Industrial digital transformation refers to many development and progress arrangements towards new plans of action and revenue streams comprising three major columns; automation, improved manufacturing cycles, and production advancement.
The Coronavirus pandemic has disturbed almost every business regardless of type and size, and manufacturing is no exception. Amid the social distancing and mandated closures, manufacturers have had to face disruptions in supply chains, inventory shortages, limited availability of employees, and a lot more.
During these 1.5 years of surviving this global pandemic, manufacturers realized the sheer importance of introducing automation into manufacturing processes. With lockdown and social distancing measures, manufacturers started rethinking about restructuring their operations and rely more on automation.
Innovative automated solutions can benefit the industries during this manufacturing downturn, enabling them complete tasks with unprecedented speed, precision, and increase real-time visibility into the production cycle.
Digital transformation is imperative to make the industries able to harness the power of Industry 4.0. While legacy systems and architecture have allowed the factories to work efficiently over the years, radically redefining the technology architecture will enable better data accessibility, streamlined production cycle, and scope of using the big data in smarter fashion. IIoT, for an instance, has far-reaching applications that can play a large role in driving commercial growth for the manufacturers.
With data being the new oil for modern business, deploying solutions that drive a quantum of value supported by a heap of information and analytical inferences.
A smart factory is an industrial facility where your sensors are capable of interacting with the IT level applications and central data framework over high speed networking. This information is used to streamline the manufacturing process and enable end-to-end visibility into the factory’s technology architecture.
This results in increased effectiveness, functional upgrades, improved production, targeted maintenance, improved collaboration, to name a few.
Let’s move forward with our step-by-step guide to building smart factories.
Merely defining the goals is not enough. A manufacturer needs to introspect his strategies and decided course of actions based on concrete vision. The “WHYs” lay the foundation to ensure that you put your resources into the right areas.
Start Small
Start with the most sensitive areas from where you can get the most benefits. Adapt to market changes, demands, and be flexible. Since you need to change your business strategy every five years or less, your technological systems should be flexible to be able to adapt to the updates and modifications as part of continuous improvement. You need to make sure that you keep an eye on the industrial resources and do not overspend on them.
Start with Your People
As most of the manufacturing plants still operate with legacy systems in place, deploying smart systems may not come easy at first. While ripping and replacing the legacy systems with the innovative solutions can incur huge CapEx and OpEx, having lesser digitally skilled workforce can prove to be an added overhead. Therefore, acquiring a skilled workforce and upskilling the existing workforce is a must.
Be Aware of Security
Cybercriminals are becoming smarter day by day. With increased IIoT devices in the network, the threat to data security becomes a rising concern. To future-proof your factory from unwanted security threats, updated security measures should be implemented on time.
Be Prepared for New Investments
Upgrading the factory environment, calls for some new investments. Sensors and monitors will likely be the main requirement for your smart factory to get up and running. However, these are not enough to ensure an improved performance. Make yourself ready for infrastructure upgrades like increased bandwidth and smarter platforms to store, analyze, and manage the large sets of data collected.
Hire a Data Analyst
Collecting and storing data do not serve the purpose. The capabilities should be extended towards digging the collected data to find insightful trends and patterns based on which critical management decisions can be made.
You may need to hire a data analyst who will turn your factory data into something usable and valuable.
Be Open to Change
Flexible and responsive factories are capable of performing in a dynamic environment. Industrial automation has to have sufficient flexibility to adapt to new technologies and innovations in the market.
Keep Upgrading Your Smart Factory Implementation.
The best way to deploy smart manufacturing technology is a step-by-step approach. You should continually extend the smart technology to additional parts of your facility.
A smart factory project consists of many phases, and each step relies on the maturity level of the manufacturer. The end-to-end integrated enterprise, regardless of the method you choose, will produce the ultimate result.
Incorporate an evidence-based approach while following a smart manufacturing plan. Measurements may be taken in the beginning with real-time data gathering, which includes MES installation as well as manufacturing intelligence dashboarding.
Conclusion
Implementing a smart factory can be a challenging and time-consuming process for many industries. At Utthunga, we have extensive expertise in smart technology and maintenance and factory solutions. We have a thorough knowledge of the implementation and management of smart technology.
Connect with us to start your smart factory journey today!
One of the prominent effects of Industry 4.0 is the massive change to the industrial equipments usage and their management. This involves not only maintaining their aging electronic components but also adding new ones, while ensuring it doesn’t disrupt their existing operations. Not only this; the adoption of the new age technologies has been accelerated by Industry 4.0 trends. This has pushed industries towards chalking an obsolescence management strategy.
The International Institute of Obsolescence Management defines “obsolescence” as an activity when electronic components age and require replacement or repair. In some cases, the manufacturers of such components like parts of PLCs or chips of PCBs stop producing such components to shift to an upgraded version of the same. For manufacturing industries, this could trigger a panic situation at times of unexpected malfunction or maintenance services.
Obsolescence management is a strategic technique that makes sure the risks associated with resources becoming obsolete, especially due to the lightning-fast speed of technological advancements, is kept at a minimum.
Implementing the best IR4.0 strategies to run the manufacturing industry is in itself an intimidating process for many. While we gain efficiency from technological advancements, many of these advantages leave behind a trail of obsolescent products. The rate at which the current technology is evolving affects the rate of obsolescence as well.
Industries are now dependent on electronic products for control and safety more than ever. However, with time the components that make up these devices like electronic chips of PCBs tend to age and are usually no longer available to purchase. Here obsolescence occurs when aging of various components goes beyond the point where you can repair or replace such products.
Such a scenario may push industries to buy a completely new set of electronic equipments with newer and available technology. This in turn increases the cost of application and may also pave way to unmanageable electronic waste and increase the financial burden of the company.
While obsolescence cannot be eliminated, on-time obsolescence risk assessment services that focus on electronic components by product engineering companies like Utthunga, can help in creating an efficient obsolescence management for the company.
10 Steps to Obsolescence Management in Industry 4.0
The basic idea behind obsolescence management is to maintain the existing systems by bringing in proactive strategies to preserve electronic equipment and finding suitable perfect or near perfect replacements. You can carry out these following 10 step process.
Assess the current system scenario: The first and foremost step to creating a wholesome obsolescence management strategy is to assess the electronic components used in the plants. Understand the present state of the system and look for the age of each of the machinery to get an idea of which of the lot is at the last leg of their lifecycle. This gives you a rough idea about the components that may become obsolete shortly.
Gauge your company’s financial and operational capabilities: Once you note down your findings from step one, the next thing you need to know is how capable are you to undertake this financially. Also understand the operational capability of your plant, how well new digital resources can be integrated with or replaced with the soon-to-be-obsolete electronic components. An obsolescence management software can aid in finding components that are near their fag-end.
Plan your resources: Next, of course, now that you know your capabilities well, you can plan the resources required, of course, that is within your budget. Here every single thing needs to be considered. For example, can you can hire a dedicated obsolescence management team that keeps track of components and plans maintenance and repairs when required? You need to have everything planned and be ready to face unforeseen situations to avoid maximum damage to your business.
Analyze the risks: Analyze the critical areas which need to be prioritized first in your obsolescence strategy. For example, the extent to which the absence of a component like those used for electronic control equipment will affect the overall productivity of your plant? Come up with a risk assessment plan and be wary of all the possible ways a breakdown can affect your business. This helps you to understand if any preventive maintenance is required or replacement is the only option you have.
Create a strategy: Once you understand the possible risks and whether or not to carry out any preventive measures you must create a blueprint of your strategy. This step requires a lot of time and brainstorming sessions to come out with an optimum obsolescence management plan.
Consider second sourcing: You must consider second sourcing, a standard obsolescence management technique. So even if one manufacturer stops producing the electronic components, you have a second option to choose from. These may not be a perfect fit, but still could help save the electronic component from going to the trash. Also, always ensure you buy industry standard components. Since they are mass-produced components, they have a longer production life, so you can be assured of continuous supply for a longer period.
Analyze the upgrades required: Not all the obsolete equipments can be reused where either replacing come parts or maintenance would do the magic. Some need upgrades either to match the technological constraints or simply because they have completely reached the fag end of their lifecycle. An in-depth analysis of the required upgrades is therefore crucial and needs to be in conjunction with the obsolete maintenance activities.
Create a Database: Having a record of every transaction, every replacement, and every upgrade of the electronics is an important part of obsolescence management. Create a centralized database either on premise or on cloud and make it accessible for the concerned stakeholders to check upon.
Review the process: The database helps the obsolete managers review the entire process and check its actionability and effectiveness. Does it improve the overall production or is it just a waste of time, effort and money? You get to review and analyze the loopholes in the entire process.
Redesign board, if required: Sometimes, there is no other option but to redesign a board that can incorporate the alternative components. Even while redesigning, you need to ensure the performance is not compromised and that it is still compatible with other components of the system.
Crafting bespoke and proactive obsolescence management of your components is no joke. It requires meticulous management and expert guidance from product engineering companies like Utthunga. Our comprehensive expertise in design engineering ensures that you have access to the latest set of API’s, technology status and market trends of components over time. We provide up to date information and reports on the various compliance requirements such as ROHS, REACH, and more. Our experts provide guidance for customers to ensure that with every component that’s being replaced, it should be compliant with an already certified component to ensure product function is maintained.
We help you to keep your automated systems pitch-perfect while assisting you via proper risk analysis and obsolescence forecasting. This way you can leverage our knowledge pool and years of experience to minimize the effect of obsolescence of electronic product components and ensure a smooth operation of your plant.
OPC Classic is the most widely used technology for linking different automation devices in the world. It is an open, secure, and reliable technology for sending data in factories, enterprise applications, and the cloud. Numerous OPC–based systems are in use throughout the globe, allowing for the safe and reliable exchange of data between industrial software components.
standard for transferring information vertically across the enterprise of multi-vendor systems while also ensuring compatibility between devices on various industrial networks from different manufacturers. This blog will see how the OPC UA tunnel works and its role in migration from classic OPC to OPC UA.
The term “tunnel” has a particular meaning and application when using the OPC standard for software-to-software data transmission. The OPC UA Tunneller is a simple interface that allows you to quickly and easily set up Classic-to-Classic OPC connections and Classic-to-OPC UA bridging.
The OPC UA Tunneller connects OPC UA clients to classic COM/DCOM based OPC DA and HDA servers implementing OPC UA standards. The UA-to-Classic Bridge exposes COM OPC Servers as open ports/files in the OPC UA Server’s address space and may host many OPC Servers.
Modern manufacturing processes must be able to utilize their existing OPC Classic-based equipment fully. An OPC UA Tunneller enables OPC UA-enabled client applications to interact with OPC Classic Servers, the Clients as well as with OPC UA Servers, and vice versa.
COM (Component Object Model), a Windows technology is used to transmit OPC data from an OPC server to an OPC client. An example of an OPC client is the HMI software you use in your operations. The OPC server is the driver that communicates with your PLCs, DCSs, and other control systems. Here the human-machine interface (HMI) that uses OPC Classic may be modified to interact with OPC UA devices. Consequently, operators may continue to use their existing systems while obtaining new insights and connecting to UA-enabled equipment as it becomes available.
Why OPC UA Tunneller is used in migrating from classic to OPC UA?
When multiple remote clients require data from same controllers, a remote OPC client/server architecture is used. Having those remote clients use their drivers or separate local OPC server instances for each client would waste control network bandwidth. Instead, a single OPC server can be placed on a separate, centrally accessible system, to achieve communication efficiency by not having too many clients making separate calls to the control hardware for the same data.
Distributed COM, or DCOM, is used when the server and client are not on the same network. DCOM is difficult to set up and leaves an exposed area on your OPC servers for software threats/attacks when it operates.
DCOM has three major constraints, translating into three distinct reasons for migrating to a tunnel for OPC data.
DCOM configuration and support are complex and, and expensive.
DCOM lacks dependability, resilience, and efficiency.
DCOM notification is delayed during a network outage.
There is also a distinction between OPC tunneling and the tunneling of OPC data. OPC tunneling was developed as a more convenient and secure alternative to DCOM for remote OPC connections.
The OPC UA Tunneller’s role in migration:
The OPC UA Tunneller (UAT) is a simple, dependable, and secure connection between OPC Classic components and any combination of OPC Classic and OPC UA components.
Using the OPC tunneling solution during migration from Classic OPC to OPC UA provides the following advantages:
Firewall-friendly easier setup and configuration than the earlier DCOM, with a robust array of client interfaces and devices
Secure and dependable data transmission through 256-bit AES message signing and encryption, multi-threaded design
OPC Classic is built on the COM/DCOM technology from Microsoft. Typically, in an OPC Classic arrangement, an OPC Classic client needs the proper DCOM configuration to connect to an OPC Classic server operating on separate networks. DCOM configuration settings are subject to change as a result of security or Windows patch updates.
The DCOM security model also specifies the user accounts that access the program and the user accounts from which the application may accept connections. Furthermore, the Windows firewall needs you to add the COM programs to the exclusion list to communicate across a network.
To put it simply, utilizing an OPC Tunneller removes the uncertainty of guaranteeing reliable OPC Classic/OPC UA compatibility and cross-network connections. This solution is ideal for rapidly and effectively establishing OPC Classic-to-Classic connections and Classic-to-UA bridging.
When connecting OPC clients to servers, a tunneller avoids the difficulties associated with DCOM. The OPC bridging tunneller is a hybrid of an OPC wrapper and a proxy. A short description of how they operate is provided below.
Devices having OPC Classic are not capable of connecting with OPC UA on their own. Meaning, you need to use a device( tunnel) for handling communication between OPC Classic Servers and OPC UA Clients or between any combination of OPC Classic and OPC UA components. OPC UA Tunneller establishes a connection from OPC Classic to OPC UA and vice versa, simplifying the OPC UA migration process.
The two OPC Tunneller components (OPC wrapper and OPC proxy) communicate with one another via OPC UA. IT engineers managing the network infrastructure will add the port number and IP addresses of the servers and clients details in the firewall settings of the router as part of the port forwarding mechanism. Additional DCOM configuration is not required and Windows firewall configuration is limited to allowing access to the port being used by the uOPC Tunneller components on the respective machines.
Conclusion
Tunneling OPC data, in essence, reduces the time, effort, and cost needed for connecting and exchanging data between various computers, whether they are next to each other, on the same network in the same building, or the other side of the world.
Utthunga’s uOPC® Tunneling and related OPC bridging solutions help industrial enterprises to build a secure and reliable communication network without facing frequent configuration and security issues. To prepare your legacy communication systems future ready for an IIoT based ecosystem, get in touch with our OPC Tunneller experts now!
Industries are gearing up to embrace the changes that IR4.0 demands, which has pushed the need to modernize their existing services and system portfolio.
Adapting legacy systems such as SCADA, DCS to the service-oriented digital streams is a challenging task for companies, especially those in the manufacturing sector. One of the major concerns while adapting the new-age automation systems is to re-engineer the existing systems and upgrade them to a newer version. This upgrade is referred to as ‘Migration’.
When the migration strategies of the legacy applications make use of cloud computing technology, the whole process is referred to as cloud migration. Simply put, cloud migration is the process that essentially involves cloud integration of legacy applications by formulating process objectives that aim to deliver desired functionalities and improves efficiency in processing the data.
The cloud application development of legacy applications is generally carried out on a large scale, as it includes both infrastructure and applications. The outdated legacy systems lack robust security. The cloud integrations make these applications secure against data breaches and failure.
Not only this, migrating legacy systems to the cloud makes them more agile and scalable to meet the real-time needs of the consumer. However, a single mistake during the cloud integration could interrupt the industrial processes and cost heavily to the organization.
To avoid such a situation, you need to understand what could go wrong while migrating legacy applications to the cloud. In this blog, we will discuss the factors that must be considered and also the crucial mistakes you need to be careful of during the cloud migration process.
What are factors to be considered while migrating applications to the cloud?
Most of the legacy applications are mission-critical industrial systems but lack basic data security, and futuristic vision. These often cannot be replaced by new technology as it would not only increase the operational costs but also hamper the industrial processes.
Therefore, data migration services help these organizations in shifting the legacy system safely to the cloud, to make it more scalable, agile to the emerging needs and cloud technologies.
To attain the goal of cloud migration, product engineering companies are leveraging DevOps services so that they:
Reduce time to market of the product
Meet customer demands
Lower the costs related to:
Product Development
Product Testing
Deployment
Operations
With the cloud migration services, businesses can take the best foot forward in modernizing their legacy systems. Some of the major factors that these services consider while shifting legacy applications to the cloud are:
Understand existing systems using the documents available, plant design, and system interfaces.
Analyze business needs and prioritize the legacy applications accordingly. The main motive of moving applications to the cloud is to increase productivity. So, the ones that matter the most in this context, must be given the highest priority.
Analyze risks associated with migrating legacy applications to the cloud. It helps in monitoring the possible sources of cloud integration failure and take proactive actions accordingly.
Performance monitoring is a must. Your cloud integration strategy must include a blueprint of how you are going to track the performance of the legacy systems during and after their transition.
Proper closure helps in evaluating the cloud migration project in terms of performance, KPI, and other relevant metrics. These give you an insight into how cloud migration services have helped your business grow and at what scale.
Cloud and data integrations with your legacy application decide how well your manufacturing plant is ready for the fourth industrial revolution. However, there are few common pitfalls you must look out for while carrying out the same.
The cloud computing effect is now omnipresent in almost every industrial realm. As technology advances at lightning speed, the fourth industrial revolution will soon be replaced by its fifth version. To make your plants ready for the present and future, you need to look out for legacy applications that are essential yet disrupting for your business to adapt to the much-required changes.
Utthunga’s digital transformation consulting includes cloud migration services and data migration services. Leverage our years of technical expertise in helping companies attain their digital transformation goal in the range of domains Cloud, Mobility, IIoT, Analytics, and much more.
Database management systems exist in various forms and sizes, from complicated to basic, from expensive to inexpensive. It is critical to consider how the database technology you select will scale as the size of your data grows and how it will interact with any applications you employ to query your data.
The database technology landscape in industries has changed considerably in the last decade. Database technology has morphed into several different forms that assist in defining how data is stored, accessed and utilized inside an organization.
The 4.0 industry is a term associated with significant technological progress in sectors. The factories are now automated, integrated, and controlled by sensors, controllers and other field devices. All of this is now a reality, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technologies and systems.
These new capacities of everyday products open up a world of possibilities in industrial sectors. Proper database management solutions improve organizational data accessibility, allowing end-users to exchange data more rapidly, securely, and efficiently across the company.
A robust and sophisticated database management solution allows brand managers to add new data, update the existing data and delete the information no longer needed. Furthermore, this enables companies to track and sell their offerings in an efficient manner.
Data inconsistency occurs when multiple versions of the same data exist in different areas within an organization. You can ensure that an all-encompassing picture of your data is provided throughout your company by utilizing a good management system and data quality management tools.
Furthermore, data management systems give a stronger foundation for enforcing data privacy and security regulations. Better management implies more openness and a lower chance of regulatory violations.
End-User Productivity Increase
Deploying a database management system, assuming good end-user adoption, will always result in enhanced user productivity. They make it possible for end-users of data to make fast and informed decisions to improve the long-term performance or failure of their organization.
Database technology for the creation of industrial applications
Although there are multitude of options for organizations to incorporate a robust database system, the most prominent ones are listed below.
Oracle
It provides instant consistency as a single server
Advanced Multi-Model databases that handle Structured Data (SQL), Semi-Structured Data (JSON, XML), Spatial Data, and RDF Store
Blockchain Tables
Supports both OLTP and OLAP workloads
Microsoft SQL Server
Provides ACID transactional assurance
Supports server-side scripting with T-SQL,.NET languages, R, Python, and Java
Supports Structured Data (SQL), JSON, and Spatial Data
Tooling support for both on-premise and cloud deployments
MongoDB
It provides horizontal scalability and includes built-in replication and is consistent and partition tolerant (CP)
Distributed multi-document ACID transactions
Rich and robust query language also supports Map-Reduce queries, text search, graph search, and geo-search.
Provides a full-text search engine (Atlas Search) and a data lake (Atlas Data Lake) based on MongoDB
Elasticsearch
Horizontal scaling via automated sharding and a scalable search engine
Provide a REST API and handle both structured and schema less data, well suited to analyzing logging or monitoring data
Support for automated replication and cross-cluster replication (CCR)
Widely used in observability landscape
Cassandra
It is used as an OLAP database (e.g., Data Warehouse) to manage massive amounts of data
It is also utilized as a time-series database.
It provides linear horizontal scaling and is one of the most scalable databases with automated sharding; it is AP (Available and Partition Tolerant).
A decentralized database with automated replication is fault-tolerant with no single point of failure.
It has a user-friendly Query Language and SQL-like query language (CQL).
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