How is the Automotive Industry Handling the New Industrial Revolution?

Bill Gates is alleged to have once quipped that “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG.” Even though the authenticity of this quote is questionable, it has been circulated throughout the internet for years because there is something about the sentiment that rings true to us. It certainly does not seem that the automotive industry has kept up with advancing technology the way that the computer industry has.

This may be due in part to the manufacturing infrastructure that has evolved over the years. Making sweeping upgrades to equipment and/or processes seems a very expensive and risky proposition. When you couple this with the fact that many automobile manufacturers today struggle to find enough demand for their current supply, it is easy to understand why keeping up with the latest technology isn’t always a top priority.

The problem with this reluctance, though, is that automobiles are not inexpensive consumables that people buy casually. Customers expect vehicles to come with the highest standards of safety and efficiency. Customers expect the latest technology possible. How can manufacturers keep up with this demand for innovation without changing their processes?

It seems that some manufacturers are beginning to embrace the ways of the modern industrial world, and are finding ways to align their business models with the current wave of interconnectivity and streamlined automation.

Honda Manufacturing of Alabama

Honda’s largest light truck production facility in the world – a 3.7 million square foot plant – was faced with a problem all too common to large manufacturing facilities. Over the years, a number of different automation systems were introduced to help streamline production. With operations including blanking, stamping, welding, painting, injection molding, and many other processes involved in producing up to 360,000 vehicles and engines per year, it is not surprising that they found themselves struggling to integrate PLCs from multiple manufacturers, multiple MES systems, analytic systems, and database software from different vendors.

Of course, on top of these legacy systems, Honda continued to layer an array of smart devices on the plant floor and embed IT devices in plant equipment. The complexity introduced by this array of automation systems turned out to be slowing down the operations they were intended to streamline.

After reorganizing their business structure to merge IT and plant floor operations into a single department, Honda proceeded to deploy a new automation software platform that enabled them to bring together PLC data with the data coming from MES and ERP systems into a common interface that allowed the entire enterprise to be managed through a single system. This also allowed Honda to manage and analyze much larger data sets that revealed new opportunities for further optimization. While this reorganization required a significant investment of resources, they were able realize benefits immediately, and ultimately positioned themselves to maintain a competitive edge through the next decade or more.

Ford Motor Co.

Ford Motor Company operates a global network of manufacturing operations, and have had difficulty when trying to promote collaboration and share best practices between their various plants. They found a solution using technology based on the Google Earth infrastructure.

Ford was able to develop a cloud-based application that stores 2D and 3D representations of Ford’s global manufacturing facilities, and allows users to navigate through these virtual environments, place pins, and upload video, images and documents to these pins that are shared throughout Ford’s global operations. Engineers and operators can share information about current plant conditions and procedures, which can be accessed in real time from anywhere in the world. The accumulated data can be used for training or to update standard procedures. By creating a global collaborative tool, Ford has created a means of ensuring that each and every one of their employees has the latest, most accurate information on how to best perform a particular task or how to avoid a problem that was encountered elsewhere.

We will have to see in coming years whether or not these innovations will lead to improved market performance for either of these manufacturers, but in the meantime it is probably safe to expect other companies to follow suit. With the advances in manufacturing technologies and machine-to-machine communication, it is becoming very difficult to remain competitive without playing by the same rules as everyone else. Industrial technology has advanced to the point that we are experiencing what people refer to as a new industrial era – or Industry 4.0. Reluctance is no longer a viable option.

To learn more about innovations in manufacturing software technology, visit: http://scada.com

Finding Big Data Opportunities in Industrial Automation

Here we are in the world of Big Data and all of its possibilities. Just look at all the data we have available to us: production, maintenance, distribution, personnel, finances – real-time, historical and predictive. There is more data being collected more quickly and from more sources than ever before. We are swimming in it.

So, now what? Now that we’ve gathered all of this data, what does it mean to us? Personally, having reams of integers, floats, strings and timestamps in my hands doesn’t make me feel any smarter. As the old adage goes: Data is not information. Data without context offers no insight. Data without structure reveals no opportunities. How do we get from data to information? How do we get from information to knowledge? And how do we get from knowledge to action?

Finding the Anomalies

The US Department of Defense employs a process known as Activity-Based Intelligence (ABI) to find useful details in large sets of data. For example, in 2013, when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, investigators immediately had at their disposal hundreds of hours of surveillance footage, cell phone photos, and time-stamped video from dozens of angles. To manually review all of this media would require thousands of man-hours – time that is obviously not available in a situation like this.

To make use of this constellation of data, investigators were forced to find a way of automating the investigation. They decided to establish a specific set of details they wanted to locate in all of these photos and videos. Namely, they were looking for any individuals at the scene of the bombing who were not running away or looked unafraid. The behavior recognition technology existed, so it was a simple matter to enter a set of variables into a program and to let the software review the footage in an effort to find the activity that matched these variables. Soon, two suspects were revealed.

While it would have been nearly impossible for human analysts to review all of this footage in a timely fashion, investigators discovered that Big Data could in fact be very useful if combined with a mechanism to compare and contrast the thousands of data points being reviewed.

A similar technique is now being employed in cancer research. A so-called “Big Mechanism” has been created to review the vast and complex medical records of cancer patients that have been established over the years to find overlapping patterns or consistencies that can lead to a new understanding of root causes or precipitating circumstances. By automating the research, we are now able to analyze data sets of much greater size and complexity than would be possible using only human analysts.

Can Similar Techniques be Employed in Industrial Automation?

Today’s industrial enterprises find themselves in a situation similar to those described above. Huge amounts of data are being recorded and opportunities for improvement are known to exist, but how do we know what to look for and how do we find it? The same sort of ABI employed by the DoD may well have a place in the commercial world.

If we can review our historical process data to define the circumstances surrounding certain conditions (unplanned downtime, spikes in energy consumption, etc.), we may be able to recognize repeated patterns or anomalous activity related to these specific circumstances, thereby enabling us to take action to correct the situation before it happens again. By finding the data that stands out from the rest, detailing the characteristics of that data, and looking for those characteristics elsewhere, we may be able to pinpoint causal relationships that were previously obscure or misleading.

On the flipside, the same techniques can be employed to define the circumstances surrounding periods of extended productivity or energy efficiency. The same techniques used to discern the cause of deficiencies can be used to optimize asset performance and improve the quality and efficiency of our processes.

By creating analytic mechanisms aligned with the principles of ABI, we are able to create a safer, more efficient, more productive work environment. Of course, some of this runs counter to the way most of us are programmed to think. We tend to put more stock in consistent, reliable information, while discounting the anomalies. ABI encourages us to find the anomalies and focus on them.

The key to navigating the world of Big Data may not lie in the massive set of data, but in the tiny subset of data that teaches us about the abnormalities or anomalies we find. Look for the data points that stand out from the rest and ask yourself why. Consider the circumstances surrounding the collection of that data; can we map certain plant floor conditions to specific results?

Thus far, the Big Data movement has been a combination of hype and optimism, with very little practical value in daily operations. Some companies are finding ways to take advantage of the opportunities, while others have fallen behind.

Can you find the opportunities?

A Case for Mobile Devices in Automation

One of the fastest-growing and most widespread trends in the HMI and SCADA software realms is that of mobility. Namely, how can we – or should we – take advantage of mobile devices in automated work environments?

There are those who have concerns about security. Are mobile devices secure enough to allow them to access sensitive process-related data? And if so, how much access should they have? Read/Write access? Read only? Should they be limited to a certain subset of data? And, if so, how can our control user access to ensure that users only access what they are authorized to see? Will these devices open holes in the network that allow malicious applications access to sensitive controls?

While some of the security concerns are certainly valid, the benefits of mobile devices are impossible to overlook, and the truth is that many of the security concerns are not inherent in the devices themselves, but in the way that the HMI/SCADA system and network infrastructure are configured.

Consider some of the pains that mobile devices can help eliminate:

• A field operator must call the control room to ask for the reading on certain piece of equipment (i.e. valve, switch) he/she is looking at or manipulating.
   
• A field operator must call the control room to confirm whether a certain piece equipment has truly been shut down for maintenance work because it sounds like it is still running.
   
• A field technician dangerously works on a live line because the control room has shut down the wrong line!
   
• A field operator must call the control room to describe equipment schematics because he/she has no access to an HMI or drawings on the floor at that moment.
   
• A field operator must call the control room to pull out the manual for a piece of equipment because the panel on the one he/she is looking at is different from the others he/she is used to.
   
• A field operator must describe over the radio what he/she is seeing - lights on a panel, leaks, etc.
   
• An operator must take a check-list out to the field, return to the control room and enter the results into a form or spreadsheet, or into the control HMI.
   
• Constant calling back and forth between field and control room when testing or calibrating a measurement or control element.

A mobile device can be used to remotely monitor processes and equipment, view drawings or manuals, review an online checklist, enter information into a form, even adding value as a tool for remote collaboration.

When properly configured and combined with role-based user access control, a wide array of new possibilities are revealed. The time saved in the field can now be used to perform other tasks or implement programs for optimization. A safer, more productive workforce is a very real benefit, and that's not something that business owners or managers will take lightly.

Are mobile devices a part of your business model? If not, it may be time to review your processes and make room for the future.  

The Integrated Enterprise - Are We Ready?

There are many barriers to change in a commercial enterprise, and most of them start with a dollar sign. You are comfortable with what you’re doing. Your staff is comfortable. Sure, there may be some missed opportunities, but perfection is unrealistic. To implement enterprise-wide changes to something like your data management strategy would require cooperation across multiple departments, absorb numerous man-hours in implementation, and who can say how long it will take for all parties to get used to the new strategy and work with a level of comfort they already feel today? Is it worth it? How long will it take to recover the investment?

There are many legitimate questions to ask when considering whether or not to move toward an integrated data management strategy. How do we calculate the true cost of making such a change? A question that is very rarely asked is: What is the true cost of not making such a change?

First, let’s consider some of the reasons in favor of data integration.

Inconsistent data

One of the problems addressed by data integration is inconsistency between data on the plant floor and the business data further upstairs. Depending on the type of business, different departments typically have different goals and criteria for success. The plant floor supervisor wants to know where his products are; the executive upstairs wants to know how much his products are worth. Here is a case where we have different people querying for different bits of information about the same asset. Over time, the different goals and process definitions have led to departments using the same terms to describe different things, and different terms to describe the same things. This barrier to departmental collaboration in the manufacturing industry, for example, has led to the development of standards like ISA 95 to help facilitate the integration of manufacturing systems with business systems.


Redundant data

Another common condition is the tendency for different departments or divisions to have different ways of recording information about the same things. It is not at all unusual for large organizations to have multiple records of the same asset. For instance, if we imagine a particular production unit from the perspective of the plant floor operator, he will need to have information about where it is in the production process, its quality, the personnel involved in its production and testing, and when it will be shipping. At the same time, a manager will want to have information about how much it cost to produce this unit, how many units will be produced today, and how much we will get for it. We now have a situation where we are capturing and recording separate sets of data about the same thing.


Fewer Human Resources

This one seems obvious, but it a significant difference-maker when you analyze your bottom line. Making it easier to find needed data will allow personnel to spend more time focusing on other aspects of their jobs. It will allow for faster decisions and more immediate response to abnormal conditions. Your plant floor supervisor won’t have to make that call upstairs to find out why today’s production schedule has changed, or log in to a separate system to find out when a piece of equipment was last inspected. And the manager upstairs won’t have to call downstairs to find out why we are behind schedule today, or what happened to that shipment that was supposed to go out. Having the ability to quickly assess a situation leads to better-informed decisions made more quickly and with more immediate results.


Reduced Risk

While we are on the topic of making informed decisions more quickly, this is a good time to consider the way that decisions are currently made in many enterprises. When a decision needs to be made quickly, and the data that could support that decision is not available as quickly as the decision is needed, owners and executives are left to make decisions based on intuition. Studies have suggested that about 80% of decisions are made this way. It may work and it may not. Having the right information when and where it is needed can significantly reduce the risk involved in the decision-making process.

There are many additional benefits that can be attributed to data integration. New business opportunities can be revealed. New calculations can be used to improve efficiency and coordinate processes. Improve inventory management, energy consumption, supply chain scheduling, etc. Whether you choose to use a system of data virtualization to integrate key data from different divisions, a system of data federation to consolidate all enterprise data, or opt for a complete data integration solution that re-engineers your entire data system, the benefits are very real and yes, so is the cost. The cost, however, is a short-term loss for a long-term gain; a temporary pain for permanent growth.

So, to revisit the topic of this article: Are we ready for the integrated enterprise? The answer is irrelevant. Those who are ready will continue to prosper. Those who are not will lose the ability to compete, and will ultimately have to get ready or get out of the way.

For more information on how you can integrate and visualize your business's data, visit: www.scada.com

Is it Time for New SCADA Technology?

About 13 years ago, a new software product was released for retail sale and within its first 5 years of existence more than 400 million copies were sold. Today, over 1 billion copies have been sold. And what was this hugely successful software product? Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system for personal computers. A the time of its release, it was a significant upgrade over its predecessors in terms of performance and usability, and it was the most widely used operating system in the world for a full decade.

Then, in April of this year, Microsoft ceased extended support for this enormously popular product. No more product support or security updates would be available. Did Microsoft do this because they hated their millions of customers? Did they discover some long-overlooked defect that would render the product dangerous or unstable? No. They simply knew that better operating systems were available, and even though Windows XP was a wonderful product that served many people very well, its time had come and gone.

During XP’s wonderful run, computer technology continued to evolve. Much more powerful processors were created. Faster communication interfaces were developed. Computers began to operate in ways that could not possibly have been considered when XP was developed all those years ago. And what is the point in buying a new computer with all of these fancy new capabilities if you are running an operating system that will treat your computer as if it were built a decade earlier? The fact is that taking full advantage of your new computer’s speed and power requires a new operating system – an operating system designed for today’s technology.

What Does This Have to do With SCADA?

There is a lesson to be learned here about SCADA software in today’s industrial environment. Most SCADA systems in place today were deployed 7, 10, even 20 years ago! If we think about the way technology has changed in the last 20 – or even 10 years, it is preposterous to think that 10-year-old software is taking full advantage of the opportunites available. And not only has technology changed, but the very concepts that are fundamental to process automation have evolved beyond anything that would have been conceivable to a software developer 20 years ago. We are entering the era of big data and the industrial Internet of Things. There are more sensors and actuators on today’s plant floor than SCADA developers would have thought possible 20 years ago.

A recent article by AutomationWorld’s Jeanne Schweder investigates the changing industrial workplace and how existing SCADA systems are really holding companies back from taking full advantage of the opportunities available today. Per the article:

“Older SCADA systems were never designed to connect with the number of machines, sensors and other assets that manufacturers now want to monitor and control. Nor were they designed to handle the amount of data traffic and records these connections can generate. This lack of scalability, including the ability to access information through the Internet, can be a significant barrier to improving the quality and productivity of manufacturing processes.”

The reality is that it doesn’t matter what kind of fancy new equipment you install or data management strategies you implement if your SCADA software is operating with yesterday’s technology as a limitation. Imagine buying a high-powered sports car with state-of-the-art technology and world class performance benchmarks. Then imagine taking the engine from a 20-year-old sedan with half of the horsepower and twice the emissions and using it to power your new sports car. Do you expect to get the maximum performance out of the car? The same top speed? The same acceleration? What about your gas mileage? Can we really expect any of the hardware to perform up to its potential?

Old SCADA technology can have the same sort of limiting effect on your automated processes, regardless of how smart your equipment or your management strategy is. The AutomationWorld article above provides some suggestions for comparing SCADA platforms. The suggestions include:

“…tools for HMI graphics that are easy to learn and let you become productive quickly; the ability to easily expand the system for facility changes and growing data needs; an open format such as SQL Server for data storage, which means you don’t need to buy a third-party package for data analysis; and the ability to interface with software and hardware from multiple vendors.”

If you evaluate your SCADA software and find that these criteria are not being met, it is time to seriously consider a change. And you may not like the cost of changing, but the opportunity cost of not changing is far greater, and changing to the right platform today will not only allow you to improve your production, but will make any additional or future projects faster, easier, and much less expensive.

Preparing for the Internet of Things

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the “Internet of Things” and how technology will be changing the way we interact with our environment (or the way our environment interacts with us). There are all kinds of warm and fuzzy opinions about smart appliances and vehicles making our daily lives less tedious and more fulfilling. And there’s also a fair amount of doom and gloom expected from those who see this as the first step toward a post-human Orwellian nightmare landscape of people and products as interchangeable and expendable commodities to be bought and sold in the marketplace.

Regardless of which side of the debate you find yourself on, the Internet of Things is a very real concept, living and growing every day. Whether by means of RFID chips, barcodes or near field communication, most objects produced today come with a means of cataloguing and tracking. There is no longer a valid reason to debate the validity or necessity of the IoT. All that is left for us to do is find a way to make the most of it.


What is the Internet of Things?

In general, the Internet of Things is a theoretical concept used to describe a scenario where uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations are all contained within a virtual organizational structure like the internet. As opposed to an internet of information like text, video, images – all of which require human input – an internet of things would contain cars, refrigerators, phones, sweater-vests, any and all things. Once the thing is created and circulated, information about it would be continuously updated without any user assistance, the idea being that we can maximize the value of these things by knowing precisely when they need to be repaired, replaced or restocked without the fallibility and imprecision of human input. In fact, some people may suggest that humans themselves will be “things” in the new internet.

According to Wikipedia, the phrase was originated in 1999 by Kevin Ashton. It has since become something of a buzzword in certain circles, and with the proliferation of “smart” devices, its popularity has continued to grow. It has been estimated that the IoT will be populated by over 50 billion “things” by 2020. Another term bandied about in this regard is M2M (Machine-to-Machine), the obvious inference being that machines can communicate with and make decisions about other machines without a bunch of squishy, emotional, hairless apes mucking up the procedure. In either case, the dawning age of integrated intelligence is intended to create a more energy-efficient, cost-effective, safer world.


What does this mean for SCADA?

The IoT should be a great thing for SCADA software. More “smart” objects with more sensors means more data to monitor. That should increase the demand for SCADA systems, and it undoubtedly will. Unfortunately, many small to medium-size businesses will not be able to take full advantage of these advances right away. It costs money to replace older equipment with new; and it costs money to by the sensors and communication devices that would be required to turn yesterday’s hardware into the intelligent objects of tomorrow.

In order for a company to make the leap into a more data-driven business model, it would seem to be necessary that the entire intelligent infrastructure of data points would have to be in place before any kind of data visualization software could be implemented. The time spent designing HMI (Human Machine Interface) screens and binding relevant data to them would be wasted if the entire process had to be repeated every time a new sensor is added.

The reality is that a new type of SCADA software will be required as we prepare for the new industrial revolution. SCADA systems will have to be more fluid, able to evolve and adapt to a changing workplace with changing information management needs. Innovative developers who recognize this trend and create software able to take advantage of these current conditions will set the new standard for HMI/SCADA vendors and consumers.


Data Modeling

One innovative way to account for the new data-driven workplace is to implement a SCADA system that employs data modeling. A data model allows you to define the types of data that will be monitored, and also allows for new types to be added quickly and easily as new smart objects are added to the process. In fact, data modeling may be the only way to accommodate an ever-evolving information matrix. If you buy a new sensor to add to a particular type of pump – and you’ve got 100 of these pumps – your data model will allow you to add the new property to the pump “type” and easily expose that property for all instances of the pump “type”. Then you can quickly and easily bind this property to a graphic on an HMI screen. And since the data model allows you to create a single “pipe” template and deploy the same HMI screen for every instance of pipe you want to monitor, it is possible to make these with a very small investment of time.

Data modeling also allows for all of these changes without requiring you to take the process down while you update your data visualization system. Since your graphics are bound to properties in your model, you can even update your model and your HMI screens before the new sensors are even installed, which again can save a tremendous amount of time.

The data model also creates possibilities for integrating new types of data from different sources; it allows for a SCADA system to integrate asset management and maintenance data, financial data, performance management data – virtually any type of data that can be made available can be incorporated into the model and visualized in whatever way we choose. The same system used to create virtual control panels for operating personnel can be used to create CEO dashboards.

The Internet of Things is expected by many to be every bit as much of a revolution as the internet of information that we use today. Already, many companies are changing their information infrastructure to adapt to the new world. It is becoming apparent that the old way of organizing information is no longer adequate. To take full advantage of the increased efficiency, reduced waste and lower cost promised by this new revolution, we have to change the way we manage our data.

Learn more at www.scada.com

Smart Buildings – The Foundation of a Smart Planet

You walk into a room and the lights turn on. You look back and the lights are off in the room you just left. The temperature is perfect. You leave for work and all of your doors lock themselves. Your security system is armed automatically. Have you accidentally stepped through a time warp into the home of the future? Are you on the set of the latest sci-fi blockbuster? No. This is not the stuff of fantasy; this is the reality of today’s “smart” home. And it’s getting “smarter”.

With sensors to detect temperature, humidity, air quality – even carbon monoxide or radon, these buildings are often more aware of their environments than the people that inhabit them.

Of course the “smart” home is one type of smart building, but the majority of smart buildings are not residential; they are commercial or municipal. Today, building automation systems are used to heat and cool individual rooms or spaces, control security cameras and alarms, lights, water distribution systems, elevators – in general, if it moves or changes, it can be automated.

Today, we have numerous buildings full of sensors, controllers, and smart appliances. As the technology is now known to help in reducing energy consumption and controlling emissions, we can all be confident that we will see many more in the future. In fact, we are seeing the emergence of entire “smart” cities.

The Tip of the Iceberg

With the advent of smart building technology, we are at the precipice of a world very different from the one we know. We are soon to see entire smart communities composed of smart buildings, smart cars that drive themselves on smart highways lined by smart street signs and smart billboards.

And why are these smart buildings and smart cities necessary? Haven’t we done just fine without them? While that is certainly debatable, it is becoming difficult to deny that urban areas around the world have infrastructures that are severely strained by ever-increasing populations. The World Health Organization reports that in 2010 more than half of the world’s population lived in cities. They estimate that the number will increase to 60% by 2030. The United Nations estimates it will be over 70% by 2050. With power distribution systems, water management systems, sanitation systems, transportation systems and more encumbered by increased demand, and with the budget constraints that most municipalities face, there is a strong push toward increased efficiency and sustainability in cities around the world. Additionally, many governments are now enforcing laws mandating cleaner technologies and reduced emissions. 

The world in which we live is changing, as is the way we live in it. There are some obvious benefits, and as with any change there are some significant concerns.

What’s the Downside?

In the midst of all of the excitement about cleaner, more efficient cities with less waste and lower emissions, a few voices still can be heard crying “Stay out of my business, big brother!”. So, what happens when these technologies become tools for policing the population? Is there a line that has been crossed when some organization decides when your doors should be locked? Or what about whether or not your car will start? What if automation technology can be used to deny services to people based on arbitrary criteria? Are we moving too quickly into the future?

While some of these questions may seem like the unsettled ramblings of a reclusive conspiracy theorist, there are many people who consider these to be valid concerns. These are not new questions, though, and similar questions surface nearly every time a significant technological advance is made. There are far too many benefits to building a smarter infrastructure to think that it may not happen. It most certainly is happening right now, and the benefits are already being measured. While there may be legitimate concerns, the concerns will be addressed. There is more value in preparing ourselves for the reality of what's happening than in denying it.

Consider the Upside

Some of the benefits of smart building technology are cited above, including greater efficiency, reduced waste, less pollution, fewer accidents. These are obvious benefits that can save municipalities a great deal of money, while simultaneously creating a cleaner, more efficient world for us all. These technologies can reduce – maybe even eliminate – our dependence on fossil fuels. These technologies can create cleaner air, safer streets, and healthier, happier citizens.

While there may be some valid concerns, information and communication will help to alleviate many of them. We are living in a time with virtually unlimited access to information. There is no longer any good reason for us to live in ignorance. If we can stay aware of the new technologies that are being introduced into our environments, and stay abreast of any legislation that supports these new technologies, there is no reason for us to fear the future. What’s more important is the type of life we can lead in this “smart” world. Imagine a world of healthy people with more free time and fewer expenses. What new possibilities can come from a life unencumbered by the tedium of performing these simple daily tasks? This can be a liberating experience if we let it.

As our environments become more aware of us and our needs, new opportunities will arise. And these opportunities are not purely financial. There are real opportunities to improve the quality of our lives, and it is happening every day.