IAA Feb/Mar 2014

z Feb/Mar 2014 IndustrialAutomationAsia

www.iaasiaonline.com

Feb/Mar 2014

MCI (P) 009/07/2013 | ISSN 0219/5615 | PPS 1561/06/2013 (022960)

Safety Solutions | Identification & Image Processing | Electronic Testing | Process Automation

Network Segregation: Cost Reduction PG 34

RF Front End Testing PG 36

Diesel Engines As Back-Up PG 44

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System 800xA Extended Automation System 800xA Extended Automation The Power of Integration The Power of Integration

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Also, in one powerful, and lifecycle costs by bringing process control, process electrification, substation integrated, system, operations and maintenance unified, reducing automationplantwide and power management together on a commonare System 800xA platform, downtime productivity.

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www.iaasiaonline.com

ISSUES & INSIGHTS

22

Plant Safety: Alarm Management

24

Safety Maturity: Three Crucial Elements Of Best-In-Class Safety

IAA spoke with Ashish Gaikwad, GM, Honeywell Process Solutions, on the company’s DynAMo Alarm Suite, which has now been released in global markets. By Mark Johnston

Worker safety is a fundamental need and requirement in manufacturing and industrial settings. Ways to improve safety in line with the Safety Maturity Index are discussed. By Wah Seng Liew, Rockwell Automation

27

Process CONTROL

27

Smart Labels Decoded: RFID Your Way Into 2014

30

ID Readers In Control

As companies face a shrinking workforce globally, processes need to be improved and streamlined to reduce the time spent on each task, decrease the possibility of costly errors, and maintain maximum efficiency as much as possible. The Internet of Things (IoT) is one such way in which enterprises can achieve that goal. By Rod Rodericks, Zebra Technologies

By adopting the right technology, facility management can accurately track the locations of products as they move from start-to-end on the production line. By Didier Lacroix, Cognex

SOFTWARE & NETWORKS 34

34

Total Cost Of Ownership Reduction Through Effective Network Segregation

A proper definition and deployment of an Ethernet-based industrial network system that integrates easily with the IT network through effective firewall protection can improve plant performance and add to the corporate bottom line. By Mike Miclot, Belden

INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

36

RF Front End Testing

40

Addressing Power Test Challenges With VersaPower Architecture

What composes an RF front end in today’s radio devices? Common tests for radio devices as well as the benefits of using modular instruments for automated tests will be discussed. By Heath Noxon, National Instruments

40

The structure of VersaPower power supply architecture, as well as its ability to help overcome power test challenges will be discussed. By Neil Forcier, Agilent Technologies

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Today, manufacturers depend on a well-coordinated supply chain for efficient operation of critical processes in the entire eco-system. Additionally, the organisation’s ability to acquire timely, accurate information will also significantly enhance customer satisfaction and profitability. A global leader respected for innovation and reliability, Zebra offers an extensive range of solutions that can help lower costs, increase productivity and enhance visibility across your supply chain.

Scan the QR Code to download whitepaper on “How Barcodes and RFID Deliver Value to Manufacturing and Distribution” now.

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TOTAL VISIBILITY. STREAMLINED PRODUCTIVITY. REAL-TIME EFFICIENCIES.

Reduce errors and enable real-time efficiencies by eliminating manual steps in daily tasks. Reduce product search time, improve inventory stocks and enhance manufacturing process control. From simple item-level tracking to complex high-value assets management, leverage Zebra’s barcoding and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies to optimise processes, productivity and profits.

To find out more, visit http://www.virtualzebra.com/Manufacturing For further enquiries, please email SGMarcom@zebra.com © 2014 ZIH Corp. All rights reserved.

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Connect with us at

www.facebook.com/IAAsia

energy

44

Diesel Engines: Powered By Maintenance

Diesel-powered generators are often chosen as back-up generator systems because of the reliability, durability and performance it brings, the bulk of which are made possible by preventive maintenance. By Ang Kim Siong, Cummins Power Generation

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

48

Cover: Zebra Technologies

Staying Ahead In Asia

IAA interviewed Satoru Kurosu, president & CEO, Yokogawa Electric International on the company’s business operations and projects globally and across Asia Pacific. By Mark Johnston

FEATURES

50

Cloud Computing For SCADA

Moving all or part of SCADA applications to the cloud can cut costs significantly while dramatically increasing reliability and scalability. By Larry Combs, InduSoft

54

The Outlook For Asia And M2M Communications

56

A Strategy For Asia

58

Security For Industrial Automation

IAA spoke with Thomas Herrmann, VP Sales Asia-Pacific, Gemalto on M2M technology and the regional outlook for 2014. By Mark Johnston

Industrial Automation Asia (IAA) is published 8 issues per year by Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road #02-05 EPL Building Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Website: www.iaasiaonline.com Email: iaa@epl.com.sg

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Refer to the subscription card in each issue for further details.

For more subscription information Fax: (65) 6379 2806 Email: brenda@epl.com.sg

IAA spoke with Rajiv Ghatikar, VP and GM for ASEAN and Australasia, Siemens PLM Software on the economic outlook for 2014 and his company’s plans for the coming year. By Mark Johnston

IAA spoke with Mohan Ramanathan, enterprise solutions architect at McAfee on cybersecurity in the industrial automation space. By Mark Johnston

events

60 62 64

Energy Efficiency In The Industry Conference 2013 SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou RFID World Asia 2014

Regulars

IMPORTANT NOTICE The circulation of this magazine is audited by bpa world wide. The advertisers’ association recommend that advertisers should place their advertisements only in audited publications.

Copyright. Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced in any form or means – graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, taping, etc – without the written consent of the publisher. Opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher and editor.

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ENQUIRY NO. 675

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EDITOR’S PAGE

A Year For Connections

2014

Published By:

EASTERN TRADE MEDIA PTE LTD (A fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd)

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Kenneth Tan SENIOR EDITOR

Joson Ng josonng@epl.com.sg

ASSISTANT EDITOR

As 2014 gets underway, one technology keeps getting mentioned,

Mark Johnston markjohnston@epl.com.sg

M2M or machine-to-machine technology. The reason for the EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

excitement? Well, the convergence of many technologies is to blame,

Sharifah Zainon sharifah@epl.com.sg

which are now more affordable and efficient.

This ties into the Internet of Things (IoT) that is commonly

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Peh Loon Chin pehloonchin@epl.com.sg

spoken of as the next step in the evolution of the internet. An efficient and cost effective method of connecting machines and

SENIOR SALES MANAGER

Derick Chia

allowing them to communicate is critical to IoT.

derickchia@epl.com.sg

In the past year there have been huge strides in M2M technology.

SENIOR CIRCULATION EXECUTIVE

Brenda Tan

This is most apparent in the automotive industry, with the ability to

brenda@epl.com.sg

switch on home appliances from a car soon to be the norm. Although such technology falls under human to machine interaction, 2014 is set to be the year M2M makes its mark.

CONTRIBUTORS

Wah Seng Liew, Rod Rodericks, Didier Lacroix, Mike Miclot, Heath Noxon, Neil Forcier, Ang Kim Siong, Larry Combs

The potential for M2M to improve life in general but also radically

EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS

Jim Pinto

change automation processes and improve the operations flow in

Industry Analyst

organisations is almost endless. There is potential, for example, to

Alastair Ross

bring about intelligent crop monitoring systems that can automatically

Director, Codexx Associates Ltd

adjust nutrition or irrigation in order to optimise yields.

Additionally, intelligent monitoring systems could be

SUPPORTED BY:

developed to send alerts about a change in climatic conditions or trigger the need for building maintenance, as in the case of bridge stress monitoring.

With these developments everyday life could be changed making

EASTERN HOLDINGS LTD EXECUTIVE BOARD

our lives better and more hassle-free.

CHAIRMAN

We address M2M in this issue of IAA, but we also look into safety solutions, including alarm management. In addition we delve into RFID, industrial cabling, as well as electronic testing, backup power systems, and process automation.

Stephen Tay GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Kenneth Tan

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Lum Kum Kuen

As always, we look forward to your feedback and IAA would like to wish all our subscribers a successful and prosperous year ahead.

etm

Eastern

Trade Media Pte Ltd an Eastern Holdings Ltd company

Head Office & Mailing Address:

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1100 Lower Delta Road #02-05 EPL Building Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Website: www.iaasiaonline.com Email: iaa@epl.com.sg

Mark Johnston Assistant Editor

MCI (P) 009/07/2013 ISSN 0219/5615 PPS 1561/06/2013 (022960) Co Reg No. 199908196C Printer: Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd

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industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2014

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ENQUIRY NO. 666

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1/28/14 11:56:58 AM

Industry News Schneider Electric Launches Concept For Its International Case Competition Singapore: Schneider Electric has launched the fourth edition of 'Go Green in the City', a global business case challenge focusing on innovative energy solutions for cities. Throughout the prior three competitions, the company found success and strong interest from students and universities.

The increased interest in energy issues from students all over the world paved the way for the development and launch of a new and extended edition of the contest to countries around the world. The 'Go Green in the City 2014' case challenge is now positioned as the definitive global student competition for green energy solutions, with more than a dozen new countries participating.

The increased global interest in the contest demonstrates that future engineers are more aware that the increasing demand for electrical power needs to be balanced with social awareness and environmental protection. Besides the increased

Alyssa Vintola and Lorenz Payonga from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines were the winners of the Go Green in the City 2013 Challenge with their project the Oscillohump.

number of countries joining the global contest, the promotion aims to increase the global, local and online exposure of the contest and identify candidates for local country recruitment activity.

On February 28, 2014, the 100 semifinalist teams will be announced and will have a month to work on a case study with the help of a company employee mentor. They will create a synopsis and a video business case for their

idea and submit them for evaluation.

Then, the 12 best teams will be invited to Paris in June 2014 to compete in the finals at the company’s global headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison. The winning team will travel the world, with the organisation, visiting facilities, networking with employees and high-level management. Furthermore, the team will also be offered an employment opportunity.

Gemalto Receives Awards For Advancing M2M Technology Across Europe Singapore: Gemalto received two awards for enabling secure connectivity in a benchmark European eCall pilot program that advances this important technology across the European Union (EU). The company is the recipient of the 2013 iMobility Industry & Technology Aw a rd c e l e b r a t i n g i M o b i l i t y deployments, sponsored by the European Commission. The company is also the winner of the 2013 Ertico

HeERO Award for their contribution to the pre-deployment of a PanEuropean eCall system.

In the event of a road incident, the company’s solution automatically establishes a two-way emergency ‘112’ call and securely communicates incident time, location, vehicle identification number and other details to the nearest Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). Emergency response teams are dispatched in real

time and the driver and passengers can communicate with PSAP operators via a hands-free voice call.

The HeERO program aligns pre-deployment in 15 participating EU member states synchronising wireless systems and emergency response across country and network borders. The EU is aiming to have all new types of pre-defined vehicles equipped with the eCall solution by the end of 2015.

8 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2014

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Industry News

Singapore: Abeo Electra, a provider of IT solutions and services, has announced its joint partnership with Datawatch, a provider of visual data discovery solutions, to deliver clear and effective visual analytic solutions to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large organisations.

Through this partnership, clients from industries ranging from retail and hospitality to engineering, construction and manufacturing will benefit from the technology, which is capable of presenting meaningful analysis of data with speed, accuracy and efficiency.

More companies have begun to recognise the importance of analysing and optimising relevant data, which is vital for improving and

enhancing decision making. Visual data discovery for SAP can help SMEs and big companies to manage and analyse large amounts of data easily and accurately," said Michael Lim, the company's CEO. Datawatch provides the ability to integrate structured, unstructured, and semi-structured sources of data with real-time streaming data into visually rich analytic applications.

Such visual formats help to unlock valuable insights from static reports and other text-based files for ease of management and analysis. With a reliable information infrastructure in place, businesses will be able to diagnose and assess patterns, d e f i n e a re a s f o r i m p ro v e m e n t

g-point, Czech Republic

Abeo Electra And Datawatch Form Joint Partnership

Visual formats help to unlock valuable insights from static reports and other text-based files for ease of management and analysis.

and determine opportunities for competitive advantages, which are vital for companies that want to grow.

Philippe Ramakers, Köln, NRW, Germany

Invensys Renders A Corporate License To SK Innovation

Invensys has rendered a multi-year, multi-million dollar corporate license to SK innovation.

Singapore: Invensys, a supplier of industrial software, systems and control equipment to major industries, has rendered a multiyear, multi-million dollar corporate license to SK innovation.

Under the terms of the agreement, SK innovation, including its subsidiaries, will use Invensys’

SimSci ROMeo software to optimise and improve the performance of its refining and petrochemical operations in real time. SK Energy, one of SK Innovation’s subsidiaries, is South Korea's largest oil refiner with a capacity for 1.1 million barrels-per-day of crude distillation and operating approximately

4,200 service stations across the country. Additionally, SK Global Chemical, another of SK Innovation’s subsidiaries, produces 5.5 million tonnes of petrochemical and polyolefin products each year and is capable of producing 860,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.

“This relationship and their SimSci solutions will allow us to apply new, consistent modelling techniques that should improve the real-time performance of our assets across the lifecycle of our refining and petrochemical operations,” said Mr Cheon, real-time optimisation project manager at SK innovation.

An integrated online and offline optimisation solution for the refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries, SimSciROMeo optimisation software handles equipment monitoring, utilities optimisation and material balance in open- or closed-loop mode.

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We’re closer to you

Fuji Electric's Power Electronics factory in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand

Variable Speed Drives (VSD) Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Power Conditioning System (PCS) for Mega Solar Plant

Vending Machine

Fuji Electric has recently established a new factory in Thailand to expand its operations in Asia.

The new factory will be manufacturing mainly power electronics application products such as Variable Speed Drives (VSD), Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), Power Conditioning System (PCS) for Mega Solar Plant and Vending Machines.

This new factory enables Fuji Electric to get closer to our customers, meeting their needs at a fast pace by providing a more flexible specification of products in South East Asia.

Fuji Electric Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.

151 Lorong Chuan, #02-01A New Tech Park Singapore 556741 Tel: (65) 6533 0014 Fax: (65) 6533 0021 Email: sales@fap.fujielectric.com Website: www.fujielectric.com/asia

677 Fuji Electric.indd 1

ENQUIRY NO. 677

Fuji Electric will continue to provide products and solutions to meet the customers’ & society’s needs in 2014 and beyond, as a specialist of “energy creation”, “energy saving” and “energy management”.

2/13/14 12:28:14 PM

Industry News

Manhattan Associates Earns Distribution Centre Innovation Award Singapore: Supply chain commerce solutions provider, Manhattan Associates has won the ‘Distribution Centre Innovation’ award at the Supply Chain Asia Awards 2013.

The industry association recognised the company for its supply chain commerce solutions and how they have helped many of Asia’s leading retailers, distributors and manufacturers optimise the

performance of their supply chains and get closer to their customers.

Over the last year, regional leaders such as Matahari, Semir and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals have used the company’s supply chain commerce solutions to improve product availability, customer satisfaction, revenue growth and profitability. Luolai, a home textile product retailer with more than 3,000

stores throughout China, adopted the company’s technology to optimise supply chain performance and strengthen ties between its distribution operations, expanding store network and fast-growing customer base. Since implementing the solutions, Luolai has improved inventory accuracy, reduced fulfilment cycle times and raised store and customer service levels.

Singapore: The need for energy efficiency in the numerous critical and energy-consuming operations of the chemical and petrochemical industry is lending impetus to the automation and software solutions market in Southeast Asia (SEA), Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Environmental regulations that require plants to reduce their carbon footprint also result in upgrades to control systems. Coupled with the growing focus on safety, this is boosting the SEA and ANZ automation and software solutions market in chemical and petrochemical plants.

Frost & Sullivan analysis of the SE Asia and ANZ automation & software solutions market for the chemical & petrochemical industry, finds that the market earned revenues of US$195 million in 2012 and estimates this to reach US$270.4 million in 2019.

“With most chemical and petrochemical plants running continuously throughout the year with no allowance for downtime, there is a need for highly redundant systems,” said Frost & Sullivan industrial automation and process control research analyst Vineeth Purushotham.

“As a result, automation solutions such as distributed control systems are becoming popular owing to their redundancy and higher availability.”

Daniel West, Sacramento, CA, US

Emphasis On Energy Efficiency Sustains SEA, ANZ Automation & Software Market In The Chemical & Petrochemical Industry

Environmental regulations that require plants to reduce their carbon footprint also result in upgrades to control systems.

The growing trend of shifting chemical and petrochemical plants to lower-cost, higher-output countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia also provides opportunities for automation manufacturers in SEA. However, plants in ANZ are also moving their operations to other lower-cost countries such as India and China, which could curb market potential.

In addition, the lack of skilled labour for the installation and maintenance of automation systems in the chemical and petrochemical industry deters end users from shifting away from traditional legacy systems. Multinational automation

vendors are looking to address this challenge by leveraging their talent pool from across the globe.

“Adopting the Main Automation Contractor (MAC) approach will ensure the training of personnel working on automation,” noted Mr Purushotham.

“End users also prefer the MAC model as this single point of contact is the most convenient way to meet all their automation needs,” he added.

Automation manufacturers in SEA and ANZ will also be scouting for mergers and acquisitions in a bid to provide integrated solutions and appeal to a larger consumer base.

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Industry News

Singapore: The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore continues to expand Singapore’s capabilities in data and analytics. This commitment was underscored by Steve Leonard, executive deputy chairman, IDA, at the inaugural EmTech Singapore 2014 show held at Marina Bay Sands, which the organisation supported as a host partner. EmTech is MIT Technology Review’s global emerging technologies conference.

Mr Leonard said: “Unlike some other resources, data does not deplete as you use it. Data becomes more valuable the more you share it and use it. The knowledge created through intelligent analysis of data enables us to deal with priority issues such as healthcare. Data and analytics underpin our development towards being an increasingly smart nation.”

Studies have projected that data and analytics could generate an additional S$10 to S$17 billion (US$7.89 to US$13.42 billion) of value per year for Singapore, which is already benefitting from such opportunities. IDA has already undertaken initiatives to develop data capabilities, including releasing data sets to encourage the public, the industry and other organisations to capitalise on the numerous opportunities that data has to offer.

Activities such as Data.gov.sg’s Apps4SG Competition are designed

Ilker, Izmir, Turkey

The Infocomm Development Authority Of Singapore Expands Data Analytics Capabilities

IDA has undertaken initiatives to develop data capabilities, including releasing data sets to encourage the public, the industry and other organisations to capitalise on the numerous opportunities that data has to offer.

to encourage participants to use government data to develop innovative applications that improve the way we live, work and play in Singapore. The winning application at the inaugural event that ended on January 8, 2014 came from a 19-year-old whose app assists students to make informed education choices in a user-friendly manner. IDA plans to build on such initiatives, which will involve collaborating with other government agencies and bringing together the public and private sector to solve realworld problems.

IDA’s Data Innovation Challenge is another example of the government’s crowdsourcing effort to address datadriven business challenges with data sets provided by government and corporate entities. This is an initiative

by IDA to connect user enterprises and

data providers with data specialists, ICT companies, research institutes, and institutes of higher learning to develop prototypes, proof-of-concepts and analytics solutions for data-driven commercial problems.

More than 300 entries were received and six prototypes were shortlisted in the first challenge issued by DSM Engineering Plastics. The Living Analytics Research Centre team from Singapore Management University won Round 1 with a predictive sales forecasting model that was the most accurate and innovative.

IDA has also worked to strengthen data talent within the organisation. From January 2014, Prabir Sen leads IDA’s new Data Sciences Group, which will provide capabilities to its data-driven projects. IDA will further train and recruit for this group.

Adafruit Industries Enters Global Reseller Agreement For CadSoft EAGLE Software Singapore: CadSoft Computer and Adafruit Industries have formalised a collaboration in which Adafruit will act as a global reseller of the PCB prototyping solution, Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor (EAGLE). ”As the DIY, Maker and hacker scene is becoming popular and important, we continue to look for

opportunities to support this market and drive innovation. Adafruit is a well-known and established company, focusing on exactly this customer group and these goals, and we are very pleased and looking forward to our expanding relationship,” commented Thomas Liratsch, MD, CadSoft Computer.

CadSoft visits Adafruit in New York, (R-L): Thomas Liratsch (MD at CadSoft Computer), Limor Fried (Founder of Adafruit Industries) and Phillip Torrone (MD of Adafruit Industries).

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Industry News

TÜV SÜD PSB To Offer Certification Services For Water Efficiency Management System Standard Singapore: TÜV SÜD PSB has announced the availability of its certification services for the national SS577:2012 water efficiency management system standard. Accredited by The Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) to provide SS577:2012 certification services, the company is able to support nondomestic water users in putting in place a systematic approach to improve their water efficiency, control their water usage habits, reduce operation costs and achieve certification to the new standard.

For a country such as Singapore which faces water scarcity and nondomestic users accounting for 55 percent of overall water consumption and 70 percent in 50 years, this will no doubt relieve organisations‘ efforts to echo the local government‘s call for

water conservation.

SS577 is a complementary certification to organisations‘ existing ISO14001 and ISO50001 programs. The company can also support organisations in the development and reporting of their Water Efficiency Management Plan (WEMP). With these efforts, SS577:2012 certified organisations can increase their capacity to receive PUB’s, the National Water Agency, Water Efficiency Building (WEB) Gold Certification.

This national water efficiency management system standard is a first of its kind in the world. It includes a complete set of framework, guidelines, tools and best practices to improve non-domestic users‘ water usages. It is based on ISO9001‘s Plan-Do-CheckAct (PDCA) continual improvement framework.

RS Components And RepRapPro Distribution Deal Brings Affordable 3D Printing Technology Singapore: RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents, has signed a distribution agreement with RepRapPro that will deliver affordable, open-source, self-replicating 3D printing technology to engineers worldwide.

The completion of the deal coincides with the launch of the RepRapPro Ormerod RS Components has signed a distribution agreement with low cost 3D printer, which is RepRapPro to deliver 3D printing technology to engineers available from RS. worldwide, including the company’s Ormerod 3D printer (pictured here).

Increasing numbers of companies are beginning to see the benefits of using this technology to create quick-turn-around prototypes and save months in the design cycle. Barriers to adoption in the past have been the cost of hardware and a lack of easy-to-use design software for non-CAD specialists.

Haruhiko Kitamura Appointed Chief Information Officer Of Sato Holdings Corporation

To k y o , J a p a n : S a t o h a s appointment Haruhiko Kitamura to the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO).

As CIO, Mr Kitamura will be responsible for overseeing the planning and deployment of enterprise IT resources to support the company’s business operations in driving excellent outcomes for the group and its customers.

His primary task will be to lead a company-wide revamp of the group’s IT systems, together with the implementation of other BPR initiatives with the aim of streamlining business processes, increasing employee productivity and improving service quality.

Mr Kitamura will also head efforts to anticipate trends in the market with regards to new technology such as IoT, M2M, ubiquitous computing, and big data, and ensure that the group leverages these trends with strategic IT planning and investments to develop new businesses.

14 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2014

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Industry News

A 2015 Launch For Indian Automation Trade Fair India: Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India together with Mesago Messe Frankfurt introduces SPS IPC Drives to the Indian market. The organisers feel it is the perfect time to harness business opportunities across all verticals of the automation industry in India and believe the launch of ‘SPS Automation India - Driving manufacturing processes of the future’ will be the ideal platform to aid this development.

The trade fair, like the mother event SPS IPC Drives (Nuremberg), will represent a platform for innovations in the field of industrial automation and host a range of displays of products, systems and services. SPS Automation India will be held from February 5 - 7, 2015 at Mahatma Mandir Convention

and Exhibition Centre in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In India, industrial automation is an inherent need as well as a market requirement. Mr Raj Manek, MD, Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India stated: “The solution to India’s pursuit of being a world-class industrial competitor is automation, and we are confident that SPS Automation India will present the sector players the perfect platform to showcase technologies while allowing the Indian market to access automation solutions designed to improve business profitability and optimise manufacturing operations.

Moreover, we are also proud to combine strengths with our brand partner Mesago.”

Currently estimated at INR 12,000 crore (US$ 2 billion), India’s automation industry is growing at an annual average of 12 percent, which translates to huge opportunities for the sector. With the evolution of the Indian market, the need for a more competitive edge in terms of productivity, profitability, safety and sustainable manufacturing processes has also heightened.

Manufacturers, especially startups, have become aware of the benefits derived from adopting automated processes across their value chain. Also, experts believe that the current situation of the industrial automation sector in India can be enhanced with stimulation in demand for products and services.

Germany: Endress+Hauser has contractually secured additional shares of Analytik Jena. The group will acquire the shares held by the German investment company bm-t and CEO Klaus Berka after the end of the 2013/14 financial year. As such, 75.36 percent of the shares are attributed to Endress+Hauser (Deutschland).

These options are tied to far-reaching pledges to maintain the independence of Analytik Jena and the locations in Thuringia, a federal state in eastern Germany.

The company will acquire the shares held by the investment company and the CEO for 13.75 euros (US$18.71) per share. “We are thus paying the same price that we are offering to other shareholders,” emphasised Dr Heiner Zehntner, Legal Counsel of the Endress+Hauser group.

The investment company bm-t — funded by the German federal state of Thuringia and institutional investors — currently holds 17.63 percent of

T Al Nakib, London, England, UK

Endress+Hauser To Increase Stake In Analytik Jena

Analytik Jena, and the company founder Mr Berka another 9.93 percent.

Previously 47.40 percent had been directly attributed to the company, an additional 0.41 percent — own shares of Analytik Jena — indirectly. After exercising the options, which will be possible after October 1, 2014, the group will control 75.36 percent of the shares based on current figures.

The options are tied to the pledge that Analytik Jena will remain an independent business unit within the Endress+Hauser group and will be led by the executive board, whose chairman will remain Mr Berka until 2017. The major locations in Thuringia are also to be maintained.

Endress+Hauser expects the number of employees to grow.

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Industry News

Koch Industries Completes Purchase Of Molex Wichita, Kansas/Lisle, Illinois, US: Koch Industries has completed its US$7.2 billion (S$9.14 billion) acquisition of Molex Incorporated, an electronic components company.

The acquisition was finalised through the merger of Koch Industries’ wholly owned subsidiary, Koch Connectors, with and into Molex. As a result of the merger, Molex is now an indirect whollyowned subsidiary of Koch Industries, retaining its name and headquarters in

Lisle, US. The company will continue to be operated by its current management team.

Under the merger agreement, all of the outstanding shares of Molex, including the common stock, the Class A common stock and the Class B common stock were converted into a right to receive US$38.50 per share in cash, plus an adjustment of US$0.18 per share representing a pro rata portion of the regular quarterly cash dividend.

ABB Wins US$200 Million Order To Equip Sweden’s Next Generation High-Speed Trains Zurich, Switzerland: ABB (‘the company’) has won an order of US$200 million to supply the electrical systems for all 36 ‘SJ 2000’ next generation high-speed trains for SJ, Sweden's state-owned rail operator.

SJ will invest a total of around US$510 million in a comprehensive program for the SJ 2000 trains, for which ABB will supply and install energy efficient technology. The company will book its order in the first quarter of 2014 in the Discrete Automation and Motion division.

It will supply the entire power conversion and control systems on the SJ 2000 trains, delivering modern technology for the coming decade. The trains, which were launched in the late 1980s, will also be newly equipped with a fresh-looking interior design.

The first retrofitted train will be delivered in 2015. After successful testing and evaluation, the remainder of the trains will be built incrementally through 2019. Disassembly and assembly will be done in Sweden together with a local partner.

“The equipment of high-speed trains is a growing market for ABB’s rail business for which we are very well

positioned, building on our company’s combined power and automation solutions," said Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB. The SJ 2000's upgraded electrical systems will ensure more reliable power supply while reducing energy consumption in a significant way.

Punctuality, reliability and higher comfort are key factors to further improve customer satisfaction.

The company’s scope of supply includes traction converters, traction transformers, battery chargers, train control systems and infotainment equipment. This project follows its successful refurbishment of highspeed InterCityExpress (ICE 1) trains operated by Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national rail operator.

The SJ 2000 train carriages were built by one of its predecessor firms, ASEA, in the late 1980s. The train is one of the world’s best in its class in terms of comfort, space and service.

It is the only train in Sweden with specially designed basket tilting that keeps passengers comfortable while traveling at high speed along many curved sections of the Swedish rail network.

Premier Farnell Appoints Tom Hudak To lead North American Distribution Business

London, UK: Premier Farnell, a distributor of electronic components, has appointment Tom Hudak as president of Chicago-based Newark element 14, its North American distribution business, with immediate effect, succeeding Paul Buckley.

For the last five years Mr Hudak has been president of Akron Brass, a Premier Farnell company and worldwide marketer and manufacturer of high performance life-safety, fire fighting and emergency rescue equipment.

Having driven the transformation and internationalisation of the Akron Brass business, he is ideally placed to drive growth in the North American highservice distribution space. He will report into Premier Farnell CEO Laurence Bain.

Sean Tillinghast, who is currently VP of Weldon, a division of Akron Brass which specialises in lighting and electronic solutions to the education, speciality vehicles and the emergency services, has been appointed to the role of president of Akron Brass.

Mr Tillinghast has spent the last 17 years with Weldon and will now report directly to Mr Bain.

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Final Specification For ISA100.11a Device Integration Released The Fieldbus Foundation has released the final specification for integration of ISA100.11a wireless field devices into its Foundation for Remote Operations Management (ROM) technology. Unlike solutions limited to a single network standard, this development allows automation end users to employ multiple wired and wireless protocols for greater flexibility and expandability.

Foundation for ROM will extend the capabilities of Foundation fieldbus to countless wired and wireless devices installed in some of the world’s harshest and most remote locations. This includes the implementation of a true predictive and proactive maintenance strategy for remote assets that could not previously support one. Foundation for ROM provides a unified digital infrastructure for asset management in applications ranging from tank farms and terminals to pipelines, offshore platforms, and even OEM skids.

Integration Of Protocols With this release, the Fieldbus Foundation has finalised the remote I/O, wired HART and WirelessHART, and ISA100.11a portions of the Foundation for ROM specification. The technology integrates these protocols, along with H1 fieldbus, into the Foundation fieldbus managed infrastructure. Specifications for Modbus communications are in development that will enable Modbus devices such as wellhead flow meters and submersible pump controllers to be integrated in a similar way.

This specification means that end users will be able to manage their ISA100.11a wireless devices just like Foundation fieldbus devices within the Foundation fieldbus infrastructure. The specification includes parameters for ISA100.11a transducer blocks, providing the block application objects into which ISA100.11a variables may be mapped for access by other fieldbus devices. The transducer blocks also provide a mechanism to pass data to and from ISA100.11a devices directly from configuration or asset management hosts.

Dave Glanzer, director of technology development, Fieldbus Foundation, commented: “Our new specification will benefit end users who need to

Discussion of Foundation for remote operations management and wireless ISA100.11a devices.

be able to interface ISA100.11a wireless devices to improve their integration with a control system and field devices. It also provides a networked method for an asset-managing host to access a large set of ISA100.11a devices for configuration and maintenance purposes.

“Experienced automation professionals in the process industries have taught us a lot about the implementation of fieldbus and how to make it better.

We are driving the feedback from our dedicated end user customers, suppliers and engineering partners into a continuous improvement process to make the technology easier to use and implement in a wide range of applications,” he added.

A Single Source The Fieldbus Foundation’s ROM infrastructure provides a single source for data management, diagnostics, alarms and alerts, data quality control, control-in-the-field capability, and object-oriented block structure. Its High Speed Ethernet (HSE) TCP/IP protocol enables remote operations information to be communicated to the control system over any wired or wireless backhaul network utilising the architecture model developed in a joint collaboration between the Fieldbus Foundation and the International Society for Automation (ISA) under the ISA100.15 Wireless Backhaul Networks Working Group.

To ensure interoperability, Foundation for ROM devices from multiple suppliers utilise Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and interoperability testing. This is essential to improve integration of critical functional areas, including machinery health monitoring, safety interlocks, fire & gas detection systems, and video surveillance.

ENQUIRY NO. 1101 Feb/Mar 2014 | industrial automation asia 17

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INDUSTRY UPDATES

Beware Of Hackers M O D E R N switchgear and controlgear with integrated protection against hacker attacks make machinery and plants more secure. Nowadays, hackers will stop at nothing and are even attacking industrial automation systems. Current events show that a protection concept is becoming more important for manufacturers and operators of machinery and plants. Automation components must be protected from external attacks and unauthorised internal access.

It is becoming increasingly Security for remote access. important to consider the IT security of controllers, networks, and control systems and to take However, hackers are not primarily interested in precautions accordingly. Whereas previously the process manipulation, but in infiltrating systems. In primary concern was industrial espionage involving the world of security technology, the attackers can everything to do with the company’s electronic data be divided into specific groups. The group known processing, nowadays it also employs defensive in hacker jargon as ‘black hats’ is considered the strategies to ensure the security of industrial most dangerous of all. These hackers sniff out weak production processes and to make the company’s points in networks or industrial plants and begin own products more secure. immediately with their hacking attack.

The reason: More and more machinery and This can be done with the aid of zero day exploits. plant controls are based on standard PC and These are programs that exploit the weak points Ethernet technologies. Even industrial switchgear for manipulations. It is often the case that the and controlgear frequently have controllers with manufacturers themselves do not yet know about an Ethernet connection. For manufacturers of these weak points. They only become aware of the industrial control systems it is important to prevent weak points through the use of exploits. the effects of malicious software to the greatest In contrast, the ‘grey hats’, in this classification, possible extent. For this reason, ‘Industrial Security’ are relatively benign and will report a localised has already been introduced in the individual vulnerability to the manufacturer. Affected companies business units at Siemens. accordingly then have time to close this security gap.

However, this cannot be put off indefinitely before the Different Types Of Attackers: ‘Hat-Wearers’ gray hats then take the next step, typically publishing It takes a great deal of expertise in both Ethernet the vulnerabilities. The third group, the ‘white hats’, technology and engineering systems to be able supposedly wants to make the IT world a better place to launch targeted attacks on industrial plants and is very cooperative. It works in conjunction with from outside. So-called whitelisting programs companies to eliminate software and hardware weak provide additional protection. They stand guard like points quickly and securely. gatekeepers, determining which processes may run One might conclude that any time ‘hat-wearers’ find on PC-based systems.

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weak points it will cause problems for a manufacturer of automation components and solutions. Quite the contrary: Manufacturers learn from this and are grateful, because it allows them to make their products even safer.

System Security Must Be Expanded Manufacturers and operators of machinery and plants should also pay attention to the topic of security. For example, passwords unchanged from the delivery state should not to be used throughout the plant.

Also, for example, it is recommended that production employees who do not have special programming knowledge should be not be able to influence the PLC via the Human Machine Interface (HMI). It is therefore particularly important to implement appropriate role management that precisely defines who is allowed to change what. It should always be possible to record who changed what at what time to be able to trace processes back if necessary. This too can increase the security of machinery and plants.

It is also advisable to use modern firewall systems. Furthermore, the stateful inspection has already proved itself in the Internet world. This type of protection is available both in the form of an individual product and as an integrated function on communications processors. For example, Scalance S and M series switches provide ‘Security Integrated’ functionality. The Scalance M875 switch, with remote access ability via GSM-R/UMTS, has an intelligent

Security layers around a DCS.

firewall and Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Today’s communication processors feature builtin firewall and VPN functionality in their advanced version. As such, they provide the capability of implementing the firewall directly in the control cabinet in a modular way — without extra IT software.

The configuration can be implemented directly in the engineering system. The protection through the firewall is supplemented by integrated security functions in the controllers, the HMI systems, and in the control systems such as the above-mentioned whitelisting programs.

Multi-Level Security Concepts Are Indispensable For machinery and plant manufacturers, as well as plant operators, it is becoming increasingly important to set up a custom multi-stage protection concept following the defense-in-depth approach, as described in detail in standards such as ISA-99 and IEC 62443. A protection philosophy of this kind can, for example, include a hardware firewall on the outside, plus antivirus software solutions on the system and machine level.

Siemens also recommends, for example, that a Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) network be installed in any large production network. This is a quarantine network, closed off by two firewalls, in which critical server applications can run, such as the update server or the remote access server. An anti-virus server is located within the DMZ network that checks all incoming data packets from the outside for viruses.

Additional anti-virus software should be installed on PC-based controllers for protection from ‘inside’. However, software products approved or tested by experts should be used, because there is a risk that when removing threats, untested virus scanners could also remove parts of the system software.

After all, the security of industrial plants is what matters. There is widespread agreement that this will involve greater preventive effort in the future than it has up to now.

Profibus/Profinet International also extended the certification tests for Profinet products with different security and load tests. Since 2013 these scenarios are mandatory.

ENQUIRY NO. 1102

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Newsdesk Newsdesk

CANopen Lift,

The Standardised Network For Lifts And Elevators THE CANopen Lift application profile defined in the CiA 417 specification demonstrated its interoperability capabilities at Interlift 2013, held at the Augsburg Trade Fair Centre, Germany. In addition, several companies proofed the interoperability of their CiA 417 products at the seventh plug-fest.

CANopen Lift is the only standardised network for lifts and elevators. CiA 417 compliant devices are interoperable, meaning they can understand each other. In order to proof the interoperability, CAN in Automation (CiA), the international users’ and manufacturers’ association, organised the development of a CANopen Lift demonstrator, with several CiA members having submitted their products.

Compliant Products Sprinte is the first French control system supplier providing a CiA 417 compliant product. It is part of the demonstrator and communicates with products from Liftequip (car drive), Elgo (encoder), and Kronenberg (panels). The other two controller providers are Böhnke & Partner, now a company of the Schmersal group, and Weber Lifttechnik. CiA 417 car drives that are used in the demonstrator are from Control Techniques; Liftequip, and Ziehl-Abegg.

Door controllers from Wittur and encoders from different vendors are integrated in the demonstrator too. The panels integrated in the demonstrator from Kronenberg, Masora, Schäfer, and Safeline are connectable to all CiA 417 controllers.

Sodimas, another French lift controller supplier, as well as Kollmorgen have announced support for the specification in their products, who also plan to participate in the CiA demonstrator. Intec is cooperating with KLST (Klinghammer) in the development of lift control systems who are also interested to take part in the demonstrator.

Klinkhammer has already launched CANopen Lift systems. The communication between the car drive and the host controller is realised via CANopen.

In the 7th plug-fest organised by CiA the

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The CANopen Lift demonstrator shown at the Interlift tradeshow consists of four independent networks connecting several CiA 417 controllers and units.

participating parties tested some new devices and functions. Miclect tested for the first time its LM-CANopen load-measuring device, communicating with different lift controllers. Böhnke & Partner and Ziehl-Abegg proved the recently introduced software download by means of the boot-loader. Additionally, some stress tests have been performed.

Improvement Of The CiA 417 Profile In December 2013, the Special Interest Group (SIG) Lift met and decided to improve the existing CiA 417 specification. Besides minor corrections and better descriptions, the experts discussed several functional extensions. One of them is the emergency telephone function. Other improvements deal with additional parameters for the car drive unit and the load-measuring unit.

There were other proposals, for example, to modify the use of some of the emergency message bytes or how to react to detected errors more quickly. In the next meeting the group will discuss all submitted proposal and then decide how to proceed with them. Already accepted were the submissions for the lift light management, the RFID, and the additional VT52 command.

ENQUIRY NO. 1103

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EtherCAT Refines Motion Control The SPS IPC Drives, held from November 26 -28, 2013, was a special event for the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG). Exactly 10 years ago, the group was founded at this exhibition — then starting with 33 founding members. Today, more than 2,600 companies join forces to support, promote and advance the technology.

In celebration of its 10 year anniversary, the group presented a motion control application with a Kuka robot and two Beckhoff XTS systems at its tradeshow booth. XTS stands for eXtended Transport System and is a drive technology combining the advantages of rotary and linear systems, resulting in a system that extends the former linear motor principle by adding a critical component: continuous, cyclic flow.

Thomas Rettig, senior system expert at the group, explained: “The Beckhoff EtherCAT master controls two XTS systems, ensuring a cycle time of 250 microseconds and about 2 kilobytes of data being transferred every 250 microseconds per XTS. To implement a safety control system, we have used Safety over EtherCAT. The Kuka robot, though integrated as a slave, has an internal EtherCAT master with safety control. Our live demo shows that it works perfectly well to combine all types of motion systems without any gateways.”

Beckhoff’s XTS system provides new engineering possibilities, especially for high speed material handling applications.

With EtherCAT, it is possible to manage the highly demanding communication requirements of the XTS system reliably and

efficiently. The technology is an example of an approach that would not have been possible with traditional fieldbus systems. For the tradeshow demo application, TwinCAT automation software was used for configuration and control of the XTS systems, while the Kuka robot was integrated into the application by EtherCAT communication.

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issues & insights

Plant Safety:

Alarm Management IAA spoke with Ashish Gaikwad, GM, Honeywell Process Solutions, on the company’s DynAMo Alarm Suite, which has now been released in global markets. By Mark Johnston

IAA: Historically, what has Honeywell’s approach to alarm management been?

Ashish Gaikwad (AG): The company has more than 20 years in alarm management and the approach has always been to listen to customer feedback. It is through this close interaction with customers that we have developed the DynAMo Alarm Suite.

2 Innovative features of this Alarm Suite include: • Mobility — Compatible with mobile devices for viewing alarm metrics anytime, anywhere.

• Dashboard — A customisable, role-based dashboard allows operators, engineers and managers to view the health of their alarm system at a glance.

IAA: What are the key features of this alarm management system, and how will it improve alarm management for those in the process industry?

AG: This alarm management software enables process plants and pipelines to develop and implement an effective alarm strategy aligned with industry-recognised guidelines and standards.

It empowers personnel through workflow to detect and avoid abnormal situations, and helps enterprises improve safety, maintain production uptime and increase profitability.

3

The Alarm Suite is comprised of the following software components: • Metrics & Reporting Generates web-based, standards-compliant key performance indicator reports that provide a snapshot of current alarm system performance.

• Documentation & Enforcement Provides alarm system documentation and the ongoing enforcement of alarm limits, online operator alarm help, intuitive reporting in support of change management, and convenient offline configuration.

• Alerts & Notifications Software that complements the alarm system to make operators and personnel outside the control room aware of special or abnormal conditions.

1

It is a vendor neutral software, which means it works with any control system.

IAA: What was the motivation behind developing this new system, and what are the advantages to a company who may be thinking about upgrading their current alarm management system?

AG: Process plants and pipelines rely on numerous automation systems to efficiently run their day-today operations. But those systems can generate thousands of alarms every day, overwhelming control room operators, many of which are nuisance alarms that mask the critical ones.

When there are too many alarms, this can become overwhelming or cause complacency, and issues get lost in the noise. The result of critical alarms going unnoticed can lead to safety incidents including process upsets, plant shutdown, loss of containment, or catastrophic failure.

This Alarm Suite software is used to identify nuisance alarms and redundant alarms, which will reduce the overall number of process alarms, helping operators focus and respond to the most critical ones.

Alarm management continues to be a major problem for the process industries. Plants and pipelines can experience thousands of alarms in a 24-hour period, causing operator fatigue and

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overload. The alarm management software empowers operators to detect and avoid abnormal situations. It reduces overall alarms by up to 80 percent, enabling the operators to focus on the critical ones.

IAA: What efficiency savings do you expect operators to achieve from implementing this new alarm system?

AG: The company is a founder of Abnormal Situation Management (ASM) Consortium with active participation in industry organisations such as EEMUA, ISA, API and NARMA. According to ASM data: • The industry estimates a loss of US$10 billion per year due to abnormal situations.

• Incident costs range from US$100K–US$1 million per plant per year.

• Refineries suffer a major incident once every three years, costing US$80 million.

• Insurance companies show industry claims of more than US$2.2 billion per year due to equipment damage (North America).

By following alarm management best practices and using the company’s alarm system, users can expect: • Improved operator effectiveness.

• Reduced safety incidents.

• Prevention of abnormal events.

• Reduced production losses.

• Averted environmental excursions.

Other benefits may include: • Up to 80 percent reduction in the number of alarms operators receive, helping to alleviate operator fatigue and overload.

• Software that provides a single window into alarm system performance and regulatory compliance, helping companies adhere to industry standards such as ISA 18.2, EEMUA 191, API 1167, PHMSA, and so on.

• Decreased insurance premiums for having followed alarm management best practices.

IAA: What industries and markets are you targeting, and what is the pricing structure for this system? Also, when does this new alarm management system officially go to market?

AG: The system is built for process companies in oil & gas, refining & petrochemicals, pipelines, pulp & paper, power, and MMM industries. The pricing structure is competitive. It is now available in the market.

IAA: How long has this new system been in development before going to market, and what was the total investment needed for this project?

AG: We cannot mention any investment figures, but we can say that significant investment has been devoted to this alarm suite. As a result, this is a product which is different from other alarm management software in the market today, as shown in the following areas: It is a vendor neutral software that works with any control system, and complements the company’s Experion PKS system: • Native Experion Connectivity — cost effective, secure, simple, without the need to purchase OPC licenses.

• Alarm Help — provides context and consequences for each alarm from the operator console.

• Conditional user-defined alerts appear on a familiar operator console layout. a

b Innovative technology: • Dashboard — customisable, role-based dashboard that allows operators, engineers and managers to view the health of their alarm system at a glance.

• Mobile device — compatible for viewing alarm metrics anytime, anywhere.

• Backup Enforcement — ensures that critical alarm enforcement actions are executed.

The company’s alarm suite features a customisable, role-based dashboard so operators, engineers and managers can view alarm metrics and the overall health of their alarm system at a glance.

c Beyond alarm management: • The company’s alarm management solution enables customers to expand into the realm of operations monitoring, and the progression of a lifecycle, once alarms are under control.

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issues & insights

Safety Maturity:

Worker safety is a fundamental need and requirement in manufacturing and industrial settings. Ways to improve safety in line with the Safety Maturity Index are discussed. By Wah Seng Liew, business manager Components, Southeast Asia, Rockwell Automation

E

very 15 seconds, somewhere in the world, a worker dies from a work-related accident or disease, and 160 workers suffer from a workrelated accident. So every day, almost 6,000 people die as a result of occupational accidents or workrelated diseases — totalling more than two million deaths per year. The economic burden of poor occupational safety and health practices is estimated at four percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year.

Worker safety is a fundamental need and requirement in manufacturing and industrial settings.

It protects workers, prevents unnecessary downtime and satisfies standards compliance. In addition, bestin-class companies approach safety holistically as a core value to drive productivity, gain efficiencies and experience improved employee morale — whilst protecting their brand reputation.

The Aberdeen Group, in three separate surveys, reported that savvy manufacturing executives used four key performance indicators to measure safety performance: • • • •

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Repeat accident rate Injury frequency rate Unscheduled asset downtime

George Rudder, Tempe, Arizona, US

Three Crucial Elements Of Best-In-Class Safety

The surveys found that best-in-class manufacturers — defined as the top 20 percent of aggregate performance scorers — achieve five to seven percent higher OEE, less than half the injury rate of average performers, and two to four percent less unscheduled downtime. In addition, they experience far fewer workplace accidents compared to average performers — 1:2,000 employees versus 1:111.

These manufacturers also share a common set of best practices that can be grouped into three core elements of any safety programme: • Culture (behavioural) • Compliance (procedural) • Capital (technical) Each of these safety pillars is equally critical and co-dependent. A company that builds a strong safety culture, for example, can only go so far without complying with standards and investing in safeguarding technologies. Likewise, manufacturers can make significant investments in safety technologies and procedures, but those investments are marginalised if management does not embed safety into the company’s cultural DNA.

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1

Culture

A safety culture is generally indicative of the broader company culture. In addition to enhancing safety, a robust safety culture can raise employee morale and attract top-quality workers. To address major variations in how workers perform safety processes, safety-conscious companies focus on three strategic employee behaviours: • Transparency — Established by a climate of trust in which employees speak the truth without hesitation and understand safety is more important than productivity.

• Shared Leadership and Accountability — Measured by how responsible and accountable employees are, not only for their own personal safety, but also for others.

• Employee Self-Rationalisation — Determined by how employees change their inherent approach to safety, from robotically following processes to making instinctive safety-related decisions.

One of the biggest hurdles to achieving this culture is creating a shared and common appreciation for safety amongst all parties, so that safety is more than a priority — it is a core value within a company’s culture.

Some preliminary questions to help gauge a manufacturer’s safety culture include: • Are leaders, teams and employees objective observers?

• Can employees see what is happening on the plant floor and understand the real or potential impacts on safety?

• Are safety problems met with excuses or finger pointing or are they treated honestly and transparently?

• In meetings or on the plant floor, does everyone speak up or is it mostly the same people?

A strong safety culture must be communicated and demonstrated from the top down so every

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Safety Maturity: Three Crucial Elements of Best-in-Class Safety issues & insights

By Steve Ludwig, Safety Programs Manager, Rockwell Automation

house departments are held to the same standards as OEM-delivered new machinery.

In addition, these manufacturers consider the impact of compliance (or lack thereof) beyond their own walls. They cannot afford to turn a blind eye to vendors or material suppliers with lower standards and risk intense public scrutiny for dealing with such businesses. They know they will face major financial and reputational risks if their operations are interrupted by, or even associated with, supplier negligence.

3

Capital

B e s t - i n - c l a s s m a n u f a c t u re r s h a v e a s o l i d understanding of their safety technologies and techniques. They are aware of the four capitalinvestment safety categories:

The Safety Maturity Index (SMI) is a self-guided assessment tool for the measurement of performance in safety culture, compliance processes and procedures, as well as capital investments in safety technologies.

employee knows that management is committed to a world-class safety culture, and safety is integrated into the company’s brand and business plans.

2

Compliance

A significant challenge for manufacturers is connecting the engineering, operations, maintenance and Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) departments; especially in bigger companies where the disconnect is usually larger. Communicating, meeting and understanding how each person’s job affects the others can allow teams to work toward a shared goal, rather than their respective personal objectives.

For example, companies with a ‘safety-first’ culture know that cross-functional communication is critical when ordering new machinery — so that safeguards can be placed to protect against hazardous objects; operators can understand why they are there; and they are not removed for convenience sake. Shared functional safety standards ensure consistency across the plant’s machinery, whilst incorporating the needs of all workers who will be involved with the equipment.

Safety-minded manufacturers apply the same standards to equipment upgrades as they do to new-equipment purchases, especially companies with in-house engineering capabilities. Design and remanufacturing projects originating from these in-

• Incomplete or Improper: Safety is an afterthought, if considered at all. Workers are expected to keep themselves safe. If safety technologies are used, they are likely misused or defeated.

• Basic: Efforts are made to ensure plant compliance with safety regulations. Instead of standard control devices, basic safety technologies and techniques are used, including safety relays and lock-out/tag-out procedures.

• Optimised: Supplemental safety technologies and techniques are used to optimise safety. These manufacturers use more advanced alternatives to lock-out/tag-out tasks when they are deemed to be cumbersome, costly or time consuming.

• Integrated: Machinery has tight integration between safety and control functions. Whilst these manufacturers understand that safety and control functions must be separate, they also know that the two can work in concert with each other to improve operating efficiency and productivity.

In the Aberdeen Group studies, 74 per cent of the leading safety manufacturers said they used integrated safety technologies to improve diagnostics and reduce unscheduled downtime.

Such technologies include integrated safety controllers — which combine safety, discrete, motion, drive and process control in one chassis.

Their solutions can be connected to plant wide information systems, giving plant operators visibility into metrics such as downtime reports, in addition to machinery and line efficiency.

ENQUIRY NO. 1202

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process control

As companies face a shrinking workforce globally, processes need to be improved and streamlined to reduce the time spent on each task, decrease the possibility of costly errors, and maintain maximum efficiency as much as possible. The Internet of Things (IoT) is one such way in which enterprises can achieve that goal. By Rod Rodericks, VP and MD, Asia Pacific, Zebra Technologies

Smart Labels Decoded:

RFID Your Way Into 2014 W

ith the adoption of IoT set to be on the rise, it should serve as no surprise then that technological enablers like Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is expected to continue growing in the next decade to come.

RFID uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transmit data. With RFID, businesses can identify and track their resources wherever they are, providing them real-time feedback and greater visibility into their processes. However, technology can only be as good as the way in which they are utilised and implemented.

With the RFID market expected to reach US$30.24 billion (S$38.55 billion) in 2024 (Bharat Book Bureau) and IoT projected to generate US$8.9 trillion in revenues by 2020 (IDC), it is crucial to understand the ins and outs of proper RFID encoding, printing and implementation.

Top Three Considerations For RFID Smart Label Printing/Encoding Accurate RFID encoding is critical to ever y deployment. If the printer/encoder do not perform the tag data and item association correctly, errors can propagate throughout the entire supply chain.

Following the tips described below can help you get more from your smart label printing system by improving reliability, minimising operator intervention, reducing label wastage, preventing encoding and printing errors, and yielding more usable labels per media roll.

1 Selecting The Right Media Select A Printer That Prints And Encodes On-Pitch On-pitch RFID printers encode tags at the same pitch as specified by the inlay manufacturer, as such eliminating the extra process of spreading apart the inlays prior to encoding. Successful onpitch printing requires printers designed with tight mechanical tolerances, advance Radio Frequency (RF) technology and intelligent firmware.

It must also be able to easily integrate with wireless networking, provide a future-proofed path for upgrades as RFID standards evolve, and be flexible enough to support various inlay types as required.

Match The Chip Position To The Printer/Encoder RFID users should perform testing to find the best frequency, protocol, inlay manufacturer and design for their application’s needs. A common mistake is Feb/Mar 2014 | industrial automation asia  27

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process control

With RFID, businesses can identify and track their resources wherever they are, providing them real-time feedback and greater visibility into their processes.

to place a large order for smart labels early on in the testing phase without making sure the media meets optimisation requirements for the chosen printer/encoder.

As most smart label media are not interoperable among different brands of printers/encoders, they will require calibration to the specific printer/encoder model to ensure proper alignment and encoding.

Avoid Foil And Metal-Based Media Metal reflects RF signals and is a leading source of RFID interference. Embedding an RFID inlay within a metal or foil label can prevent successful encoding/ reading and severely limit its range.

Watch Out For Liquids Liquids can absorb RF signals, which can severely limit range or prevent tag encoding/reading altogether.

Therefore, label placement on liquid products is critical in order to achieve successful read rates and distance.

In addition, synthetic media and laminates commonly used to protect barcode labels from moisture and liquids pose no problems to smart label performance.

Storage Temperature To achieve optimal performance of your smart label media, maintain storage temperatures between -51 and +95 deg C. Limit Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) ESD dangers are elevated in low-humidity and highaltitude locations. Failing to control for ESD can seriously affect smart label performance, leading to more cost and problems during RFID implementation.

Storing media in non-conductive bags or cartons (cardboard is sufficient) should provide sufficient protection against ESD damage.

2 Printer Management Centralised Management Tasks With the consolidation of operations that is prevalent

Businesses across the world print and encode millions of smart labels every year.

in most manufacturing and IT organisations, there is a trend toward centralised management and administration of peripheral equipment, including printers. Now, users can manage all their networked printers globally from a single desktop application and ‘push’ changes to printers as needed.

Other printer management options use a ‘pull’ networking task. This allows IT administrators to configure and load printer information on a networked server once, then allow the printers to pull the data as needed.

Pick Printer Placement Carefully Encoding performance can improve simply by allowing some physical space between the printer/ encoder and other RF products that share the same bandwidth. Interference may result if the printer/ encoder is next to or directly above or below other RF devices.

Maximise Encoding Success Printer/encoder should perform two tag quality checks. The first check, prior to encoding, verifies that the inlay is functional and can receive data. The second check verifies that data is encoded and stored on the chip correctly. Avoid the practice of manually aligning labels, which is common in barcoding. The best practice is to adjust label location through printer/ encoder commands or through label design software.

Limit Error Messages Inlays fail to encode for a variety of reasons. While it is fairly uncommon, failure to encode on the first try does not necessarily indicate a problem. Therefore, it is not practical to issue an error message or shutdown the printer/encoder each time there is a failure to encode.

When purchasing a smart label printer/encoder, choose one that allows you to adjust the number of encoding retries to program the smart label before sending an error message.

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Designate And Segregate Un-Encoded Labels Unusable labels should be clearly marked with a printed ‘Void’ message, to prevent users from applying damaged or un-programmable smart labels to items.

Use Alerts For Persistent Problems Most encoding failures are isolated incidents resulting from a damaged inlay. Consistent failures could indicate a larger problem, but halting operations should be the last step in an escalated response system. Zebra strongly recommends that end users integrate a robust printer and print server management application in their overall RFID architecture. Softwarebased monitoring and management of RFID printer/ encoders can provide alerts and capture statistics on printer/encoder performance to flag problems before they have serious consequences.

3 Best Practices For Proper Label Placement • Proximity to metal and liquid should be avoided • Care should be given to protect the label against Industrial Ethernet AD_NEWSCO_20120608Final-01.pdf 1 13-2-21 下午2:00 excessive contact

• Consideration should be given to how cases are stacked on pallets to maintain sufficient distance between smart labels • Conduct testing to determine the optimum smart label placement from the bottom of the pallet.

For shrink-wrapped pallets, place smart labels on the outside of the wrap. Bands used to hold pallets or wrappers in place should not wrap around the labels Businesses across the world print and encode millions of smart labels every year. Most problems that do arise occur because of a few common conditions that are easily resolved. Many problems can be avoided entirely by training associates on the leading causes of smart label failure.

Action taken before deploying the system can also save errors and downtime. Selecting an intelligent, programmable printer/encoder can help optimise operations because the organisation can set the unit to support desired processes for error resolution and alert notification.

ENQUIRY NO. 1301

Mission Critical Industrial EthernetRobust & Built to Last C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

The ultimate end-to-end Ethernet solutions, from the best names in the business.

Fiber and copper cables, connectors, switches and routers, Wifi, firewalls and network management software. sales.ROAP@belden.com http://www.belden.com

Phone: 65-6879-9800

ENQUIRY NO. 638

Belden·

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process control

By adopting the right technology, facility management can accurately track the locations of products as they move from start-to-end on the production line. By Didier Lacroix, senior VP, International Sales & Services, Cognex

I

dentification plays an increasingly important role in manufacturing. Using information stored in 1-D barcodes and 2-D codes, items on the production line can be tracked effectively. In certain industries where it is necessary to monitor the progress of production, imagebased ID readers can be deployed at each stage. This helps the facility to keep track of parts and components as they move through the various stages. In this manner, it is easy to determine if the product has completed all the necessary processing steps, or if any were missed and which ones they were.

Given the task at hand, the reliability of the reader becomes vital. The performance of the reader is measured by its read rate, which is calculated by the number of barcodes read divided by the number attempted. It is typically

expressed as a percentage and the closer to 100 percent it is, the better. Unlike laser scanners that read just a single line, imagebased readers view an entire 1-D barcode. It then applies advanced algorithms to overcome quiet zone violations and other code damage issues. This method of reading allows the readers to read barcodes in any orientation or position within a single view. It also allows the reading of 2-D data matrix or QR codes.

Image-based readers are able to read challenging 2D codes that are directly marked onto a part.

The codes are typically made using laser etching or dot peening to create a permanent Direct Part Mark (DPM). Even codes that have been poorly marked, or that are on a curved surface, can be read reliably using advanced reading algorithms.

Ayhan Yildiz, Turkey

ID Readers In Control Industry Application A Light Emitting Diode (LED) production facility manufactures parts that are used in LED television sets and lighting for automotives. These components are exported to destinations worldwide and therefore have to meet the stringent requirements of these markets. A number of production steps, such as the oven process and the circuit and integrity tests, are carried out on the manufacturing line.

To ensure that all finished components have gone through each stage and have passed the required tests, the manufacturer has to implement a traceability system. The latter uses code readers to read laser-marked 2-D codes on each LED strip at each production stage.

Like most production environments, there are challenges

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that need to be addressed. The raw materials for LED production originate from multiple suppliers and countries. Each supplier uses a laser marker of a different grade to imprint its 2-D codes.

As a result, print quality tends to vary between them. The types of ceramics used as the raw material may also be different, further compounding the problem. Each 2-D code typically measures less than 2 mm as many of the components are small.

Furthermore, the LEDs have to go through an oven process. This is where electrical component leads are joined to the board via individual pad connections located on the surface of each board. Temperatures measuring approximately 300 deg C are applied to dr y the soldered connections, which also distorts the codes at times.

Many code scanning systems on the market cannot deliver a 100 percent successful read-rate

due to these difficulties. This is especially true if the scanners are handheld readers, which are not meant to be deployed for high-speed code reading on fastmoving production lines.

Whenever a ‘no read’ occurs, the entire manufacturing process is disrupted as operators have to enter the information manually. In facilities that ramp up production volumes over time, this problem is further exacerbated. The need to find a reliable solution is therefore crucial, to ensure high throughput and minimum halts to the manufacturing process.

Solution Of Success In light of these pressing needs, the LED manufacturer decided to implement DataMan code readers. Initial deployment of the technology achieved a successful read rate of 100 percent. An additional 15 barcode readers were installed later on to allow the manufacturer to achieve full

Optimising Capabilities Since every production environment is different, each ID reader system has to be designed for specific tasks while considering local factors. In order to customise the solution to each application on the production line, the implementation team has to experiment with different levels of magnification.

This is possible because the lens on the reader is adjustable.

The software code can be ‘trained’ to read even small 2-D codes that are used by certain applications.

This effectively optimises readrate performance as it enables the system to memorise the properties of the codes, such as module and pixel sizes.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is how the reader is triggered for each individual process. It is also necessary to determine how data from the reader is sent to the corresponding machine or PC. Time and effort has to be put into testing out different configurations to attain optimum performance.

Light intensity, exposure values and lens distance are examples of some of the elements that have to be considered. Ambient light is a major factor that affects read capabilities. In overly-bright environments, the external glare may degrade the quality of the images taken by the camera.

Under such circumstances, a protective enclosure of tinted panels may be necessary to reduce the light intensity. Depending on the application, samples of products from various suppliers may have to be extensively studied to determine how they affect read capabilities.

ID readers can read barcodes in any orientation or position within a single view.

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process control

Since every production environment is different, each ID reader system has to be designed for specific tasks while considering local factors.

Image-based technology finds its place in various applications across different industries.

component traceability.

Such track-and-trace capability is essential if a component misses a test or human errors occur.

Under such circumstances, the process can reject a part or display an error when the barcode is read at a subsequent process step. From a Quality Assurance (QA) perspective, such a system ensures that every component that exits the line has already passed through all the required testing stages.

Some of the key features that make the DataMan readers suited for this application are their high 1.3 megapixel resolution and flexible lighting options.

The application requires high resolution images for successful re a d s , s i n c e b a rc o d e s a re extremely tiny. Besides this, blue lighting is installed to ensure optimal read rates. The reader has a bank of lighting that can be configured to be turned on bidirectionally, uni-directionally or from all directions. After carrying out the fine adjustments, the

quality of the resulting image improved and now has the required strong contrast. These enhancements raised the overall performance of the reading operation from 90 percent to 100 percent.

In the deployment of the readers, there are other important factors that need to be considered.

One is that each reader has to be placed at a ‘safe’ distance from the items that it is scanning. If the former is placed too close, there is a risk that static electricity from the reader could cause damage to the electronic circuitry of the LED. Another problem is that an operator might accidentally knock against the reader in the process of attempting to manually remove an item from the manufacturing line.

To negate these problems, the decision was made to locate the reader about eight cm away from the items that are being scanned. A possible issue with this solution is that the image that is taken may not be sufficiently

clear. Fortunately, high resolution readers avoid this problem as they are able to produce magnified images with the necessary clarity, even at this distance.

Moving With The Times Image-based technology also finds its place in automotive manufacturing. Manual inspections of gearboxes used to be carried out in a specific facility.

These inspections required checks on 60-70 inspection-points on the gearboxes. Due to limitations of the human eye, the process was time consuming and not fully reliable. A further problem was that many varieties of gearboxes were manufactured with subtle differences between them. With demands for shorter lead times, a more efficient and less timeintensive inspection method was needed.

The answer came in the form of a robot guidance and inspection cell that was adapted to the specifications of the gearbox application. A complete

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gearboxes that are produced and ensures that they are delivered to the client with zero defects.

It is important to note that not all image-based systems are the same. In the process of making a purchase decision, facility owners need to also consider peripheral factors. Whether the vendor has a local presence is often a consideration that is missed out.

If the technology supplier is based overseas and has to fly in the team to implement the system, this could spell trouble in the future. If technical support is required later on, it could be more difficult to contact the supplier and may also require a longer waiting period for help to arrive.

In the manufacturing space, this would mean longer periods of

downtime that translate into lower throughput and profitability.

A good gauge of vendor reliability is its speed of response to perform a pre-sale demonstration at the client’s facility. Furthermore, the amount of time it takes for the team to set up and run the demonstration is an indicator of the system’s ease-of-use.

Facility owners should take note of the system’s interface and software, and whether it requires many steps to ‘teach’ the system to recognise the items that need to be read or inspected. Naturally, a system that is easy to use and operate, will reduce the operator’s learning cur ve and make it simple for product changeovers on the line.

ENQUIRY NO. 1302

ENQUIRY NO. 671

multipoint inspection of the 60-70 spots on the gearbox is made in 40 seconds with a vision-equipped robot. This means that several inspections have to be performed each second. PatMax software is integrated into the platform that operates both the robot and vision using a 3-D measurement unit using search, edge and ID-tools.

The application consists of inspecting all mounting parts that are visible from the outside, checking hole and screw threading, and ensuring that mounted screws are fastened on the gearbox. Besides these, ID reading on parts, gearbox label verification, and gearbox ID verification are also carried out.

The inspection system adjusts itself to the different types of

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software & Networks

A proper definition and deployment of an Ethernet-based industrial network system that integrates easily with the IT network through effective firewall protection can improve plant performance and add to the corporate bottom line. By Mike Miclot, VP of Marketing, Industrial Solutions, Belden

Total Cost Of Ownership Reduction Through Effective Network Segregation J

ohnson Controls’ Automotive Experience Group has retooled its plant communications networks to improve responsiveness for its JustIn-Time (JIT) plants. Headquartered in Milwaukee, US, the company decided it was time to upgrade its ‘one size fits all’ flat network infrastructure, controlled by the corporate IT department, with a segmented system that addressed the separate needs of its IT department and plant engineers.

Joe Lavis, the IT manager in the group’s IT Process Office, together with Kevin Hooks, IT director (manufacturing), supply chain & quality systems, proposed a new architecture that provided for a separate office and plant networks, communicating through secure channels.

According to Mr Lavis, the benefits of the new architecture are as follows: • Higher availability through the reduction of unplanned shutdowns.

• Protection of production controls equipment from chatty office traffic and unannounced network scans, which have knocked devices offline in the past.

• Complete production network ownership provided to the control engineers.

• Reduction of line path costs (ie: shorter runs to layer 2 infrastructure).

• Increased network efficiency through reduced bandwidth consumption by multicast traffic, due to switch management features.

• Improved security and granular control of messages being passed between the IT and plant networks, by using a firewall between the two networks.

One Size Network Does Not Fit All

Network strategies and objectives differ depending on the job. The IT department must place data integrity first. On the other hand, JIT production facilities live and die by keeping manufacturing lines up and running in order to meet production quantity, quality and delivery, which are driven by electronic order requests sent by the customer. By maintaining separate networks, each group can operate at optimum potential.

There were three main challenges for the control engineers under the old network architecture: 1 It was difficult to meet the ‘deterministic’ requirements of a factory operation when IT ‘chatter’ and network scans would consume needed bandwidth at just the wrong time. Unplanned shutdowns played havoc with tight schedules on manufacturing lines, particularly in a JIT facility.

Factory systems do not tolerate randomness in the delivery of time-critical signals; an inopportune scan run by the IT department could provide just enough of a delay to knock a device offline.

Manual intervention was required to reboot offline devices, causing further setback to the schedule.

2 Network management was delegated to a thirdparty operator. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) that suited the needs of the IT group governed the third party’s response. When a port address or other network detail needed to be changed, the control engineers had to submit a change order.

Sometimes equipment failed or lines went down while orders were in process.

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3

IT coordinators and controls engineers sometimes spent hours troubleshooting network interruptions, a costly exercise when there is a factory schedule to maintain.

Creating A Global Industrial Network Strategy The isolated network strategy at the company gives each plant its own control network infrastructure.

Plants communicate with the corporate network through a firewall. This provides security for plant operations and keeps unnecessary or undesirable traffic (whether inadvertent or hostile) from affecting factory operations.

Control engineers can add to, remove from, or modify their infrastructure as capacity requirements change, and can be more responsive to plant objectives. This is particularly important for meeting JIT customer requirements. Figure 1 shows the new control network architecture.

The plan included a consistent architecture for plants around the globe and required a global supplier and global access to technical support. The McNaughton-McKay Electric Company in Madison Heights, US, and its partner, Belden, were equipped to fit the bill.

In the new architecture, end devices or clients are directly connected to a Hirschmann switch on the ring. Rings are connected by fibre to a Hirschmann MACH 100 family device in the EDGE Distribution Frame (EDF) cabinet, which in turn, is connected to a fibre patch panel in the Intermediate Distribution Frame (IDF) that feeds directly to the MACH 100 switches in the Main Distribution Frame (MDF) with redundant fibre runs.

The actual costs of the hardware hardly changed; however, the accounting method did. The typical IT

leasing model anticipates hardware refresh every three years or so. Industrial switches and routers are designed to operate in extreme environments for long periods of time. Changing them out every few years is not only unnecessary, but also an unwarranted expense.

A hardened industrial network can be capitalised, and offer a rapid Return-On-Investment (ROI).

Cabling expense and complexity were also reduced. The corporate network uses a star/tree structure, with direct runs from an IDF to client devices on the shop floor. This resulted in long cable runs and unwieldy cable bundles. The industrial network utilises an EDF. This means shorter cable runs and the ability to use pre-terminated cables to connect Hirschmann switches and the enddevices. The result is lower wiring costs and easier troubleshooting.

The initial deployment is a part of the Northwood, US, JIT plant expansion; future installations will be scheduled as new plants are built or when a major expansion with significant downtime is planned.

Turnkey Installation With Pre-Configured Kits McNaughton-McKay brought in experienced field and R&D team members from Belden, along with its own resources, to assist in the first installation. The template designed for future deployments makes it possible for any group in the world to build out its own facility from a single parts list. It pre-configures kits that can be shipped directly to any plant. The kits contain Hirschmann switches and a firewall, and can include components all the way down to cabinet hardware and patch panels for delivery.

Maintenance costs have been reduced as well.

Each site will have one of each switch flavour on cold standby, and the company will ship kits and spares to their global distribution points. Technical support is supplied through a three-tiered structure. Tier one is conducted by locally-trained staff in each plant.

The company’s support team makes up the second tier and escalates any intransigent challenges to tier three, a Belden support team.

Conclusion

Hirschmann switches provide industrial Ethernet network communications within isolated plant environments, and communicate with corporate applications and devices via firewalls.

Corporate IT and control engineers both have an overarching objective of making their company as efficient and effective as possible. Nonetheless, each group has different priorities and different network requirements. The solution is defining and deploying an Ethernet-based industrial network system that integrates easily with the IT network through effective firewall protection, to significantly improve plant performance and add to the corporate bottom line.

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instrumentation & Measurement

RF Front End Testing

What composes an RF front end in today’s radio devices? Common tests for radio devices as well as the benefits of using modular instruments for automated tests will be discussed.

By Heath Noxon, strategic account manager for Semiconductor Segment, National Instruments

M

odular instrumentation systems based on the open industry-standard PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) architecture are designed to deliver high-performance, PCbased measurement and automation systems at an affordable price. With PXI modular instrumentation, you automatically benefit from the low cost, ease of use, and flexibility of PC technology.

PXI also delivers performance improvements over older architectures by combining the highspeed, industry-standard PCI bus with a modular, chassis-based architecture. PXI then adds timing and synchronisation to provide a high level of integration among modules designed specifically for measurement and automation applications.

Common Tests For RF Front-End Devices Many of these common tests have been proven to be the most effective to catch issues with the semiconductor device. For characterisation test, they also can provide insight into the function of the chip. The following sections discuss which tests are appropriate for characterisation, production, or both. Some tests are used for both packaged chips as well as wafer-level testing.

The tests can be broken down into five categories: RF power measurements, spectral measurements, network analysis, modulation accuracy measurements, and DC measurements.

Typical Architecture Of A Mobile Phone Developing a phone with all of its components can lead to many issues or errors without proper testing.

These errors can compound with each other to degrade the phone’s overall performance. Therefore, it is important to test each component to ensure quality and test the entire phone itself to ensure proper integration.

Traditionally, testing for the semiconductor components is performed once it is packaged. However, because of the cost of new wafer development and processes, it is becoming more important to also catch any issues with the silicon prior to packaging.

A typical phone layout consists of many components that make wireless communication possible.

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This is an illustration of what a generic mobile device Power Amplifier (PA) looks like.

Common Test Equipment For RF Front-End Testing When interfacing with the RF front-end device for characterisation and production test, several pieces of equipments are typically used. The following sections describe the most common instrumentation and how it is interfaced to with the RF front-end device.

Equipment For RF Front-End Device Testing Spectrum analysers are commonly used for higher frequency RF signal capture such as spur and harmonics testing. A Vector Signal Analyser (VSA) is one of the most important pieces of test equipment for RF front-end device test. Similar to a spectrum analyser for power measurements, it can measure phase information, which is important for modulation accuracy measurements.

An RF function generator, also known as a Continuous Wave (CW) generator, provides an accurate RF signal to input into the RF front-end device. These generators are commonly used for system calibration or are combined for multitone generation for IMD and IP3 or as an adjacent channel interferer. A Vector Signal Generator (VSG) is the most common type of generator in a lab or facility doing RF front-end device development. It provides not only controlled RF signal output for both power and frequency, but also a phase-controlled output signal.

The Vector Network Analyser (VNA) is not as common as other instrumentation in the RF front-end device lab; however, it has important features for some measurements. Mostly it is used for reflection and transmission measurements such as return loss, insertion loss, and Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR). It has extremely good relative accuracies, which are important for the above ratio’d measurements.

An RF switch can be present especially when trying to add more RF channels to the device without the added cost of more expensive generators or analysers.

A High-Speed Digital Analyser/Generator (HSDIO) provides control, such as MIPI, SPI or I2C channels, of the RF front-end device for changing modes

(standards such as CDMA or LTE), frequency bands, and other set up of the device.

An Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) controls the Vramp signal of a PA. Because many RF signals are bursted rather than a continuous transmission, it is important to generate the correct profile of the signal.

A battery simulator is for the primary power source of the RF front end. Another important requirement of the power supply is to have a fast transient response also for ensuring correct power profiles of the bursted RF signal. A Source Measure Unit (SMU) is a specialised battery supply that is common for RF front-end devices. It differs from a standard power supply in that it provides read-back capabilities in the nanoamp or smaller current range.

It also can operate in four quadrants to provide sourcing or sinking of the signal power.

The SMU can interface to multiple lines on the RF front-end device. In production test, the SMU may be combined with the HSDIO into a product called the Per-Pin Power Measure Unit (PPMU). This device has the same ability as a typical HSDIO instrument, but also has power and measurement capability like the SMU. A digital multimeter measures voltage drops over lines or current leakage from many of the same control and monitoring lines.

An oscilloscope or digitiser is for time domain measurements. For RF front-end devices, it is a useful troubleshooting tool, especially with its high sampling rate capability.

A power meter is important for the RF front-end device. RF power accuracy all evolves from this device in the lab. It typically has power accuracies 10 times better or more than a spectrum analyser or VSA. A load pull is not as common as other instrumentation in the RF front-end device lab, but it is an important piece of equipment for real-world simulation. Typically the impedance of the antenna connected through to a PA varies depending on its environment.

An amplifier is often used to simulate the higher power conditions needed for compression testing of the RF front-end device.

Performing RF Front-End Test With PXI Products PXI builds on the CompactPCI specification with enhancements for better integration and more reliable performance. CompactPCI specifies the use of the rugged, modular Eurocard architecture used for years in industrial environments.

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instrumentation & Measurement

any module, you can share the same trigger reference for all of the devices mentioned above as well as the capture-only devices such as the VSA and digitiser.

Alternatively, for the VSA and digitiser, they can reference their own trigger by using the I/Q power trigger feature of the NI VSA to capture based off an RF signal power level. Pretrigger buffered data can be configured so the signal of interest is captured with signal ramp up, profile, and ramp down.

Measurement Time Advantages With PXI This system is set up for testing an RF front-end device.

PXI offers significant time savings over traditional instrumentation for RF front-end device test. Test time is reduced in four areas, namely, latest off-theshelf processors for the fastest signal processing, Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology for real-time signal processing and measurements, fast PCI Express backplane for data movement and low-latency communication with host controller, flexible software for optimised system configuration and communication.

Off-The-Shelf Processors For The Fastest Signal Processing

This diagram shows the equipment used in a typical setup.

interchangeable components. Modularity makes it easy to configure, reconfigure, and repair PXI systems, which gives engineers a very low Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).

PXI delivers the high-precision instrumentation, synchronisation, and timing features of more expensive platforms at an affordable price. The low cost of PC components is only the beginning of the savings gained from using PXI. With PXI, the same familiar technology can be used in office and on the production floor.

The familiarity of the software eliminates training costs and the need to retrain personnel every time a new system is implemented. Because the foundation of PXI is PC technology, engineers benefit from low component costs, familiar software, and system reuse.

Using The PXI Form Factor For Tight Trigger And Timing Integration In RF Front-End Test An important aspect for RF front-end test is the timing and trigger integration needed to perform different tests. Triggering plays a prominent role in testing a PA device. Without tight trigger control, the device gives erroneous results from misaligned device power, Vramp, or RF signal generation and capture.

Since you can trigger PXI through its backplane from

Just as in any other application that benefits from a faster CPU, the signal processing for RF front end device test also benefits. RF signals often presents a challenge for test time because of its more intense signal processing than low-frequency signals. Not only is the signal originating from a higher frequency via downconversion, it also has more wideband content. With the emergence of new technologies such as LTE and 802.11ac, bandwidths can easily exceed 80 MHz, so ADCs need to sample at 200 MS/ sec or faster.

Once the signal is digitised, it needs to be processed from its baseband format (assuming digital down conversion is done on the IF signal) for modulation accuracy or spectral measurements.

This can include pulse shape filter removal, channel decoding, and demodulation or formatting for spectral measurements. When dealing with 200 mega samples of data, this requires a lot of processing.

A more common way to do this processing is with a multicore processor. PXI test systems offer multicore processing with its embedded controller or an off-the-shelf PC using remote MXI. PXI takes advantage of the multiple cores by running instrumentation in parallel, using multithreading, and performing composite measurements.

Composite measurements can offer significant time savings. Go back to the same GSM and EDGE measurements looked at earlier. Instead of doing individual acquisitions and measurements, perform the same tests with a composite measurement.

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FPGA Technology For Real-Time Signal Processing And Measurements Another area that has helped reduce RF test times and will further accelerate that test time reduction is FPGA technology. Today’s FPGA offers real-time signal processing in an energy-efficient, flexible package. In the world of wireless, this technology is important for signal processing of data.

NI provides the world’s first Vector Signal Transceiver (VST) with FPGA signal processing.

The VST combines a VST and a VSA, and also allows custom algorithms to be implemented directly into the hardware design of the instrument. Qualcomm Atheros has improved their WLAN test speeds by more than 200 times with significant improving test coverage using VST as compared to traditional rackand-stack instruments.

Fast PCI Express Backplane For Data Movement And Low-Latency Communication With Host Controller After signal processing, the next most important factor to reduce test time is a fast bus for data movement. For shorter bursts of data, the differences

between this and a slower bus are not as evident.

However, with increased data acquisition size for signals like LTE it begins to impact test time.

Testing RF front-end components such as duplexers, PAs, and transceivers on cell phones requires highfidelity test equipment. Typically, traditional boxed instruments are used in characterisation because of their higher accuracy, but these instruments do not provide the speed required in manufacturing test environments. PXI instruments provide the accuracy required in characterisation labs while providing the speed needed by manufacturing test engineers.

Conclusion Since PXI instruments are modular, multiple mixedsignal instruments such as RF analysers, generators, digital generators/analysers, and power supplies can be used together. These instruments can be tightly synchronised together to improve test speed and make accurate measurements. Plus, with the PCI technology used in PXI, data can be shared between instruments without software limitations.

ENQUIRY NO. 1501

MA, FA, Digital Signage, Medical, Transportation & Energy Management Market

HID & Security Systems

Industrial Computing & Communications Devices

ODM & OEM Services

Established in 1975 No. 1 Industrial I/O Devices in Japan

RMA & Network ASP Services

Singapore Contec Pte. Ltd. Blk 4010, Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, #07-01 Techplace 1 Singapore 569626

www.contec.sg sales1@contec.sg

+65 6459 1667

ENQUIRY NO. 678

SEA, Oceania & India

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instrumentation & Measurement

Alan Hood, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK

The structure of VersaPower power supply architecture, as well as its ability to help overcome power test challenges will be discussed. By Neil Forcier, application engineer, Agilent Technologies

Addressing Power Test Challenges With

VersaPower Architecture V

ersaPower architecture encompasses the core internal design of the power supplies in the Advanced Power System (APS) family.

What makes this architecture special compared to a common switching power supply architecture? It is designed to deliver increased performance and in addition adds capabilities not seen before in a switching power supply design.

Figure 1 shows a simplified diagram of the architecture found in the APS N6900 and N7900 system power supplies. In the following sections, we will take a look at each module in this architecture, explore key technologies and features in that module, and discuss how they can help you overcome your power test challenges.

the power supply. The module houses some of the standard stages and technologies you would expect in a DC-to-DC conversion module, including the FET bridge, rectification, and filtering. However, it differs from a standard DC-to-DC conversion module in that it allows bidirectional power flow and incorporates other key technologies. Let us take a look at these technologies and how they benefit you during test:

AC-To-DC Conversion Module

• Synchronous rectification: Traditional rectification uses diodes that allow power to flow in one direction, but synchronous rectification uses FETs instead. Using FETs allows power to flow in either direction, which enables the bidirectional power flow capability and provides improved output stability under dynamic load conditions.

The AC-to-DC conversion module takes the AC input and converts it to a 48-V DC bus. This conversion provides a common starting point for the rest of the VersaPower design. The AC input can be a wide range of voltage values — from 100 VAC to 240 VAC — and frequency values, including 50 Hz, 60 Hz, and 400 Hz. This module simply senses the AC line power being used and automatically adjusts it.

DC-To-DC Conversion Module The main function of the DC-to-DC conversion module is to take the standard 48-V DC bus and scale it to meet the voltage and current range of

• Bidirectional power flow: This capability allows VersaPower supplies to both source and sink power. Bidirectional power flow helps deliver an integrated solution for testing powerstorage devices such as batteries and batterymanagement systems.

• Ripple-canceling technology: This proprietary technology enables very low output noise. The low output noise makes power supplies with this architecture a great solution for precision semiconductor, communication, and radar applications.

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• Multistage filtering: VersaPower uses multiple stages of filtering implemented using precision components. This enhanced filtering ensures a low-noise DC output and reduces the amount of capacitance at the power supply’s output. Lower output capacitance makes it possible for a supply to make fast output changes, which allows you to create a test system with faster throughput.

Advanced Measurement Module (AMM) The AMM provides high accuracy and high resolution voltage and current measurement capability. The AMM has two 18-bit Analogue-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) that are continuously sampling timesynchronised voltage and current data, which is passed to the digital personality module (covered later). The digital personality module works with the AMM module to allow you to scale the sampling rate of the measurement data up or down.

Using the scaling capability, you can tune the measurement data to meet your needs. For example, you can scale it for averaged voltage and current measurements geared to accuracy or scale it for a digitised approach to capture voltage or current dynamic behaviour, such as measuring a device’s inrush current.

A growing trend in electronic design is to make devices more power efficient. To optimise power, engineers working with devices such as automotive infotainment systems and portable base stations have adopted a dynamic current usage model. This model means current usage ranges from low current levels when the device is inactive to high current levels when it is active.

To address this trend, the designers focused on the current measurement capability in the AMM. First, they implemented two current measurement

ranges in the AMM. One range is for measuring low-level current and the other is targeted at highlevel current. These two ranges are controlled by a technology known as seamless ranging.

Seamless ranging automatically switches between the ranges based on the output current level. The switching is done seamlessly without any disruption in the output level and no gap in measurement data.

Seamless ranging essentially turns 18 bits of resolution to 21 bits when measuring dynamic current. For example, in Figure 2 we can clearly see the 25-A pulses of the Device Under Test (DUT), but when we zoom into the low-level current between the pulses, we can also see 50-mA pulses — all with a single measurement pass.

Seamless ranging also can be used to speed up throughput in tests that require two current measurement ranges. Seamless ranging automatically changes ranges based on the DUT’s current, so there is no time wasted on range changes or the need to run a test over at each different measurement range.

Voltage And Current Monitor Module The voltage and current monitor module provides voltage and current feedback to the digital personality module. This module provides loop feedback of the output voltage and current, and it also includes nested loops for monitoring voltage and current in the filter section. These nested loops provide consistent output behaviour and specifications over the entire voltage and current operating range of the power supply, so you will not run into any unexpected behaviour during test.

For output current monitoring, the architecture uses digital current control loops rather than analogue loops to enable nonlinear regulation techniques.

Figure 1: A simplified diagram of the architecture found in the APS N6900 and N7900 system power supplies.

Figure 2: Dynamic current measurement example.

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instrumentation & Measurement

Screen capture showing continuous current sourcing and sinking capability of VersaPower power supplies.

This arrangement allows the power supply to react faster to sudden load changes and deliver better protection and output stability to the DUT.

Sense Monitor Module The sense monitor module allows you to extend the output regulation of the power supply from the power supply’s output connectors to the input of the DUT or anywhere in between.

This is an extension of the technology used in the voltage and current monitor module. This module is able to provide the same specifications up to a 1-V drop across the output cabling and slightly reduced specifications for cabling lengths that drop up to 25 percent of the rated output voltage. A broken sense line can lead to unintended damaging high-voltage levels at the DUT. To prevent damage, before turning the output on, power supplies use a continuity check to ensure the sense lines are not open, but they do not check if the sense lines open during testing. The sense monitor module employs a proprietary technology called continuous broken sense lead detection that allows it to continuously monitor the sense lines even when the output is on.

This technology has no effect on the power supply’s output and can detect an open sense line at any time during test to ensure your DUT is protected.

The sense module can also detect reversed and shorted sense lines for maximum protection.

Automatic Down Programmer And External Dissipater Modules In this section we will look at two modules in the architecture: the Automatic Down Programmer (ADP) and the external dissipater. As we discussed earlier, the DC-to-DC conversion module is designed for bidirectional power flow, but the AC-to-DC conversion module allows power to flow only in one

direction. If current is flowing in reverse through the DC-to-DC conversion module, it will cause the bus voltage between the two conversion modules to rise.

This is where the ADP comes in: If the bus voltage begins to rise, the ADP will sink current to maintain the bus voltage at 48 V. The ADP has the ability to sink up to 10 percent of the power supply’s rated current. This capability is useful when you are working with DUTs with energy storage components at their input, such as capacitors. When you try to lower the voltage on a DUT with energy storage at the input, it will resist and slow the speed of the voltage decrease.

The ADP overcomes this by allowing the power supply to sink power when the voltage is higher than the programmed value. This feature is useful when test throughput or DUT protection is an important part of your test plan. The external dissipater module is an optional external accessory for power supplies that use this architecture. When connected to a VersaPower supply, the dissipater module extends the current sink capability from 10 percent (made possible by the ADP) to 100 percent to give the power supply full two-quadrant operation.

Because supplies that offer two-quadrant operation can source and sink power, they provide an integrated solution for testing power storage or bidirectional power devices. Two-quadrant operation is not easy to find in a power supply with power levels of 1 kW and above, so test engineers often turn to combining a power supply with an electronic load. The downside to this approach is added complexity and nonideal or discontinuous operation when the DUT’s current transitions between sourcing and sinking.

Digital Personality Module The Digital Personality Module (DPM) is the command and control centre of this architecture. Its main functions include: • Receives user inputs from either the remote interface or front panel, processes them, and turns them into the corresponding control or monitoring actions.

• Reads in the voltage and current monitor data and provides the pulse width modulation signal for controlling the switching in the DC-to-DC conversion module • Controls and monitors the ADP module, the external dissipater module, advanced measurement module and the black-box recorder module (covered in the next section)

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• Implements VersaPower smart triggering system.

The architecture’s smart trigger system is implemented in the FPGA design of the DPM. It provides trigger capabilities not seen before in a system power supply. These capabilities enable better test throughput and DUT protection.

Black-Box Recorder Module The Black-Box Recorder (BBR) module is a first brought to market by this architecture. It Projekt3 29.01.14 13:30 Seite 1 was designed for customers who are working with high-value DUTs who want a power record they can access in case something unexpected happens during test.

The concept of the BBR is similar to a flight data recorder in an airplane.

The BBR module works in the background of the VersaPower supply, totally independent of any other power supply function.

When the power supply is turned on, it is constantly recording data to nonvolatile memory in the BBR module. Examples of data it captures include voltage, current, power, trigger events, status bits, and user-defined tags. The data can be recorded in two modes:

capabilities, and to reduce test system complexity and help to overcome power test challenges.

A detailed look at how VersaPower delivers on this design vision with technologies such as automatic down programming, seamless ranging, ripple-canceling technology, smart triggering, blackbox recorder, and more has also been explored.

ENQUIRY NO. 1502

• 24-hour mode records data at a rate of 100 times per second to memory.

• 10-day mode records data at a rate of 10 times per second.

When something unexpected happens during test, you can access the BBR data and use it as a forensic tool to figure out what happened and ensure it does not happen again. Like the external dissipater, the BBR module is an optional hardware accessory.

This architecture is found in the APS N6900 and N7900 power supply families. It has been designed to deliver an increase in power supply performance and

ENQUIRY NO. 679

Conclusion

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energy

Diesel Engines:

Powered By Maintenance

Diesel-powered generators are often chosen as back-up generator systems because of the reliability, durability and performance it brings, the bulk of which are made possible by preventive maintenance. By Ang Kim Siong, sales application engineering manager, Cummins Power Generation

D

iesel engines comprise the vast majority of prime movers for standby power generators because of their reliability, durability and performance under load. Dieselpowered generators are depended on for back-up power systems in the most critical locations: hospitals, airports, government buildings, telecommunications facilities, and even nuclear power plants.

In standby power applications, these generators can start and assume a full-rated load in less than 10 seconds, and they typically can go 30,000 hours or more between major overhauls.

T h i s re m a r k a b l e s e t o f credentials is unique to diesel engines, but like any mechanical device, maintenance is critical for ensuring that a standby generator will start and run when needed. Facilities with qualified in-house technical personnel can often perform required preventive maintenance on diesel generators.

Other facility managers prefer to contract with a local service provider or power system distributor for regular maintenance service — especially if they have generators in multiple locations.

(For unplanned maintenance, engine repairs, or overhauls, it is always best to use qualified diesel service technicians.)

Preventive Maintenance Because of the durability of diesel engines, most maintenance is preventive in nature, which consists of the following operations: • • • • •

General inspection Lubrication service Cooling system service Fuel system service Servicing and testing starting batteries • Regular engine exercise 44 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2014

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It is generally a good idea to establish and adhere to a schedule of maintenance and ser vice based on the specific power application and the severity of the environment. For example, if the generator set will be used frequently or is subjected to extreme operating conditions, the recommended service intervals should be reduced accordingly.

Some of the factors that can affect the maintenance schedule include: • Using the diesel generator set for continuous duty (prime power) • Extreme ambient temperatures • Exposure to weather • Exposure to salt water • Exposure to dust, sand or other airborne contaminates If the generator set is expected to be subjected to some or all of these extreme operating conditions, it is best to consult with the engine manufacturer to develop an appropriate maintenance schedule.

The best way to keep track of maintenance intervals is to use the running time meter on the generator set to keep an accurate log of all service performed. This log will also be important for warranty support.

General Inspection When the generator set is running, operators need to be alert for mechanical problems that could create unsafe or hazardous conditions. The following are several areas that should be inspected frequently to maintain a safe and reliable operation.

• Exhaust system: With the generator set operating, inspect the entire exhaust system including the exhaust manifold, muffler and exhaust

Maintenance Items

Service Time Daily

Inspection

X

Check coolant heater

X

Check coolant level

X

Check oil level

X

Check fuel level

X

Check charge-air piping

X

Weekly

Check/clean air cleaner

X

Check battery charger

X

Drain fuel filter

X

Drain water from fuel tank

X

Check coolant concentration

X

Check drive belt tension

X

Drain exhaust condensate

X

Check starting batteries

X

Monthly

6 Months

Change oil and filter

X

Change coolant filter

X

Clean crankcase breather

X

Change air cleaner element

X

Check radiator hoses

X

Change fuel filters

X

Clean cooling system

Yearly

X

A typical diesel maintenance schedule

pipe. Check for leaks at all connections, welds, gaskets and joints, and make sure that the exhaust pipes are not heating surrounding areas excessively. Repair any leaks immediately.

• Fuel system: With the generator set operating, inspect the fuel supply lines, return lines, filters and fittings for cracks or abrasions. Make sure the lines are not rubbing against anything that could cause an eventual breakage. Repair any leaks or alter line routing to eliminate wear immediately.

• DC electrical system: Check the terminals on the starting batteries for clean and

tight connections. Loose or corroded connections create resistance which can hinder starting.

• Engine: Monitor fluid levels, oil pressure and coolant temperatures frequently. Most engine problems give an early warning. Look and listen for changes in engine performance, sound, or appearance that will indicate that service or repair is needed. Be alert for misfires, vibration, excessive exhaust smoke, loss of power or increases in oil or fuel consumption.

Lubrication Service Check the engine oil level when the engine is shut down at the Feb/Mar 2014 | industrial automation asia 45

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energy

interval specified in the diesel maintenance schedule, most often on a daily basis. For accurate readings on the engine’s dipstick, shut off the engine and wait approximately 10 minutes to allow the oil in the upper portions of the engine to drain back into the crankcase.

Follow the engine manufacturer’s recommendations for API oil classification and oil viscosity. Keep the oil level as near as possible to the ‘full’ mark on the dipstick by adding the same quality and brand of oil.

Change the oil filter at the recommended intervals of six months. Check with the engine manufacturer for procedures to drain the oil and replace the oil filter. Used oil and filters must be disposed of properly to avoid environmental damage or liability.

Cooling System Service Check the coolant level during shutdown periods on a daily basis.

Remove the radiator cap after allowing the engine to cool and, if necessary, add coolant until the level is about ¾ inch below the radiator cap’s lower sealing surface.

Heavy-duty diesel engines require a balanced coolant mixture of water, antifreeze and coolant additives. Use a coolant solution as recommended by the engine manufacturer.

Inspect the exterior of the radiator for obstruction and re m o v e a l l d i r t o r f o re i g n material with a soft br ush or cloth. Use care to avoid damaging the fins. If available, use low-pressure compressed air or a stream of water in the opposite direction of normal airflow to clean the radiator.

Check the operation of the coolant heater by verifying that hot coolant is being discharged from the outlet hose.

Fuel System Service Diesel fuel is subject to contamination and deterioration over time, and one reason for a regular generator set exercise is to use up stored fuel over the course of a year before it degrades.

In addition to other fuel system services recommended by the engine manufacturer, the fuel filters should be drained each week. Water vapour accumulates and condenses in the fuel tank and must also be periodically drained from the tank along with any sediment that is present.

The charge-air piping and hoses should be inspected daily for leaks, holes, cracks or loose connections. Tighten the hose clamps as necessary. Also, inspect the charge-air cooler for dirt and debris that may be blocking the fins. Check for cracks, holes or other damage.

The engine air intake components should be checked regularly: daily for the chargeair piping and weekly for the air cleaner. The frequency of cleaning or replacing air cleaner filter elements is primarily determined by the conditions in which the generator set operates.

Air cleaners typically contain a paper cartridge filter element which can be cleaned and reused if not damaged.

Starting Batteries Weak or undercharged starting batteries are the most common cause of standby power system failures. Even when kept fully charged and maintained, leadacid starting batteries are subject to deterioration over time and must be periodically replaced when they no longer hold a proper charge.

Only a regular schedule of inspection and testing under load can prevent generator-starting problems. The recommended inspection inter val for the

When the generator set is running, operators need to be alert for mechanical problems that could create unsafe or hazardous conditions.

batteries and charging system is on a weekly basis.

• Testing batteries: Merely checking the output voltage of the batteries is not indicative of their ability to deliver adequate starting power. As batteries age, their internal resistance to current flow goes up, and the only accurate measure of terminal voltage must be done under load.

On certain generator sets, this test is performed automatically every time the generator is started. On other generators, use a manual battery load tester to verify the condition of each starting battery.

• Cleaning batteries: Keep the batteries clean by wiping them with a damp cloth whenever dirt appears excessive. If corrosion is present around the terminals, remove the battery cables and wash the terminals with a solution of baking soda and water (1/4 lb of baking soda to one quart of water).

Be careful to prevent the solution from entering the battery cells, and flush the

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batteries with clean water when done. After replacing the connections, coat the terminals with a light application of petroleum jelly. • Checking specific gravity: Use a battery hydrometer to check the specific gravity of the electrolyte in each battery cell. A fully charged battery will have a specific gravity of 1.260. Charge the battery if the specific gravity reading is below 1.215.

Generator sets on continuous standby must be able to go from a cold start to being fully operational in a matter of seconds. This can impose a severe burden on engine parts. However, regular exercising keeps engine parts lubricated, prevents oxidation of electrical contacts, uses up fuel before it deteriorates, and, in general, helps provide reliable engine starting.

Exercise the generator set at least once a month for a minimum of 30 minutes, loaded to no less than one-third of the nameplate rating. Periods of noload operation should be held to a minimum, because unburned fuel tends to accumulate in the exhaust system.

If connecting to the normal load is not convenient for test

purposes, the best engine performance and longevity will be obtained by connecting it to a load bank of at least one-third the nameplate rating.

A well-planned maintenance program is essential to the operation of any power generation system. Preventive maintenance for diesel engine generators plays a critical role in maximising reliability, minimising repairs and reducing long-term costs.

Following generally recognised diesel maintenance procedures and specific manufacturer recommendations for your application ensures that your standby power system will start and run when you need it most.

ENQUIRY NO. 1601

ENQUIRY NO. 668

• Checking electrolyte level: Check the level of the electrolyte in the batteries at least every 200 hours of operation. If low, fill the battery cells to the bottom of the filler neck with distilled water.

Generator Set Exercise

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sector spotlight

Staying Ahead In Asia IAA interviewed Satoru Kurosu, president & CEO, Yokogawa Electric International on the company’s business operations and projects globally and across Asia Pacific.

By Mark Johnston

IAA: What is the company’s approach to sustainability within the organisation and throughout the industry?

Satoru Kurosu (SK): What we strongly believe is a promotion of environmental management within the group, and we are working to reduce the environmental impact of all our operations from development to sales, with a goal of achieving a sustainable society.

The next step is to continue to encourage our customers to adopt a similar approach for building an environmentally sustainable society.

IAA: What is the company’s current position in the automation industry in Asia Pacific and the world?

SK: Asia Pacific is a growing market and we are in a leading position in this market for control systems and transmitters. Our products have gained quick market acceptance. For example, we launched our own safety system ProSafe-RS in 2005 and have attained number two in market positions globally.

For the past decade, our sales have grown by 2.7 times which translates to 12 percent

compound annual growth rate.

Currently, 66 percent of the industrial automation and control business sales are now generated outside Japan.

IAA: How much does Yokogawa spend on R&D and what are the company’s expansion plans going forward?

SK: Yokogawa spends about seven to nine percent of its sales on Research and Development (R&D). We have two types of R&D activities. One of which is focusing on the development of products to meet customers’ needs in the foreseeable future.

The other type is research with a longer term perspective which is directed at developing new business opportunities. We will continue to maintain similar spending in R&D. We are expanding into more emerging markets. We have established an office in Vietnam, and we continue to invest in that country. It is all about investment and the training of local people.

We consider this our trademark because wherever we go, we aim to localise.

We have started an office in Pakistan. The company has a big installation base in that country between refineries, sugar plants, power plants and so on. We are opening an office in Myanmar, and then we plan to move into Cambodia, and Laos in 2014. Our aim is to plan long term, and provide good training for our engineers.

We have understood that local people want to work with other local people, so we have set up an office locally in their market.

Training is usually conducted in Singapore. Upon completion, we then move them back to their country of origin to serve our customers there.

IAA: The company has established its presence in Malaysia and is

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working with other countries like Japan, US, UK, South Korea and Australia for projects such as the Centre of Excellence for Marine projects. Do you anticipate to work with other countries and in what sort of projects?

SK: Nowadays, most of the projects are complex and global in nature. Hence, the collaboration with our customers in different countries is mandatory. We have an excellent global engineering network to address this challenge and we anticipate such trends will continue.

In Malaysia, we have contributed to the marine industry in several ways. Yokogawa Kontrol (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has donated the Operator Training Simulator (OTS) to the Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM) in 2007, to assist the training of the ALAM cadet officers as well as MISC engineers in handling the LNG carrier operations. This OTS centre in ALAM also provided trainings to other regional LNG carrier personnel.

IAA: What are your thoughts on the market conditions in the industrial automation and control business, and what initiatives are you planning?

SK: In Japan, we will focus on making our customers’ operations safer and more productive, while providing solution ser vices

that will realise energy savings.

Outside Japan, we will place a greater emphasis on energyrelated applications in emerging and resource-rich countries.

We have received a succession o f o r d e r s f o r l a rg e - s c a l e petrochemical and LNG projects in Saudi Arabia and Australia, respectively. We will continue to actively pursue energyrelated businesses in Asia, the Middle East, Russia, Africa and South America. In North America, we will pursue business opportunities in shale gas and other related industries.

IAA: What issues do you anticipate that will need to be confronted as you work toward expanding your business?

SK: We will be entering an intense expansion phase as we work towards achieving the targets of our mid-term business plan. To do so, it is critical for us to optimise our global business operations.

As part of our optimisation, we will continue to emphasise the localisation of our operations and nurturing of highly-skilled personnel.

IAA: Could you provide us your thoughts on corporate governance and compliance?

SK: We are working to enhance our corporate governance to

Mr Kurosu cutting the ribbon at the 2013 edition of Yokogawa’s technology and automation fair, part of the company’s Asia Pacific users’ conference.

make sure that the group is run soundly and profitably, without losing the trust and confidence of its stakeholders.

We have made compliance the top priority in every facet of our business activities, and are strengthening our efforts to ensure strict compliance throughout the group.

IAA: In 2013, Yokogawa was designated as the Main Automation Contractor (MAC) for a number of large-scale projects. What are the benefits for the company and the industry?

SK: Yes, we have been selected a s a M A C f o r m a n y l a rg e scale projects. To benefit from economies of scale and for vertical integration, companies are building bigger and even more complex plants involving several engineering contractors and licensors spread globally.

MACs are selected directly by end users and they assume overall responsibility for a project’s automation, including the control systems, on behalf of the end user.

The company’s selection for such projects is a testament to its ability to deliver reliable products, high quality engineering and ontime completion with effective cost-management.

Through the MAC approach, end users are able to ensure standardisation in automation design, adaptation of best practices, and lessons learnt.

Such design practices will support effective plant operations and shorten the learning curve for new employees.

We are able to better support our customers throughout their plant lifecycle due to the best in class design employed during the project phase.

ENQUIRY NO. 1701 Feb/Mar 2014 | industrial automation asia 49

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features

Moving all or part of SCADA applications to the cloud can cut costs significantly while dramatically increasing reliability and scalability. By Larry Combs, VP of customer service and support, InduSoft

A

lthough cloud computing is becoming more common, it is relatively new for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) applications. Cloud computing provides convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources including networks, servers, storage, applications, and services. These resources can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

By moving to a cloud-based environment, SCADA providers and users can reduce costs, achieve greater reliability, and enhance functionality. In addition to eliminating the expenses and problems related to the hardware layer of IT infrastructure, cloud-based SCADA enables users to view data on devices like smartphones and tablet computers, and also through SMS text messages and e-mail.

InduSoft, along with a number of other companies, provides SCADA software and services for firms that want to use their own IT infrastructure, the cloud, or a combination of both to deploy their applications.

A cloud can be public or private. A public cloud infrastructure is owned by an organisation and sold as services to the public. A private cloud infrastructure is operated solely for a specific customer. It may be managed by the customer or by a third party; it may exist on premise or off premise.

Andrew Brigmond, Kissimmee, Florida, US

Cloud Computing For SCADA Hybrid clouds consist of private and public clouds that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardised or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability.

Cloud computing can support SCADA applications in two fashions: • The SCADA application is running on-site, directly connected to the control network and delivering information to the cloud where it can be stored and disseminated, or • The SCADA application is running entirely in the cloud and remotely connected to the control network.

The first method is by far the most common and is illustrated in Figure 1. The control functions of the SCADA application are entirely isolated to the control network. However, the SCADA application is connected to a service in the cloud that provides visualisation, reporting, and access to remote users.

These applications are commonly implemented using public cloud infrastructures.

The implementation illustrated in Figure 2 is common to distributed SCADA applications where a single, local SCADA deployment is not practical.

The controllers are connected via WAN links to the SCADA application running entirely in the cloud.

These applications are commonly implemented using private or hybrid cloud architectures.

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Service Choices Most experts divide the services offered by cloud computing into three categories: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).

An IaaS such as Amazon Web Services is the most mature and widespread service model. IaaS enables service provider customers to deploy and run off-theshelf SCADA software as they would on their own IT infrastructure. IaaS provides on-demand provisioning of virtual servers, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources.

Users only pay for capacity used, and can bring additional capacity online as necessary. Consumers do not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but maintain control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and select networking components such as host firewalls.

PaaS, like Microsoft’s Azure or Google Apps, is a set of software and product development tools hosted on the provider’s infrastructure. Developers use these tools to create applications over the Internet.

Users do not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but have control over the deployed applications and application hosting environment configurations. PaaS is used by consumers who develop their own SCADA software and want a common

Figure 1: A public cloud formation in which the SCADA system is running onsite and delivers data via the cloud.

off-the-shelf development and runtime platform.

SaaS, like web-based e-mail, affords consumers the capability to use a provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure from various client devices through a thin client interface like a web browser.

Consumers do not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but instead simply pay a fee for use of the application.

SCADA vendors have been slow to adopt the SaaS service model for their core applications. This may change as the uncertainty of cloud computing begins to clear. For now, vendors are beginning to release only certain SCADA application components and functions as SaaS, such as visualisation and historical reporting.

Economical Scalability With all three service models, scalability is dynamic and inexpensive because it does not involve the purchase, deployment, and configuration of new servers and software. If more computing power or data storage is needed, users simply pay on an as-needed basis.

Companies do not have to purchase redundant hardware and software licenses or create disaster recovery sites they may never use. Instead they can provision new resources on demand when and if they need them. Add in the costs that a company would otherwise incur to manage an IT infrastructure, and

Figure 2: A private/hybrid cloud in which the controllers are connected via WAN links to the SCADA application running entirely in the cloud.

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the savings of moving to the cloud could be huge.

Instead of numerous servers and backups in different geographic locations, the cloud offers its own redundancy. On-demand resource capacity can be used for better resilience when facing increased service demands or distributed denial of service attacks, and for quicker recovery from serious incidents. The scalability of cloud computing facilities offers greater availability. Companies can provision large data servers for online historical databases, but only pay for the storage they are using.

Building an IT infrastructure is usually a long-term commitment. Systems can take months to purchase, install, configure, and test. Equivalent cloud resources can be running in as little as a few minutes, and ondemand resources allow for trial-and-error testing.

The ability to easily switch back to a previous configuration makes it easier to make changes without having to start from scratch by taking a snapshot of a known working configuration. If a problem occurs when deploying a patch or update, the user can switch back to the previous configuration.

On-site IT projects involve significant cost, resources, and long timelines — and as such include significant risk of failure. Cloud computing deployments can be completed in a few hours with little or no financial and resource commitments, and therefore are much less risky.

Manageability, Security, And Reliability The structure of cloud computing platforms is typically more uniform than most traditional computing centres.

Greater uniformity promotes better automation of security management activities like configuration control, vulnerability testing, security audits, and security patching of platform components.

A traditional IT infrastructure environment poses the risk that both the primary and the single backup server could fail, leading to complete system failure. In the cloud environment, if one of the cloud computing nodes fails, other nodes take over the function of the failed cloud computing node without a blip.

If a company chooses to implement its own IT infrastructure, access to user data in this infrastructure generally depends on the company’s single Internet provider. If that provider experiences an outage, then users do not have remote access to the SCADA application. Cloud computing providers have multiple, redundant Internet connections. If users have Internet access, they have access to the SCADA application.

The backup and recovery policies and procedures of a cloud service may be superior to those of a single company’s IT infrastructure, and if copies are maintained in diverse geographic locations as with most cloud providers, may be more robust. Data maintained within

Ante C, Sydney, NSW, Australia

features

Instead of numerous servers and backups in different geographic locations, the cloud offers its own redundancy.

a cloud is easily accessible, faster to restore, and often more reliable. Updates and patches are distributed in real time without any user intervention. This saves time and improves system safety by enabling patches to be implemented very quickly.

Challenges And Risks Cloud computing has many advantages over the traditional IT model. However, some concerns exist in regard to security and other issues. Data stored in the cloud typically resides in a shared environment.

Migrating to a public cloud requires a transfer of control to the cloud provider of information as well as system components that were previously under the organisation’s direct control. Organisations moving sensitive data into the cloud must therefore determine how these data are to be controlled and kept secure.

Applications and data may face increased risk from network threats that were previously defended against at the perimeter of the organisation’s intranet, and from new threats that target exposed interfaces.

Access to organisational data and resources could be exposed inadvertently to other subscribers through a configuration or software error. An attacker could also pose as a subscriber to exploit vulnerabilities from within the cloud environment to gain unauthorised access. Botnets have also been used to launch denial of service attacks against cloud infrastructure providers.

Having to share an infrastructure with unknown outside parties can be a major drawback for some applications, and requires a high level of assurance for the strength of the security mechanisms used for logical separation.

Ultimately to make the whole idea workable, users must trust in the long-term stability of the cloud provider and must trust the cloud provider to be fair in terms of pricing and other contractual matters.

Because the cloud provider controls the data to some extent in many implementations, particularly SaaS, it can exert leverage over customers if it chooses to do so.

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As with any new technology, these issues must be addressed. But if the correct service model (IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS) and the right provider are selected, the payback can far outweigh the risks and challenges.

The cloud’s implementation speed and ability to scale up or down quickly means businesses can react much faster to changing requirements.

The cloud is creating a revolution in SCADA system architecture because it provides very high redundancy, virtually unlimited data storage, and worldwide data access — all at very low cost.

Remote SCADA With Local HMI Look And Feel Vipond Controls in Calgary provides control system and SCADA solutions to the oil and gas industry, including Bellatrix Exploration. To keep up with customer demand for faster remote data access, Vipond developed iSCADA as a service to deliver a high-performance SCADA experience for each client.

One of the greatest challenges in developing iSCADA was the state of the Internet itself as protocols and web browsers were not designed for real-time data and control. Common complaints

of previous Internet-based SCADA system users included having to submit then wait, or pressing update or refresh buttons to show new data.

Many systems relied only on web-based technologies to deliver real-time data. Because the HTTP protocol was never designed for real-time control, these systems were always lacking and frustrating to use whenever an operator wanted to change a setpoint or view a process trend.

Users were asking for an Internet-based SCADA system with a local HMI look and feel, and that became the goal of Vipond Controls. This goal was reached with iSCADA as a service by giving each customer an individual virtual machine within Vipond’s server cloud.

This cloud-based SCADA solution can reduce end-user costs up to 90 percent over a traditional SCADA system, thanks to the provision of a thirdparty managed service and the reduction of investment required for IT and SCADA integration, development, hardware, and software.

ENQUIRY NO. 1801

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ENQUIRY NO. 681

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features

The Outlook For Asia And M2M Communications IAA spoke with Thomas Herrmann, VP Sales Asia-Pacific, Gemalto on M2M technology and the regional outlook for 2014.

By Mark Johnston IAA: In your sector, what trends do you see emerging over the next 12 months?

Thomas Herrmann (TH): In the next 12 months, we believe that the biggest trend for M2M will be its continued growth and increasing ubiquity in our daily lives. This is supported by many market research studies which predict the growth of the global M2M sector, the most recent being one

by Research and Markets stating that growth will be at a compound annual growth rate of 26.08 percent up until the year 2016.

This growth is propelled by the increasing affordability of M2M devices and services due to improved economies of scale, and the fact that awareness and adoption of the technology across industries is increasing rapidly.

IAA: What is your economic outlook for 2014, particularly in terms of Southeast Asia?

TH: As a whole, the ASEAN region is facing up to great prospects in terms of economic growth for 2014 and beyond. A recent OECD report predicted a 5.4 percent annual GDP growth rate across the 10 ASEAN countries up until the year 2018, a strong medium-term economic outlook underpinned by robust growth in domestic demand, driven

by these countries’ attractiveness for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), strong infrastructure spending and implementation of structural economic reforms.

The rise of the middle class across the region would mean increased spending on items like household durables, automobiles, education, and healthcare services. Some of these sectors like healthcare and automotive hold great potential for the implementation of M2M communications and increased spending in these areas would spur growth for the M2M sector.

We are monitoring the pulse of these markets closely to see if there are any opportunities which we can leverage on to contribute to the growth of the M2M sector in-country. Creating strong interest and awareness is crucial in order to grow the M2M ecosystem, an approach that creates a win-win for all involved.

there is a lack of it in the industry.

While there are bodies which are coming together to develop some, the current situation means that interoperability among devices is restricted. For this technology to truly realise its full potential, a common framework needs to be developed to work across countries and industries.

At the moment, it is important for companies who intend to leverage on M2M to work with vendors which are able to offer an end-to-end, integrated solution as that helps streamline the entire communication framework.

Privacy and data security issues are also a concern. The pervasive nature of data monitoring and collection provided by M2M may potentially open the door to such problems especially when highlysensitive data is transmitted over a cellular connection. In this aspect, we have a unique value proposition which we bring to the market.

IAA: In 2014, what challenges do you foresee, both in terms of market dynamics and new technology?

TH: We are excited about the potential of M2M; however, there are always hurdles to overcome.

One of the challenges is that of standards and we feel that

IAA: In 2014, will you be adopting any new business practices and/ or diversifying your product line?

TH: We are continuously adopting our offering to meet the needs of the market. One of these is a need to achieve go-to-market in the shortest possible time in order to secure a faster return

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IAA: What do you see as the key opportunities and possible hurdles during the coming 12 months?

TH: In terms of opportunities, we see a couple of key sectors which are ripe for the growth of M2M communications.

The automotive sector is one which the technology holds a lot of potential. In-car cellular connectivity and services can enrich the lifestyles of drivers, offering high-speed, low latency connectivity, and a suite of advanced features including mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, Internet radio, Web ser vices and an improved navigation system, all which come together to enhance the experience on-the-road.

Healthcare is another area where its use is booming. M2M technology extends the reach of assisted living homecare systems to any location where cellular coverage is available.

Inconspicuous and easy to use M2M telemonitoring devices communicate patients’ health status to the hospital or their caregivers, and can, in the event of an emergency, send out an emergency call for help in case the patient is incapacitated.

M2M in transport and logistics creates the potential for better tracking of vehicles, goods shipments, employees, and mobile resources, as such, improving the efficiency of the entire supply chain.

These are only some areas and

we are currently barely scratching the tip of the iceberg here. I am sure there will be many, many more use cases to come in the future, as other industries start adopting M2M technology.

ENQUIRY NO. 1802

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Go to http://sg.fluke.com/iaa2014EPDM and fill up the form to request for a no obligation demo on Fluke range of electrical predictive maintenance made easy test tools.

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on investment. In response to this, the company’s M2M team introduced a new solution under its portfolio — the application enablement platform under our brand name Sensorlogic.

This platform enables applications to communicate with remote units of a different type. It simplifies the setup or extension of an application server by reusing standardised function blocks that ensure collection of data, its processing and efficient storage.

After successful customer trials, the platform will be rolled out this year to complement the existing M2M commercial product portfolio.

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features

A Strategy For Asia IAA spoke with Rajiv Ghatikar, VP and GM for ASEAN and Australasia, Siemens PLM Software on the economic outlook for 2014 and his company’s plans for the coming year. By Mark Johnston

IAA: In your industrial sector, what trends do you see emerging over the next 12 months?

Rajiv Ghatikar (RG): The manufacturing landscape has gotten increasingly competitive across the region, as more established Asian companies are now facing new competition in emerging markets as well as pressure from other globallyfocused players expanding into the region. As the market continues to heat up, more companies will look to PLM as a common sense way to streamline end-to-end processes, lower costs and speed the development of new — and more complex — innovations.

The product development cycle is only getting more complex. Stakeholders need the ability to access product information anytime and anywhere. IT breakthroughs like cloud computing, the proliferation of mobile devices and big data are helping to push PLM beyond t r a d i t i o n a l o rg a n i s a t i o n a l boundaries. Additionally, with more machinery now connected

and capturing real-time data, organisations are finding ways to leverage that data to drive smarter and faster business decisions while minimising the types of design and execution mistakes that can cost valuable time and resources.

IAA: What is your economic outlook for 2014, particularly in terms of Southeast Asia, and what business model do you see as the most appropriate for this period?

RG: Our business across ASEAN has always been very partnerdriven, and we will continue to look at strengthening existing relationships and establishing new channel partners throughout the region. The industry at large is seeing more outsourcing, and low-cost manufacturing centres are shifting away from China and more towards some parts of Southeast Asia, namely Vietnam.

That said, we are seeing an increasingly competitive regional market create more pressure to deliver new and innovative products. Manufacturers are jockeying to out-innovate one

another to a degree that we have not seen before, and they are looking at ways to establish a faster ramp from idea to product.

We want people to view PLM as a full-scale enablement tool by arming project stakeholders with a comprehensive and immersive environment to enhance, facilitate and accelerate the product development decisionmaking process through a highdefinition user experience where each decision maker can access exactly when it is needed in real time. Enabling stakeholders with easy-to-use tools for collaborative p ro d u c t d e v e l o p m e n t w i l l translate to better products that get to market faster.

IAA: In 2014, what challenges do you foresee, both in terms of market dynamics and new technology?

RG: We are beginning to see the convergence of manufacturing and information technology, also known as the ‘Internet of Things.’

With more ‘smart’ machinery now connected to the internet and capable of capturing real-time data,

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product complexity is becoming a big issue, and many traditional manufacturing companies just are not equipped with the kind of in-depth IT infrastructure on the product design side. The important thing to realise here is that the manufacturers need to effectively become IT companies in order to capture, control and profit from the data generated by this new generation of smart industrial technology.

By controlling and owning that data, it opens up a whole new platform of business. So we believe manufacturers will begin to dramatically build out that infrastructure — most likely through strategic partnerships — and the PLM process itself must now expand to enable and incorporate these new capabilities. Manufacturers must find a way to quickly and efficiently build these vastly more technologically complex products and then leverage that data to drive intelligent business decisions in real-time.

Having the ability to capture and analyse real-time data will allow manufacturers to minimise the mistakes that can cost valuable time and resources,

but first, they must find new ways to incorporate and enable new project stakeholders by providing easier access to product information on an intuitive, userfriendly platform.

IAA: In 2014, will you be adopting any new business practices and/or diversifying your product line? If so, what new business practices, and how and in what manner will you be diversifying your product line?

RG: We will continue to expand our PLM Software offerings to bring new value and better support the evolving needs of our customers while developing new partnerships in new industries.

Across all sectors, manufacturers know that even small process adjustments can speed up the product development cycle, re d u c e c o s t o v e r r u n s a n d improve end-to-end efficiency. Our solutions continue to evolve and our focus in 2014 is on enabling three key areas: • I n t e l l i g e n t l y i n t e g r a t e d information, meaning how information is organised to extract value from large amounts of information.

NX9 includes tools like synchronous technology for 2D that will greatly facilitate 2D data editing.

• Future-proven architecture in order to protect investment and minimise total cost of ownership.

• Towards a user experience that ensures easy access to the right information when needed, to help guide the smartest decisions.

IAA: What do you see as the key opportunities and possible hurdles during the coming 12 months? Discuss, if possible, the strategy for this period in leveraging and tackling these opportunities and hurdles?

RG: Due to the global economic slowdown, manufacturing sector growth has been slumping across Southeast Asia for the past several years. We have been dragged down by sluggish projections, and companies have responded conservatively.

However, we are seeing many signs that we are on the verge of a manufacturing recovery, driven by developing economies like Vietnam and Myanmar who are moving to develop infrastructure and further establish themselves as growth economies. Now is the right time to consider your growth opportunity, and companies must consider their growth opportunity and leverage PLM strategies to achieve their individual goals.

One key hurdle for recovering regional manufacturing sectors is dealing with the complexity of increased automation, product design and production practices.

Manufacturers oftentimes struggle to shift from juggling multiple disparate systems towards a seamless end-to-end process and cost management integration.

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features

Security For

Industrial Automation IAA spoke with Mohan Ramanathan, enterprise solutions architect at McAfee, on cybersecurity in the industrial automation space. By Mark Johnston

IAA: What are some of the major security challenges in the industrial automation space?

Mohan Ramanathan (MR): For an asset owner, there has traditionally been this divide between the people in information technology and operations technology. This divide has been there for a long time. Some companies manage this really well and others less well. In the last few years, cyber warfare/ crime has gained a higher profile and the importance of industrial automation environments has been put squarely in the crosshairs.

Whether it is nation state actors or cybercrime organisations, they believe that there is a lot of money to be made, or a lot of influence to be had, by targeting industrial automation environments.

and so on), the security vendor (eg: McAfee), and government agencies are now getting involved.

All of them had different reactions post-Stuxnet. This virus was a huge wake up call. I was working with asset owners, hardening up their infrastructure, but a lot of what we talked about was very theoretical. ‘Somebody could do this, if they had access to that, but that would be really hard,’ is what was often said.

What we saw for Stuxnet was well beyond my imagination because not only did it spread very cleverly, it was also weaponised, meaning it was highly targeted.

It looked specifically for one set of controllers, and one particular programming operation. It was incredibly effective.

IAA: How did the Stuxnet virus change the security space for industrial automation?

MR: We have seen a lot of changes.

There are a lot of actors involved around industrial automation.

For example, there is the asset owner, the industrial automation vendor (eg: Honeywell, Yokogawa,

IAA: What challenges does moving to the ‘cloud’ create for the security industry?

MR: Our company has partnered with a lot of the industrial control system vendors and we do a lot of collaboration on how to make our products applicable for industrial automation. There are things you

can do in the IT world that you cannot possibly do in industrial automation.

We spent a lot of time tweaking the product. One of the questions I always leave with is, ‘what is the next thing?’ In answer to this question, we always hear two things: one is virtualisation/cloud and the other one is mobility.

Customers are demanding mobility apps. Virtualisation is in demand as everyone is moving towards collapsed hardware platforms, but nothing particularly vulnerable or scary is happening in the virtualisation environment.

On the other hand, I have a lot of problems with mobility applications. I do not mind mobility, for example, a monitoring app that is a one way push out of a facility to my phone or tablet.

What I have issues with is if I have an application that allows me to change its behaviour remotely — that means that if I can do it, the hacker can do it. Hacking is becoming very democratic right now; it is available to anyone.

ENQUIRY NO. 1804

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EVENT REVIEW

Made In Germany:

Energy Efficiency In The Industry For the first time since the launch of the Energy Efficiency Export Initiative by the German Federal Ministr y of Economics and Technology, DEinternational, the service unit of the SingaporeanGerman Chamber of Industry and Commerce organised an Energy Efficiency in the Industry delegation from October 28 - 30, 2013.

The three day intensive programme saw seven German companies meeting with local companies and multipliers to share about their technologies and services from Germany, and also gaining knowledge about the landscape in Singapore.

A total of 38 individual meetings were organised for the delegates to look for potential business partners in Singapore. Meeting partners included government agencies, associations, production companies, and others.

The Conference On

October

29,

2013,

DEinternational also organised a conference at the Mandarin Orchard Hotel, Singapore, where the delegates were given the opportunity to present their companies to an audience of 120 participants. Apart from the delegates, German and local s p e a k e r s f ro m R e n e w a b l e s Academy (RENAC), Institute for Energy Efficiency, Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, National Environment Agency and the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore, gave presentations about a specific topic.

Jens Haubensak, Arqum, who gave a presentation on ‘Increasing Energy Efficiency in the Industry through Networks,’ commented: “It is important for us, especially because we are a small company, to find local partners. This could be either direct customers or more importantly to expand our energy efficiency network, and develop global public partnerships or our relationship with industry

chambers. The aim is ultimately to boost the market for energy efficiency.”

The delegates and participants benefited from the networking sessions during the conference where many contacts were exchanged and fruitful discussions held.

In Conclusion The positive response from the local industry players prove that there is much potential in the field of energy efficiency in Singapore, especially within the industry.

DEinternational intends to organise more of such delegations and events in the future to bring together both German and Singaporean expertise in the field of Energy Efficiency, which will continue to be one of the most important topics.

October 29, 2013 Mandarin Orchard Hotel Singapore ENQUIRY NO. 1901

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ENQUIRY NO. 672

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EVENT PREVIEW

SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou

SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou is on track to set a new record in exhibitor recruitment, as more than 90 percent of booth space at the fair has already been confirmed for the 2014 show.

The show will take place from March 3 - 5, 2014 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, China.

The event will continue its goal of showcasing the latest advancements in automation technology for China’s evolving manufacturing industry. Over 500 exhibitors are estimated to participate, with specialties ranging from drive systems and components, sensors and IPCs to industrial software, interface technology and machine vision.

participants include: • Yaskawa Shougang Robot • Shanghai Camozzi Automation Control • LTi Drive Systems (Shanghai)

Exhibitors

Intelligent Manufacturing Zone

With the second round of exhibitor recruitment complete, another group of top international brands have been added to the 2014 show, including several first-time exhibitors. Some of these new

High-end equipment such as intelligent robots and automation systems are viewed as the future of China’s manufacturing industry.

The aforementioned technologies are expected to lead to the growth

Additionally, recognising the importance and future growth prospects of the South China market, Siemens will once again join the annual show. Other noteworthy brands confirmed to participate include Belden, Connectwell, Murrelektronik, Phoenix Contact, PR Electronics, Rittal, Trio, Turck, Weiss and Woehner.

Within the robotic and machine vision zone, mainly located in Hall 3.2, a new group of domestic and international brands focused on the specialty will join the 2014 fair.

of ‘intelligent manufacturing’, allowing manufacturers of various goods to rely less on human capital and produce higher quality products with uniform precision.

In order to promote the current innovations from both domestic and international highend equipment manufacturers, the Guangzhou fair has organised the ‘Intelligent manufacturing’ zone. The zone will feature exhibitors classified under one of the following four categories: • Numerically-controlled machines and robots.

• Additive manufacturing solutions.

• Intelligent management systems.

• Intelligent control systems A d d i t i o n a l l y, a s e m i n a r on intelligent manufacturing practices and current trends will join a series of fringe events focused on automation technology’s developments.

Together with other forums and seminars on sensor technology as well as automation systems and drives, the 2014 show aims to provide a comprehensive outlook on the current state of automation technology, and its impact on China’s future development.

March 3 - 5, 2014 China Import and Export Fair Complex Guangzhou, China ENQUIRY NO. 1902

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11th annual

Media partner:

2014

23 – 24 April 2014 Level 4, Suntec Singapore www.terrapinn.com/rfidasia

Get your FREE Exhibition Pass now!

“You get to see the uses of RFID from a different perspective which is actually very informative, and have sparked ideas that I probably wouldn’t have got otherwise!”

Melbourne Library Service, Australia

“This is a good show up for us and we get a lot of leads and prospects in this show!”

Silicon Craft Technology Co Ltd, Thailand

“RFID World Asia is one of the biggest shows around and we have been participating for many years. I think it is important that we are here this year as well!”

Bartronics, Singapore

The 11th annual RFID World Asia, co-located with 8 other events including the 19th annual Cards & Payments Asia, brings together senior decision makers from industries such as manufacturing, retail, transport, oil & gas, pharmaceutical and other stakeholders who want to learn and source for the latest and best technologies in RFID. Besides visiting the exhibition for free, attendees come to RFID World Asia to learn: • How to improve supply chain integration with RFID by reducing inventory cost • How to ensure efficient tracking, storage and retrieval of goods with location based RFID tracking • How to improve overall warehousing operations with RFID by reducing the order fulfillment, labour costs, receiving and retrieval goods • How to reduce instances of theft with RFID tracking • How RFID can enable organizations to effectively analyse data captured as assets move along supply chain ENQUIRY NO. 670

Pre-register online for your FREE Exhibition Pass at www.terrapinn.com/rfidasia before 13 April 2014!

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EVENT PREVIEW

RFID World Asia

The 11th RFID World Asia and its collocated events form a platform that links RFID business strategies with the latest applications across industry verticals. The show will be held from April 23 - 24, 2014 at Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore.

Key stakeholders and decision makers will be brought together from various industry verticals in one strategic platform.

The event intends to focus on everything the RFID sector needs, including: How to reduce operational costs and enhance efficiency and visibility within the supply chain with ROI in mind; how to re-invent your RFID strategy for the next five years; identify and evaluate new technologies, markets and products; how to integrate new RFID technologies/information captured effectively into existing infrastructure; and understand new and unique applications for RFID and how to effectively manage them.

The Standard Conference The standard conference (formerly known as on-floor seminars) has five dedicated themes that have been specifically designed to

discuss the opportunities and trends for each particular industry for the payments and banking, cards and digital identification, RFID, retail, e-commerce and digital signage.

Free for all exhibition visitors, the standard conference allows you to discuss the latest technological trends, innovations and solutions according to the respective industry challenges.

1-2-1 Partnering The success of the event will be determined by the number of quality contacts made. To get the most value from sponsorship and to increase the likelihood the right contacts are made, 1-2-1 partnering sessions were created.

Leading up to the event, a networking manager will be on-hand to set-up meetings in advance of a visitors arrival to the event. Approximately six weeks before the event, the networking manager will aid the visitor in reviewing the delegate list and determine which companies they want to meet. After gathering this information, he/she will plan their meeting schedule. They will then receive this schedule the week of the event.

2014

The Smart Awards Asia Influential decision-makers from the industry will gather for this award ceremony and gala dinner to witness key figures being awarded for their contributions to the Asian smart card and technological space.

This is an opportunity to network and showcase your company in front of your clients and prospects.

The categories for the awards are: Best Co-Branded Card; Best Anti-Fraud Initiative; Most Innovative NFC Project; Best Prepaid Card; Most Innovative RFID Project Implementation; Best Mobile Payment Implementation; Best Digital ID Innovation; and Best In-Store Design.

All categories are awarded based on the decision of an independent panel of judges and by public voting, with each group having a 50 percent weight on the total score.

April 23 - 24, 2014 Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre Singapore

ENQUIRY NO. 1903

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products & Services Belden: Marine-Certified Cables

Contec: Industrial PC

The MarineTuff line of HaloarrestXLink LSZH-Jacketed 600V instrumentation, control and VFD cables, from Belden, offer reliable, safetyconscious cabling solutions for offshore platforms, equipment suppliers and commercial shipbuilders.

These marine-certified cables offer the safety benefits of Low Smoke and Zero Halogen (LSZH) jackets while maintaining the physical toughness to withstand the harshest offshore environments.

These cables are suited for offshore activities such as mobile drilling, fixed platform, floating production, storage and offloading or marine vessels. Specifying and using these cables for marine and offshore oil and gas applications can reduce costs because the costly wiring certification process is not necessary during each procurement cycle.

Supporting a wide range of CPUs from Celeron to Sandy Bridge Core i7, the Solution e-PC, from Contec, is built with industrial grade parts and components. Built-to-order to requirements.

Off-the-shelf standard models are also available.

Featuring six PCI slots, the SPF14MQ671 series is equipped with CPUs that are selectable according to usage. In addition, this series has a front access structure for replacing the fan, battery and hard disk with ease.

It also features a variety of interfaces, including six PCI slots, a PCI express slot, six USB2.0, six RS-232C ports, D-SUB (analogue RGB), and HDMI terminal.

ENQUIRY NO. 1904

ENQUIRY NO. 1906

B&R: Human Machine Interface

Elfab: Double Rupture

B&R has added two series to its Power Panel HMI family: Power Panel T-Series terminals and Power Panel C-Series controllers — both featuring touch screens. Equipped with an embedded browser, the Power Panel T30 terminal is fully web compatible and can even be used as a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) client. The terminal series is being offered with four TFT display sizes ranging from 4.3” to 10.1” and comes with two Ethernet interfaces, two USB ports and an array of configuration options.

Both of these device series have an compact design, minimal installation depth and an intelligent cable outlet arrangement, making these panels easy-to-mount space savers. The panel front provides IP65 protection, which makes these systems suitable for hygienic applications.

Elfab has further developed its existing pressure-relief assembly range, adding a design specifically to prevent environmental contamination in severe process conditions.

The Double-Disc Assembly comprises primar y and secondary bursting discs that are both reverse-acting, both forward-acting or now a combination of the two, plus a pressure gauge or switch to monitor the space between the discs.

The new design opens the company’s product range up to a wider mix of customers and process specifications, particularly in the oil and gas, and chemical industries.

The assembly aims to help the increasing number of companies facing the pressures of zero emissions and other environmental concerns.

ENQUIRY NO. 1905

Disc Assembly

ENQUIRY NO. 1907

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products & Services

Hypertherm: Air Plasma System

Intermec: Mobile Computer

The Powermax125 from Hypertherm has been launched for the Asia Pacific region. The device is a 125-amp air plasma system that is the most powerful offering within the series, yet one that features a 100 percent duty cycle for maximum work efficiency and productivity.

It has been designed to comfortably cut 38mm-thick metals (hand cutting severance is rated at 57mm), and pierce metals up to 25mm-thick. The new system can be used for handheld and automated cutting and gouging.

The CN51 rugged mobile computer, from Intermec, has been launched to Asian supply chain professionals.

Designed for flexible application support, this next-generation mobile computing solution offers versatility and is primed for use in direct store delivery, transportation and logistics and field service operations.

T h e c o m p u t e r ’s large, multi-touch, outdoor-readable screen provides room for application viewing with less scrolling for greater productivity, as well as more space for capturing signatures. It is also equipped with smart battery technology, delivering battery life that lasts through a full 12-hour shift and beyond without interruption to replace or recharge.

ENQUIRY NO. 1908

ENQUIRY NO. 1910

ifm electronic: Standardised

Metronix: Servo Drive

The IO-Link master from ifm electronic is a standardised interface between a sensor or actuator and an I/O module. It enables loading parameters from the controller to the sensor via the fieldbus.

Cyclic and acyclic data or messages can be transferred in both directions.

On the basis of the range of IO-Link sensors — pressure, temperature, flow, capacitive and photoelectric sensors — the IO-Link master allows integration of the system into ProfibusDP and AS-Interface. For the Profibus IO-Link gateway direct software access to all sensor functions is possible in the hardware manager using the provided GSG file.

Metronix has launched a range of servo motor drives that provide automation builders with an combination of capability and economy. Called blueServo, the packaged drives combine a universal real-time Ethernet capability with safe torque off functional safety and encoder interfacing capability — including the single-cable Hiperface DSL scheme. All of these features and more have been integrated thanks to a hardware platform that has been designed-from-scratch to lower costs by around 25 percent.

The range will be launched with an initial choice of six packaged, panel-mounting single-phase and three-phase drives offering continuous output power ratings from 0.5 to 6 kVA. The hardware feature set chosen for the new drives is a combination of the most-commonly required features by the customer’s customer base.

Interface

ENQUIRY NO. 1909

ENQUIRY NO. 1911

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products & Services

Panasonic: Industrial Tablet

Rockwell Automation: Software Tool

The Toughpad FZ-M1, from Panasonic, is a fully-rugged 7’’ Windows tablet. The tablet runs Windows 8.1 Pro, on an Intel Core i5 processor, making it easy to integrate into enterprise and government environments. The device has multiple configuration options enabling it to be customised to meet the needs of mobile professionals in various markets such as field services and sales, retail, supply chain and logistics and government.

The tablet is designed to improve productivity and efficiency in a host of professional scenarios, including customer service, inventory management and asset tracking, maintenance, eForms, route delivery, eCitations, electronic medical records, inspections, mobile point-of-sales and geographic information system.

The AADvance Workbench 2.0, from Rockwell Automation, is designed to help manufacturers get process-safety applications up and running faster. It is suited for applications that require a flexible architecture, distributed safety and mixed SIL levels, the workbench is a complete design, configuration and maintenance software environment.

The workbench is one of the industry’s first T3-compliant software tools, as per the IEC61508 standard that generates SIL3 code certified by TÜV Rheinland. This reduces the burden of validating the application.

ENQUIRY NO. 1912

ENQUIRY NO. 1914

Parker Hannifin: Switching System

Thomson Electrak: Throttle

The Gen II R-max system for gas and liquid analytical applications, from Parker Hannifin, is based on the technology of its R-max stream switching system and incorporates enhancements to further improve application flexibility, process integrity and serviceability. Backward compatibility allows the features of the system to be installed on existing R-max units easily and quickly.

The system is designed to control both gases and liquids in analytical systems ranging from vacuum to 500 PSIG (34 bar), the system only requires 65 PSIG (5 bar) actuating air pressure. It has been engineered with a focus on improved product reliability and reduced cost-of-ownership. It is designed for use in the analytical, oil and gas, petrochemical, and chemical industries.

The Throttle Actuator, from Thomson Electrak, boasts a rugged and space saving design with integrated features that combine to deliver a robust, reliable and versatile throttle control operation. As a result, industrial vehicle OEMs benefit from a simplified design process and users benefit from improved industrial vehicle performance.

Designed to meet the standards required for automotive component applications, it is equally suited for rugged, harsh industrial settings. Applications range from agricultural and construction equipment, military and rescue vehicles, and trucks, fork lifts and mass transport vehicles to industrial automation installations, marine applications, and garden, forestry and mining equipment.

ENQUIRY NO. 1913

Actuators

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Calendar Of Events 2014

7 – 11 Hannover Messe 2014 Deutsche Messe Hannover, Germany Deutsche Messe AG Email: info@messe.de Web: www.hannovermesse.de/home

21 – 22 IoT Asia 2014 Singapore Expo Convention & Exhibition Centre Singapore Singex Email: jane.siow@singex.com.sg Web: www.internetofthingsasia.com

23 – 24 RFID World Asia 2014

Mar 3 – 5 SIAF Guangzhou China Import and Export Fair Complex Guangzhou, China Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt Email: sps@china.messefrankfurt.com Web: http://www.siaf-china.com/english/

4 – 6 Propak Vietnam 2014 Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Bangkok Exhibition Services Ltd (BES) Email: arayabhorn@besallworld.com Web: http://www.propakvietnam.com/

4 – 7 Korea Vision Show 2014 Coex Center Seoul, South Korea Korean Vision Show Association Email: mintkiss@coex.co.kr Web: http://automationworld.biz

19 – 22 Inatronics 2014 JIExpo Kemayoran Jakarta, Indonesia PT Global Expo Management (GEM Indonesia) Email: info@gem-indonesia.com Web: www.inatronics-exhibition.net/

apr 1 – 3 MTA Hanoi 2014 International Centre For Exhibition (I.C.E) Hanoi, Vietnam Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd Email: mta@sesallworld.com Web: www.mtahanoi.com/

Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre Singapore Terrapinn Pte Ltd Email: yeelim.tan@terrapinn.com Web: http://www.terrapinn.com/2014/rfid-world-asia

23 – 25 Nepcon China 2014 Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre Shanghai, China, Reed Exhibitions Email: tim.wang@reedexpo.com.cn Web: www.nepconchina.com/en/

May 7 – 9 OS+H Asia 2014 Suntec Singapore Singapore Messe Düsseldorf Asia Email: rita_biswas@mda.com.sg Web: http://www.osha-singapore.com/

15 – 18 Intermach 2014 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand UBM Asia (Thailand) Co Ltd Email: Sukanya.A@ubm.com Web: www.intermachshow.com

jun 1 – 5 Singapore International Water Week 2014 Sands Expo & Convention Centre Singapore Singapore International Water Week Pte Ltd Email: info@siww.com.sg Web: http://www.siww.com.sg/

11 – 14 Propak Asia 2014 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand International Expo Management Pte Ltd (IEM) Email: davin@iemallworld.com Web: http://www.propakasia.com/

17 – 20 CommunicAsia 2014 Marina Bay Sands Singapore Singapore Exhibition Services Email: vw@sesallworld.com Web: http://www.communicasia.com/

23 – 25 SCM Logistics & Manufacturing World 2014 Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre Singapore Terrapinn Pte Ltd Email: renee.tan@terrapinn.com Web: http://www.terrapinn.com/2014/ scm-logistics-and-manufacturing-world/

jul 8 - 11 MTA Vietnam 2014 Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd Email: mta@sesallworld.com Web: http://www.mtavietnam.com/

21 – 23 Indo Renergy Expo & Forum 2014 Grand City Convex Surabaya, Indonesia PT. Napindo Media Ashatama Email: info@indorenergy.com Web: http://indorenergy.com/

21 – 24 Metaltech 2014 Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Trade Link ITE Sdn Bhd Email: info@tradelink.com.my Web: http://tradelink.com.my/metaltech/

To be considered for inclusion in the Calendar of Events, send details of event (name, date, venue, organiser contact) to: The Editor IAA Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd. 1100 Lower Delta Road, EPL Building, #02-05, Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Email: iaa@epl.com.sg

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