IIoT - Plant Services
Transcript of IIoT - Plant Services
eHANDBOOK
IIoTBridging the gap between the
digital and physical plant
TABLE OF CONTENTSIIoT: To cloud or not to cloud? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The first step is to identify the business challenges that you are trying to solve.
5 reasons why collaboration is crucial for IIoT success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The right IIoT partners can help you identify new business opportunities.
Busting 3 IIoT myths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
In this installment of Automation Zone, don’t let these misconceptions
be excuses for not getting your plant more connected.
Game on: How the IIoT is transforming asset lifecycle management . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Take your reliability efforts to the next level via these strategic moves.
What equipment interfaces say about the future of manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Bluetooth-enabled smart devices are opening up new product form
factors and functionalities
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 2
From smart thermostats and garage door openers, to fitness devices that wirelessly
connect to your smartphone, the internet of things (IoT) is all around, but you may
not always recognize it. So, if a connected device is good enough for your home,
why not critical machines and business processes?
By bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds, the industrial internet of things
(IIoT) is ushering in a new era of efficiency, growth and information by giving companies
clear line of sight to critical assets and manufacturing processes.
FIRST STEP: IDENTIFY YOUR CHALLENGEWhile some businesses have already committed the time and resources to invest in condi-
tion monitoring solutions, others may be having trouble figuring out where to begin. For
those organizations, the first question to answer is, “What business challenge are you try-
ing to solve?”
Organizations typically are trying to solve productivity and uptime scenarios. To determine
what data needs to be collected and why, we recommend that you put together a small
recon team of operations workers, including maintenance, production, and plant managers,
the people whose purpose at the plant is to make sure that the equipment is running, and
that they have the parts they need to make repairs.
IIoT: To cloud or not to cloud?The first step is to identify the business challenges that you are trying to solve.
By Bill Sayavich and Mario Calvo, Parker Hannifin
www.plantservices.com
eHANDBOOK: IIoT 3
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 4
This team takes the first steps in putting
together a plan by determining where prob-
lem areas are located and what they want
to measure to alleviate those problems.
For example, if a maintenance worker has
to walk the plant floor for hours each day
collecting diagnostic data, and then take
even more time to crunch that data with a
spreadsheet, a solution that calculates the
data and sends it directly to a smartphone
or PC is going to fundamentally change the
way that company does business. Another
option is to ask each person on the team
to complete the statement, “If I knew X, I
could avoid Y.” For example, using pressure
sensors, operators can diagnose issues with
cylinders or pumps that might not be oper-
ating at optimal levels.
From there, operators must decide which
assets will be fitted with the IIoT-enabled
condition monitoring solution.
NEXT STEP: BUILD FROM THE BOTTOM UPIt’s important for first-time IIoT users to
start with a condition monitoring solu-
tion for one or two critical assets to better
understand how it benefits their processes
and their bottom line. While the natural pro-
gression may be to migrate to a fully moni-
tored plant, your team’s goal should be to
develop a strategy for listening to the most
critical machines or processes without nec-
essarily attaching a sensor to every machine
or component.
Begin by listing any asset of critical im-
portance–the machines that run the most
hours and have the least redundancy– and
then from that list determine a small subset
of those assets to begin gathering greater
operational insight.Machines that are diffi-
cult to repair or have rare parts should also
be added to the short list, as well as assets
that could present a danger to employees
if conditions go unchecked. By monitoring
the conditions most critical to each asset,
operators can predict that asset’s health,
thus prevent downtime.
DECISION: BLUETOOTH OR CLOUD?Depending on critical asset list and on the
conditions the team commits to monitoring
(e.g. temperature, pressure, humidity and
vibration), an internet infrastructure may
need to be installed. While Bluetooth-pow-
ered sensors can transmit data to mobile
devices within range without an internet
infrastructure, cloud-based systems need
an internet infrastructure in order to get
the data to users who are just feet away, or
anywhere in the world.
The good news is that IIoT-enabled de-
vices can work with wireless or hardwired/
LAN networks– you don’t need high-speed
internet or big data internet services. All
that’s required to get started is an internet
connection, electricity, and data to measure.
Cloud-based solutions usually have a col-
lection server to receive and transmit data
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 5
from all sensors in the network. If sensors
are out of range, repeaters can be installed
to extend the signal without interference.
After working with the recon team to deter-
mine the type of sensors to use, the engi-
neering and maintenance teams plan the
number of sensors needed to achieve the
intended goals. When placing sensors, you
should expect to adjust your plan as well
as sensor locations during a piloting phase.
Also, after ensuring the system works
properly, it’s important to properly train
the workers who will be using it; and, work-
ers with access to the data must be able to
translate it into useful analytics.
One of the biggest challenges is striking
a balance between monitoring frequency
and keeping operational costs low and
assets running. One advantage of cloud-
based solutions is that they allow for con-
stant monitoring, as well as alerts for when
conditions breach a preset threshold. As an
alert comes in, you can identify which sen-
sor it’s coming from and where that sen-
sor is placed, allowing users to zero in on
problem areas with large, complex equip-
ment. Connecting to the sensors allows us-
ers to plot data trends and diagnose where
the problem is occurring quicker and easier
than if the operator were using manual
gauges and manifolds.
Hardware for cloud-based solutions typi-
cally cost more than Bluetooth sensors, so
organizations that are new to IIoT should
consider starting with Bluetooth to ensure
that the solution is useful, and then work up
to a cloud-based solution as needed. Older
assets can be retrofitted with either Blue-
tooth or cloud-based IIoT solutions.
BEYOND UPTIMEBased on the type of program you imple-
ment, your IIoT solution can not only alert
you to issues with your assets, but can also
provide a seamless and efficient path to se-
curing critical spare parts globally. There are
hundreds of millions of critical components
in use today that are essentially invisible to
traditional asset management systems, and
equipment vendors have spent great deal of
effort at digitizing their products and creat-
ing a cloud-based library of assets.
This is a paradigm shift for the industry, and
we hope teams are starting to recognize the
value that IIoT can deliver to their organiza-
tions.
About the Authors: Bill Sayavich and Mario Calvo
Bill Sayavich is technology manager for Parker Hanni-
fin Global Services, and Mario Calvo is business unit
manager for Parker’s Quick Coupling Division. They can
be contacted at [email protected] and mcalvo@
parker.com.
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The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) continues to permeate the minds of today’s
technology decision-makers in the manufacturing industry. There’s no denying the
growth of the IoT market, nor the impact the technology is having on businesses of all
shapes and sizes. Forrester Research reports that 82% of companies will have IoT applications
implemented in some way by 2017. And market research firm IDC recently predicted that the
worldwide IoT market will grow to $7.1 trillion by 2020, compared with $1.9 trillion in 2013.
Traditionally, leaders in the industrial marketplace are organizations armed with strong finan-
cial, technical, and infrastructure support and are the first to implement new technologies. But
in the new era of manufacturing driven by the IoT and the Industrial Internet, companies of all
sizes can achieve scale quickly to become major market disruptors. Necessary for this is align-
ing with organizations that can help make the IoT implementation process seamless.
No manufacturing company can scale its business in isolation from the larger community.
To do so would not only separate a business from the big data, networking, and computing
resources that are driving the most rapid improvements to industrial efficiency in history,
but also it would require everything to be built from scratch, slowing innovation. Strategic
relationships within the industry are essential to achieve rapid growth, which can be a vital
tool in maintaining competitiveness. So what should industrial maintenance and reliability
teams look for in the relationships they cultivate?
5 reasons why collaboration is crucial for IIoT successThe right IIoT partners can help you identify new business opportunities.
By Jennifer Bennett, GE Digital
www.plantservices.com
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1 . A TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESSThe Industrial Internet is not a one-size-fits-
all solution. A successful implementation
comes from choosing a team that has a
working knowledge of the manufacturing
industry. You want to be sure that the team
has the experience necessary to thoroughly
consider your individual business case and
present solutions that will address your
specific needs.
Also, make sure any organization you’re
working with demonstrates a commitment
to continued investment and innovation. If
its platform looks promising now, can you
ensure that it will continue to keep pace
with technology evolution down the road?
How often is the business enhancing its
offerings and developing new tools and
services? If it’s experienced in creating solu-
tions, does it also have a strong ecosystem
in place for implementing them?
Ask questions about available training,
service, quality control, ongoing upgrades,
communications, and escalations. Look for
an organization that’s focused on more than
merely the installation of Industrial Internet
technology.
2 . ONGOING PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIESSome companies specialize in implement-
ing Industrial Internet systems and then
move on once they have been launched.
But the biggest key to unlocking Industrial
Internet benefits isn’t collecting the data;
it’s understanding what you can do with
the data. A successful relationship will
help your reliability team analyze and in-
terpret data by drilling down to see trends
or patterns every step of the way, from
implementation to identification of action-
able insights.
Partner organizations can also help speed
operations and results more efficiently
than an internal maintenance team operat-
ing in isolation can. This is because it’s not
about gathering data that optimizes one
particular machine; it’s about the connec-
tivity of the entire manufacturing process
to gather insights across a whole produc-
tion line or plant. This enables plant lead-
ers to correlate disparate types of data
and use out-of-the-box technology tools
to display and report on that relevant
data in real time. Then, manufacturers
can make the right decisions to increase
throughput, minimize waste, or reduce
disruption in their operations.
3 . ABILITY TO INTEGRATE EXISTING SYSTEMSConsistent and accurate data collection
is a critical first step in improving overall
performance using the Industrial Internet.
For manufacturers, the initial phase is to
connect assets and organize data in a
manner that’s simple and straightforward
to understand and visualize. Many of the
most-effective Industrial Internet imple-
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 8
mentations involve a large-scale effort,
such as equipping your fleet with sensors
or overhauling a factory.
But a seamless Industrial Internet imple-
mentation doesn’t necessarily mean that
it’s built from the ground up. Rather, it’s
important for manufacturers to find an
Industrial Internet organization that can
incorporate a customized solution into an
existing framework while leaving room
for modernization and growth of that
framework. Although you might not need
a cloud infrastructure resilient enough to
cope with millions of users now, it is pos-
sible that you will in the future.
4 . PROVEN DATA EFFICIENCY TO GENERATE INSIGHTSThe Industrial Internet is all about utilizing
the insight gained from data to achieve the
best possible results. It includes uncover-
ing areas for improvement or adjustments
and prioritizing and mapping those to larger
goals or key initiatives. This makes it easy to
take the view that “we will collect as much
data as we can and crunch it in the cloud,”
but it’s important to consider the cost and
other ramifications of this approach. The
more data you collect, the greater the cost,
but this also can provide you the ability to
gain better efficiencies.
It’s important, therefore, to have an effi-
cient data management system in place so
that only useful data is collected. Further,
this process must be scalable and opti-
mized. Look for an organization that has a
proven record of analyzing industrial data
to achieve operational excellence. Opti-
mization is realized when you can take
actionable insights from data to help your
plant perform more efficiently and effec-
tively, using minimal resources and ensur-
ing more reliability and predictability in
meeting goals.
5 . OPEN DOORS TO NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIESLook for organizations that can open
doors to new business opportunities for
your organization. Implementing industrial
Internet technologies offers the chance to
modify your industrial business model to
incorporate services with a regular rev-
enue stream and/or identify new markets,
products, or relationship opportunities for
added-value services.
Top-performing organizations are form-
ing relationships with industrial Internet
platforms to use the data to offer new
services and products to customers based
on intelligence gleaned from their current
behaviors. An Industrial Internet relation-
ship should let you leverage the collected
data to help your organization design
more-efficient machines and workflow
processes. The continued flow of data on
these machines will allow organizations to
continuously improve their equipment, in
turn increasing business ROI.
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 9
As you can see, strategic relationships within
the industry are essential to scaling manu-
facturing business operations to benefit
from the true value of the Industrial Internet
experience. When looking to work with an
organization to help implement the Industrial
Internet, seek one that will create a mutu-
ally beneficial relationship with your orga-
nization. Look for a company with ongoing
abilities to manage projects, the ability to
integrate an existing foundation, proven ef-
ficiency in integrating and handling data, and
the ability to open doors for your company
to new business opportunities.
www.plantservices.com
eHANDBOOK: IIoT 10
About the author: Jennifer Bennett
Jennifer Bennett is general manager, manufacturing software in GE Intelligent
Platforms, delivering manufacturing intelligence and execution solutions for
GE and many of the world’s leading manufacturers.
Contact her at [email protected].
SCOUTTM Cloud Software and SensoNODETM Gold SensorsSCOUTTM Cloud Software and SensoNODETM Gold Sensors
Learn more at Parker.com/ConditionMonitoring or call 763-544-7781
There’s no doubt that the industrial internet of things (IIoT) market is evolving
quickly. International Data Corp. (IDC) predicted in a 2016 report for IFS that
the installed base of IoT endpoints would grow from fewer than 13 billion units
at the end of 2015 to 30 billion by 2020. The industries that IDC predicts will spend the
most on IoT solutions are manufacturing, transport, energy and utilities, and retail, with
a wide range of IoT use cases.
In other words, the industrial IoT clock is ticking, and businesses not already addressing the
opportunity offered by the IoT need to create and implement their plans – quickly.
So why are some companies still hesitating? One answer is that there are several misper-
ceptions or myths regarding the IIoT that are causing decision-makers to hesitate and
sometimes delay or stop an IIoT project altogether. A heavy focus on standards, exorbitant
expected costs, and the fear of big changes all are cited as reasons for not pursuing IIoT
projects. Let’s take a closer look at these.
MYTH #1: WE SHOULD WAIT FOR STANDARDIZATIONBUSTED! Unlike consumer markets, where standardization – formal or by market dominance
– is key to success, for the IIoT, standardization won’t be a concern for decades.
Busting 3 IIoT mythsIn this installment of Automation Zone, don’t let these misconceptions be excuses for not getting your plant more connected.
By Dan Matthews, CTO, IFS
www.plantservices.com
eHANDBOOK: IIoT 12
www.plantservices.com
eHANDBOOK: IIoT 13
Sure, there are multiple emerging standard-
ization initiatives in the IIoT, and it’s not
yet possible to know which will grow or be
marginalized. But the thing is that it doesn’t
matter. In consumer markets, new stan-
dards for, say, NFC chips in smartphones
can roll out and get near-full market pres-
ence in the few years it takes for people to
replace their phones. But industries are run
on equipment that is anywhere from years
to several decades old. This equipment has
been provided by tens or hundreds of dif-
ferent suppliers.
Even if the equipment manufacturers “IIoT-
enable” their latest generation according
to some IIoT standard, it will take decades
before industries have replaced all their ex-
isting equipment and assets with new IIoT-
standadarized versions. For the foreseeable
future, we won’t see standards on how to
connect up all industrial things. Instead, in-
dustries should expect and plan for bespoke
integration development or even retrofit-
ting of other sensors and communications
capabilities to equipment and assets to get
them connected.
MYTH #2: IIOT WOULD BE A GIANT LEAP FOR MY BUSINESSBUSTED! IIoT success is all about choosing
small, actionable steps that will improve your
business today – not aiming for giant leaps
that will transform your industry tomorrow.
For many people, the IoT still brings to mind
disruptor companies like Uber or Netflix. But
in most cases the IIoT develops rather than
disrupts the entire business. According to
the previously mentioned IDC report, the
main drivers behind IIoT are improvement of
day-to-day operations, including improved
productivity (14.2% of the companies),
improvement of quality and time-to market
(11.2%), process optimization improvement
(10.2%), reduced costs (9.9%), and improved
decision-making (9.3%).
A look at the vast majority of companies
that have already operationalized the IIoT
shows that the successful ones often have
started with a few well-chosen processes
and incremental change. It can begin with
connecting just one piece of equipment.
Earning a little more revenue from this
can then inspire us to take a bigger step.
What would happen if we integrated these
findings with input from another data
stream – external events, such as weather
forecasts or temperature changes, for
instance? How could changing operations
on this machine according to these inputs
optimize its performance?
The key is to ask, “How can we make this a
little more efficient?” not, “How can we rev-
olutionize our whole business?” Incremental
change is the name of the game. The IIoT is
about improving performance.
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 14
MYTH #3: IIOT WILL BE EXPENSIVE AND CAPITAL-INTENSIVEBUSTED! A few years back this statement
might have been true, but three key devel-
opments have made IIoT implementation
more affordable than ever before:
• The falling price of IIoT hardware and
software: Everything from the small-
est sensors to the largest gateways has
fallen in cost. Smarter, cheaper sensors
and gateways are available to all indus-
tries, allowing you to increase your level
of software control. If we take as a typi-
cal example a forklift truck, 10 years ago,
connecting one of these would have cost
at least $1,000 – out of reach for most
logistics and manufacturing operations
running several of them. Today a single
forklift could be connected for not much
more than a 10-dollar note.
• Cheaper, broader internet access: This has
made it ever-easier to connect a broader
range of machines and equipment across
a wider geographic area at a low cost.
New developments such as 5G mobile net-
works and LoRa will help ensure that this
trend continues.
• Cost-effective IoT cloud platforms: On
the platform side, we’ve seen big, exciting
changes. Ready-to-use cloud-based IoT
platforms that can handle massive scale,
storage, and computing are now more
widely available than ever before.
These three changes have made it pos-
sible for companies to get started with IIoT
projects more quickly and with lower risk
than before, enabling more experimenting
to reach success.
OPERATIONALIZING DATA: THE KEY TO IOT SUCCESSBeyond buying into these IIoT myths, many
companies overlook the critical issue of
how their IIoT data should be operational-
ized. To get returns from IIoT investments,
it’s important not to stop at collecting and
analyzing IoT data. If you do only that, you
still have not made a dollar. To benefit from
the IIoT, the knowledge and insight you
gain needs to be turned into action that
optimizes your business – whether that’s in
the form of a more-optimal maintenance
plan, higher service levels, improved logis-
tics, better-engineered better products, or
entirely new business models.
This can be done in several different ways,
but one key step in operationalizing your
data is automating the right processes
based on gathered data. To illustrate with
an example: Equipped sensors capture data
about too-high temperatures. Instead of just
collecting, registering, and manually acting
on this data, a process is created for auto-
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 15
matically dispatching service personnel to
replace a part that has suffered overheating
– thus preventing future catastrophic fail-
ures. Operationalizing and automating: This
is when the true power of the IIoT comes to
life and can generate significant revenues.
About the Author: Dan Matthews
Dan Matthews is CTO at IFS. In that role, he leads the company’s Research
& Strategy unit. Before joining IFS in 1996, Matthews ran his own software
development business.
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Digital transformation, the industrial internet of things (IIoT), and smart connected
assets have been prominent themes over the past 12-18 months. For the most part,
these have been separate focus areas in industrial organizations. In fact, however,
they’re closely related topics. As pilot projects take hold in a variety of industries, no one
industry has the lead; many are finding small wins and value. This is creating a larger oppor-
tunity for investments in technology and transformation in 2017. This means that pilots are
successful, so expansion into larger asset bases or different parts of the business will occur.
These enabling technologies and related transformational efforts are letting organizations
gain competitive advantages. The early adopters of this new paradigm can expect lower
overall operations costs thanks to improved asset reliability, longer asset life, and lower
decommissioning and disposal costs. What is missing is a discussion of the larger picture of
these projects’ potential effects on the asset lifecycle and what it all means for operations
and maintenance moving forward in the IIoT era.
At the heart of the discussion should be a commitment to understanding everything this
new era touches related to the asset. This includes changes in the technology architecture:
The asset becomes smart; the workforce becomes empowered; and applications evolve. At
LNS Research, understanding the new asset lifecycle era in IIoT is a key focus and we believe
emerging technology will continue to play a prominent role in asset lifecycle management.
Game on: How the IIoT is transforming asset lifecycle managementTake your reliability efforts to the next level via these strategic moves.
By Jason Kasper, LNS Research
www.plantservices.com
eHANDBOOK: IIoT 17
A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT THE ASSET LIFECYCLETraditionally the asset lifecycle has been
viewed as a silo, with only operations and
maintenance responsible for “plan, do,
check, and act” processes from an as-
set’s design until its death. In an IIoT era,
this changes as assets evolve digitally and
physically. More touchpoints occur with
outside groups that hunger for data that
can help manufacturers, suppliers, sales
and marketing departments, and custom-
ers. This means that we need to think of the
asset lifecycle as a platform. The notion of
connected platforms comes the consumer
world: Think of the success of Facebook,
Snapchat, Instagram, What’s App, etc.
These solutions ultimately became success-
ful because of the size of connections made.
For industrial platforms to take hold, we
need to go beyond IIoT thinking and bring
the platform to what’s of value to connect-
ing in the first place – the asset. It’s not just
about connecting an asset, adding more
sensors, and enabling predictive analytics;
it’s about creating as many connections as
feasible to that asset throughout its entire
asset lifecycle. For social media platforms,
this means people, but it’s also advertis-
ers, the analytics to direct to whom to send
a message, the momentum of stories and
collaboration, and getting as many people
on the same platform to scale and creating
value exponentially.
This means connecting assets, services,
workforce, suppliers, manufacturers, sales
and marketing, operations, and mainte-
nance together on one platform, with many
applications that span specific users or use
cases to enterprise apps for many. Follow-
ing are some of the innovations that begin
to emerge in an IIoT era.
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 18
As technology has progressed, we have
seen an evolution from break/fix reactive
maintenance to condition-based mainte-
nance (CBM) and, ultimately, to the holy
grail today: predictive analytics. In the
past, the prohibitive factor in moving from
reactive to predictive maintenance was the
high cost of sensors and network connec-
tivity. Now the convergence of cloud and
big data is enabling cheaper infrastructure
costs, increased flexibility, and greater pro-
cessing power.
There are two levels to consider when talk-
ing about becoming prescriptive. The first
is the ability to understand and prescribe
which maintenance activity or activities
should be taken to postpone or prevent
asset failure. The second is the ability to
prescribe operational changes to alter the
profile of the equipment to delay or prevent
the failure. The first is important to become
maintenance-smart, while the second en-
ables operational excellence.
Early indicators show that organizations
that adapt smart connected assets gain a
competitive advantage and can be more
profitable in doing so. As asset-intensive in-
dustries move from traditional analytics to-
ward predictive and prescriptive analytics,
the insights are an opportunity to provide
better services. These analytics will incorpo-
rate new sources of data, such as video and
geospatial data as well as new algorithms
via machine learning to further push organi-
zations to evolve into new business models
and competitive offerings.
One opportunity is in employing a smart
services model with the manufacturer of
the equipment you’re investing in. This
removes the learning curve and makes the
manufacturer responsible for monitoring,
analyzing, and acting on the asset if it is
predicted to fail. The second opportunity
is in vendors selling capacity instead of
the physical asset itself. Organizations are
buying the capability of the machine with
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 19
guarantees of uptime. This allows compa-
nies to become more competitive in their
customer base offerings. They can deliver
products at a lower price or with a higher
level of service because of supplier agree-
ments and confidence in a consistent and
reliable manufacturing process.
MOVING FORWARD WITH ALM IN AN IIOT ERAIn the pursuit of asset lifecycle manage-
ment in an IIoT era, it is important to
understand potential obstacles. There is
a direct correlation between knowledge
about new technologies such as the IIoT –
an integral component of both smart con-
nected assets and digital transformation
– and the ability to build a business case
and therefore get the funding required to
execute.
A common strategy across all industries is
to start small with pilot projects. This ap-
proach provides the opportunity to learn
about the capabilities available from tech-
nology providers and equipment manufac-
turers as well as what works best for each
case and then build a larger future business
case. Findings provide the proof needed to
address executive leaders’ concerns and get
their buy-in to fund bigger projects.
Leveraging data to enable new business
models is in its infancy, but we are hearing
more customer stories on the opportunity
it presents. According to our research, a
near-majority of industrial companies, 47%,
have not deployed smart connected assets
and therefore are not getting the APM data
these assets so richly provide. Another split
is in the remaining 43% that do have as-
www.plantservices.com
eHANDBOOK: IIoT 20
sets generating APM data; more than half
of these will not allow suppliers to access it.
This is a missed opportunity in companies’
relationship with suppliers.
If companies share data, they more than
likely will reap benefits like improved prod-
uct designs and preemptive fixes to support
warranty issues. More proactive organiza-
tions do at some level share their APM data,
either with proactive or diagnostic level
support. Starting here allows asset-intensive
organizations to understand how suppli-
ers use the data and can be the first step in
requesting Smart Services or usage based
asset models.
For the small percentage of forward-think-
ing companies that have taken advantage
of the full smart connected assets opportu-
nity that exists today, benefits are accumu-
lating on multiple fronts. This is apparent in
particular from reliability’s impact on opera-
tional performance, as measured in part via
overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
As the product of availability, productivity,
and quality, asset reliability can affect all
three of those factors, meaning that orga-
nizations with higher reliability will show
higher OEE. Looking at organizations that
have real-time visibility into APM data vs.
those that do not, we see that those that
have the capability exhibit a substantially
higher OEE performance than those that do
not, with a median OEE of 75 vs. 67.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PLATFORMSWe are in the early phases of transforming
asset lifecycle management in this era of
IIoT. A thoughtful approach to leveraging
these changes is a switch to an opera-
tional architecture point of view. As more
and more pilot projects lead to success
and expand to larger enterprise projects,
a more-holistic view will be required to
understand the relationships that change
and improve within the asset lifecycle. For
those ready to act now, here are some key
considerations for asset lifecycle manage-
ment in an IIoT era:
• The IIoT is a transformative technology
trend that will change the definition of
IT-OT convergence, system architecture,
organizational structure, and business
models: Smart connected assets, wheth-
er legacy or new, will play a crucial role
in generating the value of operational
architecture.
• Look to vendors that can deliver the need-
ed capabilities of an IIoT platform: They
should have an open view of technology
platforms, as proprietary capabilities will
be arduous to work with long-term.
• Vendor collaboration is critical for deliv-
ering on the vision of smart connected
assets and operations: There will not be
a one-size-fits-all approach, so look to
vendors with strong partnerships that can
provide a broad reach across the platform.
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 21
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 22
• Take the first step in the business case
journey by preparing technically for
what is to come. The best approach for
this is a pilot. Understanding at a small
scale how things work improves the plan
and helps develop the value to move to
a larger scale.
• Do not forget people and processes and
their connection with operational per-
formance benefits and ROI: As the infor-
mation begins flowing, new ideas and
resources will be required. Processes will
change; staying on top of this will extend
competitive advantages and can be a
value multiplier.
About the Author: Jason Kasper
Jason Kasper is a research analyst with LNS Research, which provides advisory and
benchmarking services to help Line-of-Business and IT executives make critical deci-
sions across areas including the IIoT, digital transformation, and operational excel-
lence (www.lnsresearch.com/blog). Kasper’s primary focus is on asset performance
management with collaborative coverage across sustainability, energy management,
and IoT/machine-to-machine (M2M) practice areas. Contact him at jason.kasper@
lnsresearch.com.
The interfaces of our electrical devices say a lot about how we once did our jobs
in manufacturing, and how our jobs will change going forward. In fact, if indus-
trial equipment could talk, it would probably say that the next generation of
industrial workers will achieve higher productivity using technology only dreamed about
20 years ago.
Industrial equipment made in the 1960s through the early 1980s displayed information on
analog dials. The operator interacted with the equipment by pressing buttons and flipping
switches. If there wasn’t a button for your task, then it probably couldn’t be done.
From the 1980s to 2000, the interface evolved thanks to embedded microprocessing. Read-
outs became digital, via seven-segment LED displays, but interaction was still limited.
Starting around the year 2000, the falling price of computing power enabled interfaces that
display multiple lines of alphanumeric text and gave operators control of configurations via
stepping menu options. This familiar style of devices interface is a huge improvement, yet
it has many disadvantages. Typically, workers encounter push-button scrolling, cryptic fault
codes, and confusing layers of menus. Devices are not always easy to navigate without the
user’s manual.
What equipment interfaces say about the future of manufacturingBluetooth-enabled smart devices are opening up new product form factors and functionalities
By Kip Larson, Littelfuse, Inc.
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 23
In addition, these newer interfaces were
more difficult to design for challenging
environments, and many times were the
weakest link in a product when exposed to
real-world industrial applications.
Fortunately, there is a new way that work-
ers interact with industrial electrical equip-
ment. If the equipment is connected to the
cloud via an Ethernet network or a wireless
antenna, then the smartphone can become
its interface. Mobile apps can improve
productivity because of their fast access to
information and because they are easy to
use.
Network security is a concern, because
the IT department does not always con-
trol bring-your-own-devices (BYOD), but
companies are coming around to the idea.
According to IDG Research, 85 percent of
employers in the United States allow work-
ers to use their personal devices for work,
such as tablets and smartphones.
Research conducted by Littelfuse confirms
that younger workers in particular are com-
fortable with using smartphones to do their
jobs. More than that, there is an emerg-
ing realization among their managers that
smartphones and the Industrial Internet of
Things (IIoT) may prepare manufacturers
for generational change in the workforce.
Plant managers can support this evolution
by installing sensors and control devices
that connect to an Ethernet or wireless
network. This shift in technology is quickly
changing the plant environment from work-
ers with significant hands-on experience
troubleshooting equipment to a new group
that would prefer to acquire data and trou-
bleshoot the problem from their computers
and wireless devices.
Expensive, critical plant equipment has had
communication capability for decades, but
as the cost of connectivity falls–especially
with wireless technology that does not re-
quire the running of cables–more low-level
devices such as temperature sensors, relays,
valves and solenoids are connected to infor-
mation systems.
Today’s intelligent industrial products are
much smaller, have more capability, and
www.plantservices.com
eHANDBOOK: IIoT 24
Figure 1 . Bluetooth-enabled devices allow workers use a smartphone to interact with devices such as relays positioned in haz-ardous plant areas . Source: Littelfuse
may be approaching 1/10 the cost of the
similar equipment offered 5 to 10 years
ago. A good example is a motor overload
relay with Bluetooth capability (see Figure
1). By connecting to the relay using an app
on a smartphone, a maintenance techni-
cian can quickly review a host of real-time
information including set points and fault
history, without entering the equipment
enclosure. This same information can be
reviewed via a TCP/IP network anywhere
around the globe.
Cost will drop further as the smartphone
becomes the interface, because displays
and keypads represent an outsized share
of the cost of manufacturing. Often the
interface costs more than the electronics
that provide the control. What’s more, the
external interfaces are far more suscep-
tible to environmental hazards, washdowns
and vandalism, versus their in-panel peers.
Therefore, eliminating displays and keypads
will improve reliability as well.
As the facility maintenance and engineer-
ing workforce ages and retires, a new
group of workers is taking their places
that has grown up with computers, tablets,
and cell phones. Their aging mentors are
doing their best to embrace these tech-
nologies, but spent most of their careers
using a completely different set of tools to
accomplish their daily tasks. At the same
time that more experienced individuals
disappear from the workforce, globaliza-
tion pressures are demanding this younger
group do more with less. Fortunately, tools
now available to all groups will allow them
to access critical information from equip-
ment safely and quickly via interfaces on
their smart devices, as well as share this
information with experts anywhere around
the world to solve their problems.
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 25
About the Author: Kip Larson is director of product technology, industrial business unit,
protection relays for Littelfuse, Inc. (www.littelfuse.com). He has more than 30 years of
industrial electronics product design and application experience. He received a B.S. in
Electrical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 26
On-line Demo: Test Drive the New Bluetooth® Overload Relay
The smart Littelfuse® MP8000 Bluetooth Enabled Overload relay is a
universal relay that can communicate directly with your smartphone
via Bluetooth. No need to open the control panel. Monitor and control
unlimited relays through the Littelfuse App on the smartphone you al-
ready own from a safe distance. The universal relay works on all single or
3-phase motors and pumps with operating voltages of 90-690 VAC.
See the on-line demo:
http://www.littelfuse.com/mp8000demo
Parker Launches Cloud-based Condition Monitoring Solution
SCOUT™ Cloud Software and SensoNODE™ Gold Sensors create a continu-
ous remote monitoring solution that allows plant managers and maintenance
staff to monitor machines without interrupting production. The cloud-based
solution sends measurements direct from the sensors to their desktop.
• Access asset data from anywhere with an internet connection
• Monitor and address the long-term and immediate health of machines
and processes
• Receive alert notifications of issues by email, text and in-system mes-
saging
• Multiple personnel can monitor data simultaneously
• Quickly identify issues and take action before they escalate
• Reduce downtime and decrease maintenance costs
www.parker.com/conditionmonitoring
Better Machine Safety Means Better Productivity
Traditionally, the functions of automated machine safety and control have
been kept separate. But advanced safety technology embedded within
automation components is not just a means to ensure operator safety
— it’s also a way to improve performance. This e-book explores how
embedded safety drives and Ethernet-networked drives lower hardware
costs, increase operator safety, and reduce the amount of “full shutdown”
downtime, which adds up to more productivity.
http://www.schneider-electric.us/en/work/campaign/smart-machines/safe/overview.jsp