Systems integration for Industry 4.0

Our world is getting smaller every day. Never before have remote locations been more accessible thanks to communications technology, smartphones and the internet. Connected devices have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, including the most traditional industry sectors. Here, Nick Boughton, sales manager of the Boulting Technology, discusses the challenges connectivity poses for industry, particularly with regard to systems integration and the water industry.

One question industry has been unsuccessful in answering refers to the number of connected devices that exist in the world at the moment. Gartner says that by 2020, the Internet of Things will have grown to more than 26 billion units. According to Cisco, there will be 10 billion mobile-ready devices by 2018, including machine to machine – thus exceeding the world population.

The Industrial Internet of Things

Only fifteen years ago, an industrial plant operated on three separate levels. You had the plant processes or operational technology (OT), the IT layer and in between stood the grey area of middleware - connecting management systems to the shop floor. The problem in most enterprises was that the commercial and production systems were entirely separate, often as a deliberate policy. Trying to connect them was difficult not only because of the divergence in the technology, but also the limited collaboration between different parts of the organisation. For these reasons successful implementation of middleware was rare.

Fast forward to today’s smart factory floor that uses the almost ubiquitous Ethernet to make communications as smooth as possible. Supporting the new generation of networking technologies is an increased flow of data, collected and analysed in real-time. However, data is only useful when you can decipher and display it. The next step to industry nirvana is using relevant data for better decisions and predictive analysis, in which the system itself can detect issues and recommend solutions.
 
Smart manufacturing is based on a common, secure network infrastructure that allows a dialogue – or even better, convergence - between operational and information technology.

The trend goes beyond the factory floor and expands to big processes like national utilities, water treatment and distribution, energy and smart grids, everything in an effort to drive better decision making, improve asset utilisation and  increase process performance and productivity.

In fact, some water and energy companies are using the same approach to perform self-analysis on energy efficiency, potential weak points and the integration of legacy systems with new technologies. In a highly regulated and driven sector like utilities, maximising assets and being able to make predictions are worth a king’s ransom.

System integration challenges

System integration in this connected industry landscape comes with its challenges, so companies need to keep up to speed and get creative with technology. Keeping existing systems up to date and working properly is one of the main challenges of industry and big processes alike.

Finally, ensuring your system is secure from cyber threats and attacks is a new challenge fit for Industry 4.0. Connecting a system or equipment to a network is all fine and dandy, but it also brings vulnerabilities that weren’t there before.

Systems integrators relish a challenge and they’re very good at adapting to new technologies. For this reason, some systems integrators have started working closely with industrial automation, IT and security experts to help overcome the challenges posed by Industry 4.0.

Regardless of whether we’re talking about companies in utilities, manufacturing or transportation, the signs are showing that companies want to get more from their existing assets and are retrofitting systems more than ever.

Of course, retrofitting isn’t always easy. In many cases, upgrading a system without shutting it down is like trying to change the brakes on a speeding bus – impossible. However, unlike the bus scenario, there is usually a solution. All you have to do is find it.

Flexibility is essential for good systems integrators. Being familiar with a wide range of systems and working with different manufacturers is the best way to maximise industry knowledge and expertise, while also keeping up to date with the latest technologies. At Boulting Technology, we partner up with market leaders like Rockwell Automation, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Schneider, ABB and others, to design and supply tailor-made systems integration solutions for a diverse range of industries, processes and platforms.

The world might be getting smaller and we might be more connected than ever before, but some things never change. Relevant experience, partnerships and the desire to innovate are as valuable as they have ever been in this connected new world of Industry 4.0.

Collapsing architecture in infrastructure

The internet has a lot to answer for. Think about your job and how it would be different without the global system of computer networks we know as the inter-super-highway. Some of you might not even have a job without the internet. The information technology research and advisory company Gartner predicts that by 2020 there will be 25 billion industrial and commercial connected devices in use. Here Nick Boughton, sales manager at Boulting Technology discusses how greater connectivity is changing infrastructure.

Collapsing architecture is impacting
 industrial control systems

Collapsing architecture in an automation environment is a fairly new term that refers to the changing way in which systems in a factory communicate with one another. Systems in a plant are segregated into layers - from hardware level on the plant floor through to enterprise resource planning (ERP) computer networks in the office.

Traditionally, each layer of the factory worked on different networks; information from the factory floor was kept away from the office network and vice-versa. This was partly due to security and partly because raw data from sensors and actuators wasn't thought to be particularly valuable to the overall process.

However, in the modern age of manufacturing where margins are tight and everybody is looking for an edge, data can be collated and analysed to better understand factory processes and maximise efficiency.

With a new emphasis on quality and quantity of data, all layers of the factory are starting to communicate with one another. This means traditional network architecture in factories is starting to collapse, giving way to a new overarching, more fluid transfer of information. Industry calls this new level of interconnectedness the Internet of Things (IoT).

Whereas before, PCs on the corporate network couldn't access raw data from SCADA or hardware level, now information can be retrieved through secure access to different network cells.  There is a definite trend, not just for more data, but for more intelligence and this is spreading beyond the factory floor.  

Infrastructure is no longer publically owned. Like electricity and gas before it, water supply has become commercialised and understandably, there is now more pressure to turn a profit.

With this in mind, the factory model of collapsing architecture is starting to be seen in utilities. Competition is driving companies to look at their systems and ask how they can make them more intelligent.

The more data collected in infrastructure cells like pumping stations, the more likely it is to identify useful information. All this data can be collated and analysed to offer better insight and make more informed decisions that result in more profitable outcomes.

For example, let's say a supervisor at a pumping station turns on a pump to fill a reservoir upon arriving to work in the morning. The reservoir fills and the supervisor turns the pump off, job done. However, if you collect data at each step of this short process, certain questions arise.

Is this a peak time of day when the electricity needed to power the pump is more expensive? Can the reservoir wait to be filled during off-peak time? Does the reservoir need to be completely full or is it more efficient to only fill it to 75 per cent capacity? All this information can be processed to form more efficient results.

The IoT has brought about the collapsing architecture model with a view to improving efficiency by making better, more informed decisions. The end goal is to equip industrial computers and control systems with decision-making abilities. This allows the supervisor to concentrate on tasks that require more skill that intelligent automation can't muster...yet.