1

November 16-19, 2015

Creating Transformative Value with The Connected Enterprise

A Special Report from the Editors of Control, Control Design, and Smart Industry

Highlights of the 2015 rockwell automation fair

222

“Future-proofing high-performance architecture delivers business value across the entire automation investment lifecycle.” Rockwell Automation Chairman and CEO Keith Nosbusch opens Automation Perspectives at Rockwell Automation Fair in Chicago.

In 2014, The Connected Enterprise was a vision. “This year, our focus is on the implementation,” said Rockwell Automation Chairman and CEO Keith Nosbusch, who opened Automation Perspectives in Chicago with the

company’s blueprint for connecting and integrating intelligent devices in an architecture that is future-proofed.

“The Connected Enterprise is the digital company. It includes a high-performance architecture for integrated control and information.”

Rockwell Automation, with $6.3 billion in fiscal 2015 sales, is the largest company in the world that is solely focused on industrial power, control and information solutions, explained Nosbusch. The global automation giant, with its 22,000 employees in more than 80 countries, turned 112 years old this year.

Three core platforms—Integrated Architecture, Intelligent Motor Control and solutions and services—are architected and designed to deliver The Connected Enterprise through solutions that enable faster time to market, lower total cost of ownership, improved asset utilization, reduced downtime and increased throughput and quality.

With so many legacy systems in place, some with useful lives that won’t expire for another 10-15 years, manufacturers need investment strategies to determine how to get where they need to be.

“It starts with at least having a picture of where you want to end up,” explained Nosbusch. “You don’t know what you’re going to learn along the way.”

One given of IT and OT convergence is Ethernet. Start with a contemporary, standard, unmodified Ethernet infrastructure, which doesn’t limit your choice of products or solutions because it’s an open architecture.

“You might only be doing information and control now, but you’ll want to do voice and video and mobility in the future,” Nosbusch said. “You can evolve at your own pace. It’s incrementally deployable—you modify as you go.”

The ConneCTed enTerprise: From vision To implemenTaTionRockwell Automation Chairman and CEO Keith Nosbusch gives real examples of connecting smart assets to an integrated network that spans IT and OT

By Mike Bacidore, chief editor, Control Design

3

IT ANd OTThe need to converge IT and OT—the business network and the plant floor—is central to achieving The Connected Enterprise.

“IT is transactional data, such as orders, supply network or product design,” explained Nosbusch. “OT is real-time data, things like control, safety and security. Our partnership with Cisco is the foundation for an IT/OT convergence, which enables open communication between smart assets and the realization of The Connected Enterprise.”

Forward-thinking manufacturers are combining IT and OT organizations, said Nosbusch. “We see organizations that are combining those two or having them collaborate as integrated control and information,” he explained. “Some companies will fight it, but other companies see the end game. The reason they used to fight is because they didn’t trust each other.”

An industrial asset only becomes smart when it has a microprocessor and it’s connected to a network. It needs to be what Nosbusch calls “self-aware” and “system-aware.” As examples, the ability to realize self-diagnostics and calculate energy use is self-awareness. System-awareness means it can be integrated for safety and security.

“Our new Kinetix 5700 servo drive, for example, is self-tuning, which reduces scrap and improves energy efficiency,” offered Nosbusch. “This is self-aware. A system-aware example comes from our work with Fanuc, which helps to ensure the safety of an automated work cell. Self-aware and system-aware assets, when combined with the network, make The Connected Enterprise a reality.”

REAl APPlICATIONsThe three key tenets of The Connected Enterprise are that it’s smart, productive and secure. “Even apps on a smart phone are important foundations of our high-performance architecture,” said Nosbusch.

The PlantPAx DCS from Rockwell Automation is based on open

communication standards, breaking the mold of the conventional, closed DCS. “It’s scalable, and it’s information-enabled with IT-OT integration.”

Rockwell Automation customer Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Oregon, wanted to increase its productivity without compromising quality. “We deployed PlantPAx with FactoryTalk Historian, VantagePoint and Logix Batch & Sequence Manager,” explained Nosbusch. “We reduced brew cycle times by half, cut raw material costs by 5% and increased brewing capacity by 25%.”

The manufacturing sector generates and stores 2 exabytes of data annually, more than any other sector. “There’s a general belief that all analytics will happen at the cloud,” said Nosbusch. “We believe there’s great value that can occur at the source. The closer to the source, the faster we can close the loop and act on them. Real-time analytics result in real-time action. This requires three steps—contextualization, analytics and actions.”

The oil and gas industry has assets in the field that personnel can only read and monitor by driving to them. One company is working with Rockwell Automation for remote performance monitoring, with real-time analytics running on the controller.

“We are using VantagePoint for visualization,” said Nosbusch. “We’re working with Microsoft and AT&T so operators can now look at health and performance on a smart phone. They can understand the down-hole condition of the well. Our solution allows monitoring and well management based on need, and not on a schedule.”

Secure IT-OT convergence and operational intelligence can be a challenge when there’s lots of legacy software and the need for enterprise visibility. PepsiCo identified many challenges, such as inefficient network communications. Rockwell Automation provided industrial data centers, industry-standard Ethernet and round-the-clock support. By replacing old computers, reliability improved and troubleshooting time was reduced by 90%.

Ford Motor is another company that saw a financial benefit. It had five different scheduling systems around the world, and, in some cases, the platforms were no longer supported by the

3

4

vendors. Ford connected systems across the globe with FactoryTalk ProductionCentre, resulting in smoother vehicle production, managed in real time.

With more than 2 million variations in Ford models, the system, now in place in 25 of Ford’s 40 vehicle assembly plants, enables global production based on local supply and demand conditions.

Finally, BeingMate, a Chinese baby and child food company, wanted to double production capacity and needed electronic batch records to comply with the China Food & Drug Administration requirements.

“We deployed a system that is fully integrated with the plant’s ERP, which resulted in a 3% increase in productivity,” explained Nosbusch. “The system also delivered a 7% reduction in labor costs by reducing manual data entry.”

FuTuRE-PROOFEd ANd PARTNER-FORTIFIEdBecause Rockwell Automation customers use a large number of third-party tools, future-proofing high-performance architecture so it isn’t obsolete before the payback period ends is a credible way

to deliver business value across the entire automation investment lifecycle—from design to operation through maintenance.

As looming as the threat of obsolescence is, cybersecurity also stands as a potential hurdle to adoption. While cybersecurity is no longer an excuse not to implement, it’s still a concern for organizations.

“It’s just like safety,” explained Nosbusch. “We had a reliable PLC, and then we added the safety function to it. Over time, it became the norm. Security will ultimately become the norm of a control system because who would put something in that isn’t secure, just like who would put in a PLC without safety. It’s available.”

To deliver The Connected Enterprise, Rockwell Automation has partnered with both IT and OT companies.

“No one company can offer everything that’s needed,” explained Nosbusch. “Our strategic partners and over 100 Encompass partners are essential.”

Those partners include AT&T, Microsoft and Cisco on the IT side, as well as Endress+Hauser, Panduit and Fanuc on the OT side.

4

5

“It will be more critical than ever to understand what’s happening in your machinery, plant and enterprise.” steve ludwig of Rockwell Automation on the ability of Connected Enterprise technology to counteract the intensifying shortage of skilled workers across industry.

A trend is just a trend until it hits the bottom line; then it becomes a crisis. When it comes to the massive workforce contraction threatening global industry, that collision is imminent. Its shockwaves will be felt in reduced productivity,

profitability and safety unless companies act now to ramp up expertise, initiate culture change and adopt new technology for the road ahead.

The good news is that technology is available in the form of accessible and affordable processing power, connectivity, remote monitoring and data analysis capabilities that are enabling the Industrial Internet of Things.

Rockwell Automation is leading the charge to usher in this Connected Enterprise: the company’s overarching approach to networked connectivity that leverages the IIoT to empower a more efficient, engaged and secure industrial workforce.

And beyond the company’s technology platform, Rockwell Automation is collaborating with its customers, vendor partners, educators, consultants, integrators and communities to help industrial companies create leaner, more flexible and efficient operations and navigate the training, recruitment and cultural changes that need to occur.

ThE ChAllENgEIn North America, the average age of skilled industrial workers is 56, and one-third of workers are over age 50. Industrial workers tend to be a conservative group, with a very strong tendency to retire on schedule rather than extending their working lives. By 2020, in just a few years, more than 115 million skilled workers will be nearing retirement, beginning a drain that will result in a shortfall of 875,000 skilled professionals in the coming decades, according to generally accepted estimates. And that’s just North America.

“This is far from just a U.S. problem,” said Steve Ludwig, program manager, safety, at Rockwell Automation. “In China, the over-65 population will climb to 210 million and by

How to survive tHe coming workforce crisisNorth American industry faces a predicted shortfall of 875,000 skilled workers by 2020. Surviving this contraction will require accelerated changes in connectivity, culture and community

Steve Diogo

6

2050, retirees will make up one quarter of the population, eclipsing the entire population of the United States. In Latin America, the birth rate is plummeting, significantly shrinking the talent pool in these countries. In the European Union, governments are pushing to keep people in the workforce longer. This is a global problem. ”

At the same time, global GDP growth rate is expected to decline from 3.6 percent per year between 1964 and 2012, to 2.1 percent for the next 50 years. In a January 2015 article in Harvard Business Review, the director of McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey‘s business and economics research arm, projected that it will require 80 percent higher productivity growth to offset the impact of declining labor availability.

“Obviously this is not a short-term regional problem,” Ludwig said. “It’s an issue that many companies are dealing with today and will have to deal with for the foreseeable future.”

A sAFETy IssuEBeyond productivity threats, this transformation also heralds safety risks: “When large numbers of experienced workers are replaced by far fewer young, inexperienced workers—who have to do more with less—safety becomes a serious concern,” Ludwig said.

“Younger and less experienced workers are more frequently injured and tend to have more acute, serious injuries,” said Ludwig.“Several studies show that younger workers—under age 25, and in particular those with less than one year on the job—have much higher injury rates. This is generally attributed to inexperience, cognitive and developmental characteristics, hesitance to ask questions, misjudging risks and failure to recognize workplace dangers. They don’t have the experience to understand the hazards that older workers do. They tend to take more risks, resulting in more injuries.”

Ludwig said efficiency is the key to increasing both productivity and safety. But this efficiency has to be smart. For companies that wait for the trend to become a crisis in their plants, “efficiency” will mean squeezing workers to do more within their existing

frameworks. This is a recipe for disaster on both fronts, Ludwig said. The way forward is The Connected Enterprise, Ludwig proposed,

in which workers have the technology they need to do their jobs smartly and safely, with the benefit of receiving on-demand information needed to operate from a predictive, safe standpoint rather than running around reacting to machine failures.

Ludwigsaid this connectivity allows companies to focus on the following priorities to pave the way for increased productivity and safety: • Reduce job complexity through worker-specific instructions and

information.• Ease information access through mobile access that’s convenient

and readily available.• Reduce travel demands to improve availability of your most

knowledgeable, in-demand employees.• Improve labor utilization to do more with existing employees.• Improve safety by conducting a thorough analysis of safety

shutdowns, location and status.“Building a Connected Enterprise is important to both the

productivity and the safety issue,” Ludwigsaid. “It will be more critical than ever to understand what’s happening in your machinery, plant and enterprise. Having readily available information reduces job complexity and improves efficiency. Understanding where safety shutdowns are taking place—by geography, by machine type, by line—can help you understand operator and machinery issues and take action to address them. Remote access can reduce travel demands on employees and reduce mean time to repair, improving productivity.”

EduCATION ANd COmmuNITyThe technology is there, but success requires more than

just technology, according to Patrick Murray, director, market development, services & solutions, Rockwell Automation.

On the training and recruiting front, throughout the United States and other regions, programs supporting STEM education

6

77

(science, technology, engineering, math) are preparing the next generation of engineers; and smart industrial companies are reaching out to their communities to educate students, and even parents, that today’s manufacturing industry is not your grandfather’s.

“If you’re not working with your communities to identify and recruit the best and brightest, I highly recommend you start doing it,” Murray said. “Manufacturing is not a natural field for young people to see as exciting. Most of them, and their parents, still see manufacturing as dirty work. It’s up to us to show them

that this is a dynamic, high-tech field where they can be fulfilled and enjoy a good standard of living.”

But the main challenge, Murray said, is helping companies adopt the cultural change that needs to occur to align business goals and strategies, help existing workers adapt to new skill requirements, and create welcoming and fulfilling work environments for new workers. To that end Rockwell Automation offers its expertise to help companies assess their workforce needs and chart the way forward. The company also can refer consultants who are specialists in culture change.

77

8

“security used to be provided by the closed system—if you couldn’t understand it, you couldn’t hack it.” John genovesi of Rockwell Automation discussed the need for today’s modern distributed control systems to include security at every level based on best practices from the IT world.

The forces driving the process industries to modernize control systems are larger and deeper than just the need to replace end-of-life technology.

The global population will soon pass 7.6 billion, but what’s of greater interest to industry is that 1 billion people are also rising from poverty to the middle class.

“This trend will drive $8 trillion in consumer spending, putting pressure on production and natural resources,” said John Genovesi, vice president, information software and process business, Rockwell Automation, to attendees of his keynote presentation at the Rockwell Automation Process Solutions User Group this week in Chicago.

For example, we expect a 100% increase in the number of automobiles and similar rises in demand for consumer products, pharmaceuticals and fresh water.

“Industry will spend $1 trillion going after this opportunity, leveraging new technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT),” Genovesi said. The “phenomenal capability you get from leveraging these technologies” will bring a safer food supply from farm to plate, better energy management, reduced waste, lower costs, and maintenance systems that eliminate catastrophic failures.

IT ON ThE PlANT FlOOR“We must embrace the convergence of information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT), and use the same network technology in the factory as at the enterprise level,” said Genovesi. “We want Ethernet for peer-to-peer, supervisory and device-level communications so we can get at the plant data, do our KPIs [key performance indicators] and integrate the enterprise to the plant floor.

“We expect this to drive up to $3.9 trillion in productivity improvements through the manufacturing supply chain.”

Industry Week reports that 14% of manufacturing companies connect equipment to the enterprise, and one-fifth report loss of intellectual property in the past year.

Consider a modern dCs for your next projeCtThe distributed control system (DCS) of the future is available today, leveraging open systems and commercial technology to provide value across the industrial enterprise

Paul Studebaker

9

“We need better security as industry collects two exabytes of data a year,” Genovesi said. “Then we have to harvest and sift through all that data.”

mOdERN dCs hAs lOwEsT TCOMeanwhile, “Unscheduled downtime is costing us $20 billion per year,” Genovesi said. “More than three-quarters of our plants are 20 years old or older, with $65 billion worth of control technology reaching its end of life.”

As you consider how to deal with the future while replacing systems, Genovesi said Rockwell Automation stands ready to deliver on four key points: faster time to market, lowest total cost of ownership (TCO), improved asset utilization, and enterprise risk management.

“I commit to you that if you consider the total lifecycle cost, from design to decommission, Rockwell Automation will have the lowest price,” said Genvesi.

The company does this by offering integrated hardware and software across the plant. I/O, controllers and their software work with intelligent motor control, and are supported with a global network of 3,000 Rockwell Automation engineers plus a “vast network of system integrators that double our capacity,” he said.

A conventional DCS uses proprietary I/O and servers, which are “expensive and difficult to modernize,” said Genovesi.

The PlantPAx modern DCS is open, using commercial technology, making it easy to integrate third-party components from control through utility systems, he said.

PlantPAx offers shortened development cycles, so you can upgrade portions of the system as needed instead of having

to replace it all, continued Genovesi. The Ethernet network infrastructure is not proprietary, making it easy to integrate, make changes and add third-party systems. The same network is used at the factory and in the enterprise.

“It’s easy to integrate mobility and the cloud, and it’s future-proof because it’s easy to upgrade,” he said.

“Network speeds will increase to 100 GB in the next decade,” Genovesi added. “And our system will be able to take advantage of it.”

PREPARE FOR ThE NExT gENERATION“Security used to be provided by the closed system — if you

couldn’t understand it, you couldn’t hack it,” Genovesi said. “Instead, we need to apply modern technology for security at every level, using the best changes and standards from IT. It’s hard to know what the security requirements of tomorrow will be. You need a strategy that is flexible and can be upgraded to the latest requirements.”

Then there’s workforce productivity — who can deploy, operate and support the system?

“Operators have been tied to the control room, and maintenance is a challenge,” Genovesi said. “Instead, we use technology like virtualized templates to speed deployments, implement model-predictive control, and provide support for mobile workers.

“The next generation of engineers will have different expectations — more intuitive, simpler, plug and play. Operators need to operate a system from wherever they are to see information and data.

“So next time you plan a new system, upgrade or migrate, consider a modern DCS.”

9

10

Along with managing basic material and formulation issues, pharmaceutical manufacturers must also maintain precise temperature and humidity levels. These are required by their validation rules and documented and inspected

by U.S. and other national governments from countries where their products are sold.

These temperature, humidity and associated parameters are typically managed by environmental management systems (EMS) and building management systems (BMS), but these stalwart systems can wear out over time.

For instance, the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plant in Zebulon, N.C., was built in 1984, and it makes 30 brands and 500 products in temperature- and humidity-controlled environments to ensure product integrity.

However, the 30-year-old plant had a 20-year-old EMS and an aging BMS, so GSK engineers recently began seeking an effective upgrade solution that they could also bring online without negatively impacting required production or regulatory compliance.

“The old EMS was basically obsolete, and we couldn’t even find people to work on it anymore. We were also risking big downtime to our production, and potentially having to restart multiple power systems,” says Jeffrey Leverton, automation engineering manager, GSK. “Our infrastructure is critical to our manufacturing, but we also had multiple disparate systems, so we wanted to integrate them into one system.”

Leverton, Omar Bahader, senior application engineer at GSK, and Daniel Homan, engineering manager for industrial HVAC and central utility plants systems at Rockwell Automation, presented “Converting a Legacy BMS to a PlantPAx System” on the opening day of Rockwell Automation Process Solutions User Group (PSUG), November 16 at McCormick Place in Chicago. PSUG is held before the opening of Rockwell Automation Fair.

”These solutions increase operators’ visibility into their processes, and provide more thorough information from the Bms and Ems for better decision-making.” Jeffrey leverton, automation engineering manager, glaxosmithKline

GSK combineS environmental manaGement with PlantPaxGlaxoSmithKline upgraded and unified its environmental and building management with a PlantPAx distributed control system.

11

Besides upgrading its EMS/BMS without hindering production, Leverton explained that GSK also wanted to enhance its operational data; optimize production for leaner manufacturing; merge the formerly separate EMS/BMS sides; increase its energy savings; increase data visibility and access for operators; and automate its restart process.

To those ends, the Zebulon plant implemented a validated version of the PlantPAx DCS from Rockwell Automation, as well as the Library for Life Sciences and PlantPAx Industrial Building Automation System.

Much of these systems are running on virtualized machines and are connected via EtherNet/IP networking to thin-client interfaces using ThinManager software.

The solutions were installed on 105 different environmental devices at the plant, including air handlers, chillers, boilers and other components. These devices reside on 15 different process control units (PCUs), which report data from the plant’s Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controllers and 1,756 I/O points with IFM cables from Rockwell Automation, through its FactoryTalk View and VantagePoint software. They also use data from Microsoft SQL and AspenTech IP21 servers.

“These solutions increase operators’ visibility into their processes, and provide more thorough information from the BMS and EMS for better decision-making,” said Leverton. “We’ve also achieved automated restarts, as well as better interfacing with third-party controllers.”

Homan added the Zebulon plant cutover its first system—its main energy management system with air-handlers and chillers—

in just about seven days, even though it had to examine and revise wiring for several devices that were showing normally open when they were supposed to be normally closed.

“We had dry runs, and powered down to make sure everything could run on the PCUs without difficulties,” said Homan. “The second cutover wasn’t as smooth because we couldn’t put some devices under one loop controller, and we lost hours until we established control with a mA signal. Also, a soft starter on a condenser water pump became defective, so we had to get a variable frequency drive (VFD) from our distributor, Electronic Supply Equipment (ESE) in Greensboro, N.C., on the Sunday before Labor Day, and they met us at their warehouse.”

Despite these hurdles, the Zebulon plant has successfully completed two cutovers and upgrades to PlantPAx, and is already working on several more that it will perform in the coming year. Along with supplying PlantPAx and other software and hardware, Rockwell Automation has been running three teams of support personnel at the plant, where they and GSK have built temporary test stands and conducted software factory acceptance tests (SFATs) for all the new systems and solutions before installation.

“We were able to cut the IFM cables to proper lengths to the terminal blocks installed on our back panels to the old Bailey boards, then pre-number them with the same numbers used by the existing wires, so they all matched,” added Leverton. “This gave us about 35% worth of spare I/O, and allows us to keep the old Bailey devices running for now, until we cut them over later as well.”

11

12

“we’ve shown, with statistical validity, that every 3 points of improvement in our employee engagement score correlates to as much as a 1-point improvement in our customer loyalty score.” Tressa Knutson Bruggink, director, internal communications and engagement at Rockwell Automation, on the “best kept secret” to the company’s success.

In discussions around the technological and workforce transformations occurring in the manufacturing industry, one topic repeatedly arises as an obstacle that can derail the transformation companies need to make in order

to succeed as Connected Enterprises. It’s not cybersecurity or isolated data silos. It’s culture.But ask a lot of business leaders, most employees and just about any engineer

what “culture” means, and you’ll get a mission statement at best and, more often, a shrug.

If you’re equally confused by all things culture, Tressa Knutson Bruggink, director, internal communications and engagement at Rockwell Automation, feels your pain. She knows how difficult it can be to even define culture, let alone transform it.

But she also knows the payoff that happens when you make culture a priority: higher employee engagement; increased flexibility and acceptance of change; better ideas, better products and improved customer service.

And if a global company with 22,500 employees can nurture a culture change that contributes to measurable business outcomes, then it probably has a thing or two to share on the subject.

“Every company we talk to is struggling with the issue of culture,” Knutson Bruggink said during a conversation at the company’s Automation Fair event in Chicago. “And, yet, when we talk with customers and mention a recognition we’ve received for ethics or equality or supplier diversity, they ask us, ‘why aren’t you talking about that more?’ I guess before we thought it was immodest to talk about these things, but now we see that we can help our customers with their own culture struggles by sharing what we’ve learned. Plus, our customers like to know that they are doing business with a company that’s recognized for its standards and practices around ethics, diversity and the environment.”

ConneCting Company Culture to organizational performanCe How the Rockwell Automation culture improves its products and service—and provides a model for customers struggling with cultural change in their own businesses.

Steve Diogo

13

BuT whAT Is IT?BusinessDictionary.com defines organizational culture as “the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.” That’s a lot of non-engineering words.

But Knutson Bruggink has worked out a way to put culture in terms that resonate even with technical professionals: “Every two years, we undergo a third-party assessment that determines our Employee Engagement Score. We’re also externally assessed on customer loyalty. We’ve shown, with statistical validity, that every 3 points of improvement in our employee engagement score correlates to as much as a 1-point improvement in our customer loyalty score.”

For Rockwell Automation, employee engagementis a critical metric. Knutson Bruggink defines it as the level of discretionary effort an employee puts into the company. “It’s a measure of everything above what it takes to just get the job done. And that energy not only feeds into improved products and service, it feeds back into the culture. It’s a feedback loop: working with engaged people makes you more engaged.”

Writing on the topic, Chairman and CEO Keith Nosbusch said: “Even though engagement can mean different things, we have much in common that make us a strong, global team. I believe these

commonalities have to do with our customer focus, our ethics and integrity and our desire to improve what we do every day. These make us who we are and help differentiate us as a great company.”

BEsT KEPT sECRETTo spread the word about the company’s success in defining and nurturing its culture, and to share its model with customers seeking insight on culture and engagement, the company has launched a new campaign: Rockwell Automation’s Best Kept Secret. The campaign’s website outlines the company’s initiatives, policies and recognitions around community, culture, environment, ethics and supplier diversity.

“Culture isn’t just one thing; it’s a myriad of elements,” Knutson Bruggink added. “For us, it’s our ethics and diversity, it’s change management, it’s how we attract and develop the most talented people to provide the best domain expertise to our customers. It’s those key elements you might not always see, but that make Rockwell Automation who we are.”

Knutson Bruggink encourages Rockwell customers to use the websiteto learn more about the company and to get ideas on how to begin their own cultural transformation to reap the benefit of engaged employees who will drive success in The Connected Enterprise.

13

14

Producing relevant, timely, and collaborative support for decision-makers used to be hard, but Rockwell Automation VantagePoint EmI enterprise manufacturing intelligence software leverages microsoft Azure to make manufacturing data easily accessible in real time on any mobile device.

The Connected Enterprise begins with using technology to improve visibility into plant-floor operations, then networking those plant-floor systems together and into IT systems, and finally integrating them with those of suppliers, customers

and partners. “The data is there, so get the networks in shape and bring it up a level,” said Paula

Puess, global market development manager, Rockwell Software, as we toured the Information Software exhibit at Automation Fair this week in Chicago. “Our software does all that— it brings together data from drives, motor control centers, process and discrete control systems, and delivers it to HMIs, dashboards and mobile devices,” she said.

Producing relevant, timely, and collaborative support for decision-makers used to be hard, but FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI enterprise manufacturing intelligence software leverages Microsoft Azure to make manufacturing data easily accessible in real time on any mobile device. It connects to real-time data via FactoryTalk Live Data and to historical data via FactoryTalk Historian, as well as to other real-time and historical data sources. Automatic report and email generation based upon configured events delivers timely data even when users are not logged into the system, and role-based reports and browsing ensure the right users are viewing the right data.

“Mobile capabilities put dashboards across everything using the same software, same development, for all devices, without downloading any apps,” Puess said.

mANAgE quAlITyMany smaller manufacturers rely on a myriad of quality management software programs and paper-based processes to monitor production. In contrast, the Rockwell Software Quality Management Application is an out-of-box solution that allows users to easily model and enforce their plants’ in-process quality regiments. They can remove disparate systems and antiquated paper processes. A built-in notification engine

EmpowEring industry with on-thE-go opErational intElligEncEMobile, quality control and asset management applications highlight the Rockwell Automation array of information solutions.

Paul Studebaker

15

notifies personnel when a quality check needs to be completed and if the check fails, a configurable escalation capability can guide additional quality sampling and corrective actions.

Mobile capabilities, too, are now part and parcel of the Quality Management app, which is one module of the company’s broader FactoryTalk ProductionCentre MES system. Managers can see metrics such as the number of completed, suspected and wasted batches, and quick data exchange helps identify non-conformance issues before product leaves the plant. The app can be expanded with others within the FactoryTalk ProductionCentre MES system, or run as a standalone application. “It lets smaller manufacturers quickly and inexpensively monitor quality for compliance without an ERP-scale investment of time and money,” Puess said. “It lowers the entry level and lets them put a toe in MES. If they like it, they can add other MES modules.”

mONITOR AssETsDespite—or maybe because of—the pervasive use of mobility in commercial applications, many plants fail to see its potential as an industrial tool. “Mobility—what’s the big deal?” asked Puess. “Well, for example, FactoryTalk AssetCentre’s mobile capabilities allow machinery builders and owners to quickly check for programming changes while they’re troubleshooting their machines.”

Also on display at Automation Fair were the fruits of a collaboration between Rockwell Automation and Fanuc America to provide secure remote monitoring of Fanuc CNCs, robots and Robomachine high-speed precision machining centers. Live production data is displayed on local HMIs powered by FactoryTalk View, as well as contextualized to provide remote users with a picture of asset health, performance and energy usage. Cloud-based data analytics also can predict and help prevent unexpected downtime of the machines.

15

16

“The drivers are external, it’s not your cost or efficiency.” delkor systems’ Rick gessler described how packaging requirements are being driven by retailers and consumers.

Food & Beverage may be unique among the process industries in the power of the customer. Along with common motivators like optimizing assets, meeting regulatory requirements and reducing risks, food processors must also consider

the impact of rapidly changing consumer preferences, from food tastes and types to the consequences of a news story about e-coli going viral on social media.

Along the way, shippers and retailers put pressure on your packaging and pricing, weighing in with their own requirements before they’ll give you quick, safe delivery and space on the shelf.

Supply chain demands were the dominating theme of the Food & Beverage Forum at the Automation Fair event this week in Chicago, where Dave Sharpe, director, global consumer products industry, Rockwell Automation, kicked off the session presentations with a summary of the strengths of The Connected Enterprise, a common focus of this year’s exhibits and presentations.

In short, connecting information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) in a common, secure Ethernet infrastructure; collecting and analyzing plant-floor and related data to discover ways to improve operations; using cloud computing and virtualization to overcome hardware and software limitations; and deploying the resulting information effectively through HMIs, dashboards and mobile platforms offer significant potential gains.

“Connected Enterprises reduce downtime 50% and maintenance costs 40%,” said Sharpe.

But fully 20% of food and beverage plants are completely offline, according to Randal Kenworthy, practice director, Cisco Systems. Others are only part of the way toward being fully connected enterprises, which are not only connected within the plant, but also between plants and to their supply chain and “ecosystem partners,” Kenworthy said.

Connectivity with security is important because while “no one in this room has security in their top two priorities, attackers who want intellectual property have yours at the top

Food & Beverage Forum: Customer is kingProcessors must respond to demands ranging from better automation to more pouches and the power of social media.

Paul Studebaker

17

of their list.” Food and beverage companies are the top one or two targets, according to a Symantec survey of cyber attacks.

BAd FOOd NEws TRAVEls FAsTFood recalls have become much more common in recent years, and it’s not because manufacturers or their products are getting worse. It’s because information technology is getting better. “Consumers are empowered by social media and mobile devices,” said Joe Whyte, global serialization lead, Rockwell Automation. “When an adverse occurrence happens, if you can’t get ahead of the message, the message will get ahead of you.” Processors must respond with fast, accurate recalls, but “paper-based systems can’t support accurate recalls, so instead, the recalls are massive,” Whyte said.

Food companies must have a way of cross-checking the sources of ingredients and how they were processed to pinpoint where defective products are and recall them, so they need both traceability and track-and-trace systems. “You have to know the genealogy—where raw materials came from, how they got into the plant, which silos they were stored in and when,” Whyte said. Then you have to know the data from the plant floor: the process parameters and what happened there.

But there’s a silver lining. “That data now lets you really understand your process, and drive efficiency improvements,” Whyte said. “You can’t eliminate waste unless you know exactly where it is.”

A gPs FOR mANuFACTuRERsWhen you fire up a GPS to find your way to a destination, you get exactly the information you need. If traffic backs up or you lose your way, the GPS calculates an alternative route and keeps you on your way. “Use the GPS to inspire the way you design HMIs,” said Alan Stanfill, MES group manager, Stone Technologies. Give users the information they need and can use to take action, not motion pictures of bottles on a conveyor belt. Maintenance,

operations and management are different, and need different information.

“The maintenance supervisor wants to see downtime events—how many, how often and how long,” Stanfill said. “He wants to see reasons—everything that happened around the event—and needs to be alerted when an event occurs.” We have appointment alarms on our smartphones, why not use the same approach in industry?

Operators should get guidance, just like drivers get from a GPS. “Present them information they can use to make decisions, such as a bunch of gauges where everything is green unless it needs attention,” Stanfill said. “Give it to them in terms they can understand the same way you understand an automobile speedometer, fuel gauge and indicator lamps. They don’t need to see the engine diagnostics.” Do they need to know upstream and downstream conditions? All the time or a few times a day? “We too often make beautiful screens that give people lots of information they can’t act on. Instead, make something useful for the operator. It takes longer to plan, but do it.”

On a GPS, operators need to know where to turn and maintenance needs to figure out how to get around a problem, but management mainly wants to know where you’re going and how long it will take to get there.

“You expect your mobile device to get you to the airport, so do it in manufacturing,” Stanfill said. Show management how to make groups work better together, find areas of improvement and have a more effective morning huddle by presenting KPIs like overall equipment effectiveness, production, quality and availability in simple, color-coded charts. “If they’re all green, that’s OK. If not, they can see where to dig in,” he said. Give them shift-to-shift variations and mobile dashboards, and make them the same on a PC, tablet or phone, like a GPS.

“The system itself gives zero business return,” Stanfill said. “It’s the decisions they make, the actions they take. Don’t clutter up their world, give them the information they need.”

17

1818

PACKAgE TO sEllSuddenly, food store shelves are filling with pouches, displacing cans and jars for products ranging from dishwasher detergent to dog and baby food. It’s partly because pouches are low-cost, reclosable and look good, but it’s also because retailers want them.

“Walmart is driving this packaging innovation because they want their shelves to look nicer, and they want to stock their shelves more quickly,” said Rick Gessler, director of marketing and strategic accounts, Delkor Systems. “But what happens to packaging machinery? Processors have to replace their end-of-line packaging machinery.”

In the past, packaging systems evolved slowly as the needs of the plant changed. This time, change is being driven by retailers and consumers. “The driver is external,” Gessler said. “It’s not your cost or efficiency. The customer is king, the retailer wants certain shelf

heights, case counts and shelf appearance. Distributors care how you ship—whether they can use clamp or conventional fork trucks. You need to get all parties involved and collaborate.”

Today’s solution may change tomorrow, so packaging machinery has to be flexible and easy to reconfigure. Delkor’s machines convert quickly from shelf-ready to standard shippers in less than 10 minutes without tools.

Similarly, Cama has designed its latest cartoner machine using the Rockwell Automation iTrak intelligent track and transport system. It has mover units on the track that can be independently controlled, so size changeovers can be done quickly via menus and software instead of manual adjustments. William Goodman, managing director, Cama, said, “Simplified control, a single source of controls and iTrak result in an operator-friendly machine with about half the footprint of a conventional cartoner.”

1818

19

“A splash screen allows you to get your objects into the system quickly, in a single window—a single place where you can see controllers, hmIs and servers, and set them all up.” Kris dornan described the working environment of the next release of PlantPAx, due out in march, 2016.

PlantPAx was introduced in 2009 as a distributed control system (DCS) offering from Rockwell Automation.

“Last year, we differentiated it by showing how it goes above and beyond the traditional DCS,” said Kris Dornan, PlantPAx characterization and integration manager, Rockwell Automation. “Now, with release 4.0 coming out in March, 2016, we have made many improvements.”

Speaking to attendees of his keynote address, “Process Solutions Roadmap for the Future,” at the Rockwell Automation Process Solution Users Group (PSUG) meeting at the Automation Fair event in Chicago, Dornan and Jason Wright, PlantPAx business manager, Rockwell Automation, described developments driven by three goals of the modern DCS: • To improve automation productivity (decreasing time to market and reducing

lifecycle costs by automating engineering tasks)• To enable other technologies (such as virtualization, mobility and security)• To enhance control (to meet productivity, quality and utilization goals).

Together, Dornan said, “It’s a modern approach, using common technologies and control equipment you already have.”

uPdATEd ENgINEERINg ENVIRONmENTEngineering productivity stands to gain from an updated design environment based on Studio 5000 v24. The Studio 5000 environment combines design and engineering elements into one standard framework, one place for engineers to develop all elements of their control system for operation and maintenance.

It extends beyond one controller to be a system-wide development and design tool. The intuitive design and configuration software package is intended to simplify development of complex control solutions, provide greater access to real-time

Rockwell AutomAtion AdvAnces the modeRn dcs PlantPAx 4.0 innovations promise to cut engineering time, expand integration and boost plant productivity

Paul Studebaker

20

information and support localized applications in a single control platform.

Studio 5000 Architect is an integrated engineering environment that streamlines the building of Logix and FactoryTalk View automation systems, supports reuse of content and provides seamless exchange of data between with engineering tools.

Studio 5000 Logix Designer, the progression of RSLogix 5000 software, delivers standardized frameworks for discrete, process, batch, motion, safety and drive-based systems, helping save programming time.

Studio 5000 View Designer is the design environment for the PanelView 5000 graphic terminals. As part of the Studio 5000 environment, View Designer offers enhanced integration with Logix to improve operator performance. Studio 5000 Application Code Manager is a design tool that allows users to leverage re-usable content, helping increase deployment efficiency, accuracy and overall cost savings.

“A splash screen allows you to get your objects into the system quickly, in a single window—a single place where you can see controllers, HMIs and servers, and set them all up,” Dornan said. “You can drag and drop, cut and paste without having to repeat anything. You can drop logic into the controllers, screens into the HMI—it’s a single place where you can build a system.”

New PlantPAx features target specific process control needs. “An Alarm Groups editor allows you to create folders for groups

based on operator role, and drag and drop alarms into them,” said Wright.

A backup and restore tool is integrated in FactoryTalk AssetCentre for automated backup. RSLogix Emulate 5000 is expanded to integrate to operator training, and an extension allows the integration of time snapshots and manipulation of time to expose operators to scenarios.

A new PlantPAx system estimator helps to define and size systems more flexibly. “Two new user manuals, for infrastructure and code, detail every activity with step-by-step, click-by-click

procedures, and a checklist feature helps you assure your system was built according to requirements,” Wright added.

“With Application Code Manager, you define the rules, and it asks you questions to define the control based on those rules,” Wright said. It includes objects from Rockwell Automation process libraries to use as a starting point. Code Manager asks questions and interactively builds the code for a particular application.

“We asked, ‘What are the common strategies people use, and how can we take time out of configuring them?’ And that’s what we did,” said Dornan. Using a typical application, Dornan demonstrated how the Studio 5000 design environment reduced the time required to program a strategy from 10 minutes to 58 seconds.

NEw ANd ENABlINg TEChNOlOgy“It’s all about taking advantage of new and enabling technology, like mobility, virtualization and networks,” said Wright. Integration with FactoryTalk Viewpoint 8.1 eliminates the need for plug-ins for mobile. “It displays on an iPhone or iPad as well as a desktop, so operators and engineers can get what they need when they’re not at a desk or in a control room.”

New Stratix 5400 DIN-rail- and 5410 rack-mount network distribution switches allow complete configuration under a single architecture, “an all-Stratix architecture that bridges the IT and OT worlds,” Wright said. Virtual systems are being built out with new templates including batch, I/O and more, “so you can just copy them over and deploy them,” he added.

Integration with FactoryTalk Viewpoint allows system designers to publish displays with a wizard, view them on the Web, then select the ones to enable by device or dashboard. “The next generation will not be sitting at a desk working from their PCs, they’ll be using their phones and tablets on the plant floor,” said Dornan.

The 4.0 release puts model predictive control (MPC) in a new module, with up to a 10x10 linear model in the control layer. “This simplifies and opens up opportunities for MPC,” Wright said. Other hardware releases include Dynamix 1444 integrated condition

20

21

monitoring for rotating equipment; 12-channel RTD and 16-channel thermocouple cards; and two new I/O families for intrinsic safety: 1718 for Zone 1 and 1719 for Zone 2, Div. 2.

Software releases include new language libraries with Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and French out of the box, and new objects for deadband, lead/lag and I/O module status. The Endress+Hauser Liquiline transmitter is now integrated, HART integration is enhanced, and many other improvements have been made in areas from batch and alarm to thin-client management. “We continue to tie automation to IT to get the next level of productivity out of the manufacturing plant,” said Wright.

mOdERN dCs OF ThE FuTuREBeyond 4.0, Rockwell Automation is working on an HTML 5 interface for FactoryTalk Batch and AssetCentre mobile, and “Project Stanton” aims to leverage Microsoft’s Project Tally

technology to use mobile phones as relay points to get information to the right person in the right place at the right time.

A FactoryTalk Batch expansion intends to modernize operator displays, and Sequence Manager will execute higher-level recipes inside the controller. A new 5580 controller will be “very much faster than previous machines, adding alarm, batch, high availability and high on-board computing power,” Dornan said.

“We look to our users to get feedback, to get input on what we need to be as a DCS,” Dornan concluded. “The 4.0 release is specifically tied to user voting. What we do next is up to you. Install the app, take the customer surveys and let us know what you want in the way of batch, core, library and advanced control.

“For me, now is an exciting to time to be part of Rockwell Automation, to be part of the modern DCS—PlantPAx—and to make use of the technology to be more productive,” Dornan said. “Consider us when you chose your next DCS.”

21

22

“The further you come down the curve, the bigger energy savings you get by using variable-speed control.” Tom Jenkins of JenTech discussed how wastewater treatment facilities can substantially reduce electrical energy costs by switching from guide-vane control to medium voltage variable speed drives on aeration blowers.

Water Forum: CutbloWer energy 10% With VFDsSwapping variable speed for guide-vane control finally makes sense

Steve Diogo

Ever feel like your tax dollars are going to waste? Well, that’s because they are. Literally.

In communities across the United States, water and wastewater treatment energy consumption accounts for as much as 25% of the municipal budget. And according to Tom Jenkins, owner and president of the wastewater treatment consulting company, JenTech Inc., 50% to 75% of that money goes to running the blowers that provide air to the bacteria that metabolize waste during activated sludge biological treatment.

This week at theAutomation Fair event held by Rockwell Automation in Chicago, Jenkins presented a solution that during a water wastewater forum, he said, has proven to recoup a significant portion of that money: switching out the guide-vanes for controlling air flow with variable-frequency drives (VFDs) instead.

Jenkins spends a lot of time thinking about waste in all its forms. In addition to his technical and entrepreneurial bona fides, Jenkins is a member of the ASME committee developing PTC 13, “Wire-To-Air Performance Test Code for Blower Systems” and an adjunct professor at University of Wisconsin, Madison. He also teaches water and wastewater treatment for the Department of Engineering Professional Development program. Jenkins said the idea to swap in VFDs is not new. But it’s one that never made economic sense—until now.

A CONJuNCTION OF FACTORs“This is not a technical breakthrough,” Jenkins said. “This is an economic breakthrough, and it’s one of those rare opportunities where all stakeholders can come out ahead. The municipality saves operating costs; the design engineers get to have a project that benefits the end user, the municipality; systems integrators have the opportunity to integrate their work into the control system; and the suppliers get

23

to sell VFDs. These are all good things.” Most waste treatment plants in the United States use activated

sludge biological treatment. To achieve the proper treatment, you need microorganisms, a food source—the sewage—and oxygen, all together in the right amounts at the same time and place. The bacteria metabolize the waste and settle out of the flow stream leaving clean water. Blowers are used to provide the air that provides oxygen to the bacteria. Too little air and the bacteria die. “But providing too much air doesn’t make the process better,” Jenkins said. “It just uses more power.”

Blowers look a lot like pumps, but they are a lot more complex simply due to the fact that air is compressible and water is not. Pump control by comparison is relatively easy. “Blowers, because of the thermodynamics involved, are not as efficient as pumps. So, 50 to 70 percent of all the electricity used inside the fence winds up going to those blowers,” Jenkins said. “That’s a big chunk of the operating budget for a typical municipality.”

According to Jenkins, most communities that are larger than 100,000 peopleuse geared, single-stage centrifugal blowers. These are typically 1,000 hp on up, and most of them have high-voltage motors—either induction or synchronous. Generally, these motors run at constant speed, and air flow iscontrolled by modulating the guide vanes. Variable speed is more efficient that guide-vane control, and can save approximately 10 percent of energy usage. Blowers, like pumps, operate at their design point maybe five minutes per year, Jenkins said. “Variability of that air supply is critical to optimize the energy of blowers even more so than it is for pumps.”

EsCAlATINg ENERgy sAVINgs Jenkins said that if you look at the difference between performance curves using guide-vane control and variable

speed you will see pretty dramatic differences. “With guide-vane control, as you change the guide-vane position, you remap the blower performance curve just as you would when you change speed with a VFD. But you’ll see that the curves don’t just drive down parallel like the do with variable speed: They get steeper. The reason they get steeper is because you’re sticking something in the airstream: you are throttling the blower as well as spinning the air. If you change the flow by throttling the inlet, you still have the same total pressure rise through the blower; you’re creating energy, and losing some of it, because you’re throttling it and not just moving the curve up and down.”

Altering airflow by varying speed eliminates this inefficiency and provides an average energy savings of 10 percent, Jenkins said. “At the top of the operating curve, with everything operating full open, they’re the same. But the further you come down the curve, the bigger energy savings you get by using variable-speed control.”

In the past, variable-speed control was a non-starter, Jenkins said, because the cost of the medium-voltage drives was too high. “It couldn’t be justified by the payback in a reasonable period of time. There was no technical reason; it was an economic reason.”

Today the economics have aligned to make the switch to variable-speed worthwhile, Jenkins said. He attributes this to three factors: Variable-speed drives have gotten more cost effective because of increased competition and increased technological innovation; energy costs have increased; and VFD reliability has become accepted.

Because of these factors, Jenkins said the ROI on transitioning to VFD is three to four years and can be cut to two-to-three years when utility company incentives are incorporated. By Jenkins’ estimates, more than 10,000 facilities in the United States could reduce at least 10% of their energy consumption with this solution.

23

24

Have you heard about this Industrial Internet of Things thing? Whether you’ve heard it called smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0, China 2025 or any number of other names, it’s all about connecting and sharing information that drives

business value. It’s about connecting the enterprise, so that data becomes information, which begets business intelligence in the form of knowledge and wisdom.

Rockwell Automation calls it The Connected Enterprise: enabling an organization to turn data into value that has a positive impact on plant performance and organizational profitability. As the concept has crystallized over the past several years, the vision has become reality for a growing number of industrial concerns. So many that Rockwell Automation customers were showcased as working examples of The Connected Enterprise in a central pavilion at its Automation Fair event this week in Chicago.

“We’ve been talking about The Connected Enterprise for several years now,” explained Beth Parkinson, market development director, The Connected Enterprise, Rockwell Automation. “The concept sounds great. But what does it mean? This year, we wanted to make it more tangible and bring it to life.”

3 AREAs TO OPTImIzEThe Connected Enterprise pavilion was designed to help customers to understand what it is and how it works in actual manufacturing environments, focusing on optimizing efficiency, visibility and collaboration.

“First, it enables efficiency across multiple production facilities by looking at capacity,” explained Parkinson. “Do you have ability to know if you can take an order and get the order to market in time? Can you look across your global enterprise and find manufacturing capacity where and when you need it? With The Connected Enterprise, you can look into those operations and make those decisions.”

Visibility impacts serialization and traceability, with a primary focus on affecting the recall dynamic. “Recalls can be costly and impact brand equity,” said Parkinson. “How can

ImplementatIon latest step In ConneCted enterprIse evolutIonDemonstrating a range of real-worlD customer applications, the connecteD enterprise meriteD its own pavilion at automation fair

mike Bacidore

“we’ve identified different areas where companies can start, but they don’t have to be linear.” Rockwell Automation’s Beth Parkinson explained how industrial organizations can start their own journey to becoming a Connected Enterprise.

25

you track materials through the process? If you find a problem during the process, how do you minimize the amount of product you have to scrap? Even if it goes to market, you can shrink the amount that must be recalled.”

Collaboration is the smart-machine dynamic, because things inevitably go wrong with machines. “If some condition is trending, an operator might not be able to see it or hear it,” explained Parkinson. “If a bearing fails, the equipment can stop, which means that production stops. How do you avoid unplanned downtime? Maybe, by monitoring, you noticed that the machine is slowing down or speeding up. Maybe the machine can send a specific alert that says it’s going to need maintenance.”

One of the major benefits of the smart-machine dynamic is enabling the manufacture products that better serve customers’ needs, by customizing to demand in real time, but also by using that data to improve product design and development. That type of information comes from the end of the manufacturing process, and obtaining that data can still be a bit of a hurdle.

“A lot of end users don’t want to give their machine suppliers access in real time,” explained Parkinson. “We’ve been talking about secure reference architectures for remote monitoring that we’ve developed with Cisco and Panduit. But, right now, people still see roadblocks. There’s still that reality of where people are coming from today. For security, we’ve put together ways to operationalize The Connected Enterprise. We’ve identified different areas where companies can start, but they don’t have to be linear. Unscheduled downtime and security issues are risk areas, but what about looking at opportunities?”

4 sTEPs TO CONNECTIVITyMaking The Connected Enterprise real requires a plan, and Parkinson offered some guidance on how to get started. “First, assess where you are,” she suggested. “What’s your automation

footprint? What does your security look like?”

The second step is to inventory devices, equipment and systems and identify what needs to be modernized or upgraded to take operations through the next 10 years. “Your competition will look very different in the future, and plants can no longer expect to run the same systems for 20 years.” Increasingly though, system software can be upgraded along the way to bring new features and functionality.

Next, look at your data. “Our customers collect thousands of data points,” said Parkinson. “They generate and store lots of real-time data. It might be beneficial. Sometimes, they don’t even know. We look at what data is accessible and what’s working. That’s a base stage, which can lead to an electronic batch record (EBR) system, for example.”

Finally, there’s optimization and collaboration. “You’re always trying to improve,” said Parkinson. “You’re never done. How are you collaborating within your facility? What about outside your facility? With your OEMs? With your suppliers? You might be able to get started with a use case of something you have a problem with.”

PEOPlE whO NEEd PEOPlEThe exodus of older, experienced workers has intensified the problem that many manufacturers already have with staffing. “The people dynamic—having available, skilled people—is a real challenge. Many people are worried that automation and robotics will take away jobs, but the truth is we can’t fill a lot of the jobs that already exist.”

The Connected Enterprise allows for the collection and contextualization of worker expertise. The tribal knowledge of a retiring worker needs to be captured, so a manufacturer can replace that individual’s ability to hear the equipment go “thunk” and know what’s going to happen and how to correct it before a failure results in production downtime.

25

26

“The PEms wouldn’t need gases or spare parts, would require only minimal maintenance, and would give us better reliability because it validates every minute.” Tim Bivens of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. on the many advantages of predictive emissions monitoring systems vs. conventional analyzers.

Electricity and natural gas used to get little more thought from most industrial consumers than having accounting pay the bills. Not anymore.

Today, users are increasingly aware that power and energy can have huge impacts on their bottom lines, and so more manufacturers are making them part of their overall efficiency and performance optimization efforts. Several of these innovators presented their experiences and lessons learned at the “Power and Energy Management Industry Forum” this week at Automation Fair in Chicago.

NEw JOBs FOR ENERgy ANd usERsMary Burgoon, market development manager for power and energy at Rockwell Automation, reported that forces shaping power and energy include:• Economic pressures to improve profitability while producing quality products at any

plant worldwide at the lowest cost;• Sustainability pressures to reduce energy consumption across all production phases,

reduce emissions, and maintain brand reputations;• Regulatory pressures to comply with current and future emissions rules; and,• Sourcing pressures to cope with energy resource constraints, while maintaining

reliability and availability.Because of these forces, requirements of automation are changing. Effective solutions

must provide asset performance management, remote monitoring and control, visualization everywhere via mobile services, and secure all these connections across their entire enterprises.

“The Connected Enterprise and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) can do this for

Power & energy Forum: SuStainability’S roiHood dairy adopts CHP and Arkansas electric cooperative implements PEMS to meet modern energy challenges

By Jim Montague, executive editor, Control

27

the power and energy industry with data analytics that contextualize and evaluate information from increasing numbers of smart devices that are creating more things to be analyzed; cloud and virtualized computing for reliability, support and disaster recovery, which aids the shift from capital expenditures to flexible and scalable operating expenditures; and mobile workplace devices that improve access to actionable information,” said Burgoon. “This enables smarter production that’s more responsive to market demands, improves plant availability and reliability, allow more secure access and reduces operational costs.”

hOOd COmBINEs hEAT ANd POwER, hAlVEs COsTsOne company achieving greater efficiency and sustainability at the same time is the HP Hood plant in Winchester, Va., which produces about 150 million gallons of dairy and nondairy beverages per year, and recently implemented a combined heat and power (CHP) application onsite to help it reach a dairy industry initiative of reducing its greenhouse gas production by 25% by 2020. The plan was to tie the CHP to the plant’s local grid, which would add some complexity, and it also had to comply with the plant’s footprint restrictions and integrate with its existing steam system.

“The CHP project had to have a positive impact on both sustainability and profitability,” said Jamie Ganoe, plant engineering manager at Hood. “The green had to flow both ways.”

Consequently, Hood worked with ZF Energy Development, and they evaluated several designs, and settled on a natural-gas, turbine-driven generator with two boilers. It’s controlled by a PlantPAx distributed control system (DCS) as well as ControlLogix PLCs and support components, which integrated well with the plant’s existing Rockwell Automation architecture. System integration was performed by Valley Automation. The 20,000-hp turbine is a Solar Titan 130 with a 15-megawatt (MW) output capacity, 350-psi natural gas fueling and SoLoNOx low-emission combustion system.

“Our generator operates in parallel with the grid,” explained Ganoe. Power output level is set based on real-time plant demand

and energy market conditions. Synchronization with the local grid is done with automated switchgear from Basler Electric. “We started up the CHP generator this past May, and in less than a year, its impact on out energy costs is already apparent. In fact, even as our overall production has steadily increased, our total energy costs have dropped by about half. We’re expecting a two- to three-year ROI, which is pretty quick for a project of this size. Also, as the project evolved, we discovered more uses for waste heat, and so we’re going to be pursuing those in some future projects.”

ARKANsAs COOPERATIVE mANAgEs EmIssIONsOf course, even as they develop more sophisticated solutions, most power and energy applications must also maintain compliance with complex emissions rules—even as they try to upgrade to emissions control systems.

Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC) is owned by 17 rural cooperatives, serves 16% of the state’s area and 35% of its populace, and runs two boilers, 11 combustion turbines (CTs), nine hydropower facilities, and some solar and wind applications with a collective capacity of 3,400 MWs.

To complement these assets, AECC bought its Oswald Generating Station in 2005, and began operating it in 2006. Located about 20 miles south of Little Rock, the 510-MW station is a peaker plant, which operates about 1,000 hours per year, and one of two in the U.S. with its particular combined-cycle design and configuration. It has seven CTs and two steam turbines.

AECC must continuously monitor O2, NOx and CO; control NOx with steam injection; and comply with regulations from the U.S. EPA and Arkansas Dept. of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) governing continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS), acid rain and other standards.

“The problem was that when we bought the Oswald plant in 2005, we had to begin replacing its CEMS because it was reaching the end of its lifecycle,” said Tim Bivens, technical specialist for CEMS at AECC. “We had two options, CEMS or a predictive emissions monitoring

27

28

system (PEMS), but the challenge was that the EPA and ADEQ needed to recognize PEMS as equivalent to hardware CEMS for compliance.” AECC was considering implementing Pavilion 8 software from Rockwell Automation as its PEMs.

“Simply replacing the CEMS with another one on the seven systems would include 21 analyzers, four PLCs, seven probes and seven sample lines, but we’d also have to pay for about 30 cylinders of calibration gases per year, plus added man-hours for maintenance, and the cost of maintaining spare parts inventory,” explained Bivens. “The PEMS would require initial hardware and installation, but it wouldn’t need gases or spare parts, would require only minimal maintenance, and would give us better reliability because it validates every minute.”

Following this evaluation, AECC picked PEMS, but then had to submit its plan for EPA approval under 40 CFR Part 75 Subpart E regulations, and seek ADEQ approval as well. This process included performing and passing a statistical analysis of 720 hours of operational data, and delivering supporting data to the EPA along with its petition.

AECC submitted its petition in February 2013, and navigated a protracted approval process, including meeting with EPA officials in March 2013 and February 2014. The utility’s PEMS petition was finally approved in March 2015, but AECC was directed to conduct one sensor test; perform quarterly relative accuracy audits (RAAs) on each unit; reestablish a grace period for compliance procedures; perform and record a daily quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) event using PEMs validation data; and record an EPA-designated maximum emission rate (MER) for startups and shutdowns. Full implementation is imminent, as of November 2015.

“As a result, our PEMS has proven to be accurate, and it’s passed six relative accuracy test audits (RATAs),” added Bivens. “We’re achieving higher reliability, too.” The PEMS operates on Oswald’s existing plant control system instrumentation; integrates real-time weather conditions; validates all input sensors every minute; and “has saved us $50,000 per year.”

28

29

“Just as you would not build a skyscraper from a pile of bricks and steel, so you should not build your manufacturing execution systems without a business blueprint.” Claus Abildgren of NNE PharmaPlan discussed how business objectives must drive mEs design and implementation.

A new generation of manufacturing execution systems (MES) being pioneered by Rockwell Automation reaches beyond production execution to provide true application functionality for specific industry needs. In addition to controlling

the manufacturing process, this MES is driving integration up to ERP and down to the automation layer.

For pharmaceutical manufacturers, implementing a modern MES such as PharmaSuite from Rockwell Software promises improvements in optimization and visibility into all processes, with the bottom-line result being reduced time-to-market. But the reality of consistently implementing and managing MES across pharmaceutical production sites can seem overwhelming.

According to Claus Abildgren, consulting partner, NNE PharmaPlan, who presented at the Life Sciences Forum at Automation Fair this week in Chicago, three core challenges face corporate MES strategists. First, manufacturing operations leaders lack foresight of trends and technologies due to demanding daily operations. Second is the difficulty of balancing corporate vs. site goals and needs across an increasing range of product types, frequent recipe changes and evolving regulations. Third, local experience is often insufficient, and sites struggle to absorb new knowledge and expertise.

TOugh quEsTIONs Presented with the challenge of modernizing MES in this complex environment, your typical head of manufacturing systems faces some big questions: how to balance corporate standards with individual site requirements; how to make sure projects are targeted by their value to the company; how to keep up with constant changes being pushed to the plants; and, how to manage the expectations of all the stake holders.

And the most important question of all: Where do I start?According to Abildgren, the answer to that question is straightforward: Start

Life Science forum: a bLueprint for meSWhen it comes to breaking down the silos in pharmaceutical manufacturing systems, it pays to let the business objectives guide the decisions.

Steve Diogo

30

with the business objectives. “When we’re talking about The Connected Enterprise—putting in these new tools, techniques and technologies—it’s critical to understand the business objectives of each and every site that’s in our supply chain and ask, ‘how do we add capabilities that support these business objectives?’”

From a logistical standpoint, Abildgren said the amount of information being generated, and having to be managed, in pharmaceutical manufacturing is “unbelievable.” And that information mostly lives in a seemingly never ending list of isolated systems: ERP, PLM, PDM, CAD, CTMS, APS, TMS, LIMS, QMS, EAM, Batch/DCS, SCADA, MES, historian. “Holy moly...look at all these systems we need to understand, coordinate and operate,” Abildgren said. “And every one comes with its own database and need for infrastructure, software and management.”

BEgIN wITh BusINEss OBJECTIVEsHistorically these systems have been scoped and installed in silos. The key to breaking these silos is to build an architecture strategy adopted from the standards used in enterprise technology

deployments. Instead of scoping individual systems to answer the needs of specific applications, enterprise architecture begins with the business objectives, and these business objectives inform the decisions on what to implement.

“Just as you would not build a skyscraper from a pile of bricks and steel, so you should not build your manufacturing execution systems without a business blueprint,” Abildgren said. “Here, we move from business objective to business model to application.”

Creating the blueprint requires breaking down the entire manufacturing process into very specific functions and very specific systems with well-defined integration points. “Define which information is managed in which environment,” Abildgren said. For guidance, Abildgren points to best practices from GAMP5 and following good engineering practices.

“Modernizing MES isn’t cheap,” Abildgren said. “It has to be a thoughtful process and needs to have a common blueprint for which system is in which place for which reason. It’s a different perspective, and it’s a lot of work and it isn’t cheap. But a blueprint makes it a lot easier to justify the budget you’re asking for.”

30

3131

Global oEM ForuM: PuttinG sMart tEchnoloGy into actionGlobal machine builders are leveraging their uses of connectivity to bring value to customers.

Mike Bacidore

Machine connectivity offers the promise of reduced maintenance costs, improved serialization, less product loss and better safety. In theory, these are all valuable benefits that machine builders can provide to end users. But how

much of that vision is actually being implemented?“It’s one thing to talk about smart machines, but it’s another thing to see it,”

explained Andy Pringle, OEM director for Latin America, Rockwell Automation, who kicked off the Global Machine and Equipment Builder (OEM) Forum at Automation Fair this week in Chicago. “Today, the IIoT [Industrial Internet of Things] is bringing a lot of smart devices into the infrastructure. How do we take data, aggregate it, contextualize it, analyze it and respond to it? And how much does it cost to do that?”

Smart technology and IIoT-enabled connectivity can be used to improve total cost of design, development and delivery, to optimize asset performance and to meet regulatory standards, for example. “Many people look at these as challenges,” said Pringle. “I’d prefer to call them opportunities for you to innovate and differentiate the value of your solution in a way that you previously haven’t been able to. It’s about how you can create a better user experience. Your end-user customer has a goal, whether you call it smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0 in Europe, or China 2025.”

The Connected Enterprise is a rapid value creation opportunity, explained Pringle. “We facilitate the sharing of information between industrial assets and the rest of the enterprise value chain,” he said. “You know your equipment and your solutions. But do you produce data in real time? How are you contextualizing that information and using it in a way that differentiates you?”

AT yOuR sERVICEOne company that’s been able to successfully capture and contextualize its machine data is Italy-based Cavanna, a 55-year-old, family-owned manufacturer of more than 5,000 installed packaging machines and lines in almost 60 countries. Keeping all these

“we supply troubleshooting information for as many situations as possible, and we include the possible solutions, so the clients can try first to solve the problem themselves.” Cavanna’s Amedeo Caccia dominioni is building smart machines that take information to the next level.

3232

machines in proper running order is the responsibility of a separate business unit, headed by Amedeo Caccia Dominioni, service division director, who also spoke at the Forum.

Through its remote monitoring capabilities, Cavanna is able to help its customers maintain uptime on machinery, even a considerable number of its 104 automatic lines with robots.

“Our main goal is to make those machines run as well as possible and as long as possible,” said Dominioni. Over the course of more than a half-century, Cavanna has amassed almost 1,000 customers, built four production plants—two in Italy, one in Brazil and one in the United States—and registered more than 100 patents. “We handle service calls, and we handle all of the training through our Cavanna Flow Pack Academy,” said Dominioni. “We also handle film tests with our Test C Lab.”

One of its machines is the Cavanna Slim, a very narrow piece of vertically oriented equipment. “It’s very space-saving,” explained Dominioni. All of the controls Cavanna uses are from Rockwell Automation, including Allen-Bradley ControlLogix and CompactLogix controllers along with the Studio 5000 design environment platform.

Value-added dashboardsMonitoring equipment to avoid or at least reduce machine downtime is a generally accepted benefit of remote connectivity. But Cavanna went a step further and decided not to just help with increasing uptime, but to improve operating efficiencies with the data it was already collecting on its mostly customized lines of equipment.

“Years ago, we started with the idea of using smart machines to collect production data to calculate overall equipment effectiveness [OEE] and total cost of ownership [TCO],” said Dominioni. “We are

very keen on these. OEE is a combined calculation of availability, performance and quality. Especially in big companies, OEE is very important. Big companies also are asking for TCO because it’s equally important.”

Cavanna included cameras and sensors to monitor the operations and collect OEE data on one of its lines in the Netherlands. Information on availability, performance and quality are shown on a remote HMI dashboard, and the client can see the situation and understand how the machine is running, and, if there are problems, how to correct them.

“To access this data, we use the eWon Talk2M eCatcher,” explained Dominioni. “Most of our machines have this installed in the line. We can talk with the client and with the line.Talk2M is a hosting service that is very, very secure.” (eWon is a member of the Rockwell Automation Encompass Partner program.)

For problem-solving, especially in plants where operators might be at a disadvantage when it comes to troubleshooting skills, more information is always appreciated. “Sometimes, our counterpart in the plant is not well-qualified,” said Dominioni. “To increase performance and reduce downtime, we try to offer alarm messages and diagnostics that are more detailed. We supply troubleshooting information for as many situations as possible, and we include the possible solutions, so the clients can try first to solve the problem themselves.”

Cavanna also provides animated videos for tablets that are designed to help engineers and operators perform certain tasks correctly. “The major parts of the lines are covered by those videos to prevent mistakes,” said Dominioni. “We also assist in identifying spare-parts through a tablet-based interactive catalog. We’re also promoting smart glasses for remote assistance. You can do the same with an iPad, but the glasses give you hands-free ability.”

3232

3333

How tHe modern dCS truly diStributeS Control The Rockwell Automation DCS distinguishes itself by leveraging the company’s ecosystems of controllers, software and partners.

Paul Studebaker

The traditional distributed control system (DCS) is actually a monolithic system, with control distributed across the plant through proprietary networks that began as 4-20 mA signals on twisted pairs of wires. Over the years, the

hardware, software and networks have become increasingly sophisticated, digital and powerful, but with few exceptions, control is still done in centralized controller and computer racks.

The PlantPAx DCS is naturally different, according to Jim Winter, director, global process business, Rockwell Automation.

“PlantPAx evolved from the plant-wide integration of many systems—motion, mechanical safety, process safety, process control—running on common and compatible hardware and software,” said Winter in an interview at the company’s Automation Fair event this week in Chicago.

“The use of common software reduces capital expenditures, because the same packages, training and expertise can be used on all the systems, and using common hardware reduces operational expenses for maintenance and spare parts,” Winter said. “It’s scalable, because the same systems used on a skid can be integrated to control the entire plant—skid-level batch control is available, as is plant-wide batch. And it’s connected through EtherNet/IP, a single, standard network for everything.”

“PlantPAx was founded on inexpensive, powerful processors and fast, open networks,” added Stephen Pulsifer, global director, process market development, Rockwell Automation. “So instead of a centralized system, we have highly distributed and networked controllers. We recently refreshed all our processors, so they’re faster than ever.

“Distributing the control makes it easy to integrate skids, and since you don’t need a centralized system, you don’t need an expensive site license. Those are typically about 1% of the system cost per year, which can add up to millions of dollars over the life of the system. With our system, you buy the hardware and the software comes with it.”

“The same system used on a skid can be integrated to control the entire plant.” Jim winter of Rockwell Automation explained why the company’s PlantPAx dCs offers unprecedented scalability for process applications.

3434

FlExIBlE dElIVERyThe Rockwell Automation DCS is also distinguished by the company’s flexible delivery system. “Customers can do it themselves, or they can work with our partners, distributors or us,” said Winter. This network of suppliers effectively doubles the company’s reach. “Wherever you are, around the world, there’s someone close by who knows your equipment and your application,” Winter said. “And they’re always there. Lots of vendors will be there when the plant is being put together, but not necessarily later— maybe 20 years later—when you need some help.”

To see the Rockwell Automation difference, consider the process of engineering and building a plant, he added. “Your equipment suppliers can build their machines and skids, install and test the control systems, and when they arrive, you can quickly and easily add them to the system.” This same modular philosophy extends through the company’s Encompass Partner program all the way up to its Strategic Alliance partners. “For instance, you can build an Endress+Hauser analyzer into our system with a predesigned faceplate,” he said. “With so many partners, this gives you freedom of choice and flexibility. You don’t have to wait for us to develop an interface to integrate a new piece of equipment.”

AdVANCEd PROCEss CONTROlImportantly, the Rockwell Automation building-block approach to distributed control does not limit the sophistication of its applications. For example, “Our model predictive control (MPC) offers the most powerful models—empirical, first-principle, non-linear, hybrid—and they run inside the controllers,” said Jim Miller, Pavilion business director, Rockwell Automation. “These are not scaled down models with 4x4 or 5x5 matrices. We’ve run as many

as five 10x10 matrices, and we can run them fast.”Those five models can be spread across applications, and for

the user there’s no complex modeling. “We made it easy,” said Miller. “Other companies have a few super-smart guys who handle advanced control, but Rockwell Automation has a lot of people who can do this because you don’t have to have a PhD.”

Advanced control traditionally runs on a separate computer, outside the control system, added Pulisfer. “Moving MPC from a server into a controller makes it more rugged, more robust, and faster, with sub-second cycle speeds. “It’s opening up advanced control to applications where you wouldn’t expect it.”

CONTINuOus PATh TO ImPROVEmENT“PlantPAx is a modern DCS, it’s not 20 years old,” said Winter. “It possesses all of the core capabilities expected of a DCS, but we still continually talk to our customers to see how we can improve upon the system. For example, the latest Studio 5000 development software enhances our capabilities.

“We’re empowering the information layer, making it easy to publish critical data and visualize it—truly helping to achieve a Connected Enterprise,” Pulsifer said. “Mobility brings information to people where and when they need it—we’re working on tailoring that information by location, adding diagnostics and recommending responses.”

Pulsifer added that Rockwell is working with Cisco on security at all levels from the I/O up, using commercial, off the shelf (COTS) technology, adapting and evolving as required. “There’s no way we can design security today and expect it to meet needs five years down the road,” he said. “Commercial applications are among the most robust, and using COTS lets us move forward quickly.”

3434

3535

How to monetize tHe smart macHineIIoT-enabled equipment can offer competitive differentiation for OEMs.

Mike Bacidore

In the past, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) often found themselves competing on price. Those days are long gone. Customers have driven machine builders to create a value proposition that differentiates them from competitors by

addressing the specific needs of the end user. A food processor, for example, might be focused on energy efficiency or water usage.

Being able to help that end user to not only conserve the use of water, but monitor and optimize the discharge of wastewater, is a value-added strategic differentiator, according to Greg Turner, global OEM segment business manager, process, Rockwell Automation, in an interview this week at the company’s Automation Fair event in Chicago.

“OEMs now wants help with creating value-add, not just making machines cheaper,” he said.

One of the differentiating features that an OEM can offer to the end user is the ability to provide data in the form of the business KPIs the user is targeting, such as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) or total cost of ownership (TCO).

“We might be talking about different library objects that will go into a controller and allow the OEM to pull all kinds of data from the machine,” explained Turner. “The OEM is serving up that key data to the end user for the enterprise data system. The end user might have a goal to reduce energy consumption by 2%. You can set the goal and then measure against it.”

smART mAChINEs IN ACTIONBy way of example, Turner described a cheese manufacturer and packaging OEM that together benefitted from embedded Rockwell Automation capabilities. Tight control of final packaged product weight was critical: underweight packages incurred regulatory penalties, and overweight packages resulted in product giveaway as well as incremental taxes. Being able to monitor and control that weight was critical to profitability.

“OEms now wants help with creating value-add, not just making machines cheaper.” greg Turner of Rockwell Automation explained how machine builders can monetize smart-machine technology at Automation Fair 2015.

36

“The OEM could log all of the data needed to help the end user, but it still had to be able to get that data from the machines,” said Turner. “Our products provide that ability. We focus on EtherNet/IP, which has a lot of advantages, and we provide the kinds of libraries that can be used to reduce development time for the OEM.”

INCO Engineering in the Czech Republic designs and builds hoists and systems for vertical and inclined transport in mines around the globe. Capacity and performance requirements vary based on customer needs, but the two constants are safety and reliability. To mitigate downtime risk, INCO builds three layers of control redundancy into each system.

Further, it continuously monitors conditions of selected equipment at the company’s central service center. If an issue occurs, INCO staff can notify its customers immediately. Staff can also analyze the most frequent faults and help users make equipment and process adjustments to prevent further occurrences.

ImPlEmENTATION sTRATEgyEnabling manufacturing machinery with Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIOT) technology is a step-by-step process. Legacy equipment exists and might not be scheduled for replacement or upgrade for years, but including IIoT capabilities on new machinery gives customers the ability to simply turn it on when they’re ready. The communications protocol can be a good place to start preparing.

“We provide controls and automation, and we partner with Endress+Hauser for instrumentation,” explained Turner. “We build and propose solutions for all of our components—PLCs, I/

Os, drives—which are all enabled for IIoT with EnterNet/IP, which can feed ERP or MES directly,” Turner said. “In the interim, if you have other protocols such as Profibus, you probably will have to go through some converter.”

Controllers can be a simple initial step. “Smaller-memory and smaller-footprint controllers in the OEM space can be much more cost-competitive,” explained Turner. “An OEM might find that a full ControlLogix PLC is too much, so we might advise a CompactLogix instead. It’s got an advantage in cost and footprint but uses the same protocol. It’s all standardized.”

OEMs needn’t worry about the increased cost of adding IIoT technology on machines, Turner added. “The cost is not excessive, and there’s a huge mitigating factor. We build tools for our hardware, such as OEM library objects, that reduce development time. For drives, we feature Premier Integration, which saves on implementation effort.”

“These sorts of toolsets reduce development, design and delivery time, and for OEMs can mean higher margins or lower prices they can pass on to the end user.”

In everything Rockwell Automation develops for smart machines, nothing is developed without an associated value proposition, said Turner. “I try to get OEMs to take on newer technology in what they’re designing because it will give them a competitive advantage,” he explained. “It will improve business, whether that’s reducing development time or enabling remote monitoring. Smart machines offer the ability to take production-specific data from the machine and convert it to business analytics.”

36

3737

Automotive Forum: Flexible production systems neededUnpredictable supply and demand warrant systems that can change equally quickly.

By Mike Bacidore, chief editor, Control Design

The automotive industry has more end-to-end connectivity than any other vertical market. Information moves from suppliers into vehicle design and manufacturing and then on to dealerships, consumer configurations and on-vehicle, real-time

diagnostics. That requires a flattened and flexible communication system.Network architecture requires attention to visibility and security, especially in a

global economy. “North American automotive production is a globally connected industry,” said Joe Langley, principal analyst, North American vehicle production forecasting & analytics at IHS Automotive, who provided the framework for discussion during the Automotive Industry Forum held by Rockwell Automation during its Automation Fair event in Chicago.

“We’re moving from global platforms to global super sets, which include vehicles, segments and markets,” said Langley. “Manufacturers are looking at modular sets to plug and play. These create economies of scale.”

Half of North American production will come from these super sets, which is slightly less than the global movement. One potential downside of the super set is that a defective product—for example, a brake pedal—that’s placed in a few million vehicles now creates enormous problems on a global scale if something goes wrong.

FlEx AuTOmOTIVE musClEFour years ago, George Jewell was responsible for putting together specifications for assembly systems at General Motors, where he’d worked for 17 years. “At GM, we’d spend six to eight weeks making changes to an assembly line, using six engineers, usually working on third shift,” said Jewell, who’s now vice president at eFlex Systems, a 25-year-old provider of technology for manufacturing and assembly systems.

“There’s a lot of changing demand out there, from changing products to different customer demands,” said Jewell. “It’s also very difficult to forecast consumer

“Panels are not part of the lines any more. This allows for a plug-and-play environment.” george Jewell, vice president at eFlex systems, recalls the conversion to flexible assembly systems at gm Powertrain.

38

demand and commodity prices for oil or steel. If manufacturing doesn’t have flexibility, then it could mean lost sales.”

REdEPlOymENT OF REsOuRCEsFlexible manufacturing and assembly cost more to implement, but there are significant lifecycle cost reductions. “Being able to redeploy resources is very important in this global market,” said Jewell. “And, with a flexible system, we can make changes in minutes, not hours.”

Flexibility also enforces design and process standards. “You’d think that standards limit flexibility, but flexibility allows you to change within those standards,” explained Jewell. “A PLC with no programming is very flexible, for example, but changing it is very labor intensive. A flexible system should enforce standards but support changing standards, too. A flexible system facilitates a continuous-improvement culture by allowing plant-floor people to make those changes and see the effects.”

One of the big challenges for switching to a flexible system is gaining leadership support. “Without that support, it’s impossible to accomplish,” said Jewell. “Even with support, middle management can hinder progress. And there can be barriers between siloed groups. Standards should be systemic, involving many stakeholders. Systemic solutions involve all of the siloed organizations within the company.”

ThE PATh TO FlExIBIlITyAt General Motors, Jewell’s first order of business was to gain that

support for a flexible assembly system from top leadership. “The cost to implement a flexible system is 10% higher in hardware,” he explained. “We paid $500,000 for the first line. It can be difficult to get upper management to focus on the lifecycle cost, rather than the initial cost.”

Once top leadership is onboard, the champion can come from

anywhere, as long as it’s specific to the operation. “It could be from middle management or engineering,” said Jewell. “We had to find leadership in the company that could work with and have authority over all of the different areas of the plant. Then we started with a pilot line.”

Jewell and his team defined equipment standards at the machine level and the operator level first. “It’s important to push that down to the plant floor and talk to them and work those standards from the bottom up,” he explained. “Once standards were developed and leadership support was gained, the solution followed pretty easily. Management, process, controls engineers and suppliers all collaborated on the solution.”

Each station on the flexible assembly lines Jewell helped commission at GM used sealed IP65 and IP67 components, which increased flexibility by eliminating the need for panels. “Panels are not part of the lines anymore,” said Jewell. “This allows for a plug-and-play environment. There’s one set of prints and one program for each station. When I was in the controls area, we had about 30 central controls guys.”

A POwERTRAIN sTANdARdThe flexible system approach has been in place at General Motors for about a decade now, and it’s in all of the company’s powertrain assembly plants around the world. It supports and enforces GM Powertrain standards, but most importantly it allows for the addition or movement of devices such as torque tools and vision systems. There’s no PLC or HMI programming.

“A configuration and data-gathering software was developed by eFlex, which allowed for configuration of station automation and data gathering. The eFlex configuration system uses task cards that represent tasks in the station, which allows for editing of model parameters.

38

3939

Oil & Gas FOrum: Primed tO exPlOit enterPrise cOnnectivityMerging IT and OT systems refines safety, reliability, security, efficiency and more

Paul Studebaker

Like the extreme conditions under which it discovers and extracts much of today’s raw hydrocarbon feedstocks, the oil and gas industry is subject to the extremes of today’s industrial challenges: unplanned downtime, regulatory requirements,

employee productivity and security, as well as operational and maintenance efficiency. “Ours is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world,” said Luis Gamboa,

global oil and gas market development manager, Rockwell Automation. And with oil prices now down around $40 per barrel, “We need the next level of productivity to optimize and minimize the cost of production.”

Oil and gas facilities are prime candidates to benefit from the competitive advantages of connecting the enterprise. “We have smart assets in the field, smart assets plant-wide. They’re more intelligent than ever, generating amounts of data we’ve never seen before,” Gamboa told attendees of the Oil & Gas Industry Forum this week at the Automation Fair event in Chicago.

Among other things, a Connected Enterprise uses data from the field, plant floor and supply chain to drive “smart production” that is sustainable, optimized and demand-driven, Gamboa said. “Not driving around in the field, seeing whether pump jacks are operating or not, taking days or weeks to respond to a failure.”

A Connected Enterprise also responds to changing market conditions, using predictive analytics to manage the supply chain, reduce risk and optimize asset performance. “It recognizes the indications, the patterns that lead to failure,” Gamboa said. “It fine-tunes processes to optimize them, squeezing the most out of limited cap-ex dollars.”

It starts by connecting information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) systems in a common, secure network infrastructure, Gamboa explained. Transactional management systems meet real-time control data: manual reports and spreadsheets are replaced with direct communications over standard, unmodified Ethernet. This makes it possible to use big data and analytics to recognize the patterns and

“historians can be spun up offsite, configured, tested and saved as an appliance, then taken onsite and brought online in 10 minutes.” Ahmad dean, senior instruments and automation engineer for oil and gas giant BhP Billiton described how virtualization streamlines deployment, boosts reliability and eases maintenance.

4040

opportunities described above. It enables cloud computing and virtualization, which allow users

to overcome obsolete hardware and limited IT infrastructure by using IT as a service, perform disaster recovery and streamline deployments and maintenance. And it supports mobility, which gives the right people all the information they need to make decisions.

But it’s not easy. “Execution is a journey—and you can’t do it all at once, you have to take on one thing at a time,” said Gamboa. “Assess, secure and upgrade your communications. Then work the data capital: run analytics and big data tools on data you already have. Then apply the results, optimize and collaborate.”

VIRTuAlIzATION uNlOCKs RElIABIlITyOne key enabling technology of The Connected Enterprise is virtualization. A virtual machine (VM) is a software implementation of a computer operating system (OS)—a snapshot of the computer. In many cases, multiple VMs can be run on a single server because the powerful machines are typically underused.

“VMs can help you meet industry challenges by providing increased uptime for productivity and safety systems,” said Ahmad Dean, senior instruments and automation engineer, BHP Billiton. His is “the biggest company you never heard of,” Dean said, a global leader in oil and gas exploration, production, development and marketing with major operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Australia, Tobago and Texas.

“The benefits of virtualization for oil and gas facilities are significant, but also apply to most operations where 24/7 uptime is king,” Dean said.

Along with system reliability, VMs support disaster recovery, ease maintenance and reduce the time required to develop and deploy applications. Virtualization also eliminates problems due to obsolete hardware.

“It breaks the link between the operating system and the operating hardware—it doesn’t matter what OS you have, you can

run it on the same hardware,” Dean said.In a typical application, three servers run all the VMs, and all three

are monitored for failures. On a failure, that machine’s VMs migrate to another host. “The virtual machines come back magically in about five minutes,” Dean said. “It’s seamless—you don’t see any bumps. Operators don’t see any effects.”

For disaster recovery, a virtual machine essentially becomes two files: one on the machine, one on a thumb drive or other storage device. “If a machine is lost, you can find another machine with enough power and load it back on,” Dean said. “That comes in handy once in a while. We simulated a disaster on our virtualized system, and it took me about two hours to bring the system back online.”

VIRTuAlIzATION IN ThE FIEldVirtualization also simplifies deployment of configured solutions. For example, a historian can be added with no new machine to install, no concern about space, power, cooling, etc.

“A historian can be spun up offsite, configured, tested and saved as an appliance, then taken onsite and brought online in 10 minutes,” Dean said. The firmware, operating system and patches can be tested before deployment.

“I typically test them for a few days before rollout so we can see any problems and fix them,” he added. “When we see firmware problems—and we do—we can take a snapshot, apply patches and test the results.”

Implementations will test the storage area network (SAN) and network configuration, and will uncover problems if the network was not set up properly. “In one application, we tried to use zero clients but the network was not robust enough,” Dean said. “We couldn’t take it down to fix it, so we went back to PCs for the clients.”

The health status of all the VMs is easy to monitor, Dean said. “VMware offers one place to see the health of the system—switches, host, power supplies, networks—in one view, through a web browser.”

4040

41

Maintenance technicians can move a running machine from one server to another. “With vMotion software, they can put the server in maintenance mode, push a button and the VMs move to another machine,” Dean said. “After they perform service and put the machine back online, the VMs migrate back. They can maintain or replace hard drives without taking the system down, with no slowdown in performance, no hiccups.”

BuIldINg ThE dATA CENTER Virtualization calls for an industrial-strength data center. “We had to decide whether or not to roll our own,” Dean said. He chose

Rockwell Automation, which manages his VMware needs as well Cisco networking hardware and EMC hard drives.

“It’s one place for all our needs. For a Cisco part or an EMC part, we can just call Rockwell and they handle the interaction. I don’t see it, I just get a hard drive, all through one technical support number. That helps a lot.”

The upfront investment is significant, but the advantages far outweigh the cost, Dean concluded. “Some will say you can buy 25 servers for the cost of virtualization, but it’s the scalability and uptime advantages that make the difference.”

41

4242

E-lEarning curriculum to addrEss ot/it skills gapInteractive courses provide common foundation for engineers, technicians and IT professionals, too

Keith Larson

New virtual training classes from Industrial IP Advantage are designed to meet the emerging needs of automation engineers and IT professionals tasked with deploying Ethernet networking technologies in an industrial context.

Today’s Ethernet technology can satisfy the performance needs of automation systems as well as ease integration with Ethernet business networks, but the engineers and technicians responsible for plant-floor environments are ill equipped to deal with it, according to Mike Slepikas, manager, learning solutions, Panduit.

“We’re hearing from customers that they’re not ready,” he said. “IT doesn’t have the domain expertise, and control engineers don’t have the network skill sets. This is all about getting education to the people who need it.”

“The training courses provide an excellent opportunity to begin the journey toward a structured, converged network that will help maintain security, performance and maintainability best practices,” added Paul Brooks, networks business development manager, Rockwell Automation. “It also provides a common language and can help bridge the ‘credibility gap’ between IT and OT professionals.”

The online training brings together the combined knowledge, best practices and application-specific expertise of three industry leaders—Rockwell Automation, Cisco and Panduit—to teach industrial professionals how to design, build and maintain holistic, IP-based network architectures. “This unique offering brings together domain expertise across varying critical aspects of designing, operating and maintaining an industrial network architecture,” Brooks said.

The first two of four modular courses were launched this week at Automation Fair in Chicago. Two more are planned for release in 2016:• Courses 1 and 2: Designing for the Cell/Area Zone• Course 3: Designing for Production Operations• Course 4: Enterprise Integration and Maintenance

The courses are designed to help engineers drive design decisions from the

“It provides a common language and can help bridge the ‘credibility gap’ between IT and OT professionals.” Paul Brooks of Rockwell Automation described how new online courses offered by Industrial IP Advantage can ease the industrial network skills shortage in many organizations.

43

device-level to enterprise-wide network, leveraging interactive, scenario-based training on topics such as logical topologies, protocols, switching and routing, security, physical cabling and wireless considerations.

The courses are offered for $350 each on the Industrial IP Advantage website, with a promotional discount for those registering by January 2016. Four “try before you buy” modules are available at no charge.

43

4444

Solid architecture runS the connected enterpriSe in the real worldThe new, high-performance Integrated Architecture includes higher-speed ControlLogix controllers, sleek displays and HMI design software

by Jim Montague, executive editor, Control

The promises of today’s virtual clouds and IT-linked businesses may sometimes seem a little hazy and insubstantial, but the next-generation, high-performance Integrated Architecture and components from Rockwell Automation bring these

concepts down to earth and into focus to deliver big gains on the plant floor. “This physical foundation is connecting everything from smart machines to real-

time data and analytics, visualizing applications and production line performance, and enabling users to make increasingly better decisions for greater efficiency and profitability,” said John Pritchard, global market development manager for Integrated Architecture at Rockwell Automation.

Pritchard and a small army of colleagues presented the “Building the Architecture for the Connected Enterprise” at the Integrated Architecture exhibit on the opening day of Automation Fair 2015 this week at McCormick Place in Chicago.

CONNECTEd CARTONINgOne exhibit centerpiece using Integrated Architecture was the CL175 continuous cartoning machine from Cama USA Inc. Pritchard reported the machine is the result of a multiyear partnership between Cama and Rockwell Automation.

As a result, CL175 employs new iTrak intelligent track and transport system from Rockwell Automation that has mover units on the track that can be independently controlled for greater efficiency.

“Changing box sizes on cartoners traditionally requires lots of manual adjustments and hours of time, but size changeovers with CL175 are instantly done via menus and software, which saves users huge amounts of time,” said Pritchard. “At the same time, this machine takes up half the footprint of former versions, which adds to its overall lifecycle savings.”

CL175 uses a variety of Rockwell Automation components and solutions, including Allen-Bradley Kinetix 5500 servo drives with advanced safety functions, as well as

”Our new, high-performance Integrated Architecture is where The Connected Enterprise gets jobs done.” John Pritchard, global market development manager for Integrated Architecture demonstrated its benefits during an exhibit tour at Rockwell Automation Fair 2015 on Nov.18.

45

pneumatics from Festo. The machine’s iTrak system is controlled by an Allen-Bradley GuardLogix controller, and it communicates via EtherNet/IP protocol.

“Integrated Architecture uses all-EtherNet/IP networking to link I/O, controllers, HMIs, motors, motor controllers and other devices. This architecture is where The Connected Enterprise gets jobs done, manufactures products, maintains uptime and improves overall equipment effectiveness (OEE),” said Pritchard. “We and Cisco also developed reference architectures for applying EtherNet/IP, segmenting and securing networks, and helping engineers and plants managers organize their networks.”

New architecture corNerstoNesTo help other control and automation developers and users achieve similar performance gains, Pritchard added that Rockwell Automation is launching several new products to support its high-performance Integrated Architecture. These solutions are headlined by the new ControlLogix 5580 controller family, which features multicore microprocessors, combined Ethernet cards and processors, and 1-Gbps, front-mounted Ethernet ports.

“At this show, and using the same demo code, ControlLogix 5580’s multicore processor lets it perform math instructions in structured text 20 times faster than the prior, one-core version,” explained Pritchard. “So tasks like motion control that used to be very tough are much easier now. For example, where the former version could run 35 axes in a 1-millisecond (msec) scan time, ControlLogix 5580 can run 125 axes in a 1-msec scantime, which is a 350% improvement. This can be very useful as more production lines, robots and other devices need to be coordinated at high speeds on increasingly integrated production lines and equipment enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT).”

The second major Integrated Architecture product launched at the exhibit is the high-performance Allen-Bradley 5069 Compact I/O, which achieves a screw-to-screw (STS) time of about 0.28 msec, where its predecessor had a 5 msec STS time. Pritchard

reported that STS is the time from when an input signal is received to when it’s written as an output by a controller.

“Going from 5 msec to 0.28 msec adds up to 12-13 times better performance, which can be a big help to high-speed rejection stations and other applications that need to make rapid decisions,” added Pritchard.

Finally, the third big Integrated Architecture release is the new Allen-Bradley Stratix 5400 1-Gbps Ethernet switch, which supports ControlLogix 5580 and 5069 Compact I/O.

“All three of these products are tangible examples of Rockwell Automation’s new, high-performance Integrated Architecture,” said Pritchard. “This is where the rubber of The Connected Enterprise really meets the road.”

sleek hMis aNd screeN developMeNtTo help developers, integrators and users visualize all the

increased performance gains they’re getting from the high-performance Integrated Architecture, Princhard added that Rockwell Automation is also launching two new families if HMIs—PanelView 5000 graphic terminals with a new graphics engine that supports scalable-vector graphics, and PanelView Plus 7 graphic terminals with the same graphics engine as PanelView 6 graphic terminals to help smooth integration on upgrade projects.

“PanelView has new physical hardware with a low-profile appearance that includes a metal bezel frame, radiused corners and gray, metallic, powder-coated finish,” said Pritchard.

To give its on-screen displays equal punch, Rockwell Automation has added three new applications to its Rockwell Software Studio 5000 development environment to help engineers speed development of automation systems as they design connected enterprises.

These applications include Studio 5000 View Designer for building HMI screens; Studio 5000 Application Code Manager for managing and reusing libraries of code; and Studio 5000 Architect, which is an environment where users can create topographic

45

46

representations of their I/O, controls, racks and other devices; set up specifications and parts allocations; assign controller inputs and outputs; and perform many other design tasks.

“The design experience with Studio 5000 is much better because its whole library of smart objects make it easier to design applications and assign tags, and do it with less manual effort

than before,” added Pritchard. “Users can also use Studio 5000 to collaborate on control design projects, and then compare and merge changes. Most importantly, it also has a bulk engineering and library management capability that, for example, lets users create the controls for one tank, automatically generate instances for 10 other tanks, and assign the appropriate I/O for them in the right sequences. This also means a lot less manual effort for users.”

46

4747

Payoffs and trade-offs on ConneCted enterPrise journeyStandardize processes and technology where possible, and don’t neglect issues of culture

BYLINE: Keith Larson

It’s tough to argue with The Connected Enterprise value proposition. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a safer, more efficient and more profitable enterprise, where all decision-makers are equipped with the visibility and information they need to

respond quickly and confidently to sudden market challenges and new opportunities?The vision may be clear, but there are as many paths forward as there are

companies setting out to become one. There will be potholes along the way, but wins will sometimes come from unexpected quarters, according toa panel of industry executives that shared their own companies’ stories of justification, definition and value creation on the road to becoming a Connected Enterprise. The panel discussion was part of the Automation Perspectives media event held by Rockwell Automation on the eve of its Automation Fair event in Chicago.

Participating in the panel were Keith Nosbusch, president and CEO, Rockwell Automation; Art Clausen, CFO, Mullins Food Products; Jim Wetzel, technical director, General Mills, and chairman, Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition; and Lance Whitacre, VP and CIO, Anderson Corp. The discussion was moderated by John Nesi, VP market development, Rockwell Automation.

ThE uRgE TO sTANdARdIzEOne shared justification experience in the panelists’ Connected Enterprise journey was the clear need, often identified at the outset, to simplify and standardize its business processes and the systems that support them. Here, justification started with improved visibility into manufacturing operations or, more broadly, into far-flung supply chains. A shared vernacular and improved portability of staff skills from plant to plant have also yielded results.

Jim Wetzel of General Mills, for example, traces the company’s Connected Enterprise journey back to 1993. “Back then, we realized we needed to be connected,” Wetzel said. The company progressed from using Ethernet-enabled

“Along the way we discovered there was a whole lot we didn’t know we didn’t know.” Art Clausen of mullins Food Products on the unexpected sources of challenge and reward on the road to becoming a Connected Enterprise.

48

PLCs to gather trend data “so we could tell what had happened” to visualization, optimization and enterprise analytics, Wetzel said.“Now we’re on a journey to smart manufacturing.”

Part of General Mills’ journey has been to standardize the company’s manufacturing processes and automation and information system architecture across its 60 plants around the world. “When we acquired Pillsbury, we converted all their systems to ours; when we acquired Ralston Purina’s snack foods business, we ripped out relatively new PLCs,” Wetzel said. The company had found that the costs of dissimilar systems—even fully functional ones—stymied continued improvement. “Now we’re very homogeneous, and that’s come at a cost,” Wetzel said. “But we judged that the gains to be had were worth it.”

Similarly, Rockwell Automation realized in 2005 that if it was to compete on the global stage it had to standardize it business processes and unify the variety of ERP systems it had collected through growth and acquisition, Keith Nosbusch said. “It was critical to long-term success and, frankly, to financial prosperity.”

The company embarked on its own Connected Enterprise journey, with a global plan that led not only to a unified ERP instance, but a revamping of its global supply chain that involved plant closures and openings as well. Now, the company enjoys global visibility into its supply chains and can quickly respond. “When the Fukishima earthquake hit in Japan, we were able to rebalance our supply chains overnight,” Nosbusch said.

Tip of The icebergAnd when Mullins Food Products embarked on its now three-years-on journey, visibility into manufacturing operations was the

key motivator, said CFO Art Clausen. The company had a single ERP system (which was good), but lost visibility between when raw materials were received and finished goods were shipped.

“Along the way, we discovered there was a whole lot we didn’t know we didn’t know,” Clausen confessed. “We achieved the basic ROI we were looking for but discovered that’s was just the tip of the iceberg—we now know there are many, many next steps.”

“The project has led to questions of culture of training, employees, and leadership,” Clausen added. “We’ve learned we can only chew off and digest so much at a time.”

Other panelists concurred that issues of culture are enormously important on the road to The Connected Enterprise. In particular, when organizations transition from making decisions by opinion and gut-feel to those based on facts and data, some employees find the transition unsettling, according to Lance Whitacre of Anderson Corp.

When finally armed with the information they need to make decisions—rather than constantly fight fires—quality, customer services and other outcomes improve, Whitacre said. In turn, the need for “heroes” who were once so valued because they could fix things that were broken yields to the need for employees with analytical skills sets who can further improve business processes. “People have to reinvent themselves,” Whitacre said.

“We had lots of heroes, too,” Knosbusch added, “because they had to fill in the gaps between our systems.” Today people’s jobs have changed, he added. “The Connected Enterprise needs different capabilities, different competencies—and yields different outcomes too.”

48

4949

Data analytics still neeD the human touchReal-time analytic services are only as good as the process knowledge used to contextualize the data

By Mike Bacidore, chief editor, Control Design

Data is everywhere, and many manufacturers have been collecting it for decades. But what are they doing with it? Can you collect enough data to create an analysis algorithm that replaces the need for human intervention?

“We don’t need big data,” asserted Francisco Castillo, chief information officer, Maynilad Water Services. “Most of our data is field data, and it’s quite repetitive, so we can compress it. For us, to do a good analysis of the information, we need someone who is knowledgeable of the process itself. That is more of a challenge.”

Castillo was one of a group of panelists who spoke about data analytics this week during Automation Perspectives at Rockwell Automation Fair in Chicago.

Different vertical industries have different views of data, but they all seem to agree on the need to understand the process – and its potential impact on developing their own Connected Enterprise.

“Data is data,” said Wayne Roller, engineering director at 3M. “But you need a ton of data to run an analysis, unless you’re very intimate with how that process works. Having intimate process knowledge with a small amount of data, you can move the world. The key is getting it down to the user level with analysis that can be run quickly.”

That ability to combine data with process knowledge is a winning formula for analytics.

“Data does not replace the cognitive capability of a human being,” explained Matthias Altendorf, chief executive officer, Endress+Hauser. “But data can help you recognize patterns. The data of the device and the data of the environment can help a human being come to a decision faster.”

mORE ThAN ONE wAy TO gET TO ThE dATAAt Fanuc America, the robot manufacturer found itself catapulted into data acquisition and analytics by its best customer.

“For us, to do a good analysis of the information, we need someone who is knowledgeable of the process itself.” Francisco Castillo, chief information officer at maynilad water services addresses data analysis shortcomings at Automation Perspectives.

50

“I’d characterize our journey as a slingshot being launched,” said Rick Schneider, Fanuc president and CEO. “We had a certain component that would fail in a machine that was in the middle of a production line. It would take four to six hours to take down the production line and replace it.”

With this type of failure costing its customer $2.5 million in downtime per incident, Fanuc acted fast to determine how to get at the data and use analytics to slash that downtime cost.

“We put together a test site for the highest-risk machines,” explained Schneider. “We started pulling the data out, and we had our engineers go through it to look for symptoms that occurred before the failure.”

Each machine contained a black-box recorder. Fanuc started pulling data out every 90 seconds, and it quickly found it could predict and prevent failures with that information, saving its customer an estimated $30 million in avoided downtime.

“All of that has happened in less than a year,” said Schneider. “For us, it’s been a very fast ramp-up, and the investment cost has been very low.”

At Maynilad, the journey was much slower, but the challenges were different.

“One of the things that is a reality for us is the convergence of IT and OT,” explained Castillo, who oversees both departments, with OT under the management of IT. “We now have hydraulic modeling—a core system in the water industry—to simulate how an expansion in one area will affect water delivery. In one of our plants, we’re able to capture operational data and notify heads before a failure occurs. Plus, we’ve been able to upgrade our leak management system.”

Because the water industry is so highly regulated, the only way to increase profits is to reduce costs. Maynilad uses data from both IT and OT. It uses field data, but also incorporates asset information and billing information for a complete picture.

“Most of our assets are underground,” said Castillo. “We want to deliver pressure, but not too much because that can increase leaks. We’re upgrading and installing sensors to detect more than the

traditional signals, so we can now measure temperature, vibration and current, and be able to do condition-based maintenance.”

3M has been collecting data for many years, but it still comes back to human knowledge of the process.

“As instruments got cheap enough for us to add data collection, we started charting information and getting it in front of our operators,” said Roller. “But, without some model-based understanding of the process, you’re still chasing ghosts. We’re now moving toward a more model-based approach to understand why the data doesn’t look like it should. We’re still trying to do that in real time on the production floor. Then we’re taking that data up to our own servers and running big data analysis.”

At Endress+Hauser, the journey started about 20 years ago because the company has so many manufacturing sites around the world.

“For 15 years, we’ve collected all of the data for manufacturing,” explained Altendorf. “Now we have more than 30 million data collection devices.”

whERE ThE dATA lIVEsWhile many tend to think of analytics occurring in the cloud, more manufacturers prefer to do computing and analysis at the edge. Each strategy provides its own challenges.

“Analytics is about contextualizing data in terms of actual business problem,” explained Blake Moret, senior vice president, control products & solutions, Rockwell Automation.

“In the past, we’d do edge computing, and we’d work with Rockwell on cloud computing, and in some cases we’d pull that data out,” said Schneider. “The plant didn’t want us to know what was going on in that cell. We would plug in a box to collect data, and we’d come back and find the box had been unplugged. The plant’s IT department didn’t want us pulling that data out.”

Fanuc then worked with Cisco to put the data on a network that it could access, but then it had to go plant by plant and country by country, a very slow process.

50

51

Data connectivity and analytics have changed Fanuc’s go-to-business model.

“After we’ve sold that robot to the customer, we have very little insight as to how that robot is being used,” explained Schneider.

In the past, it only found out something when the robot was down. “We want to be at the customer’s plant within six hours,” he said. “Now that we’re getting feedback from that robot every 90 seconds, we’re able to get a lot of data.”

Fanuc is able to tell the customer how to reduce energy consumption or how to run a robot in a manner that will cause

less damage to it. And it’s improved customer satisfaction and generated more profitable post-sales service opportunities.

“As long as the data is there, you might as well store it,” offered Castillo. “Once you look at the process, you might find you need more data, so it’s beneficial to have it then. Data governance, or data ownership, is a big challenge for us. Who owns the data? How do you keep it clean? Who owns not only the inputs, but the outputs? We came up with a data governance model. We put in as much data as possible to prove something good can come out.That’s a work in progress.”

51

52

MPC saves energy at oilseed ProCessing PlantModel predictive control on an oilseed desolventizer/toaster saves more than $150,000 year by reducing steam consumption.

Paul Studebaker

Among other things, advanced process control (APC) can improve yield, reduce energy consumption, improve quality and consistency, reduce giveaway, increase safety and improve compliance. The term covers a wide range of

technologies including advanced regulatory control (ARC), inferential, sequential and model predictive control (MPC).

“This is about MPC,” said Jim Vortherms, division manager, Interstates Control Systems, Inc. (ICSI) in his presentation at the Rockwell Automation Process Solutions User Group (PSUG) just before the Automation Fair event in Chicago this week. Vortherms co-presented with Randy Kurth, lead control systems analyst, ICSI.

MPC sits on top of the basic process control system (BPCS) system, where it monitors, collects data, runs models, and feeds setpoints down to the BPCS.

“It’s especially applicable to processes with long lag times or where multiple variables affect the process and keep it from running the way you want it to,” Vortherms said. “In this case, we had identified the excessive dome temperature of an oilseed desolventizer/toaster (DT) as an opportunity to save energy.”

ExTRACTINg OIl FROm sEEdsThe DT is a pressurized vessel where oilseed stocks are continuously heated to extract oils (solvent) then removed via a motor-driven extractor. The unit under consideration was fitted with a manual steam valve that was seldom adjusted because of its remote location. The DT was operated at higher than the necessary temperatures—if the dome temperature cooled below 150 °F, it would trip out the process to prevent solvent retention in the product, which could lead to explosions in storage silos.

Vortherms described four steps to implementing MPC. The first is to identify candidate process variables, which is best done by familiarity with the process and equipment. The second is to collect data, preferably as much as is available from lab results and the process historian, as well as operator logs. “Collect any and all data,

“The calculated return is $162,000 per year on a $125,000 project, or a payback of 9.2 months. we promised an 18-month payback to be sure the client would be satisfied.” Jim Vortherms, division manager, Interstates Control systems, Inc. (ICsI) described how model predictive control saves money on an oilseed desolventizer/toaster.

53

including cost and revenue information to calculate return on investment (ROI),” he said. “Collect at least six months’ worth of data.”

The third step is to configure a model that takes into account the controlled variables—pressures, temperatures, flows, gearbox amps, etc.—as well as the disturbance variables that affect the process but are not controlled, and the variable(s) to be manipulated by MPC. In the case of the DT, ICSI recommended the manual steam valve be replaced with a control valve, and become the manipulated variable to control dome temperature.

Variables may have upper limits, lower limits or both, and these must be taken into the model along with desired setpoints. “For the DT, we configured a simple model for steam only, and a more complex model that would also manipulate the extractor speed,” Vortherms said. Due to cost and practicality, they settled on the simple model.

The first three steps can be completed remotely in the engineering office. The fourth step is implementation, where MPC is put in place, tuned and monitored.

Model iMpleMentationIn a production environment, the MPC runs in a server and interfaces with the PLC that does the actual control. “But we’ll soon be able to run simple models in the new Logix advanced control module,”

Vortherms said. The implementation includes a faceplate that operators can access to monitor the status of the MPC.

It shows actual and target process variables, as well as the MPC health status: whether it’s on or off, and if any measurements are deactivated due to a transmitter malfunctioning or out of service for calibration or repair. With the MPC installed and tuned, it was possible to lower the dome temperature from 160 °F to 150 °F, which reduced the steam demand by 1 lb. per bushel.

“At $6 per pound of steam, running 90 bushels a day, 300 days per year, the calculated return is $162,000 per year on a $125,000 project, or a payback of 9.2 months,” Vortherms said. “We promised an 18-month payback to be sure the client would be satisfied.”

In practice, operating the unit reliably at 150 °F also prevents trips and keeps it online, increasing production and improving payback.

The system has been in operation for more than a year with no need for retuning or adjustment. When it is taken offline for a shutdown or startup, or is compromised by a field device failure or maintenance, the operators are eager to get it turned back on.

“Operators really like it so they turn it back on. They see what it does,” Vortherms said. “MPC is like having your best operator looking at all those variables, moving the valve and doing nothing else, 24/7.”

53

54

CyberseCurity makes the ConneCted enterprise possibleExperts from Shell, Cisco, AT&T, Microsoft and Rockwell Automation show how cybersecurity tools can benefit real-world applications during panel discussion at Automation Perspectives media event.

by Jim Montague, executive editor, Control

Connectivity requires cybersecurity to exist and succeed. All the promised benefits of The Connected Enterprise—faster time to market, lower total cost of ownership, improved asset utilization and enterprise risks management—can’t

and won’t happen without effective security.“One of the key sticking points in moving forward in The Connected Enterprise is

cybersecurity, but a lot of collaboration and skills will be needed to make it happen, and none of us can do it alone,” said John Nesi, vice president of market development, Rockwell Automation.

The good news is that many useful software and other tools are emerging to aid cybersecurity efforts. The bad news is, it’s difficult in real-world applications, facilities and organizations to find the time, money, labor, cooperation, expertise, training and commitment to implement them.

“It’s difficult to talk about cybersecurity without trivializing its breadth and scope, but the truth is that cybersecurity is an extraordinarily non-trivial challenge,” said Tyler Williams, global technology leader for industrial cybersecurity, Shell Global Solutions. “We’ve been working on cybersecurity since 1993, and we’ve had a lot more ‘uh-oh’ moments than ‘aha’ moments. We understand the value of connectivity, applying analytics, cloud computing and augmented reality, and the challenge with cybersecurity is people want it done today, but it’s really a long-term journey.

“Our problem is that everyone is talking about the cloud, but we’re still trying to patch Windows 3.1 software in some locations. We appreciate that it’s important to invest in new technologies, but many of them don’t yet work with how we’re operating at our 137 plants. We’re trying to do traditional, labor-intensive patching from 30 suppliers, so let’s get automation blacklisting protection done before we try to protect against advanced persistent threats.”

To bridge this gap and find the security that connectivity must have to survive, Rockwell Automation and several of its expert partners came together for a panel

”we must be allowed to do basic cybersecurity first, and not be bombarded by sales calls about the latest shiny tools.” Tyler williams, global technology leader for industrial cybersecurity at shell global solutions, talked about the real-world hurdles of applying security during a panel discussion at Automation Perspectives before Rockwell Automation Fair in Chicago.

55

discussion, “Securing Industrial Control Systems in a Connected Enterprise,” on Nov. 17 at its Automation Perspectives media event, just before the opening of Rockwell Automation Fair 2015 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The participants included Williams and Nesi, who moderated the panel, as well as Jeff Jones, principal cybersecurity strategist at Microsoft; Maciej Kranz, vice president of the corporate strategic innovation group at Cisco; Tyler; and Frank Kulaszewicz, senior vice president of architecture and software at Rockwell Automation.

BAsIC OuTlOOK ANd RulEs “It’s important to remember that cybersecurity is not an overlay or add-on. It must be embedded in all systems at the architectural level,” explained Kranz. “The good news is we’re not starting from scratch. Cisco has been solving cybersecurity challenges for the past 30 years, and now we’re working on securing infrastructures before intrusions, responding during attacks and minimizing impacts afterwards. The beauty now is all these efforts are collaborating. We’ve been working with Rockwell Automation to being IT-based security tools into the automation world, and combine the best practices of both.”

Kulaszewicz added that it’s still useful to think about and approach cybersecurity with a layers-of-protection perspective, but then cooperate with a widening circle of customers, contractors, suppliers and associated parties.

“Users have progressed to expecting their machines and production systems to be more reliable, safer and now secure as well,” he said. “As a result, Rockwell Automation has changed how we develop products to embed security from the beginning, test them for robustness and resilience, and meet safety and security certifications.”

mORE lINKs NEEd BETTER shIElds Beyond offering basic protections for connected applications, several panelists added that improved cybersecurity will be even

more crucial as the Internet of Things (IoT) links more device ever closer in the future.

Kranz reported that the feeble security measures of a few years ago, such as putting one firewall in front of a PC on a plant floor, have been replaced by architectural approaches with jointly coordinated firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention solutions, and security procedures that handle whole applications and entire facilities.

“Today’s cybersecurity is more policy-based, such as defining specific actions that users can and can’t take, and includes differences rules for what they can do when they’re on the plant floor or when they’re working from outside,” he said. “This is the foundation users can then employ to require better security from the services they receive, and then they can help their own customers migrate, too.”

Kranz added that Cisco recently acquired Sourcefire Inc., which is enabling it to centralize more cybersecurity capabilities in cloud-based computing services, and gives it advanced model prediction capabilities. “This means that users can focus on any strange traffic or devices that are uploading any unusual data, which can indicate an intrusion or attacks, and deal with them more effectively,” he said.

Jones reported that cloud-based computing and services are allowing developers and users to design in cybersecurity capabilities from the beginning, and maintain and expand them going forward. “What’s required to do this is trust,” added Jones. “When a supplier becomes a trusted steward of a user’s data, then that’s a different model. Fortunately, there’s a lot more focus on serviceable software now, and this can be leveraged on the security side, too.”

Williams agreed that the cloud can aid cybersecurity, and reported that Shell will get to it, but he cautioned that it can’t be done overnight. “You can’t throw all this onto 55-year-old engineers at once,” added Williams. “We must be allowed to do basic cybersecurity first, and not be bombarded by sales calls about the

56

latest shiny tools. Right now, there’s a chasm between our business model and all the cool tools, but we’re going to have cybersecurity solutions in place in five years that will be improved by an order of magnitude. It’s just important to appreciate the time it takes to operationalize security before the next bolt-in product arrives, and then show what business benefit it actually has.”

COllABORATION ANd COmmuNITy REsPONsEWilliams explained that making true progress on cybersecurity begins with another philosophical shift. “Cybersecurity needs to be seen as a business case,” he said. “Then, it needs to be addressed and maintained by a unified community and ecosystem of collaborators, who have established a common language and framework. We have a thousand suppliers, but they all need to

collaborate on security.”Shell has cooperated with Rockwell Automation on a joint

Global Industrial Cyber Security Professional (GICSP) program that had already trained and certified about 1,000 participants, Williams said. “I think Shell has been helped the most by allying cybersecurity with process safety. Most of our success is judged by financial results, but being a leader also means getting our staff home safe at the end of the day. So, we’ve learned not to treat security and safety as different, and that’s winning hearts and minds, too. There’s still a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt about cybersecurity, but that’s an ineffective way to motivate people, and doesn’t give them the common business model it needs.Cybersecurity is an opportunity, and implementing it can help users reduce costs.”

56

57

PEMEX trusts rockwEll AutoMAtion for tErMinAl solutionsPetroleos Mexicanos reports progress on upgrading its 77 distribution terminals with ControlLogix-based automation and Trusted controller-based safety systems.

Paul Studebaker

The 77 fuel storage and distribution terminals of Petroleos Mexicanos are the main distribution points for fuel, petroleum and petroleum product to all of Mexico, as well as for import and export.

They are located in areas from maritime to desert, subject to extremes of temperature, salt corrosion and even flooding. They’re charged with satisfying all the country’s demands for storage, shipment and distribution, to all authorized customers, without risk of incidents.

To this end, each of these PEMEX facilities must be equipped with integral fire control systems (safety systems, or SICCI in Spanish) as well as a measurement control operation system (process control system, or SIMCOT).

In 2005, a series of projects was started to install SICCI and SIMCOT systems in 22 of the terminals (called TARs). By 2012, an additional 7 TARs were equipped, and in 2014, work started to implement systems in the remaining 46 TARs by the end of 2017.

PERFORmANCE CRITERIAThe first step was to select appropriate systems.

“It took some time to decide how to choose the SICCI system,” said Moises García Hernández, general manager, automation, SCAP, a system integrator working with PEMEX on the project.

Hernández presented the project to attendees of a session entitled “PEMEX Standardizes on Rockwell Automation Technology for Terminal Automation,” at the Rockwell Automation Process Solutions User Group meeting (PSUG) this week in Chicago.

The main objective of the SICCI is to ensure that operational activities in the TARs are made within normal operational parameters, as well as to monitor, alert and respond to any contingency (fire or spill) appropriately. The system decision rested on four criteria:

1. Reliability and availability (SIL 3)

“we had 20 years of operation with failures only due to short circuits or lightning.” moises garcía hernández said that the PEmEx decision to standardize on Rockwell Automation technology for its terminal automation systems weighed heavily on the company’s past experience.

58

2. Suitability for environmental conditions: cold, hot, maritime, etc.3. Proven ruggedness, i.e. flooding, lightning4. Local technical support 24/7 in SpanishThe SIMCOT system criteria included:1. Open and well-known technology for both operations and maintenance2. Technical support through both system integrators and the supplier3. High availability for spare parts: 1-2 days4. Established low failure ratesExperience with their existing systems led PEMEX engineers to

standardize on Rockwell Automation technology, including the company’s Trusted controller for SICCI and ControlLogix control system for SIMCOT systems.

The SICCI interfaces with SIMCOT via fiber optic Ethernet. The systems are integrated with third-party equipment from suppliers including Oasys, FMC, Endress+Hauser and Rotork. The decision was influenced by experience with existing Rockwell Automation systems.

“In one case, we had a failure of the cooling system on an SICCI cabinet due to a partial loss of power. The cabinet overheated and the system eventually tripped off. Some of the plastic deflected because of excess heat but when we cooled it down and turned it back on, it was fine.”

When a SIMCOT system was struck by lightning, technicians expected total destruction, but only one card failed.

“We had 20 years of operation with failures only due to short circuits or lightning,” Hernández said. “All we had to do was test every year to be sure the program was still the same as a year ago.”

NEw sysTEms hElP mEET gROwINg dEmANdThe first block of 15 SICCI systems is on track for completion in March, 2016. “Standardization is providing important benefits in inventory and personnel training,” reported Hernández. “We are training at seven terminals now, and because we have the same technology in other terminals, those will be easier.”

The system will also add a standardized plan for response to emergency calls developed by PEMEX and Rockwell Automation. Standardized technology is expected to provide more efficient response to fires or spills through automated mitigation systems.

The first 15 new SIMCOT systems are also expected to be running by March, ensuring controlled access to the plant as well as efficient product measurement to detect “shrinkage” through unauthorized product diversion. These systems will send and receive information to a centralized management system.

Standardizing its control and safety technology will help PEMEX meet rising fuel demands from all over the country, and meet regulations and standards.

“Our systems were old, and newer standards were not being met,” said Hernández. “Now they will be.”

The new systems also will help PEMEX streamline TAR operation to reduce costs. This is increasingly important, as Mexico is opening its petroleum market to independent and outside companies.

58

59

PlantPax boosts Productivity at denver wastewater facilityAdvanced tools streamline engineering, help optimize operations and maintenance

Keith Larson

For a greenfield wastewater treatment facility currently starting up near Denver, the city’s Metro Wastewater Reclamation District desired an advanced process automation system that could optimize operations and improve maintenance

procedures while simultaneously meeting compliance objectives. They turned to engineering firm CH2M, which designed and implemented a virtualized PlantPAx solution from Rockwell Automation to accomplish these goals.

John Costello, west regional technology lead-automation for CH2M, together with colleague Tyler Nading, water engineer, reviewed the facility’s new productivity-enhancing automation environment at the Rockwell Automation Process Solutions User Group (PSUG) meeting that kicked off today in Chicago, leading up to Automation Fair later this week.

mOBIlE ACCEss, hmI BEsT PRACTICEsThe PlantPAx modern DCS platform not only streamlined engineering of the facility’s control and instrumentation systems, but also leveraged mobile technology including ISA 18.2 standards for alarming and gray-scale graphics to give operators ready access to the information they’ll need to efficiently operate and troubleshoot the new facility.

Over 60,000 tags and 6,000 alarms are monitored from an operations center that features a state-of-the-art video wall providing visibility to the entire 100-acre facility, Costello said. Further, secure mobile access via iPads allows operators to also monitor and control key processes from anywhere on the site.

The solution improves troubleshooting, predictive maintenance and operator effectiveness, while controlling the processing of nearly 30 million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater with future expansion to 75 MGD.

From an architecture standpoint, the facility is designed for high availability, featuring a redundant control-level network firewalled by a demilitarized zone (DMZ) from the site’s supervisory-level network where applications run in fully virtualized mode.

“If you don’t know what the most frequent alarms are, you don’t know how to start reducing them.” John Costello, west regional technology lead-automation for Ch2m, which helped denver metro wastewater Reclamation district build a greenfield treatment facility.

60

The system relies extensively on digital field network rings connecting some 1,400 smart devices. Between the redundant controller networks and device-level Ethernet rings (which by nature include an inherent level of fault tolerance), the system is designed to resist any process interruption due to network failure.

“It’s really hard to take down the facility,” Costello said. Also included are some 550 hardwired I/O and 13 vendor

skids, 12 of which are based on Rockwell Automation controller technology and could be readily and fully integrated into the PlantPAx architecture.

Control Code tested via simulationThe development team made use of CH2M’s Replica software to dynamically simulate the plant’s hydraulic behavior, including simulation of control strategies, according to Nading.

“The differentiator with this software is that we also have controls capability; we simulate not just pump but motor, not just tank but level indicator,” he said.

From a practical perspective, this allowed designers to test unique control algorithms in simulation, implement those algorithms in the PlantPAx system, then run the code as implemented against the Replica simulator to ensure everything worked as expected prior to start-up.

“We could even take math directly out of the simulation and place it in the controller logic,” Nading added.

During the procurement, installation and commissioning phases of the project, FactoryTalk® AssetCentre software from Rockwell Automation was used to provide version control of automation applications, and has assisted in configuration and troubleshooting of HART- and Profibus-based smart instruments.

And as operations ramp up, “Asset Centre will give them the

ability to schedule manage, track and report on field calibration activities,” Costello said.

Of particular value during instrument configuration and commissioning was Asset Centre’s Process Device Configurator tool, which automates many manual tasks. “The amount of time that this tool saved us was astronomical,” Costello said, estimating a 40% time savings in configuration and commissioning.

mobile aCCess, alarm managementFinally, the design team was able to bring state-of-the-art mobile operator access and alarm management strategies to bear using PlantPAx tools. For example, a modified version of the ISA 18.2 guidelines for best practices in operator graphics was used in order to accommodate the unique requirements of the plant’s mobile access philosophy. (Dialogues and drilldowns were modified to better suit the iPad’s touchscreen interface and form factor.)

Alarm strategies were designed and implemented to take advantage of alarm shelving capabilities, which at the time the configuration was developed were due to be included in the next PlantPAx release.

“They’ve since worked seamlessly,” Costello said. Other alarm management best practices included the use of a consistent symbology to differentiate priority among alarms, and the isolation of root-cause alarms to prevent associated cascades.

Finally, the design team implemented the alarm KPI reports in FactoryTalk®VantagePointEMI in order to provide ongoing alarm management and mitigation guidance, for instance, by grouping alarms by class and by hourly alarm frequency. “If you don’t know what the most frequent alarms are,” said Costello, “you don’t know how to start reducing them.”

60

61

Get more value from your process instrumentation investmentsProcess measurement lays foundation for Connected Enterprise promise

Jim Montague

The integrity of process manufacturing begins with accurate and reliable data from the field. Without it, plant operators and engineers can’t see what’s going on in their processes and fall short of fulfilling the promise of The Connected

Enterprise, according to Matthias Altendorf, CEO of process instrumentation leader Endress+Hauser Group, in his keynote address to the Process Solutions User Group (PSUG) meeting of strategic alliance partner Rockwell Automation this week in Chicago.

“The aim is to achieve an essential view, so our customers can perform better and operate more safely,” Altendorf, said. “Sometimes we have a good view, and sometimes good views begin to fade.”

Either way, there’s plenty of room for improvement in Altendorf’s view. For example, twenty years ago, 95% of service calls were reactive in response to something that had already gone wrong.

“Today, that number is still 70%,” he said. To make matters worse, “only 5% of process devices are integrated into some kind of asset management system, which means most users still don’t know what’s going on with their instruments.”

FROm FIEld TO BusINEss Today, sensor information needs to travel further than to the control system or maintenance shop, Altendorf contended, and business requirements and opportunities are driving that data up into the enterprise.

Indeed, sensor-to-enterprise data integration can deliver key complementary information about locations, conditions, status and services, Altendorf said. Next, these solutions can incorporate useful data from external sources, such as inventory, transportation and logistics, weather conditions, applicable legislation, and even upper-level information from the enterprise itself, such as business, relationship, social, financial and quality histories. Finally, all of these sources can be

“Only 5% of process devices are integrated into some kind of asset management system, which means most users still don’t know what’s going on with their instruments.” matthias Altendorf of Endress+hauser decried the underutilized data trapped in industry’s enormous installed base of smart instruments.

62

coordinated and used to fuel a variety of data analytics for better decision-making and improved productivity.

“For example, one of the world’s biggest chemical plants was motivated to improve its energy management for better performance and savings, so they collected all their available field-, application- and operations-level data, much of it from E+H devices, and then used SAP software to integrate it with their business processes,” said Altendorf. “Likewise, a container-shipping firm with more than 100 vessels solved its fuel bunkering and consumption challenges with a ‘Purchase to Propeller’ program. More accurate data about fuel delivery and consumption from our Coriolis and other flowmeters is now delivered in real-time to every ship via satellite.”

Altendorf added that virtualized and secure cloud-based computing makes these formerly big-ticket capabilities more usable for medium and smaller companies and users.

“One plant in Vietnam prevents overfill events with servo gauging, point-level switches and other components, and now can do automatic proof testing,” he explained. “On the pH measurement side, while E+H has developed contact-less

connections for inductive data transmission so calibration in the field isn’t needed, we found that applying better analytics to one plant’s pH probes helped save $300,000 per year and increased productivity by $3.5 million per year.”

In general, Altendorf added that EthnerNet/IP network communications protocol used by E+H and Rockwell Automation can reduce commissioning time by 40%, as well as save 25% on implementing control functions.

“Safety, security and reduced I/O cost are givens for EtherNet/IP,” said Altendorf. “This is important because The Connected Enterprise can make a huge different in so many process applications.

“Some estimates show that a lack of enterprise connectivity costs the U.S. economy $700 billion annually,” Altendorf said. “E+H has 30 million installed devices, each with three to 10 data sets. This data could be the source of big business improvements—but only a fraction of customers currently access them. We have to coordinate these suppliers and customers to secure more value, do business better, so we can all still be in business 100 years from now.”

62

6363

Save the Date!

Automation Fair returns to Atlanta in 2016!

We’ll see you at the Georgia World Congress Center, November 9-10 for Automation Fair.The Process Solutions Users Group meeting will be held November 7-8.