Automation World October 2020

OCTOBER 2020 / www.automationworld.com

24 INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSES ON ENERGY MANAGEMENT 18 12 15 30 08 10

Networks Take Center Stage Can IO-Link and SPE Work Together?

AI-Embedded Operator Interface App Lean Work Cells Speed Production, Improve Flexibility Assessing Your Cybersecurity Readiness Rules and Realizations in the Era of Smarter Food

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2 CONTENTS AW OCTOBER 2020

OCTOBER 2020 | VOLUME 18 | NUMBER 10

18

Networks Take Center Stage

24

Industrial Sustainability Focuses on Energy Management

With networking technologies increasingly taking the lead role and acting as the heart of automated processes, does that change the role of controllers in more connected industrial environments?

Comparing results of Automation World’s sustainability survey conducted in 2016 with the results seen in 2020 seem to indicate that sustainability efforts are becoming more aligned with specific energy efficiency goals through upticks in use of energy efficient motors and drives and energy management software.

Lean Work Cells Can Speed Production, Increase Flexibility 30 How By moving from batch assembly to a semi-automated, single-piece flow assembly,

component manufacturer Microlab achieved a 90% reduction in its production cycle time.

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4 CONTENTS AW OCTOBER 2020

EDITORIAL

ONLINE 6

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

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS 8 Assessing Your Cybersecurity Readiness

BATCH OF IDEAS 10

More Rules and Realizations in the Era of Smarter Food

NEW TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT 11

Focusing on High-Speed and Accuracy in Machine Vision

PERSPECTIVES 12

David Greenfield Director of Content/Editor-in-Chief dgreenfield@automationworld.com / 678 662 3322 Luis Rodriguez Managing Editor lrodriguez@automationworld.com / 312 205 7910 Stephanie Neil Senior Editor sneil@automationworld.com / 781 378 1652 Aaron Hand Editor at Large ahand@automationworld.com / 312 222 1010 x1180 Jim Chrzan VP/Content and Brand Strategy jchrzan@automationworld.com / 312 222 1010 x1470 Kim Overstreet Content Strategist koverstreet@pmmimediagroup.com James R. Koelsch, David Miller, Lauren Paul, Jeanne Schweder and Beth Stackpole Contributing Writers

ART & PRODUCTION

Can IO-Link and SPE Work Together?

Innovative Therapies Demand Data and Risk Management in Supply Chain

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

NEWS 15

ADVERTISING

AI-Embedded Operator Interface App OPC Foundation Joins APL Project; Announces OPC UA Motion PMMI News

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

INDUSTRY-SUPPLIED CONTENT 33

Digital Transformation in Manufacturing: Small Steps or One Giant Leap?

AUDIENCE & DIGITAL

NEW PRODUCTS 36

David Newcorn Senior Vice President, Digital & Data Elizabeth Kachoris Senior Director, Digital & Data Kelly Greeby Senior Director, Client Success & Media Operations Jen Krepelka Director, Websites & Digital Design Strategy

Servo Drives with Multiple Control Modes Cellular Pressure Transmitter Sends Data to the Cloud Helical Bevel Gearboxes And more...

PMMI MEDIA GROUP

Kurt Belisle Publisher kbelisle@pmmimediagroup.com / 815 549 1034 Jake Brock Client Success Manager jbrock@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1320 Sue DaMario Director of Marketing damario@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1710 Amber Miller Marketing Manager amiller@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1130 Sarah Loeffler Director, Media Innovation sloeffler@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 205 7925 Janet Fabiano Financial Services Manager jfabiano@pmmimediagroup.com / 312 222 1010 x1330

ENTERPRISE VIEW 40

Making the Shift to Industrial Product-as-a-Service Work By Brian R. May

INDUSTRY VIEW 41

Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing By Florian Güldner

INTEGRATOR VIEW 42

The Importance of Material Tracing Timothy S. Matheny, P.E.

KEY INSIGHTS 44

All Automation World editorial is copyrighted by PMMI Media Group, Inc. including printed or electronic reproduction.

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

Automation World | PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611 Phone: 312 222 1010 | Fax: 312 222 1310 www.automationworld.com PMMI The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies 12930 Worldgate Dr., Suite 200, Herndon VA, 20170 Phone: 571 612 3200 • Fax: 703 243 8556 www.pmmi.org

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AW OCTOBER 2020

PODCAST SERIES What Affect Does Automation Have on Supply Chain Management?

Learn about the connections between supply chain operations and automation technologies, ranging from analytics and manufacturing execution systems to human-machine interface and supervisory control and data acquistion software.

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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 so much more.

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AUTOMATION WORLD TV Automation World’s YouTube site offers relevant videos on the latest industrial automation insights, trends, and news. Check out our videos and subscribe to keep up with the latest technology and application developments.

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8 EDITORIAL AW OCTOBER 2020

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS

Assessing Your Cybersecurity Readiness

By David Greenfield

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

A

wareness of the need for dependable cybersecurity protections at manufacturing companies of all sizes has, by now, reached most everyone in industry.

Separating the leaders and the laggards are distinctions such as the level of cybersecurity protections in place, the strength of related corporate policies and procedures, and the amount of interaction between information technology and operations technology departments.

But, for many companies, the questions they often ask themselves are: Am I secure enough? Should I be doing more? Is it possible to have too much cybersecurity?

To help answer these questions, Automation World connected with Brandon Bohle of Interstates (an industrial system integration company) for a recent episode of the “Automation World Gets Your Questions Answered” podcast series (http://awgo.to/1096).

As we began our discussion, Bohle noted that a lot has changed on the industrial cybersecurity front since the emergence of COVID-19. “Once COVID-19 hit and organizations decided that they were going to start sending their employees to work from home, they’ve actually had to move forward and start implementing remote access policies.

A lot of organizations had decided or been in the talks of doing something like this, but this forced their hand to do it.”

He said manufacturing companies have

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been coming to grips with how to securely access and support their production machinery remotely—for themselves and the other companies they work with, such as OEMs and system integrators.

Currently, the most common way of doing this is through the use of VPNs (virtual private networks) to cross the firewall that separates the control system environment from the corporate environment. Another method Bohle often sees is the use of a jump server placed in the DMZ (a “demilitarized zone,” i.e., a subnetwork containing an organization’s outward-facing services) that outside parties area allowed to log into and do all of their work in rather than in the protected areas of the network.

Establishing an effective approach

Explaining what he considers the basic cybersecurity protections any industrial company should have in place today, Bohle said, “At a minimum, the first thing that you’re going to want to do is create some sort of policy to help define what needs to be happening with cybersecurity. This policy creates your direction for how the whole organization needs to flow as it pertains to cybersecurity.”

Getting into the technical control aspects, Bohle says to be sure to address the basics, like putting in a firewall to separate your manufacturing network from your business network and installing antivirus protections.

He also stresses conducting regular patches (updates) for your systems and doing backups.

“Doing those really basic cybersecurity practices is really the most important thing that you need to do today,” he said.

Bohle also noted that a good approach to cybersecurity often overlaps with good industrial safety practices. One area where this is particularly true is risk assessments. When doing this, Bohle cautions to start at a “very high level. You don’t want to get into the

weeds too early, because you can spend a lot of time and effort on areas of a risk assessment that, once you get down into it, you realize they may not matter as much in certain areas. So do a really high-level assessment first to understand what really is most important to your organization and then drill down from there into the vulnerabilities.”

Bohle advises against breaking down the risk assessment into small pieces. “We find that approach doesn’t always work as well because, once you get done with a certain area, people tend to lack the drive to go ahead and finish all the other pieces. So make sure that you’re looking at the project as a whole and not as separate, small pieces.”

Common mistakes

Given his experience as a system integrator working with a number of different companies, we asked Bohle about the most common cybersecurity bad practices he happens to see. He admitted that he still sees a lot of cybersecurity missteps being made.

The one he sees most often is a lack of good backup processes. “If you get attacked by ransomware and you have good backups, in many cases you can just restore systems using the backups and fix the problem to prevent reinfection,” Bohle said.

Another issue Bohle sees often is a lack of good change management processes. “If you have good change management, you can understand what changes are being made and you can stop these changes before they’re made if you have the right approval process,” he said. “It’s really all about having a good level of accountability for what’s happening within the organization.”

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10 EDITORIAL AW OCTOBER 2020

BATCH OF IDEAS

More Rules and Realizations in the Era of Smarter Food

By Stephanie Neil

sneil@automationworld.com Senior Editor of AutomationWorld

R

ecently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a proposed rule to establish additional traceability recordkeeping requirements for certain foods. The agency provided a list of the foods that would be subject to the proposed requirements, which includes leafy greens, fresh cut fruits and vegetables, some types of fish, shell eggs, nut butters, and more. These new requirements would be a key component of the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint and would implement Section 204(d) of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The proposed requirements are intended to make it easier to rapidly and effectively track the movement of a food to prevent or mitigate a foodborne illness outbreak.

The rule identifies growing, receiving, transforming, creating, and shipping as the critical tracking events (CTE) for which records containing key data elements (KDEs) would be required. The records required at each CTE would need to contain and link the traceability lot code of the food to the relevant KDEs. If finalized, the proposal would standardize the data elements and information companies must establish and maintain, and the information they would need to send to the next entity in the supply chain to facilitate rapid and accurate traceability.

At this point, one might think that blockchain can easily solve this problem. But

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what’s going on here is more than just a new rule and applying a distributed ledger to record transactions, it’s a shift in how we do business.

“We are looking at a fundamental change in the global supply chain,” said Doug Lawson, CEO of ThinkIQ, a provider of enterprise cloud-based software for the manufacturing supply chain. “And it’s being driven by the increasing expectation, as socially connected people, to prove that the food you give me is allergen-free or gluten-free or meets dietary needs or is local, sustainably grown and organic.”

Perhaps there is a renewed wake-up call as a result of COVID-19 concerns, but Lawson has seen a shift in the last year or so from the consumer wanting to know what is in the food to wanting to know what the food has been through. That means, manufacturers must elevate good manufacturing practices from just doing the right thing to actually proving they are doing the right thing. “And the only way to prove you are doing the right things all day everyday is to be able to measure it,” said Lawson.

The distinction is the ability to prove at a granular level—down to the individual fish— what that fish was subjected to along its journey from the fishery to the fork. “It is a big change to move from an assertion that says we clean the fish handling equipment every 24 hours to saying this fish went through equipment that had been cleaned 11 hours previously,” said Lawson.

So, back to blockchain—which is important for distributable data that you can trust.

It is only one piece of the puzzle and it may be cost-prohibitive in large scale food supply chains. More importantly, blockchain technology alone does not provide the granular detail that is important to the consumer.

Take cereal made of oats, for example.

According to Lawson, “every movement of the oats is tracked by ThinkIQ, and by the

time it gets to the mills, we have tracked 300 attributes from the farm information to chemical data to predictive data about the gluten levels and information about the vehicles used to transport the grain, as well as the equipment used to harvest and store it.”

The information is collected by thousands of sensors, which together with blockchain, distributed databases, cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, can deliver a level of granularity never seen before. And a level of granularity that consumers—and the government—want to know.

“The big picture here is a discussion of food safety, which is a microcosm of the global supply chain,” Lawson said.

“We are looking at a fundamental change in the global supply chain.

And it’s being driven by the increasing expectation, as socially connected people, to prove that the food you give me is allergenfree or gluten-free or meets dietary needs or is local, sustainably grown and organic.”

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EDITORIAL 11 AW OCTOBER 2020

NEW TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT

Focusing on High-Speed and Accuracy in Machine Vision

By Luis Rodriguez

lrodriguez@automationworld.com Managing Editor of AutomationWorld

F

or high-speed applications like inspection, take a look at the Linea HS 32k CMOS TDI from Teledyne Dalsa, which the company says is the first product of its kind capable of capturing up to three images using light sources at different wavelengths using advanced, wafer-level, coated dichroic filters. These filters reportedly allow for improved inspection speeds and image quality while eliminating the need for multiple scans. The ability to capture images at different wavelengths also makes this camera suitable for high-sensitivity imaging in low-light conditions.

Also suitable for high-speed applications is the Phantom S640 from Vision Research, with its 75 Gbps of streaming data feature.

Vision Research says the camera’s streaming data capability allows users to access and analyze captured data immediately instead of waiting to download the images from the camera’s internal memory. The Phantom S640 is also suitable in applications where frame rate, image clarity, and video output are central to the camera’s functionality.

Though capturing images at a high-speed is often important in production operations, it is not the only function needed in a machine vision system; sometimes accuracy takes precedence. And that’s what cameras like Omron Automation’s FS Series GigE Vision line scan camera are designed for. This camera has a compact, 58x58 mm frame and

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Precision Time Protocol (PTP) capabilities.

According to Omron, PTP allows for more precise multi-camera triggering by lowering the latency when multiple cameras on the same system are triggered simultaneously.

This makes the FS Series GigE Vision line scan camera suitable for applications like optical scanning, waterfall sorting, or pickand-place, according to Omron.

Other features of note in these cameras include:

• The Linea HS 32k TDI CMOS TDI camera

uses two 16k/5 µm TDI arrays with pixel offset to capture two 16k/5 µm images in real time, which are then reconstructed to achieve a higher resolution image of 32k/2.5 µm. This up-conversion reportedly enhances detectability of subpixel defects. One advantage of this technology is that existing lighting and 16k/5 µm lenses can be used without impacting the camera’s responsiveness and MTF (modulation transfer function) with a smaller physical pixel size. This means that OEMs can integrate this camera into existing systems to achieve much higher performance without needing to change any components. The camera provides up to 150 kHz line rate in 32k/2.5 µm resolutions, or 5 Gpix/s with very low noise and high sensitivity. It also features active pixel assisted alignment and a Camera Link HS fiber optic interface for high reliability and long cable data transmission. The camera is compatible with the Linea’s Xtium2 CLHS series of high-performance frame grabbers.

• The Phantom S640 can capture frame rates up to 1,480 fps (frames per second) at full 4 MP (megapixel) resolution of 2560 x 1600 and up to 200,715 fps at lower resolutions. The camera’s sensor has a 10 µm pixel size, which allows for more light sensitivity, and has an ISO rat-

ing of 6500 for monochrome and 1250 for color. To support high-quality imaging, the Phantom S640 features a 20.5e-noise level, dynamic range of 55.9 dB, and 12-bit depth. The camera can stream at frame rates of 2, 4, or 6 Gpx/sec using the CXP6 or GenICam protocols.

• The FS Series GigE Vision line scan cameras are available in 2K, 4K, and 8K resolutions with single-line monochrome, dual-line monochrome, and color formats. The cameras are available with F-Mount, C-Mount, and M42-Mount lens configurations. This series of cameras also incorporate GigE Vision along with Power over Ethernet, allowing users to supply power and transfer image data on a single Ethernet cable, a feature the company says will help reduce system costs and simplify installation and setup.

Though capturing images at a high-speed is often important in production operations, it is not the only function needed in a machine vision system; sometimes accuracy takes precedence.

10/2/20 12:55 PM

12 PERSPECTIVES AW OCTOBER 2020

Can IO-Link and SPE Work Together?

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

A

s the digital transformation of industry drives advances in plant floor Ethernet technology, some automation professionals are wondering about the effect this could have on existing network infrastructure. In particular, the IO-Link system.

If you’re not familiar with IO-Link, it is a standardized I/O (input/output) technology (based on IEC 61131-9) for communication with industrial sensors and actuators based on the established 3-wire sensor and actuator connection. Though the IO-Link system is popular in Europe, it is still relatively new to the U.S. market and is growing in acceptance here due to the ease of connectivity it provides to end users, system integrators, and OEMs. To learn more about IO-Link, listen to this episode of the “Automation World Gets Your Questions Answered” podcast series (http://awgo.to/iolinkpodcast) or visit this article based on the podcast (http://awgo. to/iolinkbenefits).

One particular plant floor Ethernet advance stirring questions about its potential use with IO-Link is SPE (single pair Ethernet). SPE differs from standard industrial Ethernet in that, instead of using four or eight total wires, it uses just two wires—a single twisted pair which provides communication across the common industrial Ethernet protocols (e.g., EtherNet/IP, Profinet, EtherCAT, etc.). It uses Power over Data Line technology to deliver the voltage and amperage needed to power the device itself in addition to communications.

In a recent paper developed for PI North America (the U.S.-based unit of Profibus/ Profinet International) and written by Hartmut Lindenthal of Pepperl+Fuchs, Dmitry Gringauz of Banner Engineering Corp., Frank Moritz of Sick, and Dr. Franz-Otto Witte of TEConcept, key concerns around IO-Link’s viability with SPE are addressed.

The authors note that the IO-Link-overSPE concept enables IO-Link messages to be packed into Ethernet frames and then transferred via an SPE driver over a twisted-pair line, rather than having the IO-Link messages

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transferred as pulseencoded telegrams over the classic 3-lead cable at 24 V. In this manner, IO-Link essentially remains IO-Link. As such, integration into higher-level systems would also remain the same, with only the communication medium being changed.

One point in particular the authors take pains to note is that IO-Link over SPE is “not another Ethernet-based bus system. Just like standard IO-Link, it is a point-to-point connection without addressing. All the defined interfaces and functions are retained. Established IO-Link integration standards like IODD, the OPC UA companion standard, JSON mapping, and fieldbus integration can still be used in the exact same way. In combination with the IO-Link Safety Profile, safetyoriented applications can also be implemented with IO-Link-over-SPE.” Another factor enabling the ease of IO-Link and SPE integration is that a complete IOLink message fits into each Ethernet frame or in the user data. According to the authors, the IO-Link message is usually considerably shorter than the data length of an Ethernet frame.

In the paper, the authors state: “The resulting cycle time for exchanging Ethernet frames— and thus IO-Link messages—is still considerably shorter than with standard IO-Link due to the transfer rate of 10 Mbps. The method for embedding the existing IO-Link message structure into an Ethernet frame is the main idea behind IO-Link-over-SPE.”

Migration concerns

The process of integrating an IO-Link-overSPE system into an existing IO-Link network structure does not create any issues.

According to the authors: “There aren’t any noteworthy differences other than the replacement of the standard 3-lead cable with the twisted-pair SPE cabling.”

To upgrade existing IO-Link communication to IO-Link-over-SPE, the standard IOLink ports are replaced with IO-Link masters

with SPE ports. In doing this, the authors note that the IO-Link devices will then also be supplied with power directly over the twisted-pair line from the master.

An added benefit is that the potential distance between the master and IO-Link device increases to more than 100 m (maximum 1,000 m) with the SPE system.

Intrinsic safety affects

As with the migration process noted above, the basic structure between an IO-Link master and terminal devices in an intrinsically safe environment is identical to the existing structure in the environment with standard IOLink. In this case, however, an APL (advanced physical layer) version of SPE interface physics would be used, limiting the distance between the master and terminal to 200 m. The IO-Link APL master handles the intrinsically safe separation of the power supply and communication with the higher-level system.

Future outlook

Despite its advantages, the authors do not expect IO-Link-over-SPE to replace the standard IO-Link interface any time soon.

In the paper, they point out: “As of today, IO-Link-over-SPE is a concept study which points out opportunities for increased performance in conjunction with a considerably broader application focus. An SPE interface in an IO-Link terminal device will also result in higher costs as compared to the standard for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the existing 3-lead, 24 V-based IO-link interface will still be used for the large number of existing cost-sensitive applications. IOLink-over-SPE can be seen as a consequent extension of the IO-Link standard with lots of potential for the future.”

10/2/20 9:10 AM

PERSPECTIVES 13 AW OCTOBER 2020

Innovative T�erapies emand upply hain ata and is Management

By Aaron Hand, Editor-at-Large for PMMI Media Group

A

dvanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) made from human genes, cells, and tissues are providing impressive results in patient treatments. Opening presentations of this year’s annual meeting from the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) included an emotional talk from Tom Whitehead, the father of a girl who beat leukemia through CAR-T cell therapy. Emily Whitehead, now 15, has been cancer-free for eight years.

These scientific breakthroughs also come with significant changes to traditional manufacturing processes and drug supply chains. Added to a traditional drug supply chain model are new levels of complexity as the raw materials for these drugs are cells or tissue coming from the patient, as is the case with the autologous CAR-T process used in Emily’s treatment; or a donor, as with an allogeneic hMSC product process that can be used for multiple patients.

Traceability begins when the cells are collected and continues through manufacturing, packaging, transport, and administering to the patient. “There’s little room for error because this might be the patient’s last chance for survival,” said Monique Sprueill, senior man-

ager of strategy, insights, and innovation at Johnson & Johnson.

Sprueill noted that there is a complex web of interaction that needs to occur in the supply chain, particularly when it comes to patients being treated with these innovative methods. “We’re working with shorter timelines and patients that are very sick,” she said. “We need to make sure we deliver the medicine as quickly as possible and it needs to be effective for that patient.”

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14 PERSPECTIVES AW OCTOBER 2020

aligned with expectations, Sprueill noted, so it’s important to communicate sourcing requirements and understand vendor capabilities. “With cells and tissues collected from patients and donors, they become part of the raw materials,” she said. “You need to make sure agreements with all parties are in alignment and use standardized procedures whenever possible.”

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The ATMP supply chain faces challenges in planning and forecasting; vendors; raw materials; manufacturing, packaging, and labeling; logistics; and storage. Because it’s a patient-driven process, there’s some level of uncertainty in the forecasting process. But targets need to be set nonetheless, Sprueill said.

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One major challenge is cell variability from patient to patient, which can result in lower yields. Sprueill advocated using automation in closed-loop processes and also using advanced analytics to correlate data with desired outcomes.

The final product is a single batch—one that has to be transferred at cryogenic temperatures. “If you’re using multiple vendors, it could cause issues,” Sprueill noted. “Look for opportunities to standardize processes where possible and minimize the number of vendors.”

Data analytics

Across the entire supply chain, the use of data and analytics is key. “One thing that has to occur throughout all processes is chain of custody and chain of identity,” Sprueill said.

“Who provided the starting material? You need to make sure that same material is administered to the patient.”

It’s also important to track where the material has been, how long it took to get from one place to another, and who touched it along the way. “Data and analytics are a way to make sure you keep track of the chain of custody data,” she said, but they can also be used to track quality, vendors used, raw materials, where it’s packaged, controls put in place, tracking material, interactions, handoffs, storage, temperature conditions, and more.

Because the cells are temperature-sensitive, it is key to make sure there are trackers.

“Temperature sensors offer information that can be used if there is a delay in shipment.

When you’re not able to maintain conditions, deviations are written and proper investigations are performed,” Sprueill emphasized.

“You have to adequately describe the impact of those deviations. There’s little room for error. We make sure we’re as careful as possible, but also have the documentation to demonstrate that appropriate controls and procedures are followed consistently.”

Data can be used to monitor outcomes but also to put procedures in place to modify the process if there are issues with the outcome.

“Having data that tells a story, is informative, and is able to be communicated at the right time to the right people helps drive key quality decisions,” Sprueill said. A robust supply chain management system ensures that patients receive the products they need. “This is a lifesaving or life-sustaining product and it means the world to someone because that patient means the world to someone.”

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AW OCTOBER 2020

AI-Embedded Operator Interface App

By Luis Rodriguez Managing Editor

A

veva has released the Aveva Insights Operations Management Interface (OMI) app, an application designed to combine artificial intelligence (AI) with an operator’s real-time decision-making to improve overall operational agility. The company claims its use of AI in this kind of app is an industry first. The app introduces AI capabilities into the Aveva System Platform, formerly known as the Wonderware System Platform, to provide automatic, predictive detection of unusual behavior, giving users early notification of events such as unplanned downtime or production losses.

As anomalous patterns are identified, the app can deliver them to on-premise humanmachine interfaces or supervisory control and data acquisition systems, delivering insights directly where operators need it.

The app uses a familiar thumbs-up or thumbs-down confirmation system to incorporate feedback from operators and ensure the AI-driven notifications are relevant to the needs of the user and support overall business objectives. By incorporating operator feedback into the app’s functions, it enables operations, maintenance, and production teams to train the AI engine to adapt to specific implementations. The closed-loop feedback system of the OMI app improves the accuracy of

the AI prediction engine over time, helping users to focus on what matters most to their production operations.

“IIoT applications have driven a massive increase in the collection of real-time operations and manufacturing data. As a result, operators face alarm overload and often cannot effectively react to or distinguish between process-critical situations and false positive alarm conditions, resulting in the loss of operational time and resources. By harnessing the power of AI and advanced cloud analytics, Aveva is enabling operators

to take proactive action, before process and maintenance problems occur,” said Rashesh Mody, vice president of monitoring and control at Aveva.

Beyond its ability to deliver anomaly detection in its context-aware OMI display, the app is designed to provide industrial operations with an accelerated path toward implementing AI in the control room and plant floor, according to Aveva.

OPC Foundation Joins APL Project; Announces OPC UA Motion

By David Greenfield

Director of Content/Editor-in-Chief

T

he OPC Foundation has joined the advanced physical layer (APL) for Industrial Ethernet project group and is collaborating with ODVA and Sercos International to develop a new generation of a best-in-class industrial motion technology.

Ethernet-APL describes a physical layer for

2010_News.indd 15

Ethernet communication technology developed for the requirements of the process industries to deliver industrial communication at high speeds over long distances. The supply of power and communication signals in Ethernet-APL are delivered via a common single, twisted-pair (2-wire) cable. This technology is also designed to provide protective measures for safe use within hazardous areas. Based on IEEE and IEC standards, Ethernet-APL reportedly supports any Ethernet-

based automation protocol and is expected to develop into a single, long-term stable technology for the entire process automation community.

The OPC Foundation says its decision to join the APL project group is closely related to its strategy to extend OPC UA to the field level communications (FLC) in discrete and continuous manufacturing.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 17

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16 PMMI NEWS AW OCTOBER 2020

Register Now for First of Its Kind PACK EXPO Connects

A

ttendee registration is now open for the industry’s most engaging and innovative new web-based event, PACK EXPO Connects 2020, (Nov. 9-13) produced by PMMI Media Group.

PACK EXPO Connects delivers the power of PMMI Media Group and the PACK EXPO brand to connect the packaging and processing industry during these challenging times.

In creating this unique experience, PMMI Media Group combined its digital marketing expertise and extensive industry knowledge into one intuitive interactive platform making live engagement with exhibitors easy. With over 600 solutions-providers featuring stateof-the-art virtual showrooms, attendees can spend less time and effort searching for the latest innovations and more time fostering connections via live chats, live product demos, and interactive educational opportunities.

At the heart of PACK EXPO Connects is what attendees value most: technology in action. With more than 2,600 live product demos over five days, attendees will be able to watch demonstrations of machinery and products in 15-minute increments. Attendees can schedule one-on-one live chats with product and technical experts to find targeted offerings and expeditiously search for specific products among 12 targeted categories.

“We recognize how busy today’s packaging professional is and made it our goal for PACK EXPO Connects to maximize attendees’ time, making it easy to connect with the right suppliers remotely,” says Joe Angel, president, PMMI Media Group.

In addition to exhibitor interaction, PACK EXPO Connects offers world-class virtual educational opportunities covering

the most pertinent industry trends. These include the daily Jumpstart to kick-off each day of the event, complete with a special Packaging and Processing Women’s Leadership Network session on Tuesday, Nov. 10, featuring Jan Tharp, president and CEO at Bumble Bee Foods. Innovation Stages, Trend Chats, and The Solution Room will feature expert-led interactive educational sessions, and the Showcase of Packaging Innovations will feature a web portal full of the latest in award-winning packaging from PACK EXPO Connects partners. Daily Download sessions with PMMI Media Group editors will discuss each day’s PACK EXPO Connects highlights.

Live showroom hours will run Monday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

CT and Friday 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CT. International demo hours have also been added each day to expand PACK EXPO Connects global reach. International demos will be broadcasting at 10:00 a.m. China Standard time (9:00 p.m. CT) and 10:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (4:00 a.m. CT). These time slots will enable attendees who reside outside the Western Hemisphere to view solutions and enjoy live interactions with exhibitors. In addition, all educational sessions will be available on-demand for international attendees to watch at times convenient to them. Spanish language closed captioning will also be provided for the Jumpstart sessions.

The MyConnects Planner will serve as the first stop for every attendee after registration, assisting in advance planning for the most efficient PACK EXPO Connects experience.

An Outlook calendar integration is available for attendees to add events to their Outlook calendars for ease of reference, ensuring the

New web-based PMMI Media Group event will bring the packaging and processing industry together, virtually. most efficient use of time during event days.

Preview Week (Nov. 2-6) will be the week before PACK EXPO Connects where attendees are encouraged to browse, add product demos, educational sessions, and all items of interest, as well as finalize their MyConnects Planner, which will assist registrants with planning in advance of what to attend during the event. The planner helps to organize information and plan what sessions to attend, exhibitors to visit, and more, ensuring the most productive use of time during event days.

Gear up for PACK EXPO Connects and start browsing and building your MyConnects Planner. For more information and free registration online, visit www.packexpoconnects.com.

Why the Future of Robots Looks Bright

By Kim Overstreet content strategist, alignment at PMMI Media Group

F

or consumer packaged good (CPG) manufacturers, robots have traditionally been implemented in manufacturing end-of-line operations, and data shows that many CPG manufacturers have difficulty envisioning robotics applications outside of

2010_News.indd 16

secondary packaging and palletizing tasks.

But technology has advanced to a point, whereby “robots, including cobots (collaborative robots), are more than capable of branching out beyond end-of-line applications,” according to PMMI Business Intelligence’s “Automation Timeline: The Drive Toward 4.0 Connectivity in Packaging and Processing” report.

This advance of robot technology provides an opportunity for OEMs and suppliers to provide

guidance on robot and cobot applications to expand operations.

One of the areas of fastest growth for robot use in manufacturing is cobots. Cobot applications were already growing significantly before the pandemic—with both revenue and units installed up in 2019, despite the manufacturing downturn. Because they CONTINUES ON PAGE 17

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NEWS 17

AW OCTOBER 2020 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 Peter Lutz, director of the OPC Foundation FLC Initiative, says, “APL is recognized by the OPC Foundation, and particularly its FLC initiative, to be a critically important piece in the strategy to expand OPC UA to all use cases and requirements in factory and process automation, supporting the vision of a fully scalable, industrial interoperability solution from sensor to cloud.”

The APL Project was originally established in 2018 and is backed by the FieldComm Group, ODVA, OPC Foundation, Profibus and Profinet International, as well as automation technology suppliers ABB, Emerson, Endress+Hauser, Krohne, Pepperl+Fuchs, Phoenix Contact, Rockwell Automation, Siemens, Vega, and Yokogawa.

In addition to its Ethernet-APL announcement, the OPC Foundation also unveiled its collaboration with ODVA and Sercos International to develop what it calls “a new generation of a best-in-class motion technology for industry.” According to the OPC Foundation, this new motion technology will initially be pub-

lished as OPC UA Motion, with subsequent updates to the Sercos technology and the CIP Motion technology for EtherNet/IP. This new technology will reportedly provide “a flexible architecture for distributing motion control features between controllers and drives based on a common information model for motion devices, such as PLCs/motion controllers, standard drives/frequency converters, positioning drives, servo drives, motion encoders, motor starters, and power supplies.”

The OPC UA Motion Working Group behind this new initiative launched on May 18, 2020, and is initially addressing the motion facet of UPC UA’s FLC to enable inter-vendor operation for motion automation. According to the OPC Foundation, this new motion specification will use pub/sub, with and without TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) network access, and can be combined with OPC UA Safety to support use cases for centralized and non-centralized motion solution concepts.

“OPC UA Motion is an important extension to the OPC UA Framework, ensur-

ing—in combination with OPC UA Safety, deterministic communication, and Ethernet-APL—semantic interoperability, not only for the controller-to-controller and controller-to-device use cases in factory and process automation, but also supporting OPC UA as a fully scalable technology from the sensor across all levels to MES/ ERP and to the cloud,” says Lutz.

As part of this collaboration, ODVA and Sercos International are committed to building upon their existing collaborations with the OPC Foundation and to providing users of EtherNet/IP and Sercos with improved motion technology.

“The work between ODVA and the OPC Foundation on OPC UA Motion and the OPC UA companion specification for CIP will ensure that vendors and end users can take advantage of best-in-class device, cloud, and enterprise level services in both the machine automation and process industries with EtherNet/IP and OPC UA,” says Dr. Al Beydoun, president and executive director of ODVA.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 are designed to work alongside employees, cobots alleviate some of the requirements placed on humans and make production more efficient. The versatility of cobots allows them to be used in a variety of applications with minimal reprogramming, which makes them an important alternative when considering the new operational realities faced by many manufacturers, such as labor fluctuations and production schedule shifts due to COVID-19.

“We will be deploying robotics for pick-andplace functions in the future, and a few one-off applications to replace manual labor,” said one process engineer at a pharmaceutical/supplement production company.

In the meat packing industry, which has been especially hard hit by COVID-19, many large companies have been pushed to reevaluate their automation options. While several of the largest players had already been developing robotic processing systems over the last five years, many companies have now announced accelerated plans for robotic processing systems to address urgent labor needs.

Access this free report and learn more about automation in operations at http://awgo.to/timeline

2010_News.indd 17

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18 AUTOMATION NETWORKS AW OCTOBER 2020

Networks Take Center Stage With networking technologies increasingly taking the lead role and acting as the heart of automated processes, does that change the role of controllers in more connected industrial environments?

By James R. Koelsch, Automation World Contributing Writer

A

s industry undergoes its digital transformation, networks often seem to be taking the spotlight away from controllers in many automated processes. Sure, controllers still play a crucial role, but not as squarely positioned center stage as they once were.

The reason is the growing popularity of the distributed control premise promoted by Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 initiatives. More and more devices now have programmable microcontrollers built into them, and conventional controllers are increasingly being placed closer to the devices rather than in centralized cabinets. Like other devices on the network, these distributed controllers are reporting data over the network for aggregation, visualization, and analysis elsewhere.

The result is a new architecture, one that flattens the classic Purdue model that segregated operations technology (OT) from information technology (IT) and strictly controlled the flow of data between them.

“Instead of moving data in only one direction—from the plant floor, through middleware, and into back-office systems—the new model seeks to move data back-and-forth between all systems,” explains Josh Eastburn, director of technical marketing at Opto 22. The network is at the center of this information flow.

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20 AUTOMATION NETWORKS AW OCTOBER 2020

When this trend toward a new center reaches maturity, the affected automation systems will be decentralized, but interconnected via the network. “Every device will be able to see its neighbors and the cloud,” predicts Yuri Chamarelli, lead product marketing specialist of control systems at Phoenix Contact. “Every byte of data being generated in the field will have a digital twin.”

This shift toward network centricity is being driven by a number of technical developments in the industrial networking space.

Among them are the adoption of industrial real-time Ethernet (RTE) down to the sensor level. “With RTE down to the device level, you can now service multiple data consumers beyond the controller,” explains Jamie Gallant, embedded solutions manager at Hilscher North America. RTE is increasingly being made possible by application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in communication chips like Hilscher’s netX 90.

Industrial network communication organizations—such as ODVA, Profibus/Profinet International, FieldComm Group, FDT Group, IO-Link, and the OPC Foundation—have also helped to streamline data consumption by developing device profile extensions that provide a common way to access information, regardless of vendor and network protocol. “Making the device status and diagnostic information generic means that it can be easily accessed to analyze the performance of the device and, therefore, the efficacy and reliability of the equipment,” says Gallant.

Besides these new standards for data types, another technical development supporting the shift in center has been innovation in microprocessor technology. “With hardware that has 10 times the horsepower of systems of 15 years ago, but costs a fraction of traditional systems, the decentralized topology becomes more attractive,” notes Chamarelli.

“With more horsepower, you can support data consumers with extended data types,” adds Gallant. Support can also come from other tehcnologies, such as edge devices that can send data to higher-level systems or cloud-based applications without the need for reprogramming controllers.

The disputed center

Despite these developments, not everyone agrees that it’s accurate to say the network is becoming the center of automation. Some, for example, argue that it is more accurate to say that the new center is really the new

2010_F1.indd 20

generation of analytics fostered by IIoT and cloud services.

“The network doesn’t actually do anything apart from moving information from producers of information to consumers of it,” notes Paul Brooks, manager of technology business development at Rockwell Automation.

He adds that automation and control technologies have evolved to promote distributed control and data reporting over networks. “While the ability to control processes must remain the number one priority, the ability to deliver large amounts of secondary information about those processes will come a close second, overtaking things like ease of replacement and price,” says Brooks. “A servo drive may have 150 parameters that are used to directly control the motor, but it has 4,000 internal parameters that can be used for long-term monitoring and process optimization.”

Not only can users now see information that they couldn’t before, they can also benefit from new capabilities, such as cloudbased analytics and fleet management of machinery. “The real significance is changing business models and the ability for entities throughout the value chain to offer more and more capabilities as a service,” says Brooks.

In this sense, the analytics and other services made available through the network becomes a new center for automation.

Whether the shift is toward analytics or the network itself, Brooks stresses that controllers will continue to play a crucial role in automated processes. One reason being that the movement of information from its producers to its consumers can happen smoothly only, “if controllers continue to do everything that they do today—and do it better,” says Brooks.

Another reason is that the need for the automation and control functions has really not changed.

Rick Peters, chief information security officer for operational technology at Fortinet, agrees. “The discrete functions are still being performed,” says Peters. “The intelligence is being reported and analyzed over the network to ensure clear situational awareness across the OT network.” He sees the proliferation of IIoT devices as a way to promote the convergence of the OT and IT infrastructures to improve efficiency.

Because controllers are still performing their traditional tasks and are often doing more, Peters and others don’t see controllers being displaced as the center of many

automated facilities. “The network is a critical enabler in connecting the different automation components together, but it is not displacing the controller element,” argues Sean Sims, vice president of DeltaV platform marketing at Emerson. “Controllers are still central to automation architectures today and will be in the future.”

Dealing with complexity

Part of Sims’ reasoning is that control in the field requires dealing with complexity. “Most control strategies involve multiple process inputs and outputs, and sometimes hundreds of controllers, and a significant amount of contextual information regarding the current state of the process,” he explains. “Consolidated controllers remain the most efficient and structured manner to host these critical process and contextual functions. Security, redundancy, component lifecycle management, and integrated configuration change management are critical and more easily implemented within the consolidated controller environment.”

Sims also thinks that, in most cases, logical control boundaries and process design—not technology—will govern most implementations of centralized and distributed control architectures. For him, chasing the latest technology, rather than focusing on safety, reliability, and quality, is the main pitfall in specifying process automation. “The right technology should keep the important characteristics of control systems, such as superior control algorithms, ease of use, reliability, redundancy,” says Sims. “It should then build on that by adding better data management, handling, and visualization.”

Another factor influencing views on controller-centric versus network-centric is the industry that you happen to work in. “The discrete-manufacturing industries are probably seeing more of a distributed, networkcentric control strategy because it increases the flexibility of machinery,” observes Bernd Raithel, the director of marketing at Siemens Factory Automation. “Smaller controllers have become much more powerful and capable over the last 15 years or so.” This, in turn, has made it more cost-effective to design and build machines that have smart modules that can be programmed to handle a variety of jobs.

Raithel expects this trend to extend beyond the machine level to include the larger manufacturing process. Here, the

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AUTOMATION NETWORKS 21 AW OCTOBER 2020

DATA MANAGEMENT

Field devices with Hilscher’s netX chip technology and Edge Gateways play a key role in distributed intelligence and the digital transformation occurring in automation networks. IIoT communications, via protocols such as OPC-UA and MQTT (shown in red), run over the same wire as the OT networks, allowing additional intelligence and functionality without affecting the programmable logic controller (PLC). The role of the Edge Gateway is to aggregate and preprocess this data so that it can be securely communicated to the data management systems, again without a major impact on the PLC. Photo: Courtesy of Hilscher

modular approach will translate into more production cells and islands of automation that are connected by the network and tended by automated guided vehicles and robots. “All the logic will be more flexible, so you don’t have to change over a line just to move from processing one part to another,” says Raithel.

For today and tomorrow

To excel in such distributed, network-centric environments, controllers should have some particular capabilities that give them flex-

2010_F1.indd 21

ibility. Because the movement toward these kinds of distributed networks will likely take place slowly over time, Chamarelli recommends technology that will support both the old and the new. “It’s easier to make a decision when you know that your current team can do things the way it did before but have the additional functionalities for taking your systems into the future,” he says.

For this reason, Chamarelli recommends controllers capable of running Linux because it is an open operating system that can help accommodate innovation. “The future of

industrial automation will come from the big tech network systems, and those are Linuxbased,” he says.

Another way to prepare for increasingly distributed environments in the future is to specify modular controllers. “Not everyone is going to be putting AI (artificial intelligence), for example, in the factory in the next year,” says Raithel. “So, you need a system that satisfies today’s needs for robustness and reliability but gives you flexibility to add capabilities later.” For this reason, he urges engineers to consider controllers that allow

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22 AUTOMATION NETWORKS AW OCTOBER 2020

New network layouts that are possible by connecting local and remote sites through network-oriented OT devices and extending through them into regional fog and global cloud computing resources: 1. Shared multi-site infrastructure with edge data processing.

2. Legacy device integration with edge controller as IoT gateway.

3. Direct-to-cloud I/O network.

4. Many-to-many MQTT infrastructure.

Photo: Courtesy of Opto 22

adding options, such as AI, as modules.

Raithel also advises engineers to prepare for an increasingly network-centric environment by specifying edge-enabled controllers.

“This means that the device can run conventional controller code and IT code like C or Python,” he says. It combines the functionality of today’s robust controllers with that of an edge device of the future.

In an environment where the network is the core of operations, connectivity options are also a key concern for specifying a future-proof controller. “For the IIoT, next generation automation systems need to be both future-proof and backwards compat-

2010_F1.indd 22

ible,” notes Michael Britt, OEM solutions manager at Hilscher. “Because current industrial networking protocols will not disappear, all existing standards and current practices must still be supported and coexist in this new ecosystem.”

“Users need the ability to integrate into a variety of network schema, so multiple communication interfaces and support for a variety of OT and IT protocols are a must,” adds Eastburn. “Ideally, this support should extend beyond communication to include device configuration and management.” It might even include protocols like DNS and DHCP that are common in consumer and enterprise

IT devices, but rare in industrial devices.

Eastburn also points out that, in a network-oriented architecture, a controller’s value increases with the number of layers that it can cut across. “So, users should look for things like embedded OPC, MQTT, VPN, and REST support that let them move data directly to databases and applications,” he says. Another useful tool for controllers and devices like edge I/O and gateways is NodeRED, a language designed for extracting, transforming, and moving data among various networked devices.

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INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABILITY 25 AW OCTOBER 2020

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

2010_F2.indd 25

T

he topic of sustainability has been anything but static since 2016 when we last surveyed Automation World readers on the subject. From increased evidence of the impact of climate change and global demonstrations in favor of concerted actions to reduce harmful environmental practices to the Trump administration’s rollback of numerous environmental rules (http://awgo.to/ UVHuh), quite a lot has happened in the past few years around sustainability.

Remarkably, however, not as much has changed from industry’s point of view. Yes, industry continues to focus on sustainability factors, but not much more than it did in 2016.

For example, in our surveys in 2016 and 2020, we asked readers if their companies have a sustainability program in effect.

In 2016, 59.3% of respondents answered yes. In 2020, 58.8% also answered yes.

These responses are within the range of statistical error, meaning that the level of sustainability programs appears to have remained static since 2016.

Vikram Mankar, principal digital product manager for GE Digital, said, “We are seeing different levels of maturity and awareness around production-related sustainability across the different manufacturing verticals. Consumer-oriented industries, like food and beverage and consumer packaged goods, are further ahead in sustainability programs, as compared to non-consumer and heavyindustry verticals.”

Given those vertical industrial qualifiers, Mankar agreed that the roughly 60% level of sustainability programs indicated by our survey response is a good approximation for manufacturing industries as a whole.

Luke Durcan, EcoStruxure director at Schneider Electric, noted that “there is still a misconception among some companies that sustainability is expensive or trendy, even though we know that neither is true. Sustainability can be a way to save money and spur innovation, and it is becoming deeply embedded in most organizations.”

He added that Schneider Electric’s own research into the topic has shown that more than 70% of the Fortune 100 companies now have either decarbonization or renewable energy targets.

As a result, “companies without sustainability programs are starting to be seen as laggards, which impacts their reputation and ability to recruit and retain talent,” Durcan added.

Another reason the needle may not have moved much around sustainability since 2016 is that there are so many other investments industrial companies can make that have a much shorter-term return on investment (ROI), said Durcan.

A company’s shareholders may not yet see the value in sustainability compared to other investment opportunities, he said.

Durcan also noted that, for some companies, there remains a certain level of uncertainty as to where to start.

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26 INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABILITY AW OCTOBER 2020

Key differences

Though the level of sustainability programs has not changed since 2016, some specific areas of focus have changed considerably, with a number of key areas of sustainability focus seeing decreases over the past few years.

In 2016, 46.7% of respondents cited a focus on overall energy efficiency. In 2020, energy efficiency was cited as a key focus by just 26.7% of respondents. Likewise, recycling and reuse of materials was cited by 30.9% of respondents as being important in 2016, whereas in 2020 only 18.2% cited it as being key their sustainability efforts.

Durcan said that, in some cases, it’s not the cost factor that directs and/or inhibits sustainability efforts, but rather it’s the complexity and operational alignment of the company or facility.

This means the insights of a sustainability initiative have to “be in the hands of those who can enact operational changes to drive efficiency,” he said. “There are some capital items that will drive efficiency, but without the data to know what processes consume what materials, when it happens, and for what outcomes, how do you know where to invest?”

To help answer this question, Durcan says Schneider Electric focuses on delivering “a resource map of the end user’s products through the entire production lifecycle to help make these kinds of judgements. Because products on the same production line may consume different resources, and different supply chains have very different carbon footprints.”

Another significant shift in survey responses was seen around the perceived success of corporate sustainability programs in industry. In 2016, only 37% considered their programs to be good or excellent. By 2020, that number had risen to 75.9%. In one sense, this is not too surprising considering that companies have had four years in which to improve these programs.

Interestingly, one area that remained unchanged between the two surveys was the focus on reduction of greenhouse gases and/or a company’s carbon footprint. This category was cited by 10% of respondents in 2016 and 2020.

Effects on automation spending

Some of the biggest changes we saw in the survey results came via the effects of corporate sustainability programs on specific automation purchases.

In 2016, 35.2% of respondents cited a focus on energy efficient motors, whereas, in 2020, 68.9% of respondents noted it. Variable frequency drives have also seen an uptick in interest, rising from 32.4% in 2016 to 60.2% in 2020.

2010_F2.indd 26

How long has the sustainability program been in effect?

13%

1 year

21%

2 years 3-5 years

27%

More than 5 years

39%

What are the primary focus points of the program?

27%

Energy efficiency

23%

Waste reduction

18%

Recyling/reuse

10%

Lower greenhouse gas/reduce carbon footprint

10%

Regulatory compliance

8%

Water consumption

4%

Use of renewable energy source

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INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABILITY 27 AW OCTOBER 2020

Have rollbacks of any federal regulations during the Trump administration affected your company’s approach to sustainability?

Another big area of increase occurred around the use of energy management software. In 2016, just 19.5% of respondents cited it. In 2020, that number rose to 40.8%.

As industrial companies have matured Yes in their understanding of production sustainability, Mankar said they have realized there are savings that can be achieved by making operational processes more No efficient. “Plant personnel who decide on energy management software implementations are usually facilities teams who are not directly connected to production,” he explained. “The size of the production facility determines the need for sophisticated energy management. Investing in software and hardware like submeters and flow valves might be based on the budgets for the facility management department and the size of the facilities they manage.”

Referring again to the importance of understanding the entire production lifecycle to determine an effective sustainability program focus, Durcan said a manufacturing company doesn’t just need energy management software to understand per unit kilowatt energy

12%

If industry sustainability programs have had an effect on automation purchasing decisions made by your company, identify the types of automation products you now buy based on their potential sustainability capabilities.

69%

Energy efficient motors

60%

Variable frequency drives

41%

Energy management software/dashboards

24%

Motor management systems

10%

Other

0%

Energy management networking

2010_F2.indd 27

88% use, but the data infrastructure that will deliver end-to-end supply chain carbon and resource loading. “That means integrating not only local and enterprise energy management, but also global supply chain data,” Durcan said. “This is a fundamental enterprise resource issue” not just a sustainability program issue.

Planning insights

New questions asked on the 2020 surveys explored that state of a company’s future plans around sustainability, implementation plans, and the effect of the Trump administration’s environmental regulations rollbacks.

In regard to the current administration’s rollback of existing environmental regulations, only 12.3% of respondents said these actions have had an effect on their sustainability programs. Of those who programs were affected by these rollbacks, reasons cited included: • “Elimination of tax relief credits impacted savings from some projects”; • “It’s tough to follow sustainability with mandates that run counter to [government] guidelines”; and • “[The rollbacks have] caused a pause [in our sustainability program] to get full understanding of those rollbacks that affect us and we are making necessary changes to comply with the rollbacks.”

As for implementation strategies, responses indicated a fairly even split between plans to purchase new equipment or modify existing equipment to achieve sustainability program goals. Slightly more than 21% of respondents cited plans for equipment modification while 19.1% cited plans for new equipment/technology purchases.

Despite the diverging approaches to sustainability across industries, the vast majority of respondents indicate the continuing development of new plans for their sustainability programs, with 63.3% of respondents confirming that new plans are in place. Among those with new plans, the principal areas of focus for those plans are on energy efficiency (34%), waste reduction (16%), and operations management (13%).

To achieve optimal savings from sustainability programs, there is “a level of investment needed to put in software tools that reliably allow for tracking sustainability progress,” said Mankar. “Most sustainability savings are achieved over a much longer term than expected. Therefore, there is resistance to invest in these efforts versus some other areas that

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28 INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABILITY AW OCTOBER 2020

may deliver a more immediate return.”

Mankar explained further that it’s sometimes necessary for companies to assign sustainability initiatives to facilities management or compliance and regulatory departments. However, these groups “might only look at a limited set of metrics that their departments measure and, therefore, might not have visibility at the line or production level. One of the biggest mistakes we have seen customers make is to start a sustainability initiative as part of a department initiative, typically environmental health and safety, which is separate from production. Often this ends up being disconnected from the actual production metrics and gets measured purely based on monthly utility savings. Then, when you just look at sustainability success as savings in utility bills, it does not seem like you have achieved much value for the effort you had to put in.”

To remedy this, Mankar said companies should focus on investing in “appropriate infrastructure to measure and connect sustainability impact with broader production operations. Sustainability programs need to be designed to address things beyond typical energy and utility objectives and look at other key aspects such as manufacturing waste, employee and community safety, material reusability, and overall operational efficiency.”

Durcan added that the biggest potential failure points of corporate sustainability programs tend be: • Not having a cohesive strategy that can actually deliver business outcomes; • Not understanding what data is needed to make decisions; • Not knowing how to enact decisions to delivery outcomes and how they are

Does your company have future plans for improving sustainability?

63%

Yes

37%

No

incorporated into an operational system; • Not clearly measuring the outcomes to define the business value and articulate ROI; • Doing too much too quickly; and • Not having sustainability identified as on operational outcome that is measured, enacted, and incentivized at the business unit level rather than at the corporate level.

Response factors

One factor that could account for some of the key differences between responses to the 2020 survey and the one conducted in 2016 is the age of sustainability efforts at the respondents’ companies. In 2016, 38.7% of respondents cited having sustainability programs in place for 5 years or less.

Responses to the 2020 survey showed that 60.8% of respondents’ companies have had their sustainability programs in place for five years or less.

Mankar said that GE Digital has seen an uptick in sustainability efforts recently. “The focus has varied from energy efficiency and waste reduction to efficient operations scheduling,” he said. “The circular economy

Does your company have a sustainability program specifically targeted at operations, i.e., not including office recycling or low-energy lighting?

59%

Yes No

2010_F2.indd 28

concept—an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources—has also brought in new ideas around sustainability. Industrial companies are realizing the holistic aspect of sustainability and how aspects of production can contribute to the company’s overall sustainability goals and enable new benchmarks for throughput, quality, yield, and waste.”

Also, price points on almost all sustainable tech have fallen significantly to the point where return on investment is more easily achieved, thereby reducing risk, said Durcan.

Another consideration when comparing responses between these two surveys are the subscriber lists encouraged to participate in the survey and the levels of response among specific verticals. As with any media source, our subscriber lists change significantly over the years—and with all the change that has occurred in industry since 2016, that’s certainly no surprise. This means it’s unlikely that many of the people who took the survey in 2016 were also among the 2020 respondents.

Plus, there was a fair amount of variability in responses from specific industry verticals between the two surveys, which likely also had an impact on responses. For example, the top five verticals responding to the 2016 survey were automotive, food and beverage, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), oil and gas, and power generation. In 2020, the top five were automotive, chemical, food and beverage, OEMs, and packaging, which tied for fifth place with the water/ wastewater industry.

41%

10/2/20 9:08 AM

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Microlab moved its batch assembly to a semi-automated, single-piece flow to reduce production times and improve product flexibility.

How Lean Work Cells Can Speed Production, Increase Flexibility By moving from batch assembly to a semiautomated, singlepiece flow assembly, component manufacturer Microlab achieved a 90% reduction in its production cycle time.

By Aaron Hand, Editor at Large

2010_F3.indd 30

S

ingle-piece production is a staple of lean manufacturing. Microlab, a manufacturer of high-performance components such as directional couplers and filters for RF and microwave distribution systems, had not designed its original workstations with such lean principles in mind.

This led the Parsippany, N.J.-based manufacturer to experience inefficient assembly and long production times.

To save money, time, and to provide a larger variety of products for its customers, Microlab decided to switch from batch assembly to a one-piece flow.

A customized lean manufacturing workcell allows a company to connect individual processes into a seamless, semi-automated production flow, eliminating aspects of waste as products move from one assembly process to another. Unlike batch production, in which uniform products are assembled in large quantities based on a single set of criteria, a lean manufacturing flow allows greater control over individual product units while still maintaining efficiency.

Microlab’s existing production line could only support batch quantities. Independent assembly stations that were spaced apart prevented a seamless workflow, and the poor logistics increased production costs due to wasted motion and time.

The component manufacturer envisioned a new lean manufacturing work cell as “a very simple conveyor system to transfer products around a basic lean line,” said Jeff Roberts, Microlab’s vice president of global operations. Ultimately, the new line resulted not only in a 90% reduction in cycle time, but also the flexibility to offer a larger variety of products and to customize products.

The installation and commissioning of a new semi-autonomous, lean work cell would need to be completed with minimal disruption to production. The project would also need to be contracted to a supplier that could own the entire project to provide design, component/system integration, delivery, and installation of the turnkey system. The supplier would also need to have robotics and automation expertise to incorporate a collaborative robot and Cartesian robot system into the new work cell.

After reviewing multiple options, Airline was chosen to design, build, and install a fully integrated, semi-autonomous, flexible work cell for Microlab.

The new line

After several initial concept and design collaboration meetings with Airline’s engineers, a final design was approved

by Microlab for construction by Airline’s

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CASE STUDY 31 AW OCTOBER 2020

fabrication team. The line consists of a Bosch Rexroth TS 2Plus series pallet conveyor/transfer system, along with seven Bosch Rexroth customized, modular, ergonomic workstations. The new design vastly improved material logistics through the use of a centrally located, Bosch Rexroth-customized “supermarket” material cart, which dispenses parts to the work cell and routes finished goods to the shipping department.

Every station of the work cell can be controlled using an Omron human-machine interface (HMI) on the master control panel.

“One of our programmers, Alberto DeOrta, came up with the screen designs for the HMI,” said Darren Rist, an automation applications engineer for Airline. “One interesting feature was to simply touch a visual interpretation of the section of conveyor on the touchscreen to bypass sections of conveyor when that operation was not needed.”

Tony Smith, Microlab’s manufacturing manager, added, “The HMI gives me complete control over the entire production process and every workstation.”

The work cell design uses the SimplAir pneumatic piping system from Ingersoll Rand. This system ensures the leak-free and maintenance-free distribution of compressed air to key positions within the work cell.

Initial installation was completed in the spring of 2018, with some additions coming later, including material shuttles, ergonomic chairs, additional conveyor stations, and remote access options for programming. Rist opted for the mGuard secure, permissions-

Microlab’s six-axis cobot was integrated into the new automated system for screw insertion. A lift-and-locate module from Bosch Rexroth was used to accurately position the workpiece pallet to ensure proper and repeatable screw insertion. based industrial network router from Phoenix Contact for remote access capability. “This secure VPN device enabled Airline to make remote changes to the conveyor program without the additional cost to have our programmer make an in-person visit,” he said.

“It’s an option that is even more valuable now with new COVID safety precautions in place.”

The final result

The entire lean work cell, occupying about 2,000 sq ft, was assembled and tested at

Airline provided work carts for Microlab’s “supermarket,” a centrally located staging area in the middle of the lean cell, which decreased setup and breakdown time.

2010_F3.indd 31

Airline’s facility in Bensalem, Pa., enabling Microlab to continue uninterrupted production in its facility during the construction and testing phases of the project.

“In the end, Airline delivered a fully functional and automated lean work cell that far exceeded our initial vision of a simple conveyor system transferring products around a lean line,” said Roberts.

In the new work cell, product assembly time was reduced from 20 minutes to two minutes. The elimination of batch production also led to a significant reduction in product defects and rework and minimized costs to carry surplus product inventory.

“The positional accuracy of the transfer conveyor enables us to automate production processes that were previously completed manually,” said Smith. “Airline was able to integrate all our individual production processes into a single, seamless one-piece workflow, which eliminated inefficiencies and waste, and reduced our production costs.”

Initially estimated at 24 months, return on investment was achieved in just 13 months. In addition, the highly modular and flexible work cell can be easily reconfigured and expanded to support future growth.

10/2/20 8:50 AM

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10/2/20 9:42 AM

INDUSTRY-SUPPLIED CONTENT 33 AW OCTOBER 2020

Digital Transformation in Manufacturing: Small Steps or One Giant Leap?

How taking three practical steps can generate short-term wins and achieve long-term success with Industrial Internet of Things technologies.

By Zach Gustafson,

vice president, business development— machine automation, Emerson Automation Solutions

F

rom automotive production lines to oil and gas equipment, the shift from manual processes to digital technologies holds game-changing potential for industrial applications. But for many manufacturers, this digital transformation remains an abstract pipe dream. In fact, a recent survey by Emerson shows that more than 70% of companies don’t have a vision for data analytics with a clear roadmap to success. Additionally, many manufacturers find the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and other enabling technologies too complex, costly, and time-consuming to implement. And with all the offerings vying for their attention on the market, it can be difficult to know which offering—if any—best fits their particular plant.

In short, too many manufacturers are being kept from the digital Promised Land.

But the reality is there are practical, easy-toimplement steps you can take to make digital transformation a reality—right now.

The role of the IIoT

A key aspect of digital transformation is IIoT, which allows you to gather process data from previously “unintelligent” components like valves, cylinders, and air preparation units.

After collecting this data and transmitting it to gateways and other aggregation hardware and software systems, you can unlock new

2010_F4.indd 33

production insights that lead to less downtime, lower energy costs, faster cycle times, and higher overall productivity. But how can you be sure the machine data you’re gathering is actionable? And how can you apply this data to improve shop floor operations and higher-level decision making?

1. Figure out what you’re looking for

Manufacturing processes now yield more data than ever before. One of the most important steps on the road to digital transformation is to figure out your goal, and then pick out actionable data that can inform and drive your decisions. For example, if you’re looking to reduce your energy costs, it would be helpful to know how much energy you’re currently consuming, as well as any sources of potential waste.

Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s important to partner with a reputable supplier of IIoT services and technologies. The best ones will partner with you to establish your baseline, and then map out the new insights provided by your new IIoT systems. This strategy can help you proactively address operational issues and avoid issues down the road. And once you’re equipped with more data and historical patterns, you can begin to benchmark various applications against each other—driving even

The Aventics AF2 Series flow sensor is an IIoT-enabled device that provides air consumption and leak detection analytics.

Source: Emerson

more improvements and delivering greater returns across your operation.

2. Start small and scale: field-level intelligence

One reason you may be hesitant to adopt an IIoT program is the potential investment— both from an engineering and enterprise standpoint. Oftentimes, IIoT systems have the reputation of comprising complex data architectures to connect disparate hardware and software systems—requiring extensive engineering hours, materials, and cost to set up and deploy. Faced with the prospect of fronting millions of dollars, executives are right to wonder if they’re investing in the right option for their company.

But the reality is that digital transformation doesn’t have to entail this all-or-nothing approach. Technological developments are already underway at the field level, distributing intelligence among formerly “unintelligent” devices, such as valve manifolds and air preparation units. This development opens the door to a simple, yet effective IIoT approach: start small and scale over time. For example, once you figure out your production goals, design your system and assess your return-on-investment (ROI) objectives, the next step is to start with a small pilot project on a few machines. From there, you can

10/2/20 8:49 AM

34 INDUSTRY-SUPPLIED CONTENT AW OCTOBER 2020

An edge gateway, such as Emerson’s RXi2 LP, collects and transmits data to the cloud for improved analytics. Integration with an IIoT enablement platform like PACEdge enables data contextualization at the machine edge. Source: Emerson monitor how these pilot lines improve. Once you see a tangible impact, you can expand these capabilities to additional machines in your facility.

One example of an intelligent field-level is the Aventics AF2 Series flow sensor, which can be retrofitted to existing pneumatic systems or included as part of new air preparation units or panels. This IIoT-enabled device provides air consumption and leak detection analytics, enabling customers to unlock remote monitoring capabilities, lower their energy costs and reduce their CO2 footprint.

3. Don’t lock yourself in: open toos and protocols

Digital transformation won’t happen overnight. With all the IIoT products and systems on the market, it’s important to select and deploy offerings that won’t restrict your future projects or plans to expand. One way to avoid locking yourself in is to implement open-source tools and protocols, enabling you to easily adjust or redirect information

based on your evolving needs and ROI goals.

Flexible, open architectures can be cloudbased, on the premises or integrated into existing software systems. Two examples are Open Platform Communications United Architecture (OPC UA) and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), which are your best bet if you have sensor data coming in from sensors or want to include intelligent analytics. The AF2 Series flow sensor, for example, is compatible with OPC UA, enabling users to connect directly to the cloud or other IIoT gateway for advanced analytics.

In general, the best suppliers of IIoT technologies will tailor their systems based on your current infrastructure and then deliver machine insights via gateways, control systems or these open IIoT protocols. In addition, you have various open-source data aggregation, database, and visualization tools at your disposal, making it easier than ever to maintain an open-source environment. They include: • Node-Red: a flow-based development tool for visual programming. By linking

input, function, and output blocks, you can record, process, and forward data without writing any code.

• InfluxDB: an open-source time series database, enabling you to quickly retrieve time series data in IIoT sensor data, operations monitoring, real-time analytics, and many other fields.

• Grafana: a multi-platform open-source analytics and interactive web application, allowing you to visualize, understand and receive alerts on your metrics.

These open-source, easy-to-use tools can empower you to implement new IIoT offerings quickly—even if you don’t have a background in programming. And in addition to having a large community of developers working on and improving them, they come with many free, online resources like online tutorials and videos to train and support new users.

Partnering with a knowledgeable IIoT supplier

The road to digital transformation isn’t one giant leap. Rather, there are small, practical steps you can take right now to generate short-term wins and achieve long-term success. Bear in mind, a critical aspect of this success involves partnering with a knowledgeable IIoT technologies supplier that takes a consultative approach to all IIoT implementations. At Emerson, for example, we work with you to fully understand the requirements of your applications and then translate these requirements into actionable insights—putting you in the driver’s seat on the road to digital transformation.

Air Leakage Detection - Per Time (90 days) 80.0

m3

60.0 40.0 20.0

0 1/16

1/24

2/1

2/8

2/15

2/22

3/1

3/8

3/16

3/24

4/1

4/8

Volume per day Min: 0.1 Max: 76.2 Avg; 40.0 Total; 3.6 K

Based on historical consumption patterns and parameters, air leakage detection analytics enable users to set up maintenance alerts and take corrective actions faster, improving their energy efficiency. Source: Emerson

2010_F4.indd 34

10/2/20 8:49 AM

ADVERTORIAL 35 AW OCTOBER 2020

ADVERTORIAL

Segmenting your factory floor network improves operations hen talking about an industrial enterprise, the term IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) is always mentioned and is often overused. However, nearly everyone can agree that there always is a benefit to getting the “right” data in a “sustainable” fashion from “edge” devices to individuals who can use the data to make better business decisions. A risk is that too much data collection, without proper foresight, can create a situation where a plant Ethernet network can be rapidly overwhelmed due to poor design.

W

It pays to collect data from the factory floor

• Real-time downtime analysis from one location (“A Single Pane of Glass”) can show instantly where resources need to be applied to increase productivity. Long-term analysis of this data can point to maintenance trends, staffing shortfalls, or process bottlenecks.

• Older assets can be connected to the network and improve process uptime. Even older machines with just relay logic controls can be monitored with the right equipment.

• Gathering data isn’t just about the traditional cycle time reporting issues. Predictive maintenance information such as monitoring the vibration on motors has been proven to reduce costly downtime.

Managing Network Traffic is more important now that ever

Over the years, the number of devices on the factory floor has exploded. Often, networks were augmented as an afterthought without regard to problems that would occur down the road. Currently, many large networks have bottlenecks due to speed issues and the continued existence of unmanaged switches. Multicast protocols often initially meant for a small cell can inundate and overwhelm a network without the proper managed switches in place.

The Convergence of IT and OT

The IT world (Information Technology) and the OT world (Operational Technology) are coming together rapidly. Both sides have the same goals, but often go about the process in different fashions. Both sides always agree that a good balanced and segmented network is critical. Sometimes this is achieved via a “top down” design by having versions of the office switches down to the factory floor where spe-

Figure 1 – Problems will occur if multiple machines with the same IP address allocation pattern were simultaneously plugged in to a plant network. cial consideration must be made for environmental factors such as heat and vibration.

Industrial Routers can provide effective segmentation and connectivity

How does an organization handle networking equipment which can come from the outside? It is quite common now for machinery to come in from an outside vendor or OEM. Is it asking “too much” to be able to keep the original IP address scheme? An industrial router or switch with NAT (Network Address Translation) capability may be a solution.

The multiple machine cell case

Consider that an OEM over the years has delivered 20 machines consisting of a PLC, HMI, and a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive).

Because they were manufactured originally as individual machines, the OEM used the same IP address allocation pattern. 192.168.1.1 for the PLC, 192.168.1.2 for the HMI, etc. (Figure 1)

What happens when all 20 machines need to be connected?

In the example above, if all machines were simultaneously plugged in to the plant network, IP address conflicts would happen. Some of the problems are documentation headaches, sudden introduction of multicast protocols into the greater network, and extra unexpected reprogramming of individual assets.

A device which has NAT capabilities (Network Address Translation) will help

Employing a switch or router with NAT capabilities means that a factory floor automation

engineer can design a table which gives a one to one correspondence from an internal address to an “external” plantwide address.

That way nothing needs to change on the edge while maintaining security and uniqueness at the plant network level.

Add security with firewall rules

Often another advantage with these types of devices is the fact that one can add firewall capability for even more security. For example, if there is a SCADA machine on the plant network that needs to just talk to the PLC only, rules can be made to restrict all other communications except for requests from the SCADA computer.

Routers and switches with NAT (and Port Forwarding) capability are only one way that networks can be segmented and made more secure. Many organizations have implemented VLANs (Virtual LANs) to segregate traffic. Make sure that you consult professionals on both the IT side and the OT side about working solutions to help improve the operation of your network and enhance security as your enterprise grows.

By John Kan, Motion Industries John Kan is Connectivity Product Manager with the Mi Automation Solutions Group/ Braas Division at Motion Industries.”

MotionIndustries.com

36 NEW PRODUCTS AW OCTOBER 2020

Servo Drive with Multiple Control Modes

Rockwell Automation, www.rockwellautomation.com The Kinetix 5100 servo drive can run without a controller and has multiple control modes available to support a range of high-speed, low-power motion control applications. It can be used with a Micro800 controller, a Logix controller, or by itself, allowing OEMs to choose how the product can best function in its applications. With built-in safe torque off, users can remove motor torque without removing power from an entire machine, allowing a machine to restart faster after it has reached a safe state. These drives have 10 freely assignable digital inputs (two can be used as fast input functions) and five freely assignable digital outputs. They also feature dual port EtherNet/IP for use in various network topologies.

Additive Manufacturing Process Simulation

Siemens Digital Industries Software, www.siemens.com Additive Manufacturing Path Optimizer combines physics-based simulation with machine learning to analyze a job file before execution on the machine. Building on Siemens Simcenter Additive Manufacturing Process Simulation software, Additive Manufacturing Path Optimizer adds to Siemens’ digital twin strategy by addressing errors that can originate from suboptimal scan strategies and process parameters. This simulation technology is designed to help maximize production yield and quality of powder bed fusion manufactured parts and help users solve overheating challenges and reduce scrap. This technology is integrated in Siemens NX software to advance the use of additive manufacturing for industrial applications.

Temperature Controller with Programming Interface

Watlow, www.watlow.com The PM Plus features an improved user interface to reduce complexity on the front of the unit and eliminate the need to connect to the device with cables for application configuration. The controller features a full-color front-panel display with easy-toread characters and color coding, making it visible from many angles. It has a smoothtouch keypad, eliminating the legacy rubber buttons that wear out from use and harsh environments. The new keypad also eliminates contamination points and creates a tighter seal on the front. The PM Plus is also backward-compatible with legacy Ez-Zone PM controllers.

Other features of the PM Plus include Bluetooth connectivity with the Ez-Link mobile app for remote access capabilities and access to descriptions of parameters and error codes.

Pressure Transmitter Sends Data via Cellular to the Cloud

SignalFire Wireless Telemetry, www.signal-fire.com The Pressure Ranger is an LTE-M cellular pressure transmitter that provides plug-andplay, instant connectivity of pressure sensor data to the cloud over cellular networks. As a component in a SignalFire cloud-based telemetry system, this IoT cellular transmitter brings pressure data to the cloud for remote monitoring, control, and alarming of assets from any web browser, including mobile devices. In addition to operating on the SignalFire cloud, the Pressure Ranger uses MQTT/Sparkplug communications to integrate with third-party hosts.

The Pressure Ranger features a built-in GPS receiver that reports location of devices to the cloud, providing a map of all connected assets. This low-power sensor is certified for use in Class 1, Division 2 environments and allows for rapid data collection and report on exception.

2010_Products.indd 36

10/2/20 8:48 AM

NEW PRODUCTS 37 AW OCTOBER 2020

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Ultrasonic Gas Flowmeter With Integrated Pressure and Temperature Sensors Endress+Hauser, www.us.endress.com The Proline Prosonic Flow G 300/500 flowmeter is available as a compact or remote version with up to four inputs and outputs.

These I/O can output not only flow, but also pressure, temperature, and other process variables. The meter operates at process temperatures up to 150 °C (302 °F) and pressures up to 100 bar (1450 psi) and can also be ordered with built-in pressure and temperature sensors. The flowmeter can measure both dry and wet gases with precision (¹0.5%), repeatability, and reliability— even when process and ambient conditions fluctuate significantly, according to Endress+Hauser. An optional Extended Gas Analysis function package is available for special applications and to meet process control requirements. And, according to the company, depending on the selected gas type (pure gases, gas mixtures, coal gas, natural gas, etc.), this function also enables the calculation of additional parameters and process variables.

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Cloud-based Data Analytics Workbench

Falkonry, www.falkonry.com The Falkonry Workbench is a cloud-based system for process engineers and data analysts to build predictive operations systems for improving production uptime, quality, and yield. The Workbench product, which is available via subscription, allows users to perform forensic analysis on historical data, analyze root cause of past conditions, and build warning models for predicting failures. The product features enterprise authentication to simplify large applications and inference speed improvements enable vast amounts of data to be analyzed. Models in the Workbench explain which signals—and which behaviors in those signals—are most important in making predictions.

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38 NEW PRODUCTS AW OCTOBER 2020

Composite Tubing for Pneumatic and Hydraulic Cylinders

Polygon Composites Technology, www.polygoncomposites.com PolySlide tubing replaces metallic material in a variety of cylinder applications, and is supplied as a cylinder tube ready for user assembly or as engineered cylinder assemblies for equipment manufacturer applications. The tubing is made of continuous filament-wound glass fiber and polymer resins. The fiberglass filament and resin materials combine together to form a high strength component that exhibits dimensional stability, is non-corroding, impingement-resistant, and nonconductive, according to Polygon Composites Technology. The cylinder tubing performs in high and low temperatures, in areas with grease, grit, salt, chemicals, and in extreme conditions. Tubing sizes range from 0.25-inch inner diameter (ID) up to industrial-sized 24-inch IDs. The features of the tubing allow the seal to slide over the bore surface contour, minimizing interlocking friction. Contact with the non-metallic rod guide bearing prevents galling and provides for a low coefficient of friction, and a wear-resistant material incorporated into the bore surface further increases the lifespan of the tubing.

Relay Module With Low Leakage Current

Omron Automation Americas, www.automation.omron.com/en/us The G3VM-21MT has a T-type circuit structure that minimizes leakage current. The T-type circuit structure consists of three metal oxide silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET) relays that help reduce the leakage current to a minimal level without affecting the test equipment’s inspection accuracy, allowing high-precision measurement and decreasing maintenance frequency of the test equipment, according to Omron Automation. Mechanical reed relays have low leakage current but require replacement on a regular basis. MOSFET relays have been considered unsuitable for precise electrical tests due to leakage current, but by combining multiple MOSFET relays, this unit achieves the needed low leakage current while eliminating the need for replacement of mechanical relays.

Differential Measurement System

Kaman Precision Products, www.kamansensors.com The KD-5100 differential measurement system provides resolution to a nanometer of positional change. Featuring a stable design, small size (2 x 2.12 x 0.75 inches thick), and low power consumption, the measurement system is suitable for image stabilization systems, according to Kaman. It is manufactured to MIL-H-38534, with MIL-SPEC components used throughout the electronics module. For applications where mil-spec requirements, size, weight, and power consumption are not critical, the company also offers a commercial version, the DIT-5200. The unit features two precisely matched sensors per channel that give resolution to a nanometer; thermal and long-term stability of 5x10-6 inches/month or better, sensitivity up to 10 V/mil (394 mV/mm) and power consumption of less than 2 W @ Âą15 VDC.

Cellular Routers and Gateways for Primary or Failover Back-Up Connectivity

Perle Systems, www.perle.com The IRG5000 LTE routers and gateways enables users to leverage the reliability and flexibility of cellular networking to minimize downtime, reduce service calls, and bring temporary locations online quickly. The units are certified for operation on 33 LTE bands internationally and have speeds up to 600 Mbps downlink and 150 Mbps uplink. When the wired link is down, network access can be maintained with automatic failover to LTE, according to the company. The health monitoring function of these devices will ping a destination IP through the primary route; if there is no response, the router will initiate a direct connection using the back-up LTE route. The unit can also be configured for numerous conditions to automatically trigger a failover. With RIP, OSPF, BGP-4, IPv4, IPv6, OpenVPN, IPSec VPN, and DHCP, any router can be deployed in hierarchical or large mesh network structures to operate as a router or gateway. An integrated zone-based policy firewall, two-factor authentication, and remote authentication management ensures the routers integrate with enterprise-grade systems to control access to devices in the field and protect inside networks from unauthorized users.

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NEW PRODUCTS 39 AW OCTOBER 2020

Helical Bevel Gearboxes

AutomationDirect, www.automationdirect.com The IronHorse HBR series of helical bevel gearboxes combines the helical gearset with a bevel gearset to create an output perpendicular to the input. All gearboxes in the series are hollow shaft output and accept double or single shafts. Dual and single output shaft kits are available. Helical gears offer a smoother, quieter operation than most other gear types, according to AutomationDirect. The universally interchangeable compact design ensures easy OEM replacement and provides flexible installation with C-face and TC-face inputs, and six mounting positions. Five gearbox sizes support 56C up to 254/6TC NEMA motor frames and six ratios are available from 10:1 to 120:1. The gearboxes are sized to handle from 1 to 24 hp motors and feature cast-iron (FCD45) one-piece housings and high hardness alloy steel (20CrMO) pinions and gears.

Pilotless, Spring-loaded Back Pressure Valve

Emerson, www.emerson.com The Daniel V707 valve features an adjustable spring that does not require diaphragms or pilots, making it suitable for the crude oil industry. Alternative technologies—such as gas loaded valves—require the user to maintain a nitrogen control system. This valve includes an integrated check valve for two-in-one functionality. It is based on the company’s Daniel 700 Series valve design which includes a metal-to-metal seat and protected O-rings to handle harsh crude oil conditions. While users have to stop operations to maintain and replace diaphragm valves, this valve will ensure minimum maintenance, according to Emerson. Additionally, the cost of ownership of the new valve will typically be half of an equivalent diaphragm valve for the first three years given the reduction in service hours and associated maintenance needed.

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40 ENTERPRISE VIEW AW OCTOBER 2020

Ma ing the hi to Industrial roduct as a ervice or Brian R. May

brian.r.may@accenture.com Managing Director, Industrial North America, Accenture

T

he transition from producing industrial products to outcome-driven services will create new opportunities for OEMs. Realizing the rewards of such promise, however, will require that OEMs not only re-orient their organization to a service focus, but do so at an accelerated pace.

The pressing need to quickly achieve the transformation is largely driven by several dynamics impacting the industrial market.

Today, business-to-business customers are rapidly shifting to the purchase of experiences that provide outcomes rather than products alone—much like everyday consumers. This Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) trend reflects the business world in general as it increasingly moves away from an asset-based economy involving products to an outcomebased economy.

Moreover, as part of the shift, organizations will need to develop an in-depth knowledge of their customers’ businesses and how they make money to create a viable, outcomebased service that can support them. This includes having the right capabilities in place to provide such services on an ongoing basis driven by specific customer needs at the time and embracing ecosystem partners and suppliers in this new way of serving customers.

Instead of selling a product as a one-time item, many companies are taking advantage of the growing demand for PaaS offerings to fill the revenue gap. For example, a major tire manufacturer is offering customers the option of managing their tires as a service in addition to selling them. The organization is currently managing 300,000 truck tires of customers worldwide.

The journey to establish a powerful servicedriven organization begins with developing a

2010_EnterpriseView.indd 40

resilient service operation that can be flexible and agile enough to prevail in the current environment and act as a springboard to hasten service-related revenue. This two-phase approach involves several actions industrial companies can take to make the transition.

To ensure resilient operations companies need to:

• Make use of data from smart products,

supply chains, and the market to help ensure outcomes will be achieved and risks will be mitigated.

• Adopt new digital technologies, such as connected products; cloud-based innovation platforms; and analytics for sensing, responding and managing to enable effective PaaS offerings and a thriving business as a whole.

• Create an operating model that is integrated with all business units across the enterprise, including independently owned dealers and distributors, and encourage collaboration as part of the organization’s culture.

• Perform robust scenario planning to help ensure service talent is optimally utilized and available to serve customers at exactly the right time.

To accelerate service revenue, companies need to:

• Innovate continuously to ensure that the

immediate and changing expectations of customers are constantly met.

• Attract new talent and develop service-oriented skills to increase the organization’s focus on selling and delivering services versus traditional manufacturing products.

• Proactively originate demand for outcomedriven services with a focus on client value creation.

• Be nimble as a service-based business and hone the ability to anticipate, sense, and respond quickly to customer needs.

• Develop service platforms to deliver smart services such as predictive maintenance and remote diagnostics.

• Monetize access to service platforms, including data analysis, and insight services to customers and third parties.

These actions provide a robust framework for executing the transition and increasing services revenue. But industrial companies also should be prepared for ongoing challenges. These challenges include needing to clearly work out roles and responsibilities with independent distributors, changing the clock speed of the organization to get products to market quickly, and the ability to face a new set of competitors who behave different than traditional “product” competitors.

Being prepared to succeed in a competitive environment that will only intensify as peers and new-market entrants vie for services market share will be critical.

Stabilizing the future

Digitization of the industrial sector has evolved from digitally enabled products to a focus on services, experiences, and outcomes that will help OEMs stabilize their business and spur growth in an unstable economic environment. Those companies that can re-adjust their organization to accelerate service offerings will be better prepared to capitalize on the shift to this next major stage in the industrial market.

T�is trend reflects the business orld in general as it moves a ay from an asset based economy to an outcome based economy.

10/2/20 8:48 AM

INDUSTRY VIEW 41

rti cial Intelligence in Manufacturing

By Florian Güldner Research Director, ARC Advisory Group

M

any technology suppliers now offer artificial intelligence (AI)enabled products and many machine builders have started to evaluate the technology. However, there are several roadblocks impeding adoption.

Most prominent among these are the lack of data scientists and available data, legal aspects, human factors, and unclear use cases.

The following case studies from the ARC European Forum highlight these issues.

Quality applications

Most applications presented at the ARC European Forum were in the area of quality control.

According to BrainCreators, over half of the quality checks in manufacturing involve visual confirmation, which are an easy target for AI. The challenge here is performing the needed quality checks with increasingly small batch sizes and higher variances in production, where a combination of expert knowhow and AI support is the right offering.

One of the key challenges in the industrial world is the codification of knowledge. This means documenting the tribal knowledge of engineers and others in written, or similar format, so it can be shared across the entire organization. Maarten Stol, principal scientific advisor at BrainCreators referred to this as, “turning domain expert knowledge into digital intelligence.”

Another example shared by BrainCreators was visual road inspection. While not exactly an industrial use case, it demonstrates some benefits and pain points of AI-based quality control. The algorithms can combine the knowledge of many

2010_IndustryView.indd 41

AW OCTOBER 2020

inspectors, increasing quality and freeing the outcomes of the inspections from subjectivity. The digital inspections can be linked to geographic information system (or any other) data, allowing a seamless workflow and speed up of not only the quality control itself, but the time needed to complete the road repair.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Construction uses AI and image processing techniques to ensure quality in welding processes.

While this can be done in a pre-defined setting for in-plant welding machines, L&T is challenged to analyze welds in pipelines and other typically “one-off” welds. While the images are taken locally at the edge, analysis is done in the cloud to train and use more computing power.

Another alternative to testing every single product is one used by Siemens in its Amberg factory, an electronics production site. In this high-speed production environment, testing each piece is time and cost intensive, so AI is used to predict quality using production data and existing quality test results.

collaboration, and operational optimization.

Training, verification, and optimization are performed in the cloud using a digital twin.

There is onboard intelligence and cloudbased communication, enabling swarm intelligence and distributed learning.

This cloud-based learning with a digital twin not only shortens project times, but also provides Toyota with a lifecycle service opportunity using failure analysis, preventive maintenance, and optimization. Further integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) allows for fully automated logistics that also work with smaller batch sizes.

AI is increasingly popular when it comes to improve usability of systems, from manufacturing execution system (MES) up to ERP. In addition to pre-generated interfaces and reports, AI can help answer questions such as “How much material is used?” Contextualization is key here and needs close collaboration between users such as L&T and AI experts.

In addition to quality control, AI can be used to fill in and generate reports to free workers from paperwork.

Maintenance applications

Operational simulation and optimization

ARC estimates that maintenance is the largest implementation area for AI applications in machinery applications, where it can bring substantial savings. This estimate is based on the fact that 80% of lifecycle costs for automation equipment typically relate to operations and maintenance. BrainCreators showed its solution for cabinet inspection, which allows real-time, proactive asset management based on maps of assets.

Another pain point is generating the timeintensive, post-inspection paperwork needed to comply with regulations. Here, AI can help and support the maintenance staff so they can focus on more value-adding work.

Warehouse logistics, MES, and ERP applications

One highly discussed application at the forum was Toyota Material Handling’s forklift application. The application describes the development from manual forklift trucks to guided vehicles to autonomous vehicles. This spans several applications, including safety,

While consumers expect consistent product quality and taste, natural variances of ingredients impact both food and beverage products. This is a particularly acute problem for global brands. Working with a brewery customer, Siemens developed an AI-based offering that aims to guarantee consistent quality and taste. An additional benefit from this project was to reduce loss of domain knowledge, since the process is codified.

The tip of the iceberg

Obviously, these just represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to potential use cases for AI in machinery applications and across the industrial world. But, as always, before embarking on any new automation project, it’s important to first identify a real need and build a business case for implementing the technology.

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42 INTEGRATOR VIEW AW OCTOBER 2020

T�e Importance of Material Tracing Timothy S. Matheny P.E., President of ECS Solutions

A

s parts of the country begin to move out of COVID-19 shutdowns, we have been hearing about “contact tracing” as a tool for containing a secondary spread of the disease. Material, lot tracing, or traceability has been part of producing safe food products for a long time, and the concepts behind contact tracing and material tracing are similar.

The U.S. food industry should be rightfully proud and the U.S. consumer properly thankful that behind the scenes, out of sight, and out of mind, tremendous efforts are being made to ensure food safety.

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) require traceability to the source. Establishing traceability to the source for all intended and unintended ingredients of a product in a consumer’s grocery cart relies on each producer or manufacturer that contributed to that product to have, and be able to, rapidly retrieve traceability data for its products.

To enable tracing, food ingredients and final products are produced and packaged in lots. For example, a lot may be the amount of product produced by a certain producer on a certain line during a certain day. Each producer tracks the lot numbers of any ingredients that are used in the production of any final product lots.

Confused? Let’s investigate that bottle of salad dressing you may pick up at the grocery store. That bottle has a lot code on the label. The dressing manufacturer can use that lot code to pull up a list of the ingredients, the producer of the ingredients, and the producer’s lot codes for the exact ingredients that went into that bottle.

A bottle of salad dressing may have 10-15 ingredients and each of those ingredients may have ingredients. Each producer down

2010_IntegratorView.indd 42

the line—all the way back to the source— can do the same. That is traceability to the source.

If you are thinking, “Wow, that’s a lot of data unlocked by one number on my dressing bottle label that I never noticed before,” you are exactly right. And if you are thinking, “Wow, how would we ever collect and manage data for contact tracing and who would responsibly manage that data?” you are also right. But try, if you can, to refocus on food material tracing.

The data each producer must collect, store, and be able to retrieve can be gathered manually, semi-automatically, or automatically. It can be stored in boxes of paper or in a relational database. Incomplete or inaccurate data can create tremendous liability. Activities required to collect, store, and retrieve data add to cost-of-production, so it needs to be performed efficiently. Across the industry, there are a myriad of tools and methods for collecting, storing, and retrieving traceability data accurately and efficiently.

When building new production lines or process cells, or performing significant upgrades to existing lines or cells, collection and storage activities can be tightly integrated into the operating controls for maximum accuracy, minimal cost, and minimal operator interference. The system can integrate fully with the plant’s ecosystem including inventory databases that contain manufacturer and lot information. Collected information is stored with batch records to be easily retrieved with off-the-shelf reporting tools. Operator interaction might involve some barcode scanning and/or verification. Automated weighing and dispensing increase the level of integration possible.

Older systems often use paper forms or forms on a computer screen. These manual data input systems are prone to human inaccuracy and consume valuable operator time.

Such systems are less expensive to implement but often cost more over the project lifecycle.

When a targeted upgrade is done to a line or process cell, collection activities are often semi-automatic. A semi-automated system interacts with the operators by providing clear instructions for activities that need to be performed, such as specifying where to locate containers from the appropriate

ingredient lot. All activities are electronically journaled, including amounts of ingredients consumed, either automatically or by operator entry. Instructions can be provided for intermediate materials, such as kits, as well as for finished products. Semi-automated systems can also interact with the plant ecosystem, such as the enterprise resource planning system, to receive work orders, execute them, and report material consumed and finished goods produced.

Traceability, whether food ingredient tracing or contact tracing, is incredibly important for the health of people living in our communities and nation. Tracing food product ingredients to the source requires detailed collection, storage, and retrieval of accurate and complete data. Producers that accomplish this accurately and efficiently have a competitive advantage. How are you handling traceability? How can you reduce cost and increase accuracy?

Traceability to the source for all ingredients of a product in a consumer’s cart relies on each producer that contributed to the product to be able to retrieve traceability data for its products.

10/2/20 8:47 AM

ADVERTISER INDEX 43 AW OCTOBER 2020

COMPANY

TELEPHONE

WEBSITE

PAGE #

Automation24

800.250.6772

www.Automation24.com

AutomationDirect

800.633.0405

www.automationdirect.com

Beckhoff Automation

952.890.0000

www.beckhoff.us/twinsafe

CIMON

800.300.9916

www.cimon.com

Delmia Works

866.367.3772

www.3ds.com/delmiaworks

Digi-Key Electronics

800.344.4539

www.digikey.com/automation

Emerson

888.889.9170

www.emerson.com/PACMotion

Fabco-Air

352.373.3578

www.fabco-air.com

Galco

888.526.0909

www.galco.com

Hammond Manufacturing

716.630.7030

www.hammond.com

Inductive Automation

800.266.0909

www.demo.ia.automation

Inductive Automation

800.266.0909

www.inductiveautomation.com

Motion Industries

800.526.9328

www.motionindustries.com

29, 35

Opto 22

800.321.6786

www.opto22.com

Cov-3

PMMI Media Group Custom Research

571.612.3199

www.pmmimediagroup.com/custom-research

32

Telemecanique Sensors

800.435.2121

www.tesensors.com/XXSonic

13

Tetra-Pak Inc.

940.565.8800

www.gonature.tetrapak.com

Wago Corporation

800.DIN.RAIL

www.wago.us/pfc200

Digi-Key Electronics

800.344.4539

www.digikey.com/automation

3

Dorner Manufacturing

800.397.8664

www.dornerconveyors.com/aw

9

FAULHABER MICROMO

800.807.9166

www.faulhaber.com/evolved/en

5

Helukabel

855-HELUUSA

www.helukabel.com

14

NSK Americas

734.478.9032

www.nskautomation.com

17

Telemecanique Sensors

800.435.2121

www.tesensors.com

13

Wago Corporation

800.DIN.RAIL

www.wago.us/pfc200

24

Winsted Corporation

800.447.2257

www.winsted.com

10

24-A (insert) Cov-2 14 7 17 3 Cov-4 37 9 39 5 Cov-1 wrap

1 23

Automation World AW Oct 20 Handbook

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

Automation World ® is published 14x a year by PMMI with its publishing office, PMMI Media Group, located at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611; 312.222.1010; Fax: 312.222.1310. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2020 by PMMI. All rights reserved. Materials in this publication must not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Applications for a free subscription may be made online at www.packworld.com/subscribe. Paid subscription rates per year are $105 in the U.S., $147 Canada and Mexico by surface mail; $250 Europe, South America. $325 Far East and Australia by air mail. To subscribe or manage your subscription to Automation World, visit AutomationWorld.com/subscribe. Free digital edition available to qualified individuals outside the United States. POSTMASTER; Send address changes to Automation World®, 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611. PRINTED IN USA by Quad Graphics. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of PMMI. Comments, questions and letters to the editor are welcome and can be sent to: editors@ automationworld.com. We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you would prefer that we don’t include your name, please write us at the Chicago, IL address. Volume 18, Number 10.

October20_AW_AdIndex.indd 43

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44 KEY INSIGHTS AW OCTOBER 2020

New partner companies will be able to connect with Volkswagen plants and contribute their own software applications for optimizing production processes to the Industrial Cloud. In this way, each plant will be able to obtain applications for its machinery, tools, and equipment directly from the Industrial Cloud to optimize production.

David Greenfield on Volkswagen’s Industrial Cloud initiative. http://awgo.to/1097

As manufacturers across industries ramp up digitization efforts, experts estimate that the typical plant is generating more than a terabyte of data a day with expectations that the number will multiply by a factor between five and 10, depending on industry, over the next five years.

Beth Stackpole on deciphering the industrial analytics market. http://awgo.to/1098

It is technology like robotics, artificial intelligence, and additive manufacturing that will make onshoring and nearshoring a reality for developed countries where labor costs are high.

Stephanie Neil on how the pandemic is impacting supply chains. http://awgo.to/1099

The pros of using simulation environments are two-fold: These environments allow facilities to test a system before it is on the plant floor and can decrease downtime. If operators can troubleshoot potential problems and train on the control systems before issues ever happen, it will result in less downtime, which means more cost savings.

Heather Johnson of Interstates on the value of simulation technologies. http://awgo.to/1100

The digital and collaborative products will help oil & gas organizations address challenges like sifting through the large amounts of data from different sources, which often leads to data inaccuracy and incompatibility, as well as difficulties organizing that data and identifying trends.

Luis Rodriguez on technology organizations joining forces to address the oil & gas industry’s digital transformation. http://awgo.to/1101

2010_KeyInsights.indd 44

10/2/20 8:47 AM

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S l bl M Scalable Motion i Solutions for Your High Performance Applications Emerson’s new PACMotion™ portfolio enables you to scale your motion capabilities without sacrificing performance. Our new family of servo motors, servo drives, software and motion controller easily integrates with our PACSystems portfolio for a complete solution for high-speed, high-precision processes in packaging, printing, material handling, semiconductors, food and beverage and manufacturing or other applications where a high number of axes are needed.

Emerson offers end-to-end automation solutions for your high-performance machinery applications. Visit www.emerson.com/PACMotion to learn more. Reach out to us directly at ContactUs@Emerson.com

The Emerson logo is a trademark and service mark of Emerson Electric Co. ©2020 Emerson Electric Co.

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