonly takes the form of meeting the normative requirements defined in an industry standard.

Regardless of how the objectives are stated, it is very important to understand that neither compliance nor conformity will necessarily make the system secure in any absolute sense. Security is a matter of degree and no matter how much is done, intrusions may occur, and further improvements may be required.

Even if neither compliance nor conformance are the goals, there may still be a desire to reduce the risk of cybersecurity incidents. Regardless of whether the ultimate objective is compliance or conformance, an effective program almost certainly requires a detailed risk assessment. Risk management is an established discipline, and there are many suitable methodologies that may be used, including the approach detailed in the ISA/ IEC 62443-3-2 standard.

Once there is a firm grasp of the risks faced, it is possible to identify the most appropriate specifications to be used as the basis for certification. In situations such as regulated industries, this step may be relatively straightforward, as the regulation can also define the specification that must be used.

Recommendations

products as well as experts retained to provide services.

It is tempting to use certificates of expertise to determine the qualifications of individuals being considered for providing security related services. Before doing so, it is prudent to fully understand the basis of such certificates, since not all courses and training programs are of equal quality. It is particularly important to confirm that the supporting courses adequately address the characteristics and constraints that are specific or unique to industrial systems.

Before pursuing any relevant certifications, suppliers must fully understand the potential benefits. In some cases, they may be seen as essential qualifications to enter a market, while in other situations they may provide a competitive differentiator.

Finally, it’s important to understand that there may be other important goals driving a desire to certify products or systems. It is essential that these be identified and quantified as part of the basis for the cost and effort required.

A solid understanding of the principles, concepts, and terminology is an essential prerequisite, but this is not solely sufficient for the development of an effective cybersecurity program.

The end user must take the steps necessary to fully understand and appreciate the implications associated with available certifications. This applies to both certifications of

10/8/21 8:01 AM

ADVERTISER INDEX 37 AW OCTOBER 2021

COMPANY

TELEPHONE

WEBSITE

AutomationDirect

800.633.0405

www.automationdirect.com • www.CLICKPLCs.com

Beckhoff Automation

952.890.0000

www.beckhoff.com/cx7000

19

CIMON

800.300.9916

www.Cimon.com

13

DELMIA WORKS

866.367.3772

www.3ds.com/delmiaworks

29

Digi-Key Electronics

800.344.4539

www.digkey.com/automation

Galco Industrial Electronics

888.526.0909

www.galco.com

Hammond Manufacturing

716.630.7030

www.hammondmfg.com

27

icotek North America

312.643.2315

www.icotek.com

20

Inductive Automation

800.266.0909

www.demo.ia.io/automation

1

mk North America, Inc

860.769.5500

www.mkversamove.com/AW

23

Motion

800.526.9328

www.Motion.com

40

Opto 22

800.321.6786

www.opto22.com

39

PACK EXPO East 2022

www.packexpoeast.com

33

ROKLive, A Rockwell Automation Event

www.rok.auto/roklive

15

www.tesensors.com

17

Telemecanique Sensors

800.435.2121

PAGE 2

5 6-7

PRODUCT SELECTION & APPLIED TECHNOLOGY HANDBOOK AutomationDirect

800.633.0405

www.automationdirect.com/multi-conductor-cable

7

Digi-Key Electronics

800.344.4539

www.digkey.com/automation

2

Domino

800.444.4512

www.domino-printing.com

23

Festo Corporation

866.GO.FESTO

www.festo.com

24

Pepperl + Fuchs

330.425.3555

www.pepperl-fuchs.com

19

Posital Fraba

609.750.8705

www.posital.com

21

Rittal Corporation

800.477.4000

www.rittal.com

11

Telemecanique Sensors

800.435.2121

www.tesensors.com

9

Vecna Robotics

617.444.9263

www.VecnaRobotics.com

5

Wago Corporation

800.DIN-RAIL

www.wago.us/systemfield

15

Winsted

800.447.2257

www.winsted.com

17

Automation World ® (ISSN # 15531244, USPS 22435) is a registered trademark of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. Automation World ® is published 14x a year by PMMI with its publishing office, PMMI Media Group, located at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611; 312.222.1010; Fax: 312.222.1310. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2021 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 www.packworld.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 300, 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 19, Number 10.

October2021_AW_AdIndex.indd 119

10/11/21 4:23 PM

38 KEY INSIGHTS AW OCTOBER 2021

Using CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) and OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) software to calculate MTTR (mean time to repair) and MTBF (mean time before failure) can help you zero in on more difficult-to-determine operational insights, particularly when numbers from the different software systems don’t match up. For example, your OEE system could be pulling data directly from PLCs, whereas your CMMS is likely tied to maintenance logs. When operators or maintenance personnel log data into one of these systems, discrepancies between how those two different systems are reporting can highlight information about how well your operations and maintenance are in sync, or not.

David Greenfield on MTTR and MTBF maintenance metrics. awgo.to/1253

The team built a model around a quality parameter related to the paper strength and the fiber bond. By examining that data, they were able to discover possible causes of errors in the production line. For example, they were producing scrap due to adding too much chemical to the pulp mix.

Stephanie Neil on Skjern Paper’s use of GE Digital’s Proficy CSense for real-time quality control. awgo.to/1254

Fault type identification provides value by getting your machines up and working faster. When you can see the behavior, you can fix the break rather than relying on guesswork. Predictive maintenance also helps you estimate the time of failure, taking away the guessing game and giving you a solid idea of when a machine will fail so you can prepare for maintenance and shutdowns on your own time.

Dan Riley of Interstates Inc. on the value of predictive maintenance. awgo.to/1255

LNS Research has identified several best practices through its research, including top-down implementations, engaging business operations, including the entire manufacturing network, IT/OT (operations technology) convergence, balancing shortterm and long-term wins, and capturing and analyzing data.

Diane Sacra of LNS Research on getting real with digital transformation. awgo.to/1256

Typically, de-powdering can be carried out using manual processes, but this can be costly and time-consuming. By contrast, Solukon’s Smart Powder Recuperation system removes particle residue from 3D-printed components by using automated swiveling motions and vibration at calibrated frequencies.

David Miller on automated de-powdering of 3D-printed parts. awgo.to/1257

2110_KeyInsights.indd 38

10/11/21 1:17 PM

Full Page Ad.indd 73

10/8/21 8:48 AM

PARTNERS. THE BEST PART OF ALL.

TM

SCAN HERE TO LEARN MORE.

Full Page Ad.indd 73

10/8/21 8:49 AM