Automation World March 2022

MARCH 2022 / www.AutomationWorld.com

36 TALES FROM THE EDGE: REAL-WORLD EDGE APPLICATIONS Section

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New Products Making Sense of Industrial Controller Options Paper Mill Makes Sense of Difficult Data The Automation, Supply Chain, Reshoring Connection

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CONTENTS 3 AW MARCH 2022

MARCH 2022 | VOLUME 20 | NUMBER 3

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Tales From the Edge

Modern edge environments pack a compute, storage, and connectivity punch to fuel data-driven insights and smart automation.

Making Sense of Industrial Controller Options

System integrators share their tips on the differences between PLCs, PACs, and Industrial PCs, including their best use cases and how to choose the right one for your environment.

Paper Mill Makes Sense of Difficult Data

Skjern Paper turns to GE Digital’s Proficy CSense for real-time quality control in the production process.

2/27/22 11:00 AM

4 CONTENTS AW MARCH 2022

EDITORIAL

ONLINE 6

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

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS 8

The Automation, Supply Chain, Reshoring Connection

BATCH OF IDEAS 10

Bedrock’s Open, Secure Control System Gets an Upgrade

PRODUCTION POINTS 11

Volkswagen Deploys Private 5G Network

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 Victoria Sanchez Managing Editor vsanchez@automationworld.com / 571-612-3200 x9298 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

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Industrial Wearable Devices 4 Ways to Improve Network Threat Detection Managing the Risk of Remote SCADA Access

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

NEWS 16

ADVERTISING

British Sugar’s “Factories of the Future” Initiative Includes a Private 4G Network Amazon and MassRobotics Partner for Robotics Accelerator Krispy Kreme’s Drive Retrofit PMMI News PMMI’s unPACKed Podcast: A First Look At PACK EXPO 2022

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

INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS 22

An Employer-Educator Model for Filling IIoT Roles Flexible, Low-Cost Water Monitoring with Edge I/O Process Control Communication: More Than Just APL The Benefits of Edge Computing How to Implement Analytics and Stay in Control of Your Big Data The Forecast for Battery-Powered Energy Harvesting is Sunny

AUDIENCE & DIGITAL

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

PMMI MEDIA GROUP

NEW PRODUCTS 50

Kurt Belisle Publisher kbelisle@pmmimediagroup.com / 815 549 1034 Reed Simonsis Brand Operations Manager rsimonsis@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 205 7919 Sharon Taylor Director of Marketing staylor@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1710 Amber Miller Marketing Manager amiller@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1130 Janet Fabiano Financial Services Manager jfabiano@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1330

Open Source Gantry Robot Distributed Energy Monitoring Unit Micro-sized Servo Drives And more...

IT VIEW 54

The Evolving Smart Manufacturing Supply Chain By Conrad Leiva

FINANCE VIEW 55

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.

Improving Financial Planning and Analysis for Manufacturing By Larry White

ENTERPRISE VIEW 56

Environmental Health and Safety 4.0 Transforms High-Risk Industries By Diane Sacra

KEY INSIGHTS 58 Automation World | PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611 Phone: 312 222 1010 | Fax: 312 222 1310 www.automationworld.com PMMI The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies 12930 Worldgate Dr., Suite 200, Herndon VA, 20170 Phone: 571 612 3200 • Fax: 703 243 8556 www.pmmi.org

48

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AW MARCH 2022

PODCAST SERIES Using Remote I/O in the Main Control Enclosure

Learn the differences among remote I/O, distributed I/O, and local I/O; why using remote I/O in the main control enclosure makes sense, even though it may seem counterintuitive; and how wireless remote I/O can be beneficial depending on the application.

AUTOMATION WORLD TV The Benefits of Change Management in Industrial Automation Workflows

While long employed in IT, change management has yet to become standard operating procedure in the OT space, despite its many benefits.

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.

AUTOMATION WORLD E-BOOK Augmented Reality Gets to Work

Learn how augmented reality technologies are proving to be an operator’s best friend in discrete and process manufacturing.

ON-DEMAND WEBINARS Why You Should Invest in a Training Program for Your Employees Common Questions on Cloud Deployments After Internet Disasters Analytics Decision: Buy or Make Capabilities Don’t Fall Victim to Commissioning Gremlins: The Value of a Controls Expert Demystifying Digital Operations: Why OEE Isn’t the Only Tool You Need

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8 EDITORIAL AW MARCH 2022

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS

The Automation, Supply Chain, Reshoring Connection

By David Greenfield

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

T

he need to reshore critical manufacturing operations to the U.S. has long been a topic of discussion that’s been reignited recently due to COVID-19 and related supply chain disruptions—and with it the debate over automation and its impact on manufacturing jobs.

John Sheff, director of public and industry affairs at Danfoss—a supplier of industrial power and drives technologies—notes: “The choice we have in front of us is not between automation and jobs, it’s between automation and irrelevance. American industries are not going to compete with overseas factories by manually building products faster. American workers are not going to accept lower wages and a lower standard of living to compete with their overseas counterparts. In fact, it’s logistically impossible to recreate overseas manufacturing models in this country. We simply don’t have enough workers or square footage to replicate overseas manufacturing. The only way for us to compete globally is to outinnovate and out-perform our competitors. If we can shorten supply chains and use domestic suppliers with proximate inventories, our industries will be able to maintain less capital, become more efficient, and decrease transportation costs. These are the little things that, collectively, make a big difference in our overall competitiveness.”

Witnessing—as we all have over the past two years—how disruptions to shipping routes, overseas labor supplies, and trade

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This illustration depicts how supply chain disruptions can affect net present value by industry vertical. Source: McKinsey & Co. relationships affected our markets, Sheff says investments in automation make it possible for global manufacturers to build strong domestic supply chains close to their markets and, thereby, offset such disruptions.

He adds that greater use of automation can help reduce the fluctuations in manufacturing employment that have long been a concern of industrial workers—and have kept many potential workers away from the industry.

“When we see a reduction in [manufacturing] activity, in the short-term, manufacturers tend to reduce employee head counts,” says Sheff. “This can be economically dangerous because when we lose a skill; we’ll eventually need to replace it.

The flexibility automation provides not only allows production to meet demand with

fewer layoffs, but also allows companies to retain their most skilled and innovative workers through economic downturns.”

Sheff says the knock-on effect of using automation to restore more manufacturing operations would shorten supply chains, utilize domestic suppliers with nearby inventories, and allow companies to keep less capital on hand, thereby becoming much more efficient.

“We cannot achieve these important goals without investing in automating our industries,” he says. “Strategic reshoring and industrial automation are, in fact, two sides of the same coin.”

2/27/22 11:02 AM

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2/28/22 8:42 AM

10 EDITORIAL AW MARCH 2022

BATCH OF IDEAS

Bedrock’s Open, Secure Control System Gets an Upgrade

By Stephanie Neil

sneil@automationworld.com Senior Editor

Bedrock's Open Secure Automation (OSA) product family.

Y

ears before groups like the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) were attempting to build an open and secure control architecture, Bedrock Automation had already built it.

Albert Rooyakkers—Bedrock Automation’s founder, CEO, and chief technology officer— has decades of experience in process control and has been on a mission to redesign closed industrial control systems since his time at Invensys (now part of Aveva and Schneider Electric), where he led a design team to refresh the company’s distributed control system (DCS). Soon thereafter, he was recruited into the semiconductor industry by Maxim Integrated Products (which merged with Analog Devices in 2021), where he was working with advanced embedded semiconductor technology and on new business development plans.

At Maxim, he saw how semiconductor technology works in the most secure segments, such as the financial and aerospace industries. “That’s when I began to connect the dots,” Rooyakkers said during an interview with Automation World at the Bedrock headquarters in Massachusetts.

He realized that the open and intrinsically secure system he’d been wanting to build all along could finally be accomplished. “We literally started with a blank sheet of paper and had the muscle and might of a major semiconductor company to make it real. A very key part of what we do starts with specialized, cyber-hardened digital electronics, and that’s how to do it right. You have to start at the smallest common denominator,

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which is the transistor, and start building it out.”

That’s when Bedrock Automation’s Open Secure Automation (OSA) platform was born.

According to Rooyakkers, every module and digital transaction in the system operates in the same manner with mutual authentication and encryption, similar to banking on an iPhone or buying something on Amazon.

As part of this rebuild from the ground up with embedded security, Bedrock also developed a pin-less backplane interconnect that provides secure I/O with 20 Mb bandwidth at every I/O slot, and a universal control system that can drive any control mode—be it PLC, DCS, a safety system, etc.—while extending its security to third-party applications.

Now, with more than 120 patents, Bedrock continues to evolve its OSA architecture with customers and at its design center in Massachusetts. This is demonstrated in its latest announcement of a new software release, which adds more process functionality and diagnostics to the system.

According to the company, the software upgrade, released in January 2022, makes it easier for users to configure and run open applications inside the secure OSA controllers. New firmware enhancements simplify and improve SCADA redundancy, enable Transport Layer Security (TLS) support for MQTT (Message Queing Telemetry Transport) Sparkplug, expand universal EtherNet/IP capacity, simplify flow meter

proving, and assist in diagnosing large motors.

The new firmware impacts functionality in several of Bedrock’s secure system modules, including: the OSA control system built on the pin-less backplane that is scalable to support thousands of I/O points; the OSA Remote control system, which provides secure, high-performance automation for applications requiring five to 20 I/O points; the Universal Ethernet gateway (UE5), which supports Modbus TCP and EtherNet/IP; and the OSA Remote Flow measurement and control system, which integrates flow computing and process control in a single module.

In addition, the new firmware enhancements contribute to simple, secure SCADA operations by moving redundancy management from the SCADA system client to the Bedrock controller firmware. This enables seamless SCADA client failover while simplifying SCADA configuration. That’s because, according to the company, most SCADA redundancy requires more than one IP address, so if there’s a problem with one, the SCADA software or system engineer can find the active IP and switch to it.

Using the Bedrock OPC UA, MQTT, or other Ethernet protocols allows for the use of virtual IP addresses, enabling a single end point for a redundant pair. The SCADA software points to one IP address and the Bedrock controller finds the active path automatically.

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EDITORIAL 11 AW MARCH 2022

PRODUCTION POINTS

Volkswagen Deploys Private 5G Network

By David Miller

dmiller@pmmimediagroup.com Senior Technical Writer

A

s the need to remotely monitor and manage large numbers of connected assets increases, interest is booming in 5G, the latest cellular technology in the LTE (Long-Term Evolution) family of telecommunication standards. Unlike previous cellular and wireless networks such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee, 5G offers high data transfer rates, low latency, and the ability to connect to many devices. As a result, it is ideal for mission-critical industrial applications that require reliability, real-time communication, and large-scale coverage.

Common use cases include the deployment of remote-controlled vehicles, real-time tracking of assets in large environments, and multimedia communication with workers in the field via wearable devices.

While these benefits can be attained from public 5G, many in industry are opting to establish their own private 5G networks instead. One reason for this is that a dedicated 5G network tailored specifically to end users’ operational needs can provide better coverage and more reliable performance, since it does not require its bandwidth be shared with others. Another reason is that using private 5G enables companies to maintain internal control of their confidential data, thereby increasing cybersecurity protections.

Demonstrating this preference for pri-

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vate 5G, Volkswagen recently had Nokia deploy a private 5G network at the automobile manufacturer’s primary plant in Wolfsburg, Germany. The network provides coverage to the production development center and pilot hall at the Wolfsburg facility. According to Nokia, Volkswagen will use the installation to test whether 5G technology is able to meet the stringent requirements of its vehicle production process.

“Predictable wireless performance and the real-time capabilities of 5G have great potential for smart factories in the not-sodistant future,” said Klaus-Dieter Tuchs, a network planning consultant at Volkswagen.

“With this pilot deployment, we are exploring the possibilities 5G has to offer and are building our expertise in operating and using 5G technology in an industrial context.”

The deployment also uses Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud platform, which com-

bines 4G or 5G connectivity with edge computing capabilities and a library of plugand-play applications. The Digital Automation Cloud also includes radio access points for establishing wireless local area connections, various spectrum options (including unlicensed, shared, and licensed), and a web-based management portal.

Volkswagen use cases intended to test the new network include wireless upload of data to manufactured vehicles and networking of robots and wireless assembly tools. All data used by the network will be processed at the edge in real-time, never leaving Volkswagen’s facility. While the network is private, it operates in a frequency band allocated by the German Federal Network Agency.

The network provides coverage to the production development center and pilot hall at the Wolfsburg, Germany, facility.

According to Nokia, Volkswagen will use the installation to test whether 5G technology is able to meet the stringent requirements of its vehicle production process.

2/27/22 11:03 AM

12 PERSPECTIVES AW MARCH 2022

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Industrial Wearable Devices

By David Miller

Senior Technical Writer

W

ith examples ranging from 5G connected hardhats to augmented reality (AR) headsets, wearable technologies are on the rise in industry. According to market research firm MarketsAndMarkets, the global industrial wearables market is expected to grow from $3.79 billion in 2019 to $8.4 billion by 2027.

Beyond their use in providing AR-enabled remote assistance, another rapidly expanding application for wearables is the data they can provide about the postures and movement patterns of workers to improve ergonomics and reduce the likelihood of employee injuries.

According to ergonomics consultants at financial services provider The Hartford, employers pay an aggregate of nearly $1 billion per week in workers' compensation costs.

Moreover, nine of the top 10 most common preventable injuries are linked to musculoskeletal disorders that can be corrected via improved ergonomic practices.

As a result, devices such as smart belts that can be worn around a worker's waist to collect data pertaining to motion, posture, location, and other environmental cues are paving the way for a new approach to risk management.

Based on our coverage of industrial wearables, Automation World sees five key benefits users should be aware of to implement them most effectively.

Wearable devices streamline on-site monitoring. Without the use of a wearable device capable of capturing on-site data in real time, an ergonomic risk assessment would require specialists to spend long periods of time visiting a location, taking measurements, and performing manual calculations. Connected wearables can transmit relevant data gathered in the course of actual work processes and deliver them to a dashboard or other system for analysis. As a result, not only is the data gathered more accurate, but costs and labor hours can be saved.

Wearable devices enable proactive risk

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management. According to The Hartford's ergonomic consultants, employers should not rest easy because they have no pre-existing worker compensation claims. If a problem does arise, the company could face multiple claims all at once. To avoid this, management should seek to continuously monitor conditions and implement new processes whenever a potential issue arises. Smart wearables make this possible.

Wearable devices can keep workers healthier and improve retention rates. With labor shortages abounding in industry, retaining as many current employees as possible is a priority. While the skills gap may be responsible for the overall labor shortage, employee injuries account for a large share of retention issues.

In addition, as the current workforce ages, decreases in flexibility, mobility, and strength may make injuries more likely. Therefore, technologies such as smart wearables that can prevent injuries before they occur can improve an employer's bottom line.

Wearable devices are not a substitute for other personal protective equipment (PPE).

Even though wearables allow companies to monitor employee movements and spot the

occurrence of high-risk postures as they occur, that does not mean that other hazard prevention measures can be eliminated.

While wearable technologies can help identify where ergonomic improvements need to be made, they cannot replace face shields, cutresistant gloves, and other commonly used PPE. Moreover, traditional workplace safety education and training should continue.

Data gathered by wearable devices requires analysis to produce insights. While wearable devices are a rich source of data, they don’t always direct end users on how to take corrective actions. While employers can use the data from wearables to measure various metrics, they also need to contextualize that information and determine how it is affecting their organization's bottom line. Because of this, it's important to implement a comprehensive industrial ergonomics program once smart wearables have been deployed.

3/2/22 1:06 PM

PERSPECTIVES 13 AW MARCH 2022

4 Ways to Improve et ork T�reat etection

By David Smit

OT Infrastructure and Security at Interstates

S

taying on top of new technology and cybersecurity at aging plants is complicated. Many plants have equipment that is decades old and may be relying on unsupported operating systems or software. These legacy systems often cannot be patched or upgraded, and migrating to a new operating system is not always a cost-effective approach. To help overcome these challenges, following are four ways to bolster your operations technology (OT) network by increasing threat visibility.

1. Baseline Your Network

To help determine which communication activities are normal and which may be threats, it’s essential to have an accurate baseline reading of your entire network. A comprehensive device inventory is necessary to observe when new or unapproved devices connect to your network. It’s also vital to understand which devices communicate to each other and what OT protocols they are using.

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2. Centrally Collect System Logs

System logs can help correlate events across different devices and different manufacturers. This will provide horizontal visibility across your company. If you’re able, automate the review of these logs with machine learning technology.

3. Implement Incident Response Playbook

With the additional data you’ll collect from various threat detection tools, it’s important to develop an incident response playbook for your company. Collecting logs, baselining your networking, and implementing tools will provide little to no value unless you have a plan in place to monitor and act upon this data. Consider implementing tabletop exercises to role-play the various scenarios.

4. Develop a Central Pane of Glass

cific key points of interest across all your company’s verticals. This will help your operation center teams efficiently parse the data.

With the continuing convergence of IT and OT, it is important to have central visibility.

This visibility will help close the gap and provide insight into the wide variety of devices that can be seen today.

In manufacturing, security has typically taken a secondary role to production. However, the industry is beginning to see a rapid increase in OT threats. By implementing some of these best practices, you can gain additional visibility into the threats facing your OT network.

Where Can I Learn More?

Interstates has plant cybersecurity experts ready to help. If you have any questions about network threat detection, reach us at (712) 722-1662 or www.interstates.com/contact/.

It’s crucial to develop a dashboard with spe-

2/28/22 8:21 AM

14 PERSPECTIVES AW MARCH 2022

Managing the Risk of Remote SCADA Access

By David Greenfield

Director of Content/Editor-in-Chief

Image source: www.tiga.us

O

ne of the biggest benefits of Ethernet on the plant floor is the ability to remotely connect to plant floor systems. But along with the benefits of remote access comes the heightened risk of cyber-attacks.

Despite this, more and more manufacturers believe the risks are worth managing to drive their operations into the future and ease the process of accessing and sharing data across sites for better decision-making, as well as reducing the cost of onsite troubleshooting and repair—a great deal of which can now be accomplished remotely.

Considering that a key initial Industry 4.0 achievement is remote access to SCADA (supervisory control and acquisition) systems, we spoke with Ben Manlongat of Outbound Technologies, an industrial automation system integrator to learn more about how manufacturers can best manage the risks associated with remote SCADA access.

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Protecting against the biggest risks

Beyond the obvious concerns about a hacker taking control of any aspect of your production operations, Manlongat say it’s also important to consider the impact of an outsider gaining access to your SCADA data.

“If someone were to intercept your data, how could that affect your business?” asks Manlongat. “You have to think about how you could be harmed if your competitor were to get that information. And don't think that because everything [on your SCADA system] is read-only that everything is safe. If a COM (communications) port is open, a hacker could gain access to any laptop on the network to get to the COM port of the device and then start making programming changes. And once those programming changes are made, the hacker can take control of your system. It’s critical to ensure the COM ports on your devices are protected and make sure there are no available

device tags that are predefined by the manufacturer for use in controlling the device.”

Core external aspects to consider about SCADA remote access security include: • Do you have a VPN (virtual private network) connection to the plant floor or to your office network? If so, Manlongat advises using multifactor authentication (MFA) so that gaining your password isn’t enough to access the system; a hacker would also need your smartphone and its password. MFA sends a special key code to the approved user’s mobile device that can change every few minutes.

• Is the connection to your plant floor network encrypted?

• Is there any third-party software involved? In this case, Manlongat notes that there have been big breaches of thirdparty software, where the manufacturing site itself wasn’t directly hacked, but the third-party software had been compro-

2/28/22 8:21 AM

PERSPECTIVES 15 AW MARCH 2022

mised. In some of these cases, passwords were leaked, enabling hackers to gain access to the company’s network through that third-party software.

Internal risks include: • Having your plant floor network connected directly to the office network (e.g., without the use of a DMZ).

• Security of Wi-Fi used in the plant and in the office (see point above).

• Are your devices only transmitting readonly tags? If read-write tags are available, hackers could more easily execute control over portions of your operations.

• Are device programming ports available on the network?

• Is safety logic programmed in your controllers to prevent against any significant problems?

Is real protection possible?

Given the ever-growing level of risk to industrial control systems, we asked Manlongat if it was even possible to truly protect a SCADA system that has been networked

ment. This is the device that you would connect to remotely. “This device would not have the ability to do any control operations because it's not connected to anything to do any control,” he says. “It's only reading information from plant floor; you’ll connect that to the VPN to send data to the cloud.”

• Use a serial connection with the edge computer or server. A serial connection between a data collecting device and a controller is “a lot less risky than an Ethernet connection that could provide access to a controller’s COM port,” says Manlongat.

for remote access.

“The quick answer is yes, because there are different ways to configure an internet-connected plant floor network for remote access and read-only viewing,” he says.

According to Manlongat, if you’re looking to do read-only remote access with no potential for remote control: 1) Don’t connect directly to controllers performing operations; 2) use a VPN to connect the plant floor to the internet to establish a private, encrypted connection—with traffic on the VPN encrypted. With this setup, even if someone were able to access the network’s traffic, they wouldn't be able to read or understand it; and 3) use MFA so that, in addition to user name and password requirements, you also need access to the authorized person's smartphone or other mobile device.

If you're looking to do read-only remote access and send data to the cloud for artificial intelligence/machine learning analytics, Manlongat offers two recommendations: • Use a device (e.g., an edge computer or server) on the plant floor that only receives data from your plant floor equip-

Listen to the full podcast on remote SCADA access.

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16 NEWS

AW MARCH 2022

British Sugar’s “Factories of the Future” Initiative Includes a Private 4G Network

By David Miller

Senior Technical Writer

A

s the use of mobile technologies such as augmented reality and autonomous mobile robots in manufacturing continues to grow, wireless connectivity on the plant floor is fast becoming an imperative. In addition to making non-fixed automation possible, wireless networks also allow end users to integrate data more easily from large quantities of connected devices spread over a wide area.

However, traditional Wi-Fi may lack the efficiency, security, and control that missioncritical operations require. For instance, in legacy environments that were not designed with wireless connectivity in mind, fluctuations in temperature, humidity, moisture, and vibration, machines that give off an electrostatic charge, and even the placement of metal or glass walls may interfere with the transmission of reliable wireless signals. High device density may also compromise reliability in settings where hundreds or even thousands of sensors may need to be connected to the network. Moreover, the limited range of Wi-Fi may not be suitable for the scale of many industrial operations.

As a result, many manufacturers are turning to private cellular networks—some of which employ 5G—to provide connectivity in their facilities. One such example is British Sugar, which has recently partnered with telecommunications company Virgin Media 02 Business and Nokia to roll out a 4G private cellular network across multiple factory sites spanning a large geographical area.

The network is being adopted in conjunction with British Sugar’s “Factories of The Future” upgrade initiative.

According to British Sugar, the new network will allow them to more effectively introduce new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), automated production lines, robots, and drones. AI will be used to monitor factory operations in real-time and predict maintenance and potential downtime in advance, reducing waste and downtime and cutting costs. Going forward, the company plans to further embrace Industry 4.0

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through a planned seven-year partnership with Virgin Media 02 Business and Nokia.

Currently, more than 15 digital manufacturing use cases have been planned for British Sugar’s 4G network, which has been designed to be easily upgradable to 5G. “During testing we were encouraged by the early results seen and as we have begun to roll out the targeted priority use cases to our users; they have been quick to give feedback about the time savings they have seen— with new plant commissioning, plant testing and day-to-day diagnostic processes being highlighted in particular,” said Nick Smalley, program manager at British Sugar.

Cellular networks—whether 4G or 5G— have several advantages over Wi-Fi for operators of expansive industrial facilities. For one, they provide broader coverage with fewer access points, granting end users the network range they need. Beyond that, they have a higher end-device capacity, meaning that the integration of many connected devices will not interfere with reliability. Finally, cellular networks have built-in

encryption and require that end-devices have a SIM (subscriber identification module) card to connect, which limits points of entry and bolsters cybersecurity.

While these benefits can be attained from a public cellular network, a dedicated private network tailored specifically to British Sugar’s operational needs can provide better coverage and more reliable performance, since it does not require its bandwidth be shared with others. Furthermore, it allows the company to maintain internal control of its confidential data.

Read more about 5G here.

2/27/22 11:04 AM

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Amazon and MassRobotics Partner for Robotics Accelerator

By David Miller

Senior Technical Writer

A

mong the engineering design and development fields, automation technology creators face a unique conundrum. On the one hand, innovation is essential to new automation technology development, and new entrants are often well suited to provide it. At the same time, it can be difficult for these small companies to break into an already-saturated field like industrial technology. Because of this, startup incubators and accelerators play an important role in facilitating their growth. Incubators can grant companies facilities to work in, resources such as equipment and expertise, and opportunities to acquire funding via a network of potential partner companies.

These organizations take a light-touch approach, and typically house companies for several years while they engage in their own, self-directed process of growth. By contrast, accelerators take a more hands-on approach and work with a smaller selection of companies more intensively for a brief period of time. If picked up by an accelerator, a startup can expect highly specialized mentorship and education as well as direct investment.

Recently, Boston-based incubator MassRobotics has announced that, in addition to the resident companies it hosts, it will be delivering a new Amazon Web Services Robotics Startup Accelerator.

The aim of this initiative is to address challenges commonly

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encountered in the development of automation, robotics, and Industrial Internet of Things technologies by providing participating companies with the resources they need to prototype, test, and commercialize their products. In addition, companies will have access to Amazon Web Services’ cloud technical resources and partner network.

The accelerator will take place over four weeks and will include technical and business mentorship opportunities. Ideal applicants include robotics hardware and software startups seeking to use Amazon Web Services as a key component in their products and offerings. Moreover, companies who wish to be involved must be privately held startups with less than $10 million in revenue and less than $100 million in funding raised to date. No prior experience with Amazon Web Services or participation in previous accelerators is required.

Companies selected to participate will receive: Specialized training in the deployment of Amazon Web Services for robotics

applications; up to $10,000 in promotional credits for the use of Amazon Web Services’ Internet of Things, robotics, and machine learning services; mentoring from experts; opportunities for co-marketing with Amazon Web Services through the publication of blogs and case studies as well as proofof-concept projects; guidance pertaining to business development and investment from MassRobotics; and networking opportunities through contact with other participating startups and the Amazon Web Services partner network.

Read more about MassRobotics here.

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Krispy Kreme’s Drive Retrofit

By David Greenfield

Director of Content / Editor-in-Chief

D

oughnuts are, obviously, the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Krispy Kreme. But for those with an interest in automation and manufacturing, you’re missing a big part of the Krispy Kreme story if you’re not familiar with the company’s machine building operations.

This aspect of Krispy Kreme’s operations is nothing new, as the company has designed and built proprietary machines from the company’s early days. Today, the company’s headquarters in Winston Salem, N.C., is home to a 105,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility that houses research, design, testing, engineering, and production operations.

The machines and processing equipment built there use Siemens drives and controls,

The retrofit kit from Think PLC was developed to replace older Siemens Micromaster drives with Siemens Sinamics G120 drives. Source: Siemens

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2/27/22 11:04 AM

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2/16/21 2/28/22 10:50 8:52 AM AM

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integrated by Think PLC, the automation engineering consultant to Krispy Kreme.

“They engineer and manufacture all of their production machines, from extruders and conveyors through to the packaging, including their famous glaze waterfall,” says Bobby Cole, president of Think PLC. Cole says the speed at which an extruded doughnut moves through the store is “a very, very big deal. Throughout the process, the shortening is kept within an exact range of temperature. Doughnuts are cooked on both sides for a precise number of seconds and the cooling conveyor cycles through the store at a set number of minutes.”

Updating via retrofit

Recently, Krispy Kreme has been updating its manufacturing operations based on insights from the company’s service technicians, store managers, and customers. Patrick Betson, Krispy Kreme’s director of equipment manufacturing, says this feedback has led to several improvements addressing increased uptime and mean time before failure.

“Before there was much publicity about Industry 4.0 and IoT (Internet of Things), Bobby Cole and I often talked about the data that could be generated by more advanced

machine monitoring,” says Betson. “It became increasingly clear that by integrating the latest Siemens drives and controls on our machines, and connecting them using Profinet communications, we could start putting that data to work.”

To enable consistent automation upgrades and retrofitting at existing stores, and plan for the roll out of equipment at new stores, Think PLC needed to determine the fastest and most cost-efficient way to integrate Siemens Sinamics G120 variable frequency drive (VFD) technology in more than 600 stores worldwide.

This led Betson and Cole to develop a retrofit kit that would allow every store to quickly add new components and software to their existing hardware.

The key to Think PLC’s retrofit idea was to leverage the SD cards used on Siemens drives and controls already in Krispy Kreme stores. This was a viable approach because Krispy Kreme maintained each store’s unique set of machining and processing parameters on the SD cards. As a result, stores only need a local contractor to upgrade the legacy control panels, including parts for safety and power wiring.

“The main purpose of the kit was to

Betson and Cole retrofitted every Krispy Kreme store in Australia in five days using their technology retrofit kit concept. Source: Siemens

A store can produce a thousand dozen doughnuts per hour. Pump motor drive performance in the store can be seen through the Siemens TIA portal to diagnose, troubleshoot, maintain, and prevent disruptions to production flow. Source: Siemens

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PMMI NEWS 21 AW MARCH 2022

replace the older Siemens Micromaster drives with Siemens Sinamics G120 drives,” Cole explains. “The SD card in the kit has software that we modified; and with a couple flips of some switches, the drive is automatically programmed. Someone with absolutely no control experience can reload the new software into the new drives and the new PLCs.” According to Cole, the retrofit kit enables a store to replace its drives and controls in about two hours—saving significant time and costs associated with having a control technician travel to a Krispy Kreme store to perform the work.

To prove the retrofit kit concept, Krispy Kreme and Think PLC tested the kit’s installation and use in their manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., followed by tests at various stores in the region.

During these tests, the new drives and PLCs installed smoothly and the SD cards automatically updated and matched all previous store parameters. To further test the concept, Cole and Betson retrofitted every Krispy Kreme store (more than 30) in Australia in five days using the kits.

Fry control

During the doughnut frying process, the pumping of heated shortening is critical to maintaining optimal doughnut quality and product count. When the flow rate is not maintained at the desired constant, viscosity issues become a problem as dough bits cannot be filtered out of the melted shortening properly. This leads to temperature variances, causing hot spots to develop.

The Sinamics G120 drive addresses these pump motor issues while reporting the operational status of each motor. The drive also ensures that pump motor temperatures are kept below the threshold for heat damage.

Cole explains the drive can address pump motor issues through its ability to set and hold a curve that assures the most efficient flow at a low speed and a high speed—from 7 hertz to 90 hertz. With the new drives, “accuracy of the fry time has increased by 12%, resulting in a more consistent product with less waste yield,” he says. “A big advantage of the drive is that it can run a motor slow without the usual rise in motor temp. When you run a motor at very low hertz, it generates a lot of eddy current.

It gets so hot, that you can’t touch the

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motor. And when you overheat the laminations of a motor, you greatly decrease the life of the motor. But we can monitor each drive through the Siemens TIA (Totally Integrated Automation) portal, and we’ve seen the amperage reduced by almost 17%, and the temperature of the motor reduced by 34%. We expect this will more than double the life expectancy of every pump.”

The Sinamics G120 drives also address worker safety issues through their triplequadruple redundancy, says Cole. “The new drives and PLCs being retrofitted into every store integrate with the existing Siemens safety monitoring circuitry, including the automated safety mechanisms and E-stop buttons. For example, if a hose were to break on the shortening pump, the flow stops within 100 milliseconds,” he says.

Remote access via TIA

Using Siemens TIA portal, Think PLC can access any of the Siemens G-120 drives remotely.

Cole describes using the TIA portal via his smartphone as being like standing in a Krispy Kreme store at the drive’s operator interface.

“When you open the door to the drive, a large display presents any fault messages,” he says. “You select a fault message and you’re given the related fault code that, in the past, you would need to look up in the user’s manual. Now, all the information you need—the details, what to check, how to reset—are on the display. Diagnostic screens help you debug the problem.

Beyond this, faults and alarms can be data logged in the cloud so that trends can be studied over the course of a year and faults for a particular machine can be identified and addressed. I can also look at how many cuts were made on the extruder today.

I can look at how many faults occurred throughout the day on that machine. I can see what the average temperature was in the shortening tank. I can call the local service manager and say, ‘Hey, next time you do a preventative maintenance at that store, you need to send a new pump motor, because you’re getting multiple faults within a short period of time. Have those parts on your truck and you won’t need to make a second trip.’”

PMMI’s unPACKed Podcast: A First Look at PACK EXPO 2022 Hosted by Sean Riley

Senior Director, Media and Industry Communications, PMMI

W

ith one of the most successful PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO’s ever firmly in our rearview mirror, unPACKed with PMMI turns its attention to the best regional packaging and processing show in North America: PACK EXPO East 2022, March 21-23 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. For three days, more than 7,000 attendees from the Northeast corridor of CPGs and pharmaceutical companies travel to Philadelphia for an environment that promotes one-on-one time with more than 400 exhibitors. In the podcast, we provide an overview of the bestin-class technology and education available at PACK EXPO East and discuss some of the top trends and technologies our PMMI Media Group editors have come to expect from the PACK EXPO portfolio of trade shows.

Find more unPACKED podcast episodes at pmmi.org/podcast.

To listen, visit www.awgo.to/1354.

2/27/22 11:05 AM

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An Employer-Educator Model for Filling IIoT Roles Improving workforce development outcomes and closing the skills gap depends on how well institutions and industries can work together.

An interview with educators at Patrick & Henry Community College conducted by Festo

W

hen it comes to closing the skills gap in industry, community colleges are in the sweet spot. More nimble and focused than four-year institutions, community colleges have the advantage in response time, affordability, and access to forward-thinking programs. They are uniquely positioned to become Amer-

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ica’s innovation hubs, and they’re hard at work building the career and technical education programs that students and employers so desperately need.

Patrick & Henry Community College (PHCC) in Martinsville, Va., is a prime example, having built an employer-educator model centered on IIoT (Industrial

Internet of Things) and Industry 4.0 preparedness. Daniel Edwards, instructor of industrial electronics technology, and David Dillard, associate professor of general engineering technology, at PHCC’s award-winning Advanced Manufacturing and Skilled Trades program explain why the model works.

2/28/22 8:09 AM

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What attracts employers and students to your program?

Daniel Edwards: The programs that Mr. Dillard and I lead, Industrial Electronics Technology and General Engineering Technology, are designed to anticipate the technological innovation and challenges people will encounter in today’s industrial workplace.

The employers we work with appreciate the flexibility of the training because it’s modular and customizable to their needs.

Companies hire our graduates knowing these men and women are already highly trained to troubleshoot and handle a variety of tasks whether the job requires mechanical, electric, or fluid power maintenance.

At first, our students arrive knowing very little about industrial technology. Once they can interact with the cyber-physical systems, they’re able to see and touch the result of digital transformation in modern manufacturing. They realize they’re at the forefront of something big, walking around in what looks and feels like the future.

It doesn’t take long for them to see the big picture and realize the value of having access to these career pathways.

David Dillard: We’re fortunate to have a 103,000 square foot facility where we can provide industry tours to the public.

We give tours to K-12 all the way up to seasoned working professionals. They’re really surprised at the level of technology involved in the training system. It piques students’ curiosity to picture themselves in that setting, operating networked machinery alongside robots.

When students tour the lab and decide, ‘hey, I can do this’ that’s always an exciting and rewarding moment for us as teachers.

When employers tour the lab and see the cyber-physical workstations, they know the students will be well-equipped to meet industry needs. The simulated smart factory equipment the students train on is exactly like what they have on their factory floor.

What’s your approach to getting people qualified for Industry 4.0?

Dillard: Stackable credentials are a huge

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part of our student success. The students can earn certifications without taking an entire semester to do so. That really keeps them motivated and focused. They have a lot of small victories leading up to their degree and it empowers them because they know each certification will increase their employability. It also lends confidence to hiring managers to know these candidates have industry-recognized micro-credentials.

Edwards: In addition to what David mentioned, we’re focused on bringing industry and education together through advisory boards, internships, field trips, and classroom visits. Employers bring industry knowledge to the table, bringing material covered in the classroom to light. Employer partnerships also ensure students stay current in IIoT developments. We see the effectiveness of this model reflected in the demand for our programs—it’s higher than the number of students we can train.

I can’t graduate them fast enough. Sometimes employers will scoop them up before they finish the program.

You started out with a mechatronics program.

What did it take to scale that program into comprehensive training for Industry 4.0?

Edwards: It starts with baby steps. We scaled from a solid foundation in mechatronics first to be able to innovate and evolve into stackable credential offerings for Industry 4.0. By making incremental investments in the right equipment (such as the Festo MPS Series) we went from teaching mechatronics to offering various courses and career pathways in advanced manufacturing.

systems, programmable logic controllers, and robotic systems. To date, we’ve issued more than 1,200 certifications.

What additional steps can be taken in the process of building these types of programs?

Edwards: The first thing I would advise instructors to do is to get certified in Industry 4.0. It only takes a few days to complete the NC3 (National Coalition of Certification Centers) Train-the-Trainer workshop. There’s a lot of value in terms of what you can relay to students, and it can make a big impact on how you decide to develop your programs. I recently went to a Train-the-Trainer event and was happy to see several K-12 instructors in attendance.

It’s important to nurture relationships with industry by starting locally. A local company, American Electric Power (AEP), donated $200,000 to our program; that’s how we were able to purchase the equipment we needed to teach Level 1 of the Industry 4.0 certification program. Now we’re issuing Level I and Level II certifications and working towards Level III soon.

Community organizations and foundations can also play a role. Thanks to funding from the AEP Foundation, we were able to complete our equipment sets for Level I and II certifications, and together we established the AEP Foundation Industry 4.0 Alliance. The Harvest Foundation generously provided equipment for Level III, making PHCC the first in the nation to offer all three levels of Fi4.0CP. Dillard: I would add that while it’s been difficult with Covid-19, if you can, network face-to-face with employers and teachers from other schools because it can lead to new ideas, relationships, and opportunities.

Dillard: In 2018, we integrated the Festo Industry 4.0 Certification Program (FI4.0CP) into our existing programs in mechatronics, industrial electronics technology, and general engineering technology. This allowed us to provide industryapproved certifications in mechanical systems, electrical systems, pneumatic

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Flexible, Low-Cost Water Monitoring with Edge I/O Remote I/O over MQTT helps Rust Automation deploy affordable remote monitoring in a challenging environment.

By Josh Eastburn, director of technical marketing, Opto 22

E

stablished in 1976, Rust Automation & Controls provides a range of process control and industrial solutions to customers throughout the Western United States. Their skilled application engineers and technicians provide a comprehensive range of services and support solutions, including

needs assessment, training, implementation, installation, diagnostic analysis, and repair.

Jared Bates leads Rust’s projects team and recently worked with Opto 22 to carry out a critical water management project for the Pinebrook Water District in Boulder, Co. Using a combination of groov edge control-

ler and I/O devices, Bates’ team developed an affordable wireless control solution that adapted to the challenges of the local terrain.

Problem

Pinebrook is an old, rural water district, which, at the time it contacted Rust A&C,

The Pinebrook Water District reservoir lies in the hills northwest of Boulder, Colo.

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Rust Automation & Controls connected three isolated sites, using the native MQTT support in groov RIO to transport I/O data securely over the internet. managed its natural water supply manually. The Pinebrook staff conducted rounds across the more than 500-acre area to monitor tank and stream levels and verify pump station operation.

However, in recent years, the district had experienced a couple of water tank overflows and finally decided to automate monitoring.

Pinebrook needed to track where water was going so it could detect potential leaks and since there is a risk of flooding in the area, it wanted to create a high stream level alerting system to protect the local residents.

As a small district, project cost was a constraint for Pinebrook, so Bates’ team would need to keep the final solution affordable.

And although the district didn’t have many assets to manage, they were widely distributed and lacked any existing power or communications infrastructure.

Rust’s initial site survey identified three

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sites that would have limited connectivity.

These sites were critical for flood water monitoring, but the local topology would block access to a radio network. The typical option of installing radio towers and other infrastructure to strengthen the network were beyond the project’s budget.

Solution

Fortunately, Rust has a long history working with industrial instrumentation and networking, so designing the control network was mostly straightforward. The Rust team installed solar-powered monitoring stations at key locations throughout the district. The majority were connected by a 900 MHz wireless I/O mesh transceiver network. Stations included 4-20 mA radar level gauges and relays for controlling pumps and valves.

At the three isolated sites, Bates’ team took a different approach. Instead of con-

necting to the mesh network, they opted to connect the sites to the internet. In two of the locations, they substituted Wi-Fi adapters for the transceivers and connected the sites to a wireless network from a nearby fire station. In the third location, they installed a 4G/LTE cell modem.

The only thing they needed was an easy way to transport sensor data over the internet, which led them to try edge I/O. Opto 22’s groov RIO (remote I/O) MM1 (GRVR7-MM1001-10) provides 8 channels of universal I/O plus two mechanical relays in a compact industrial housing paired with embedded Ethernet, storage, applications, and data services.

Jared’s team installed a groov RIO module at each of the isolated sites, connected it to Wi-Fi or cellular access, and configured I/O and Modbus/TCP connections to integrate data from local devices and transceiver net-

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work extensions. Each edge I/O module was secured with user authentication and SSL/ TLS certificates, using the native certificate management built into the groov RIO management layer.

Using the CoDeSys control engine on the network’s main controller—an Opto 22 groov EPIC (Edge Programmable Industrial Controller)—the team configured each station as a remote I/O point, wrote polling logic, and defined appropriate alarm limits. CoDeSys is the team’s preferred control platform because it allows them to use all the IEC languages where they are most appropriate.

Typically, they use Structured Text for math and time calculations, Function Block for the main program routine, and Ladder Diagram when they need to orchestrate a specific sequence of actions.

However, when they tried to connect to the groov RIO modules through CoDeSys, they discovered the latency was too great for the connection to be maintained. Naturally, there were also some security concerns since communication to two of the modules required opening ports in the fire

station’s firewall.

In response, Bates’ team decided to flip their approach. Instead of scanning all the remote I/O at high resolution from the main controller, they connected these three sites to an MQTT broker using the modules’ native MQTT publishing capabilities. They chose to use HiveMQ’s cloud-native MQTT broker, which allows 100 MQTT clients to communicate for free, keeping maintenance costs down for the district.

MQTT clients publish data only when they change, so Pinebrook wouldn’t need a high-speed, always-on connection to get accurate data. And because MQTT connections always originate from the edge device, Rust wouldn’t have to open firewall ports to allow inbound connection requests to the groov RIO modules.

Integrating MQTT data into the main control program was simple using the MQTT client library for CoDeSys. The MQTT functions allowed the groov EPIC controller to subscribe to all the data in the MQTT broker and integrate it directly into the control program like native tags.

“Reliability was more important than performance,” says Bates. “Updates even every 10 minutes would have been acceptable in this case. It gave us some wiggle room to slow down scan rates, so we hit the broker probably only once a minute.”

To accommodate Pinebrook’s budget, Rust opted not to install a full SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system.

Instead, Bates’ team built all the control, communication, and visualization into the edge controller. Since the Pinebrook district was managed completely without automation prior to this project, Rust needed to design a visual interface for the new control network.

To keep costs down and simplify long-term maintenance, they decided to use the EPIC’s embedded HMI (human-machine interface) server, groov View.

In groov View, designers use a browserbased editor with drag-and-drop components to build an HTML5-compliant display that can run on the EPIC’s touchscreen, an external display, connected mobile and desktop browsers, or on the groov View app.

The groov View is included with groov EPIC

The CoDeSys MQTT client library allowed Rust to subscribe to MQTT data and integrate it directly into their control program.

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Rust built a low-cost, easy-to-maintain operator interface using the embedded HMI server in the groov EPIC controller. for free, so it didn’t add to the cost of Pinebrook’s project. Development with groov View was quick for Rust to complete and easy for Pinebrook to maintain.

Rust used the Node-Red IoT (Internet of Things) programming environment (also preinstalled on groov EPIC) to format some of the data pulled from CoDeSys so that it displayed properly in the HMI. “The groov View system…uses OPC UA, so we could connect CoDeSys and groov View together pretty seamlessly and just drag and drop a lot of [the controls] on there,” says Bates.

The central edge controller was located within the Pinebrook water treatment plant, so Rust supplied it with additional I/O modules to connect to some of that equipment as well. The main HMI page displays field measurements like storage tank levels alongside raw water measurements from the treatment plant inlet. The middle of the display reflects analytical measurements of trace compounds like chlorine and manganese, along with the levels of the rivers in the community.

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These river gauges are one of the most important things they monitor. The change in the level of water in those rivers acts as their flood alert system. From day to day, the Pinebrook staff can monitor changes in the river’s level over the previous week using the trend controls built into groov View. When the system alarms, groov View sends text message alerts to the Pinebrook staff.

The staff access the operator interface through web browsers on their personal workstations and through a 42-in. touchscreen in the main control room connected to the EPIC’s HDMI port. After Rust developed the initial pages, Pinebrook caught on and started making their own changes, which were automatically pushed out to users.

Bates says, “It was really cool to see how easy it was for them to jump on this and make the changes they needed. We want to be able to hand off the system to the customer when the project is over. To do that, you need a way that they can manage it themselves.”

Results

According to Bates, Pinebrook has been “extremely happy with the solution,” which incurs only minimal monthly cost to maintain a single cell modem and some management of the MQTT broker. They can monitor tanks and pumps across their territory to make sure they aren’t overflowing or to initiate control tasks, and staff have been able to make additional changes to the operator interface as needed.

Except for the HiveMQ broker, all this functionality—control engine, HMI server, NodeRed, MQTT publish/subscribe communication, and device security—runs on the groov devices and does not require a Windows PC or external server for data or communication.

“We’ve made it our best practice, even if we’re using a different PLC, to try groov EPIC as an edge device for connectivity,” says Bates. “It solves a lot of issues because it has a lot of software solutions built into it.”

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Process Control Communication: More Than Just APL Ethernet-APL receives a lot of attention for its ability to bring Ethernet-based communications and power to devices in hazardous zones. But a physical layer and some data do not make a complete solution.

By Michael Bowne, executive director, PI North America

C

ompared to factory automation, process control places additional demands on communication technology. Process plants, which extend over wide areas, have a lifespan of 20+ years.

They invariably run continuous production processes, where unplanned breakdown or disturbance would pose a serious hazard to people and the environment, in addition to substantial financial loss. Therefore, operators want continuous access to horizontal and vertical data and information flows while making it easy to maintain their devices.

For Profibus & Profinet International (PI), the migration from fieldbus-based communications (Profibus) to Ethernet-based communications (Profinet) is in full swing. This is particularly true in factory automation with proven benefits for end-users. Similar trends are also becoming evident in process control, as the Profinet features that fulfill the needs of process control industries now have a physical layer (Ethernet-APL) to make them available at the field level.

Let’s look more closely at these features and their importance: Dynamic Reconfiguration No matter whether they occur in factory automation or process control, changes sometimes need to be made to the communication between a controller and a device.

Examples include changes to device configuration or parameterization. Since process plants often run continuously, these changes must occur during ongoing operations. The

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dynamic reconfiguration feature allows for a Profinet device to establish more than one communication relation with a controller.

A new relation with the new configuration/ parameterization is established in addition to the existing relation, and then swapped over seamlessly. This occurs without interruption to either the device, the controller program, or the network.

Maintenance and diagnostics Status-oriented maintenance is important for the operation of all factories and plants. It is based on the capability of devices and components to determine their status and communicate using standardized mechanisms. To this end, Profinet provides a system for the reliable signaling of alarms and status messages from devices to controller. This diagnostic model covers system-defined events such as the removal or insertion of I/O modules and the signaling of malfunctions, such as a wire break, that are detected by the control mechanism. Besides "good" and "faulty" status messages, the underlying status model also knows the optional levels for "maintenance required" (e.g., when media redundancy is lost) and "maintenance demanded."

An I/O module can also distinguish between diagnostic alarms (errors within a device or component) and process alarms (problems with the process, such as exceeding a temperature limit). To ensure a uniform display of different diagnostic messages, the Profinet diagnostic model has been assigned to match NAMUR NE 107.

Device replacement and PA profile The replacement of Profinet field devices can be performed with minimal manual intervention because of the constant exchange of information between devices on the network.

If a device fails, a spare device can simply be installed in its place. Using the network neighborhood information, the controller recognizes the replacement and reassigns the same name, address, and parameter set as the failed device. Fast device replacement without an engineering tool is therefore possible. Cross-vendor interchangeability is also possible with application profiles.

An application profile is essentially an agreement among a family of devices on how to structure Profinet data. Examples include ProfiDrive for drives and motors, or ProfiSafe for functional safety components. The PA (process automation) profile for process control instruments ensures the uniform behavior of PA devices of various types, versions, and even vendors. For example, the chances that a vendor has not made enhancements to its devices during the lifespan of a process control plant are small. In the case of device replacement, the newer device might have acquired a new identity number in the interim. According to the PA profile, when it is swapped in for the failed device, it can assume the legacy device’s identity and avoid any manual setup. This capability can be true across vendors as well, where all devices in a device family (e.g., flow meters) are able to use a generic identity from the perspective of the controller.

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Availability and redundancy High system availability is ensured by Profinet redundancy solutions for media, controllers, and devices. Media redundancy creates multiple physical communication paths to Profinet devices. In case of failure of a communication path (e.g., a wire break), a second communication path is automatically used.

Device and controller redundancy are also possible to maximize uptime in case of failure.

Timestamping and sequence of events In large plants, the ability to record the actions, alarms, and status messages to a sequence of events is frequently required as alarms often arrive in waves, with secondary and tertiary alarms following only from the primary alarm. Quickly finding which alarm first created the cascade is critical. With millisecond-level timestamping, Profinet provides a standardized (IEEE 1588) solution including archiving and control.

Migration and outlook With proxy technology, existing plant sections can be integrated into a wider Profi-

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net infrastructure. For process control, this incorporates existing fieldbus systems like Profibus PA, Foundation Fieldbus, HART, and others. Proxies can best be thought of as gateways in that they translate data from one protocol to another. Proxies go a step further by representing device data in a standardized manner on the Profinet side. Control systems use them to access subordinate field devices both cyclically and acyclically. Properties of the legacy systems, such as diagnostics and configuration, can be used as native properties on the Profinet side.

With the release of Ethernet-APL, a robust, two-wire, powered Ethernet physical layer including intrinsic safety for operation in hazardous areas is now available. It enables a direct connection of field devices to Ethernet, so that process control industries can benefit from a convergence of their OT (operations technology) and IT (information technology) systems. It is based on the proven trunk-andspur topology. Trunks provide high power and signal levels for long cable runs of up to 1000m. Spurs carry lower power with optional intrinsic safety for lengths of up to 200m. The

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validation of intrinsically safe connections is done like FISCO (Fieldbus Intrinsically Safe Concept), so that for every connection one simple validation is possible with no additional calculations required. Since Profinet is an Ethernet-based protocol, it runs over EthernetAPL out of the box.

Summary

Ethernet-APL is an enabler of digitalization in the process control industries, but it is not a complete solution. It is just a physical layer. Protocols are still needed to format and communicate data and information. To meet the stringent requirements of process plants, simple data transfer is not enough. Modern plants can gain a sustainable advantage by installing a Profinet network that eases maintenance tasks with robust diagnostics and timestamping, allows for flexible topologies, ensures maximum uptime through high availability, coexists plainly with other Ethernetbased protocols, and integrates legacy systems where necessary.

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The Benefits of Edge Computing Use the networked, intelligent, self-controlling, self-optimizing, and resource-efficient production of the Industrial Internet to protect your operations from increased international competition.

By Charlie Norz, Automation Product Manager, Wago

T

he ability to manufacture products according to variable lot size without substantially increasing production costs is a key indicator of the Smart Factory.

The future success of production facilities will largely be determined by their capacity for production changeability and the ability to connect points along the entire value chain.

In production operations, existing conditions at each location are important factors. That’s why the Smart Factory should not be viewed as a bolt-on solution, but as a smart version of an existing production line, with the added benefits of being unique as the processes of the company itself.

Smart Factory ideas, methods, and approaches must also be considered to improve existing individual production processes. These improvements may lie in more efficient use of resources during production, preventing duplication of applications along the value-added chain, or significantly shortening system engineering times.

No matter which method is applied for transitioning to the Smart Factory, networking existing processes and operations remains a prerequisite. This networking should include connections from the control system to the field level, as well as to the various steps in the value-added chain. Manufacturers should be aware that diverse media and system discontinuities can make correlating data logically and sensibly difficult across unique processes. As a rule, each IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) approach consists of recording, digitizing, and linking data to one another such that a sustainable added value is generated for the corporation.

Data transparency for the Smart Factory

The first step along this path requires transparency across all production and system data. Only when data is brought into context, suitably processed, and consolidated into information can measures be introduced to improve the production process. This means that sensors must record product and production-relevant data at the field level. Therefore, these sensors must be considered in the system architecture or incorporated into the

product itself. Regarding production-relevant data—which is recorded via sensors on the machines and systems—the challenge consists less in the mere collection of data, but in bringing information securely and error-free from the field level into a higher system, such as a manufacturing execution system or the cloud. A major factor impeding this is the relatively high expense of transferring and storing data in the cloud.

This is where edge controllers can provide a decisive contribution. Modular edge systems offer a suitable solution for practically any sensor interface by enabling signals to be reliably collected from the field level and managed locally on the plant floor. Edge controllers with different communication interfaces and fieldbuses can be used to collect this data from devices independent of the manufacturer via CANopen, Profibus DP, EtherNet/IP, or Modbus-TCP and can also manage the vertical information via MQTT and OPC UA protocols.

Some advanced edge controllers can be incorporated into existing automation systems as scalable nodes and gateways, which can be retrofitted without having to interfere with the actual automation process. The data can then be aggregated into abridged information for transmission to a higher-level system or the cloud. The advantages connected with a cloud link offer numerous benefits, as cloud solutions are flexible, scalable, highly available, and provide the opportunity for centralized access.

Photo Credit: Billy Pasco, Unplash

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How to Implement Analytics and Stay in Control of Your Big Data Applying analytics tools in the same engineering platform as the controller, motion control, and HMI can lead to more successful Internet of Things implementations and boost competitive advantages.

By Daymon Thompson, automation product manager, North America, Beckhoff Automation

D

emands to reach the best decisions based on real-time data insights are greater than ever. The responsibility to apply the technologies to make this happen often falls at the feet of controls engineers. Fortunately, there are ways to implement Big Data analytics that aren’t outside PLC programmers’ comfort zone—if they use PC-based control systems. As these platforms have evolved, the walls have come down in terms of what roles automation controllers play in machines and plants. As far back as the mid-’90s, one PCbased controller could combine the functionality of PLC, motion controller, and HMI. This eliminates the previous costs and inefficiencies from multiple hardware, software, and networking platforms. Today it’s possible for one industrial PC to assume the roles of IoT (Internet of Things) gateway, edge computing device, and analytics platform.

While deploying analytics on machine controllers is more typical in edge computing, additional analytics code developed in the same environment can be run concurrently in cloud services, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). Communication standards such as MQTT and OPC UA ensure scalability.

There are many benefits to running analytics software on the machine controller as a supplement to standalone platforms that run in the cloud. However, the expertise of controls engineers may not heavily overlap yet with the latest IoT technologies finding their way into manufacturing. By applying analytics tools in the same engineering platform as the one for PLC, motion control, and HMI, engineers will shorten their learning curve and boost the odds

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of successful implementations when many are launching pilot projects for their first true IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and Industry 4.0 concepts. This also protects the IP (intellectual property) of machine builders and manufacturers without giving away a new revenue stream or competitive advantage to a third-party.

Using PC-based control technology, analytics can run within machine control code for online and offline analyses and not miss any functionality or connectivity that a big tech company would otherwise deliver. Graphical analytics sequences are developed in a simple-to-use software workbench. These sequences can be converted into IEC 61131-3 languages so code is easy to understand by PLC programmers and ensure that those analytics sequences can run in the PLC for 24/7 monitoring. Fortunately, PC-based control systems can just as easily adopt computer science and IT programming tools such as C/ C++, Visual Studio, or use local edge tools such as Azure IoT Edge. This can be expanded to include any other software platform that runs on a PC. In addition, PC-based systems can incorporate MatLab/Simulink to enhance analytics applications for machine learning, if desired. Regardless of the tools needed for the job, handling as much engineering work as possible in one environment is a solid advantage for more efficient development.

While the toolbox is almost limitless, manufacturers that have implemented applications with this kind of PC-based control technology do not need any new tools to run the appropriate analyses. With accompanying configuration tools, users of analytics toolsets offered in PC

control can comfortably sift through the data as it is cyclically acquired by analytics loggers.

Available software libraries contain function blocks for several types of cycle analysis such as: data classification; minimum, maximum and average cycle times; and value integrators. They also contain function blocks for threshold value monitoring, providing the ability to document the number of threshold value violations. Other function blocks can analyze signal amplitudes and store indicators like maxima and minima. Many different variables can be selected from a large data package to graphically display them, for example, with a post-scope configuration using software-based scope tools. The configurator also provides algorithms from the analytics PLC library to examine data offline for limit values or to perform runtime analyses of machine cycles. The total running time of a machine cycle—the shortest, longest, and average running times—can be easily determined. The results of important data can be displayed on dashboards for the machine HMI and other devices.

When surveying IoT solutions available in PCbased control architectures, PLC programmers can create new platforms or retrofit existing systems to crack the Big Data puzzle. This can be done without losing control of a major aspect of modern controls design or by adding layers of complexity from standalone systems.

For additional information: www.beckhoff.com/TwinCAT-IoT

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AW MARCH 2022 / SPONSORED CONTENT

The Forecast for Battery-Powered Energy Harvesting is Sunny A real-world example of power generation demonstrates how the combined use of energy harvesting and industrial grade rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries can increase return on investment.

By Sol Jacobs, vice president and general manager, Tadiran Batteries

A

cross the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), there is a growing demand for battery-powered solutions that combine energy harvesting with industrial grade rechargeable Lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells to power two-way wireless communications.

This combination is especially important for applications that draw micro-amps of average current—enough to prematurely exhaust a primary lithium battery.

Ashalim Solar Thermal Power Station in Israel’s Negev desert supplies 121 MW of clean, renewable energy to meet the daily needs of more than 120,000 households. The power station was constructed by BrightSource Energy Inc. in partnership with General Electric and the NOY Infrastructure and Energy Investment Fund.

This power station plays a critical role in fulfilling the country’s commitment to supplying more than 10% of its total electricity needs using renewable energy. The Ashilim power station features 50,000 flat, suntracking mirrors, also known as heliostats, that continually reposition themselves throughout a 3.15-square-kilometer solar field to redirect maximum sunlight towards a solar receiver/boiler sitting atop a 787foot tower. Each mirror measures 4 x 5.2 meters.

Concentrated sunlight strikes the receiver, heating a transfer fluid to very high temperatures, which is circulated to

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produce superheated steam of up to 540° C to power a steam turbine or be stored to produce electricity day or night. This concentrated solar power (CSP) station requires a relatively small footprint of just 5-10 acres of land per MW of capacity. Even greater economies of space can be achieved by CSPs that generate 100 MW or more.

The rotation and tilt of each mirror is controlled by a battery-powered dual-axis tracking system capable of 360° positioning. Each heliostat motor is powered by a small battery pack using six TLI Series AA-size industrial-grade rechargeable Li-ion batteries that harvest energy from photovoltaic (PV) panels incorporated into the mirrors. These industrial grade rechargeable Li-ion batteries deliver the high pulses (5A for a AA-size cell) required to power two-way wireless communications for SCADA functionality.

Using Li-ion batteries to wirelessly connect all 50,000 heliostats represents a money-saving solution that eliminates the need for miles of cabling and wiring, resulting in an 85% reduction in such needs versus previous solutions. Wireless networking also sped the pace of construction while improving system reliability.

Why industrial grade Liion batteries are required Due to the extreme environmental conditions of the Negev desert, consumer grade Li-ion rechargeable batteries were unsuit-

able. Consumer-grade Li-ion cells have severe shortcomings for industrial applications, including a short life expectancy (fewer than five years), a low maximum cycle life (500 full recharge cycles), high annual selfdischarge (up to 60% per year), a limited temperature range (0° C to 60° C), and the inability to generate the high pulses required for two-way wireless communications.

Industrial-grade Li-ion batteries can operate for up to 20 years and support 5,000 full recharge cycles. Such extended battery life serves to reduce the total cost of ownership, as a system-wide battery change-out to replace 50,000 consumergrade batteries every 5 years would be an enormous undertaking, far exceeding any initial savings achieved by using less expensive consumer batteries.

Industrial grade Li-ion cells also offer an extended temperature range (-40° C to 85° C), and feature a precision-welded hermetic seal, whereas consumer-grade batteries use crimped seals that can leak.

Comparing Li-ion batteries to supercapacitors

In determining the ideal power management solution for the Ashalim project, industrialgrade batteries were compared to bulkier supercapacitors (also known as ultra-capacitors or electric double-layer capacitors).

Supercapacitors—which are used to pro-

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vide memory backup for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, and other consumer devices—store energy in an electrostatic field rather than in a chemical state (a process known as pseudocapacitance). Using an electrolyte along with an insulator that is very thin and often made of cardboard or paper means that supercapacitors can only deliver low voltage, as higher voltage requirements would cause the electrolyte to break down. Other drawbacks include short duration power, linear discharge characteristics that do not allow for use of all the available energy, low capacity, and high self-discharge (up to 60% per year). Additionally, when multiple supercapacitors are linked in series, expensive and bulky cell balancing circuits are required that drain additional current.

Supercapacitors are far bulkier than comparable industrial-grade Li-ion batteries. For example, three large packs of supercapacitors consisting of six D-size cells each (or 18 cells total) can be replaced by a much smaller battery pack consisting of six AA-size TLI Series rechargeable Liion batteries.

Industrial grade Li-ion battery packs offer additional performance advantages over supercapacitors, including: • Higher practical capacity: 330 mAh (the equivalent pseudocapacitance is 1200 F).

A supercapacitor having the same volume has about 10 F maximum (3.6V).

• Lower self-discharge: 1 to 2uA of selfdischarge current compared to 20 to 50uA of discharge current for a super-

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capacitor having the same external volume. Self-discharge is the normal voltage drop experienced over time when a cell is not subjected to a load. Batteries experience a fairly constant voltage drop over time, while supercapacitors experience a more severe drop in voltage as they discharge stored energy.

• Higher number of cycles: a AA-size Li-ion cell can be charged and discharged for 35,000 cycles between 2.8V and 3.9V (80% depth of discharge).

• Higher cell voltage than a supercapacitor under the high-current pulse needed to power two-way communications for system control.

Waterford DPW’s modernized infrastructure publishes data from groov EPIC controllers to a cloud-hosted Ignition SCADA and MQTT broker over a 4G LTE cellular network.

A concentrated solar power station.

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Modern edge environments pack a compute, storage, and connectivity punch to fuel data-driven insights and smart automation.

By Beth Stackpole, Contributing Writer

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E

dge computing, heralded by many as the next frontier in industrial automation, isn’t exactly novel terrain. However, the ways in which advanced edge capabilities are being leveraged to innovate and optimize everything from infield product performance to quality management on the plant floor is breaking new ground by helping industrial players boost their competitive position.

In conventional scenarios, edge deployments might constitute historians and local SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems, which are constrained by limited compute power and data storage along with their ability to orchestrate simple analytics, visualizations, and basic realtime controls. These systems—many of which were designed decades ago—are also highly inflexible due to architectures that are siloed and closed, requiring specialized talent and custom code to extract relevant data.

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Enter the modern version of edge computing, which packs exponentially more compute and storage horsepower, open APIs (application programming interfaces), support for diverse communication protocols, and connectivity to the cloud to boost flexibility and help manufacturers collect, integrate, and act on data generated on the factory floor or in the field for optimized performance.

“The edge was first used as a stepping stone for data collection and some reporting with manual intervention of some sort required,” says Kelli Settell, senior hardware applications engineer at TMMI, a supplier of electrical control equipment and software. “The real change is the ability to start to effect change with data analytics—being able to push back in real time on equipment based on a cause and effect with less manual intervention.”

Spending trends

Manufacturers are catching on to the value of a reimagined edge, working in concert with

cloud capabilities, to advance digital transformation. According to the IDC Worldwide Edge Spending Guide, global investment in edge computing is expected to hit $176 billion this year, an increase of 14.8% over 2021, and will continue to grow to $274 billion by 2025. Gartner sees edge computing emerging as a central data hub: While only 10% of enterprise data was generated and processed at the edge in 2018, Gartner expects that scenario to shift to nearly 75% by 2025.

IDC, which identified more than 150 use cases for edge computing across various industries in its report, called out manufacturing operations and production asset management as the enterprise deployments that will see the largest edge computing investments this year. The IDC report also projects that discrete and process manufacturers will dole out $33.6 billion for edge technologies this year, significantly higher than other sectors, including retail and professional services.

The uptick in edge and cloud deploy-

ments among industrial players was confirmed by a recent Automation World survey.

As manufacturers scrambled to keep factories running and remote personnel productive during the pandemic, they invested in edge and cloud technologies to enhance performance monitoring, collaboration, quality assurance, and predictive maintenance applications. Sixty-two percent of responding companies to the Automation World survey said they were leveraging cloud technologies, and 55% confirmed deployment of edge technologies—both a significant bump over the prior year.

Real-world realities

Modern edge technologies are becoming an essential part of the landscape as companies look to enable connected systems as part of Industry 4.0 applications, including more widespread use of AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) and advanced analytics. A redefined edge is also instrumental

Rolls-Royce Power Systems leans on industrial edge technologies for predictive quality analysis that reduces testing failure in engines prior to production. Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

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to capitalizing on perceived benefits such as reduced storage costs, expanded interoperability, lower latency, and enhanced cybersecurity. “The more things are talking to each other, the more opportunity there is for unauthorized access,” says Josh Eastburn, director of technical marketing at Opto 22. “If the architecture constitutes different layers, securing the whole system is a bigger task. By simplifying the overall architecture with edge computing, you can consolidate into a fewer number of devices and build cybersecurity functions into the devices themselves.”

While edge computing gains traction, challenges lie ahead. As with any major initiative, inertia and change management are on-going issues as is finding a new breed of engineer that has crossover OT (operations technology) and IT competencies, says John Younes, co-founder and COO of Litmus, a provider of an industrial edge platform. For example, to fully leverage edge capabilities, organizations

need someone who is as versed in the OT communications protocols and visualization requirements as they are in IT competencies like cybersecurity and network protocols.

“While we call it the edge, it’s actually the overlap between OT and IT,” says Michael Condon, senior product manager at Emerson. “The individual needs to be able to work in both domains and understand the challenges and requirements of both.”

As manufacturers strive to balance innovation with the need for efficiencies and cost reduction, edge-enabled automation is developing as a means of doing more with less. “The reality of the times, of doing more with fewer people, makes the case for edge computing,” says Settell, citing an example of maintenance personnel heading into the field armed with the knowledge of what equipment and tooling is required to make a fix. With added insights from edge computing, “instead of having to make five trips, they make one, which reduces the number

of people needed as well as the number of trips,” she explains.

Following are highlights from four manufacturers using new edge technologies to drive new business outcomes and gain competitive advantages.

Condition-based monitoring

As a Tier 1 automotive supplier, making highprecision powder metallurgy components like power transmission gears and hydraulic components can be a complex process with plenty of opportunities for quality issues to occur. Determined to improve process controls and ultimately boost quality of parts, Stackpole International embarked on a plan to connect plant floor equipment and machinery to digitize and automate condition-based monitoring.

One critical process involved a grinding machine that no longer operated consistently, but without an investment in edge computing it was difficult to diagnose the root cause.

“The equipment’s HMI didn’t have a lot of data stored and whatever was there was locked up and not being utilized or analyzed for good,” explains Jack Fung, principal engineer, engineering IT projects at Stackpole.

After some unsuccessful attempts at connectivity, Stackpole turned to the Litmus Edge Industrial IoT platform and was able to sync with the proprietary devices in a matter of hours using the pre-installed drivers.

Now, instead of manually tracking quality through reports and labor-intensive calculations, Stackpole employs condition-based monitoring to reduce the time it takes to troubleshoot for discrepancies, direct manual interventions, and return to optimal throughput while reducing scrap rates. “We now have faith that having all the data available will drive efficiencies and returns,” Fung says.

AI-enabled inspection

When your product is high-quality building supplies such as siding, visual appeal is paramount. Manual inspection requires significant manpower and can only tell you so much about the root cause of any problem.

Enter the combination of edge capabilities and vision control for inspection and defect detection. Intrinsics Imaging and Opto 22 teamed up to help the building manufacturer drive automated quality control to ensure defective material never makes it to customers and to store that information for defect analysis to help reduce waste. Intrinsics Imag-

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ing’s technology bolsters generic IP cameras with smart capabilities by connecting them to an AI backend called Heijunka running on AWS (Amazon Web Services). Opto 22’s groov RIO edge I/O platform serves as the physical interface for the software. Together, the pair detect flaws in the building products with a two-second response time, publish a pass/fail indication communicated to the edge modules via MQTT, and initiate physical relay outputs, which are used to drive an automated response.

Groov RIO’s support for the MQTT protocol was a critical factor in selecting an edge platform to translate the insights generated by the cloud-based vision control system into actions that would impact quality on the line. “We needed to go from the software knowing that something was wrong to triggering a specific action in the physical world, like pushing flawed material off the conveyor into a trash bin,” explains Eric Cheng, Intrinsics Imaging’s CTO. “The groov device enables that translation.”

Leveraging Phoenix Contact’s industrial hardware and ClearBlade’s edge platform, Lansera created the SmartPurge and Tank Eye products to help oil and gas companies stay in emissions compliance.

Image Courtesy of Lansera.

IIoT-enabled compliance

Historically, the oil and gas industry isn’t seen as a leader in IT and automation technology deployments when it comes to production facility and in-field operations.

Venting from oil and water storage tanks is a primary source of emissions for oil and gas companies, leaving them with the option of flaring or capturing methane gas—both essential tactics for complying with EPA emissions regulations. Traditionally, countless hours are devoted to hand calculations to approximate levels, but the methods were not consistent enough for accurate EPA reporting. “Backof-the-napkin math is good for getting a feel for how a facility is doing, but to monitor dayto-day, minute-to-minute, or even secondto-second compliance, there needs to be an advanced technician on site,” explains Adam Meyer, president of Lansera LLC, a company working with Phoenix Contact and ClearBlade to leverage IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and edge technology to automate continuous monitoring of gas tank emissions.

Using Phoenix Contact’s hardware and ClearBlade’s edge platform and Intelligent Asset application, Lansera created the SmartPurge and Tank Eye products that enable users to monitor tank pressure and emissions and automatically flare vapor or capture it, ensuring the facility remains in compliance and avoids penalties or fines.

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Predictive failure testing

Failure on the production line is not an option when you’re building large-scale diesel engines carrying a price tag from a few hundred thousand dollars to upwards of a couple of million.

Rolls-Royce Power Systems had amassed nearly a decade’s worth of data that could be used to identify potential engine part failures prior to testing. Working with Cisco and partner Delta Bravo, which specializes in predictive analytics, Rolls-Royce deployed an edge system that predicts in real-time potential part failures in the test cell prior to production—a workflow that significantly reduces unplanned downtime, increases throughput and quality, and ensures a timely delivery schedule.

The success of the initiative hinged on guaranteeing that data was captured with the proper levels of granularity to support

valid predictions as well as ensuring a process for continuous model iteration, explains Rick Oppedisano, Delta Bravo CEO. “Models need to be tuned and retrained over time,” he explains. “It’s about care and feeding; [it’s] not a set and forget situation.”

Also crucial to Rolls-Royce’s edge environment was security, a requirement that gave Cisco’s networking and edge technologies an advantage while underscoring the importance of OT and IT collaboration, according to Dr. Kyle Hodges, senior control engineer for the engine manufacturer. “It all comes down to security, and IT has to be involved,” he says. “We’re doing things with data that we’ve never done before, and our business will be crippled if we don’t take advantage of network security options.”

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Industrial technology innovation is a game changer

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42 INTEGRATOR INSIGHTS AW MARCH 2022

System integrators share their tips on the differences between PLCs, PACs, and Industrial PCs, including their best use cases and how to choose the right one for your environment.

By Lauren Gibbons Paul, contributing writer

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W

hen it comes to controllers, manufacturers and industrial companies are often inclined to leave something that works well enough alone. After all, with the right maintenance, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) can run uninterrupted, faithfully controlling processes and performing other essential functions for years without needing to be replaced.

But all equipment does reach the end of its lifecycle eventually. And sometimes, a company might want to add new features to enhance system control. In that case, the company will start looking at PLCs and ask-

ing system integrator partners what their upgrade path should be and whether they should add new technologies to the mix.

Often, the selection is straightforward.

If a plant has been using a particular PLC family for a dozen years, there is likely little point in migrating to a softwarebased controller running on an industrial PC. “You need to take into account support, spare parts, and cost of ownership,” says Mark Brado, automation engineering manager for JNE Consulting. “You don't want to sell them something that's more elaborate than they need.”

Frank Burger, senior automation specialist at Avanceon, concurs. “Most of our customers have an installed base and it's important to them to manage their spare parts inventory. They also need to manage the training needs for their technicians who have to maintain this stuff long term,” says Burger.

For these reasons, manufacturers tend to look for control technologies that, though they may not be perfect, get the job done reliably. Despite industry’s reliance on the tried-and-true, it pays to pause and review controller options before the need to upgrade arises.

Allen-Bradley Micro820 programmable logic controllers.

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A PLC by any other name

Half a century ago, PLCs were developed as a solution to the limitations of electrical relay logic systems. They allowed engineers to develop, modify, and expand the functionality of control systems through software, rather than hardware, changes. This meant no more rooms full of wiring. Now, in the 21st century, PLCs continue to be prized for their steadfast process control reliability.

Over the years, PLC manufacturers such as Rockwell, Siemens, and Mitsubishi Electric added capabilities to PLC functionality, including integrated servo and drive control, network communications, advanced process control, and configurable and event-based I/O scanning. As such sophisticated functionality began appearing, the industry differentiated these advanced controllers from less complex PLCs, coining the term “pro-

grammable automation controllers” (PACs).

Since the introduction of the PAC term in the 1990s, manufacturers have used it to distinguish their advanced controllers from their simpler PLCs, although the boundaries have blurred and the terms are often used interchangeably. PLCs and PACs serve the same approximate purpose, but PLCs are typically specified for basic discrete control, and PACs are used when complex features or infrastructures are required.

Most classic PLCs use a memory-based form of programming, where the addresses are tightly coupled to a physical memory structure, says Nate Kay, senior project engineer for Martin CSI. “Whereas with PACs, you don't have to worry about that.

[PACs] are intelligent enough to let you focus on writing in the programming language, and they handle memory manage-

ment in the background,” says Kay. PACs also allow tag-based programming, which increases flexibility and scalability by allowing tags to be assigned to functions before tying to specific I/O or memory addresses.

Classic PLCs still have their place because they're cost-effective, simple, and can run for years, says Kay. They can also be easier for someone from a non-controls background to maintain and troubleshoot. “PACs are often well-suited for controlling larger processes and integrating things like safety, motion, distributed I/O, and network communications,” he says. With PLCs, you would generally have to add hardware modules to perform those types of tasks.

Today when you see the term PAC, it’s usually referring to the higher-end product within a common product line, says Burger.

Because the PACs and PLCs from a supplier

Siemens Simatic S7-300 programmable logic controller.

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2/28/22 8:33 AM

Produced by:

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46 INTEGRATOR INSIGHTS AW MARCH 2022

Beckhoff ’s C6015 fanless, ultra-compact industrial PC.

Opto 22’s SNAP-PAC-R2 programmable automation controller.

often use the same hardware, just with different software capabilities, most people tend to call them PLCs.

Industrial PCs

Doing shop floor control on a ruggedized PC called an industrial computer is not a new concept. The Allen-Bradley SoftLogix line, which ran on the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems was a prominent example. Software-based PLCs feature the same programming environment and firmware as a physical PLC, says Burger. “A soft PLC is programmed and run

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the same way as a PLC, it's just hosted on a computer instead of on its native hardware,” he says. But PCs can run multiple applications and are generally not dedicated controllers. As a result, some suppliers have discontinued their sales of such products.

For example, Allen-Bradley has sunsetted active support for SoftLogix.

Another issue to be aware of with industrial PCs (IPCs) are the updates and patches required, as with any PC. Burger says IPCs are not necessarily a technology “you expect to run trouble-free for 10 years without a power cycle. Which is exactly what you do

expect from a PLC or PAC. We're replacing older PLC solutions that were installed upwards of 30 years ago, and it's still the original hardware. You don’t have that in a PC environment.”

Andrew Abramson, director of client success at Grantek, has a similar perspective. “For the most part, we see industrial PCs being removed from the plant floor wherever possible, and those functions migrated to a centralized virtual environment in combination with thin clients on the plant floor,” says Abramson.

The virtualized environment could be either an on-premises data center or in

2/28/22 8:33 AM

INTEGRATOR INSIGHTS 47 AW MARCH 2022

the cloud. The drivers for these PhysicalTo-Virtual (P2V) migrations come from IT and include future-proofing, reducing the hardware footprint, better backup/redundancy, lower mean time to repair (MTTR), enhanced security, and a centralized management location, adds Abramson.

IPCs are most definitely used on the factory floor, but these days usually as an operator interface with a thin client. “The PLC is making all these decisions kind of in a vacuum without a human. But in reality, there is a person there and he wants to be able to start and stop the system and make, for example, vanilla instead of chocolate,” says Burger. The operators need to be able to observe what the process is doing at any given point in time. They need a window into the process be able to make changes.

The role of the industrial computer then is as an HMI to provide that window into the process. Typically, you have a PLC, working in tandem with an HMI on an industrial computer to give that full functionality.

On the other hand, IPCs have some advan-

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tages as controllers, according to Kay. “You can run databases, protocol converters, and recipe managers [on an IPC]; you could even run your SCADA and MES software on the same industrial PC that you're using as the automation controller.”

But this comes with the tradeoffs inherent to the PC platform mentioned above. “The Windows and Linux operating systems are not optimized for high performance in deterministic industrial applications,” Kay says.

Burger notes that IPC-based control fits best in a specialized R&D-type of environment where the requirements are not specifically known in advance and are subject to change dramatically. “There, you need a platform that is able to do wildly different things over the course of time,” he says.

In that case, the system might be out of service fairly quickly, [based on] the time it takes to complete a proof-of-concept, say a year or so. And “if you want to develop a program in C++, or C#, for example, you're not going to be able to do that on most PLCs or PACs,” he adds.

IPCs are also used in cases where there may not be an existing server or network infrastructure to support a thin client architecture. They’re also used where processing power is immediately needed, such as machine vision, adds Abramson.

The bottom line is that control systems are not one-size-fits-all. A modest traditional PLC may ably meet the requirements for a small packaging machine, whereas a PAC with advanced functionality may be required for complete packaging line control.

“Every system is unique, and when specifying a control solution, we always start with considering the user and functional requirements,” says Abramson. If you’re facing an upgrade, enlist the help of a trusted system integrator partner to weigh the costs and benefits of the different architectures including initial capital investment, ongoing maintenance costs, technical sophistication of the client, and the risks or functionality inherent to those technologies.

2/28/22 8:34 AM

48 CASE STUDY AW MARCH 2022

Paper Mill Makes Sense of Difficult Data Skjern Paper turns to GE Digital’s Proficy CSense for real-time quality control in the production process.

Stephanie Neil, Senior Editor

M

ost manufacturers take sustainability efforts seriously. But when the company makes paper, it is more than an honorable act for the environment— it’s a business imperative.

As the only paper mill in Denmark, Skjern Paper—which started production in 1967 with the idea of manufacturing paper exclusively from old newspaper—has had sustainability built-in to its production process from the beginning. Today, the company manufactures 75,000 tons of paper and board products each year from 100% recycled fiber.

The ability to provide high quality and just-in-time delivery to customers requires Skjern make use of specialized technology.

Paper plants have hundreds of proportionalintegral-derivative (PID) control loops that can cause process variations. In addition, Skjern’s quality assurance team did not have many real-time ways to measure paper quality, making real-time quality control difficult.

With the goal of reducing quality rejects, Skjern Paper turned to GE Digital’s Proficy CSense, an industrial advanced analytics software package that can predict future asset and process performance using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Another compelling factor for Skjern is the software’s ability to handle real-time closed loop control actions.

The other capability of Proficy CSense that was seen as valuable to Skjern Paper had nothing to do with the technology, but rather the training provided by GE Digital. Understanding that learning and using analytics isn’t easy—and that most analytic

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3/2/22 1:09 PM

CASE STUDY 49 AW MARCH 2022

tools are designed for data scientists—GE Digital offers its customers six hours of free consulting to get engineers up to speed on how to use the software. GE calls the program “jump start” as it is a way for customers to quickly understand the tools to gain immediate value.

At Skjern, which was looking to reduce quality rejects by 5%, the consulting time with GE Digital experts enabled them to capture insights from the initial project and then build models to analyze data and discover quality variations. The company was also able to monitor the health of the PID control loops to reduce process variation and predict product quality in real-time.

“The interesting thing about jump start is that we make sure they don’t get stuck in simple things like installation,” said Cobus van Heerden, senior product manager for analytics and machine learning at GE Digital. “We also get to know their teams and what the software was bought for to understand the highest value use case.”

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

provides an intuitive drag-and-drop environment where engineers don’t have to think about analytics, but they can gain insights that are just a point and click away. No programming skills needed,” he said.

Skjern Paper has yet to upgrade to the new version of CSense, but the company is realizing a quick return on its initial investment.

Erik Møller, Skjern Paper’s technical manager

said in a statement: “The more we use the Proficy CSense software the more ways we keep finding to apply it. And with AI, we can take production to the next level.”

Skjern Paper manufacturers paper from old newspapers.

Proficy CSense 8.5 upgrade

Based on feedback from Skjern, GE Digital learned it needed to add more functionality to CSense. This resulted in the roll out of Proficy CSense 8.5, which adds the ability for manufacturers to improve equipment operations by up to 10% through mathematical algorithms that recommend the best tuning parameters or configuration settings to optimize real-time closed loop control actions.

While CSense has always been able to monitor PID control loops, the new tuning assistant can calculate recommended PID loop tuning settings. There is also a system identification assistant to estimate process transfer function models from historical data for process simulation or control optimization.

CSense 8.5 adds support for the OPC UA interface to connect with other industrial systems, and the software is available in Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and French languages.

It’s also easier to use, van Heerden said. “It

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Skjern Paper uses GE Digital’s CSense software to optimize operations.

3/2/22 1:09 PM

50 NEW PRODUCTS AW MARCH 2022

Open Source Gantry Robot

Festo, festo.com SLAS 2022 is a modular gantry robot platform for laboratory-based automated liquid handling. This new robot enables equipment designers to realize their projects with fewer mechanical and electrical engineering resources, speeding time to market, Festo says. The SLAS 2022 features an open source motion and fluidic application programming interface (API) with Python, Java, and .NET/C# drivers. Modular threeaxes gantry robots can be delivered as ready-to-assemble kits, including cabinet and all necessary supporting components, or as pre-assembled systems. The SLAS 2022 platform follows a Lego-like building block strategy of hundreds of interoperable components designed to be assembled with basic hand tools.

Distributed Energy Monitoring Unit

Opto 22, opto22.com The groov RIO edge I/O series from Opto 22 has been expanded with the addition of a new energy monitoring unit (EMU) designed to help plant managers, machine operators, and financial analysts understand electrical costs and track changes in load that could provide early warning of equipment faults. Using 0.333 V, 1 V, or 5 A current transformers, groov RIO EMU measures live AC power and energy consumption from any three-, twin-, or single-phase load up to 600 V and provides 64 simultaneous field measurements and calculated values directly to analytics software, databases, and other connected systems. In addition, the groov RIO EMU module measures AC RMS voltage and current for up to three phases (Wye or Delta) and is rated to UL 61010-3 measurement category III. From the measured field inputs, additional values are calculated for each phase including true, reactive, and apparent power; power factor; frequency; and net energy; as well as combined totals for all phases.

The small form factor allows for installation at the point of use, permitting granular measurement of electrical loads in pumps, heating/cooling systems, solar power generation, and many others.

Micro-Sized Servo Drives

Advanced Motion Controls, a-m-c.com The seven new micro-sized FlexPro servo drives from Advanced Motion Controls are rated to output 60 A continuous. The 60 A continuous current rating is 33% higher than previous models for the same size. These servo drives include PCB mount, machine embedded, and development board form factors. Other features include: EtherCAT, CANopen, RS485/RS232 communication availability; 10-55 VDC input voltage; and torque, velocity, and position operating modes.

Compact Stepper Motor I/O Terminal

Beckhoff, beckhoff.com With the new EL7062 dual-channel EtherCAT Terminal, Beckhoff enables the direct connection of two stepper motors in the medium power range of up to 3 A for a voltage range of 8–48 V. With flexible parameterization and minimized channel costs, the flexible motion interface serves as a low-cost drive for a range of stepper motor applications. In a compact form factor, the 24-mm-wide EL7062 EtherCAT Terminal contains two stepper motor output stages, two digital inputs for limit switches, and one encoder interface per channel for a wide range of 5 V encoders. Via parameterization, the EL7062 adapts to the connected stepper motor and corresponding application requirements. With regard to the input encoder signal, the module supports the entire spectrum of TTL encoders (5 V differential, single-ended/open collector). Highresolution microstepping ensures smooth and precise motor operation.

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52 NEW PRODUCTS AW MARCH 2022

IIOT-Enabled Industrial Controller

Banner, bannerengineering.com Banner’s DXMR90 Series controller consolidates data from multiple connections to provide local data processing as well as accessibility for host systems as a platform for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The DXMR90 contains individual Modbus clients allowing for concurrent communication of up to five independent serial networks.

Other features include: Conversion of Modbus RTU to Modbus TCP/IP, EtherNet I/P, or Profinet; internal logic driven by action rules for easier programming, as well as use of MicroPython and ScriptBasic for development of complex systems; IIoT communications including RESTful, MQTT, and APIs; IP65, IP67, and IP68 rated compact housing for use in challenging environments; and RS-485 and Ethernet communications ports.

In-Rack Communication Module

ProSoft Technology, prosoft-technology.com The IEC 61850 communication module allows Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PACs to interface with IEC 61850 Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED) such as substation power monitors and protective relays. The module operates as an IEC 61850 client supporting the polling of devices using MMS messaging and reports. Each ProSoft IEC 61850 client module supports up to 40 IEDs on a redundant PRP-enabled network, and up to a maximum of 225 I/O connections to the ControlLogix processor.

Edge Vision Analytics Software

Adlink, adlinktech.com The EVA SDK (software development kit) for edge vision analytics applications enables users to integrate visual data from pre-trained artificial intelligence (AI) models and field scenarios for proof-of-concept cases. Pre-installed on Adlink’s AI vision hardware, EVA SDK offers a no-code graphical user interface; ready-to-use plugins; and ONNX runtime, TensorRT, and OpenVINO scripts to help developers build an AI vision application with no AI expertise needed. The EVA SDK allows developers to select from more than 10 cameras without learning camera APIs; simplifies integration with a drag-and-drop GUI; and can switch image sources, image processing adjustment, and AI models. It also features a review function of each step from image capturing and image pre-processing to AI inference, so that users can verify and debug if necessary.

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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 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 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.

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3/2/22 1:10 PM

NEW PRODUCTS 53 AW MARCH 2022

Azure Machine Learning Support

Seeq Corporation, seeq.com Additional integration support for Microsoft Azure Machine Learning has been announced

by Seeq Corporation. This new Seeq Azure add-on enables process manufacturing organizations to deploy machine learning models from Azure Machine Learning as add-ons in Seeq Workbench. This enables machine learning algorithms and innovations developed by IT departments to be used by operators to improve production operations, add sustainability indicators, and enhance business outcomes. It also allows users to annotate their data sets and results with comments, take snapshots of the data and share those comments with the data scientists building the models to help improve and refine the model output, embed the models into existing workflows within Seeq, run inferencing over selected data on an adhoc basis or a recurring schedule, and publish the results of the model into existing dashboards for decision makers to have a single pane of glass view of the data and insights.

Mounted Tapered Roller Bearing for Harsh Environments

SKF, skf.com SKF has extended the performance and product life of its mounted tapered roller bearings by pairing them with a new seal. The Type E mounted tapered roller bearing incorporates SKF’s CR Seal, which extends service life by virtually eliminating ingress of contamination, even under harsh conditions, the company says. As an integral part of the new Type E bearing, CR Seals from SKF offer several lines of defense against contamination. For example, the use of hydrogenated nitrile rubber resists both wear and high temperatures, while a full rubber outside diameter improves static sealing within the housing. Multiple sealing lips exclude all types of contamination including dirt, mud, water, sand, and powder.

The seal also allows the bearing to be relubricated without risking damage to the sealing lips.

Fabco-Made NFPA

Versatile, rugged cylinders—when you need them

FABCO-AIR A member of Festo Group

Our NFPA interchangeable pneumatic cylinders take the guesswork out of cylinder selection.

We design and manufacture our NFPA cylinders in Gainesville, Florida—so expect fast delivery, supply chain resilience and local support no matter your application.

Built tough, our NFPA actuators feature anodized aluminum heads and barrels and stainless steel hardware for corrosion resistance.

They also incorporate high-strength composite rod bearings and PTFE piston wear bands for superior load handling and long service life. &KRRVH IURP VWDQGDUG PRXQWLQJ RSWLRQV DQG KXQGUHGV RI VWDQGDUG FRQą JXUDEOH RSWLRQV WR PHHW WKH UHTXLUHPHQWV RI DOPRVW DQ\ DSSOLFDWLRQ Standard catalog not enough? Tell us about your application and let us design a custom solution optimized for your environment.

• Standard bore sizes: 1.5–6 inches • Standard strokes to 99 inches • Pressure rating: 250 PSI

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MADE IN GAINESVILLE FLORIDA www.fabco-air.com

3/2/22 1:11 PM

54 IT VIEW

AW MARCH 2022

T�e volving mart anufacturing uppl

By Conrad Leiva VP Ecosystem and Workforce Education, CESMII

A

s more manufacturers adopt Smart Manufacturing methods, increasing connectivity and data availability within their organizations, they are also realizing that a connected supply chain becomes a strategic competitive advantage in the marketplace. A report from Gartner predicts that in five years, 50% of large organizations will compete as collaborative digital ecosystems rather than discrete firms, sharing inputs, assets, and innovations. A new degree of collaboration and integration in manufacturing ecosystems enables not only enhanced visibility, but also increased speed and resiliency.

It’s also prescriptive, providing very specific recommendations on how we can be smarter in managing the lifecycles of manufacturing operations. It provides recommendations on the lifecycles that impact manufacturing operations including supply chain, personnel, order to cash, product, production, and production assets.

The rapid adoption of digital technologies keeps fueling disruptive change in the marketplace. Consumer-facing technologies have become embedded in our lives and are increasingly making their way into industrial operations, enabling information sharing, communication, and operational analysis in real time.

Speed and data are the currency of today’s supply chain. Companies that learn to coordinate a supply chain in real time are becoming better options for their customers, and quicker to see new opportunities in the market and respond to disruptive changes.

The supply chain woes that resulted in weeks of empty shelves and missed deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted

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the need to enhance collaboration features in the supply chain to become more resilient and improve the ability to absorb, adapt, and recover from a disaster or disruptive event. In fact, according to Accenture, companies are increasingly prioritizing restructuring their supply chains and approaches to production to counteract such disruptions.

Manufacturers are not only enhancing traditional supplier management features like procurement and issue management, they are also implementing enhanced features like demand-capability matching, dynamic fulfillment, and product data services. The new ecosystems favor suppliers with specialized modular capabilities and services that can be recombined and scaled as required to accommodate market and supply chain changes.

In this journey to a highly connected ecosystem, small and medium-sized manufacturers can take a low-risk incremental approach as long as they follow a strategic Smart Manufacturing roadmap. Practical tools to establish such a roadmap are accessible to manufacturers through CESMII—the U.S. Smart Manufacturing Institute.

However, manufacturers should first establish an internal technology-enabled, insight-driven infrastructure and culture for transparency and collaboration. Cloud services and business-to-business integration can help them take that collaboration to a new level in the supply chain. Examples can be found in the Smart Manufacturing guidebook from MESA International. One example describes how a manufacturer rolled out modules in multiple stages: • Production Monitoring—real-time visibility into the performance of production activities; • Quality Tracking—incorporating smart digital attachments and measurement devices (e.g., calipers, gauges) to wirelessly transfer measured values to a mobile app for the inspector; and • Material Requirements Tracking—realtime material availability status updates to shop floor systems and ERP to proactively avoid machine starving time due to material non-availability.

ain The solutions were implemented gradually in one plant with an initial investment of around $20,000 before they were rolled out to four more plants. The benefits realized included improvement of data accuracy, product quality, reduction of material loss, and rejected parts yielding savings of $32,000 within 18 months. Another example describes how a manufacturer extended these smart methods into their supply chain to improve the visibility of component inventory commitments and remove uncertainties that were causing delays in their deliveries.

Check out the CESMII resources and the MESA Smart Manufacturing guidebook for more examples on how your company can get started on the Smart Manufacturing journey.

T�e rapi a option of igital tec nologies keeps fueling isruptive c ange in t e marketplace. onsumer facing tec nologies ave ecome em e e in our lives an are increasingl making t eir a into in ustrial operations ena ling information s aring communication an operational anal sis in real time.

2/27/22 10:54 AM

FINANCE VIEW 55 AW MARCH 2022

Improving Financial Planning and Analysis for Manufacturing

By Larry White

CMA, CFM, CPA, CGFM lwhite@rcaininstitute.org

Executive Director, Resource Consumption Accounting Institute

C

OVID-19 has severely challenged and exposed gaping weaknesses in financial planning and analysis (FP&A) for manufacturing. Forecasts and models based on traditional historical data failed in the face of a massive and unique disruption.

Finance and accounting departments rapidly retreated and focused on forecasting cash to support business survival—critically important, but could more have been done?

What lessons should we learn about how the FP&A function must improve for the future?

The most important lesson is the need for an integrated, very near real-time operational and financial model of the organization. This model needs to be causal and reflect the reality of resources and processes for the entire organization, not just production, and not just for financial reporting. COVID-19 affected every part of the organization. An important element of causal modeling is the nature or responsiveness of resource use (and the related cost flows) as fixed and proportional (or any other relationship). These definitions are contentious because they are often misunderstood and mis-applied; done correctly they provide deep insight into marginal costing as well as profitability, and facilitate cash flow analytics. Some would argue that COVID-19 made all costs proportional, but that is an incorrect characterization. COVID-19 made many costs avoidable (both fixed and proportional costs) that had never been considered avoidable before. The characteristics of fixed and proportional relate resource use and cost to output whether the objective of the work is regulatory compliance, making payments, or producing a product. Manu-

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facturing has long used real-time operational systems for production, but finance is generally far from integrating financial information with operational systems in real time. The technologies and methodologies are available, but the finance and accounting profession have not embraced the importance of managerial costing knowledge for internal decision support.

A second important lesson is the need to create causal models for customer profitability that go far beyond product cost.

Customer profitability is impacted by many non-manufacturing costs associated with acquiring and managing customers, such as marketing and selling costs, discounts, order size/frequency/complexity, change requests, frequency of ordering and shipping, customer profitability information, and others. It is difficult to decide how to prioritize customers without this information when you have limited production capability, as was often the case during COVID19. In normal times, comprehensive customer profitability information can greatly improve an organization’s strategic focus and profitability.

A third area COVID-19 has exposed as a major risk area and profitability constraint is the supply chain. This has long been an area of focused cost reduction. However, COVID-19 is redefining supply chain optimization to put more emphasis on continuity, viability, availability, and location. Investors have been brutal in demanding ROI improvement—often by limiting investment—but when supply chains are considered, it may be time for some serious investment and even vertical integration.

The overarching lesson from COVID-19 is the need for continuous, causal, and agile operational and financial planning—including contingency planning for severe global events. Government agencies and the military continuously plan, exercise, or wargame for extraordinary contingencies—these involve the initial response, and the ability to maintain a sustained response. While manufacturing companies aren’t in the emergency response business, they must be economically resilient, which means plan-

ning to maintain an economically viable level of production and sales. Financial planning and analysis done with strong awareness of operational needs and a causal model of economic realities can be a competitive advantage for a company. Expanding the capabilities of FP&A beyond external financial reporting results by developing more robust models for internal decision support and operational systems integration is a top priority and a first critical step. The Institute of Management Accounting’s Profitability Analytics Framework and Conceptual Framework for Managerial Costing Statements on Management Accounting, a new Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence, and the Resource Consumption Accounting Institute offer information and guidance to improve FP&A’s operational and causal focus and modeling for internal decision support.

T�e most important lesson is t e nee for an integrate ver near real time operational an financial mo el of t e organi ation.

T�is mo el nee s to e causal an re ect t e realit of resources an processes for t e entire organi ation not ust pro uction an not ust for financial reporting.

2/27/22 10:53 AM

56 ENTERPRISE VIEW AW MARCH 2022

Environmental Health and Safety 4.0 Transforms High-Risk Industries

By Diane Sacra LNS Research

Our research shows that while high-risk industries are advanced in some aspects of EHS management, they also have significant opportunities to take advantage of new approaches, best practices, and technologies to improve performance. T�e opportunities can be found in the common characteristics that impact the scope of EHS compliance obligations and operational risk profiles— things like managing hazardous materials, heavy regulation, distributed workforces, intense scrutiny of sustainability risks, and potentially major consequences from management system failures.

2203_EnterpriseView.indd 56

W

hile Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) is a critical focus for many organizations, for manufacturers within high-risk type industries—chemicals, oil and gas, metals, mining, etc.—the stakes get even higher and the challenges perhaps even harder when it comes to EHS. In fact, necessity has made these companies within high-risk, asset-intensive industries early pioneers in EHS management systems and supporting technologies given the hazards inherent in their line of work and the potentially grave consequences of not getting things right. Still, more work lies ahead.

In his latest research report, Peter Bussey, principal analyst at LNS Research, looks at how high-risk industries face the unique EHS challenges and what new opportunities exist for them.

“Our research shows that while highrisk industries are advanced in some aspects of EHS management, they also have significant opportunities to take advantage of new approaches, best practices, and technologies to improve performance,” Bussey said. “There are real opportunities for these industries to leverage ongoing Industrial Transformation (IX) initiatives to drive EHS and operational performance improvement.”

According to Bussey, high-risk industrial operations share some common characteristics that impact the scope and intensity of their EHS compliance obligations and operational risk profile—things like managing hazardous materials, heavy regulation, distributed workforces, intense scrutiny of sustainability risks, and potentially major consequences from management system failures, among others.

“This is not to say that other [industrial] sectors don’t have significant EHS requirements, risks, and challenges that must be managed for operational excellence,” Bussey explained. “However, high-risk industries tend to have a broader range of hazards and a more

intense risk profile due to the nature of their operations.”

The landscape for high-risk industrial companies only continues to add to these challenges, especially amid a pandemic.

While challenges such as supply chain disruption and a growing labor shortage have been issues for many different industries, this only adds more intensity to the impact on EHS. Moreover, COVID-19 has further illuminated the need for workplace safety and increased the focus on regulatory requirements.

So how do manufacturers within highrisk, asset-intensive industries handle these growing challenges and ensure optimal EHS objectives are met? LNS Research has identified a number of significant opportunities for these companies to leverage the IX trend to increase EHS capability maturity for improved performance.

Among the recommendations Bussey has for manufacturers in high-risk industries when it comes to EHS opportunities is standardizing business processes. “Our research shows that high-risk industrials reported 21% less enterprise standardization of core EHS business processes compared to the EHS leader group,” he said.

Bussey further suggests that manufacturers should establish an EHS system of record, converge EHS and operations, leverage data analytics for predictive risk management, and perhaps most importantly, “put people at the center” with a connected frontline workforce.

2/27/22 10:52 AM

ADVERTISER INDEX 57 AW MARCH 2022

COMPANY

WEBSITE

PAGE

Automation Direct

www.ProductivityPLCs.com

2

Beckhoff Automation

www.beckhoff.com

7

AVEVA Software, LLC

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

9

Digi-Key Electronics

www.digikey.com/automation

5

Emerson

www.Emerson.com/PACSystems

60

Fabco-Air

www.fabco-air.com

53

Hammond Manufacturing

www.hammondmfg.com

47

Opto 22

www.opto22.com

59

PI North America

us.profinet.com/go-digital

19

PACK EXPO East 2022

www.packexpoeast.com

45

PACK EXPO International 2022

www.packexpointernational.com

51

Skkynet Cloud Systems Inc.

www.skkynet.com

41

Tadiran Batteries

www.tadiranbat.com

27

Telemecanique Sensors

www.tesensors.com/XCMW

15

Wago Corporation

www.wago.us/IIoT

23

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

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58 KEY INSIGHTS AW MARCH 2022

Most autonomous vehicles focus on getting from point A to point B safely. In agriculture it’s more than moving from one spot to another. The tractors in the field must follow a precise path and do a specific job. The autonomous 8R tractor is one giant robot, performing its job with accuracy and without human intervention. It’s the next revolution in agriculture.

Stephanie Neil on John Deere’s 8R autonomous tractor.

Volkswagen applications intended to test the new Nokia 5G network in its Wolfsburg, Germany, plant include wireless upload of data to manufactured vehicles and networking of robots and wireless assembly tools. All data used by the network will be processed at the edge in real-time, never leaving Volkswagen’s facility.

David Miller on Volkswagen’s use of a private Nokia 5G network.

Though federal and state regulations governing plant and equipment safety don’t yet extend to cybersecurity protocols, some U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules, specifically those approval processes related to when devices or sensors are changed, are just cumbersome enough to act as a deterrent to upgrading to newer, more secure technology.

Beth Stackpole on cyber defense application issues in the food and beverage industry.

If you’re looking to do read-only remote access with no potential for remote control: 1) Don’t connect directly to controllers performing operations; 2) use an encrypted VPN to connect the plant floor to the internet to establish a private, encrypted connection; and 3) use multifactor authentication so that, in addition to user name and password requirements, you also need the authorized person’s smartphone or other mobile device.

David Greenfield on securing remote SCADA access.

Carlsberg turned to Autoware, an Italian system integration and software company, to help improve their data collection processes.

Autoware used PTC technology to design an IoT-based application for use by machine operators to assess production performance across different facilities via real-time data and alerts.

Luigi Bernardini of Autoware on Carlsberg’s use of IoT technology to scale its digital transformation.

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