International: Redefining the boundaries of industrial automation

George Walker, Novotek U.K.George Walker,

Redefining the boundaries of industrial automation

Production challenges do not wait on IT developments and automation technology advances enable data access and use from almost anywhere.

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Modernautomationsystemsgo beyond the confines of the physical machines on the factory floor. According to Deloitte Insights, smart factories can operate withdevices and create queries to access and transform data into actionable information for operations. Drag-and-drop design allows for simple placement and configuration of visualization components on the display, then dragging the query or data source in the factory and connect to a global network of onto the component quickly enables the data similar production systems, connections. and even to the digital supply Using connected systems network. allows information sharing Though factories may be with frontline workers, prodistributed rather than cen- viding them with knowltralized, modern industrial edge of what is happening. operations software provides Responsive design allows a centralized environment to application building to make rapidly build industrial appli- information readily available cations. This can support on PC displays, tablets, and engineers, managers and staff mobile phones – allowing throughout an industrial business to improve plant access to information and insights into operations operations and act upon information inde- from anywhere anytime. A single, seamless MES for pendent of factory location. process, discrete and mixed manufacturing envi-

INSIGHTS Teams at all levels of an organization can ronments establishes a digital foundation for conKEYWORDS: industrial automation, data management make better decisions based on real-time and historical plant-wide application data, including historian software, manufacturing tinuous improvement. New normal: Automation Modern industrial execution systems (MESs) and third-party for social distancing operations software provides data. Users can monitor, control, enter data The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the a centralized environment and perform analyses. Historian software is need for solutions that support social distancing, to rapidly build industrial applications. Better industrial automation with on real-time and past often embedded or used in conjunction with standard distributed control systems (DCSs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs), remote operations and supply chain issues have completely upended plants and factories. This requires deploying MES, human-machine plant-wide application data to provide enhanced data capture, validation, interface/supervisory control and data acquisican improve decisions. compression and aggregation capabilities. tion (HMI/SCADA), historian and analytics soluThe COVID-19 pandemic With historian software, users may ana- tions capable of visualizing operations, analyzing has accelerated the need for lyze data in context from industrial oper- data and optimizing production and providing the automation and improved social distancing. ations software. Industrial operations software delivers aggregation and visualizainformation in real time to the appropriate personnel regardless of their location so they can respond ONLINE tion of automation data across plant-wide without any detriment to performance. Automation Read more stories operations. This provides a visualization has truly extended beyond the factory floor, and the from Control Engineering international partners at www.controleng.com/ toolkit with simple connectors to common data types, to blend and present information data can improve operations at every level. ce international. in a way that allows for the different needs George Walker is managing director of Novotek U.K. CONSIDER THIS How can industrial automation improve your of team members to see it. Role-based permissions may be granted at the page level. Plant operators may define and Ireland. This article originally appeared on Control Engineering Europe’s website. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate editor, Control Engineering, CFE operations? data sources and entities for connected Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

‘One, seamless MES establishes a digital foundation for continuous improvement.’

The distributed servo system with One Cable Automation: AMP8000

www.beckhoff.us/amp8000

Eliminate and shrink control cabinets while expanding dynamic motion control: The AMP8000 Distributed Servo Drive System from Beckhoff integrates a servo drive directly into a servomotor. A unique benefit of the AMP8000 series is that servomotor power ratings* and installation sizes remain virtually unchanged. Proven One-Cable Automation in the EtherCAT P standard delivers real time communication and industrial power on one cable, and an innovative IP65-rated supply module powers multiple motors in the field. As such, the AMP8000 minimizes space requirements, installation effort, material costs and motion system footprint in a big way. sizes remain almost identical to standard AM8000 servomotors from Beckhoff no changes in existing machine designs required same high power ratings as before despite drive integration* TwinSAFE drive safety technology built into every servomotor

*Compared with a combination of servo drive and servomotor