Factory Automation
Factory automation refers to the use of different control systems, software and other technologies for automation of the factory. The daily technological advancements are aiding the manufacturing processes and other associated tasks to perform a lot faster and cost effectively. The use of these technologies leads to an increase of productivity and quality, thereby almost negating wastage, faster interaction and coordination with different departments within the company and many other benefits.
Automation projects are often categorized as Greenfield – new automation systems going into new plants or plant expansions, or Brownfield – new automation systems going into existing plants to update or upgrade existing systems. For Greenfield projects, the primary value proposition for automation systems is to minimize the risk of on-time delivery of a working system and an operating plant as well as delivering the system on budget. The value proposition for Brownfield automation projects should be focused on the incremental value the automation system provides. In both the cases, there is room for innovation.
Factories today are investing heavily into automating back office processes to make them more efficient and less costly. While this reduced human intervention saves labor, along with many other benefits, there is also an increased focus on way and means to increase the value delivered to customers. This is where one is required to move beyond automation to innovation in delivering what customers value the most. These innovations could be relating to mobile devices, cloud-based applications, social networking and telepresence. However, their success will depend on how well document processes and information infrastructure have been engineered to support them. How well processes deliver what’s of real value to the customer is the real criteria for their success. Automation has, and should continue to eliminate many of the non-value add tasks, both in back-office and increasingly in customer-facing business processes as well. But once automation has accomplished goals for efficiency and cost control, the focus needs to shift to process innovation.
The ongoing quest for increased efficiency and productivity is putting more and more pressure on operational and maintenance excellence. As is the need to feed fast growing businesses in developing economies like India. Industrial automation is currently in its adolescent phase but is catching up very quickly. Industrial Automation is ahead of most other industries in the readiness for the Internet of Things (IoT) and more specifically for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). When one looks at the deployment of the sensors, actuators, and low-level devices that are needed to enable IoT or IIoT, Industrial Automation has an advantage.
Internet of things and increased industrial performance
The Internet of Things is coming and in some industries is already here but is in its infancy. Most industries are waiting on the deployment of the low-level connected devices to enable Internet of things in that industry. Industrial Automation on the other hand already has over a billion connected devices deployed. On a curve of connected devices needed to make Internet of things effective, Industrial Automation is much higher up the curve than other industries. Using data to improve industrial performance by connecting things to each other – this is happening now. Through wireless technologies, low cost sensors and using advanced analytics. In practice, this is a decision support system for complex manufacturing operations. However this is not to say Industrial Automation is done growing with respect to Internet of things, Where Industrial Automation may be lagging other industries is in the gathering of useful data and the use of this data. Much of the information that resides on the end device that could be useful is not gathered. Data that is not consumed at the field or process levels in the traditional Industrial Automation hierarchy is not gathered. Now we must realize that the value of this data that is not being collected is increasing and Industrial Automation networks are starting to collect the data and communicate this data farther up the hierarchy.
Smart Factories
A ‘Smart Factory’ can be defined as an integrated and fully interconnected network of smart assets working together in an intelligent and coordinated manner, managing every aspect of the manufacturing process from end-to-end. Each smart asset is equipped with its own “brain” and a database of all available data about itself, enabling it to present useful information or “facets” to different operation personnel, and is also equipped with its own intelligence to allow it to optimize their own productivity and efficiency. Today’s concept of industrial automation is based on having one centralized “brain” collecting information from the manufacturing assets to facilitate production decisions. In ‘smart manufacturing’ the intelligence is decentralized, with each of the smart assets within the factory, having full information about itself, and equipped with the processing power to optimize their own productivity and efficiency. These smart assets are also hyper connected to optimize and coordinate each step of the manufacturing process.
Smart assets are already available in the market today with the new generation of process automation systems and smart field instrumentation. Hyper connectivity that allows smart assets to be fully interconnected from the field to the enterprise is also already available in the market. The smart manufacturing enterprise is made up of smart machines, plants and operations all of which have higher levels of intelligence embedded at the core. The linked systems are based on open and standard Internet and cloud technologies that enable secure access to devices and information. This allows “big data” to be processed with new, advanced analytics tools and for mobile technologies to drive greater business value. This, in turn, enables improvements to efficiency and profitability, increased cyber security and innovation and better management of safety, performance with reduced CO2 emissions impact.
Our Solutions
Schneider Electric has amassed decades of experience in managing data at the plant level and adding innovation to automation, leading to simpler, safer and more flexible processes and machines. Our long history of innovation in open architectures and Internet based technologies puts us in a better position than many of our competitors to deliver the promise of the smart plant. As an innovative global technology company with a strong position in integrated industrial automation, software and energy management, we deliver automation solutions that address both the challenges of today and the opportunities tomorrow. Opportunities brought about by the advent of the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and Big Data and the ongoing evolution of technology, will be adopted in our offering to further enhance our client’s ability to address automation challenges.
We were one of the first companies to start growing our Industrial Internet of Things capabilities organically – with our Transparent Factory and Transparent Ready offers from the late 1990s and early 2000s. These put Ethernet and open architectures at the core of our technology, where they remain to this day. We were the first to embed web servers in our PLC control platforms, and continued our control innovation with the 2013 launch of the first PAC with Ethernet embedded in its backplane – the Modicon M580 ePAC. This innovative offer won the Control Engineering 2015 Engineers’ Choice Award in the category of Machine & Embedded Control – PACs, IPCs category.
Technology future, vision and direction
Our work on a pervasive Ethernet solution coupled with our platform for our smart connected assets will bring intelligence to the lower levels of a plant and increase the flexibility and collaboration of our solutions. Termed “service-oriented automation,” this technology will deliver more robust distributed control with the execution of functions like alarming and event logging, self-diagnostics, troubleshooting, and data historization in smart connected products.
By introducing our customers to cutting edge solutions such as cloud technology for the plant or workshop, product-as-a-service for our architectures and increased network optimization, we will help them make the most of these new technologies in a secure way and ensure they are suitable for the industrial environment. As such, we will continue to evolve our IIoT offers in a secure manner, expanding on existing security certified products and secure remote solutions and services, with a strong commitment to enhancing open standards to address IIoT security.
