Rockwell TechED Magazine

HEADDECKByline

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Best of Rockwell Automation TechEDThe editors of Control, Control Design and Smart Industry bring you the breaking news and best sessions from Rockwell Automation TechED 2016.

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Disruptive tech and The Connected Enterprise ....................................................3

FIRST movement about more than robots .............................................................5

Safer heat treating for aerospace manufacturer ...................................................7

Re-skilled workers bring the Industrial IoT to life ................................................9

A technological approach to a classic sauce ....................................................... 10

Plan for integration in MES modernization .......................................................... 12

Connecting the ‘things’ to the IIoT ......................................................................... 13

A look under the hood of smart devices .............................................................. 15

Smart industry compels The Connected Enterprise .......................................... 16

High performance, future-proofed ......................................................................... 18

HMI as gateway to data-driven operations ......................................................... 20

SCADA shines light on solar fleet ...........................................................................22

App Platform aims to ‘drive the 33s’ .................................................................... 24

Evolving technology changes attitudes about safety .......................................25

Mine the gold in Big Data .........................................................................................27

A window into extruder operations ...................................................................... 29

Ease the transition to virtualization ....................................................................... 31

Simply virtualized HMI solution ..............................................................................33

Save the Date for Automation Fair® 2016 .............................................................35

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Just as advances in communications and comput-ing technology have transformed our personal lives, they continue to disrupt business as usual in

the realm of industrial automation, according to Sujeet Chand, chief technology officer, Rockwell Automation.

Chand shared with the more than 2,100 attendees of this week’s Rockwell Automation TechED event in Or-lando how the company’s control and information ar-chitecture is designed to liberate longstanding silos of information, as well as incorporate and build upon new, disruptive technologies as they arise – all in the pursuit of improvements in time-to-market, asset utilization, to-tal cost of ownership and enterprise risk management for its industrial customers.

“The convergence of IT and OT is happening now,” Chand said, noting the rising tally of connected devices (to 50 billion by 2020), the proliferation of collabora-tive robots (or ‘cobots’) in industrial environments, the increased application of artificial intelligence and ma-chine learning to predict pending operational failures, and the effects of wearables and mobile technology on information accessibility and workflows. “These tech-nology trends are only accelerating The Connected En-terprise,” Chand said.

Liberated information silosIn particular, the opening and integration of formerly siloed sources of information is enabling dramatic gains in productivity, Chand said, citing the 4-5% annual pro-ductivity gains that Rockwell Automation has realized

since itself becoming a Connected Enterprise. “Take the information that exists in your data silos and bring it into operations and other phases of the asset lifecycle,” Chand said.

An example of this might include a wiring design dia-gram generated in Eplan that, once built, was seldom accessed again. In The Connected Enterprise, Chand said, that diagram is available to help troubleshoot op-erations and maintenance activities. Benefits realized due to this improved information access include more tightly integrated design and simulation activities, im-

“Will every bit of data be sent to the cloud? Not likely.” Rockwell Automation CTO Sujeet Chand on the company’s two-tiered approach to real-time analytics performed locally and higher level analytics for optimization tasks.

DISRUPTIVE TECH AND THE CONNECTED ENTERPRISEInformation flows liberated throughout a flexible computing and control architecture enable dramatic productivity improvementsBy Keith Larson

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proved project delivery time, more sustainable produc-tion and better overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), together with optimization of asset uptime, production throughput and energy use.

From an architectural perspective, smart assets are at the center of The Connected Enterprise vision, sur-rounded by groups of enabling technologies such as mo-bility and visibility, information management and ana-lytics, scalable computing (edge, control and cloud), multi-disciplinary control and secure network infra-structure. These core platform enablers are, in turn, sur-rounded by technologies a step further removed, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), multivariable optimization, and end-to-end security. With these elements in place, “we now have the right architecture for implementing The Con-nected Enterprise.”

Analytics where neededThe Connected Enterprise also is designed to accom-modate analytics wherever they are most appropriately deployed. “We estimate that 80% of analytics will con-tinue to be done on premise, enabled by continued ad-vances in local computing power,” Chand said. “Real-time analytics, meaning those that result in a controller setpoint change or alarm displayed to an operator, must be done on premise,” Chand said.

“Meanwhile, the cloud has a distinct role to play, par-ticularly in the area of historicized data and for remote assets,” Chand said. “But will every bit of data be sent to the cloud? Not likely.”

An example of this tiered approach to analytics is a recent solution deployed by Rockwell Automation to maintain and optimize operation of production assets in oil & gas fields. Instead of relying on periodic main-tenance rounds to detect malfunctioning wells, down-hole sensors together with ControlLogix-based real-time analytics detect and alert operations to actual and pend-ing problems. Meanwhile, a distilled view of individual well data is transferred to the cloud, where analytics can optimize oilfield performance across multiple individ-ual wells.

“The Rockwell Automation cloud platform is based on Microsoft Azure,” Chand explained. “This allows you to leverage whichever of the many analytics solu-tions available are most appropriate. Look at the busi-ness outcomes you are trying to achieve, then plug in whichever analytics you need.”

While The Connected Enterprise can do much to improve industrial performance today, it will become even more capable in the future, concluded Chand. “We’re working to make it increasingly predictive and optimized. Longer term, it will be both self-adaptive and self-healing.”

Keith Larson is group publisher responsible for Putman Media’s manufacturing automation titles Control, Control Design and Smart Industry. Corporately, he also serves as vice president of content across Putman Media’s other magazine titles.

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Dean Kamen is one of America’s greatest in-ventors with more than 400 patents for de-vices ranging from the Segway to the auto-

syringe insulin pump and DARPA arm. But his favorite topic arises from his role as founder of FIRST (for inspiration and recognition in science and tech-nology), the organization behind the FIRST robotics competitions.

“I’m here because this is Geek Central,” Kamen told attendees of his keynote presentation at Rockwell Automation TechED this week in Orlando. “I have to use my time carefully, but this was a no-brainer. Rockwell Automation has been an incredible sup-porter of FIRST, and you are thousands of techies.

“We need more technologists and a louder voice in the culture, and FIRST helps,” Ka-men said. “Today, technology is mov-ing faster, but society and regulation is, if anything, slowing down. The rate of adoption is slowing down. That’s partly because the technical community has not had enough voice.”

Kamen described technological breakthroughs including the Crown stent, which eliminated 100,000 open-heart surgeries in its first year; the wear-able insulin pump, which took one year to invent but 15 years to be accepted; and the peritoneal dialysis machine. “Instead of three sessions a week of hell

at the hospital, our peritoneal dialysis system works at home, overnight, using a disposable cassette,” he said. “We’ve recently shipped our 600 millionth cas-sette, but it’s life support – you need to be a pretty sophisticated person to be willing to use it. The new version is Cloud-connected so doctors and family members can monitor and know what’s going on.”

Kamen said similar breakthroughs will be more common and more rapidly accepted when we can popularize science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). “FIRST is not another curriculum or another science fair,” he said. It’s intended to inspire by recognition and celebration. “In any free country, you get what you celebrate. We bring the same recog-nition as people who sing or bounce a ball.”

FIRST MOVEMENT ABOUT MORE THAN ROBOTSDean Kamen, the force behind the Segway, the insulin pump, the DARPA arm and Slingshot water purifier, inspires kids to take on the world.By Paul Studebaker

“I’m here because this is Geek Central.” Inventor Dean Kamen spoke to attendees of his keynote presentation at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.

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The difference between science and science fiction is timingFor example, the iBOT mobility system – a Segway-in-spired device that allows disabled people to access reg-ular spaces and climb stairs – is life-changing, but the wheelchair manufacturers wouldn’t touch it. “Now we’ve partnered with Toyota to redesign and relaunch it. Like the self-driving car, it’s a science fiction proj-ect that’s now available science.”

In the Civil War, soldiers who lost an arm were given a wooden stick with a hook on it. “For Iraq, the wooden stick was replaced by plastic, but IEDs often take off both arms,” Kamen said. “So we invented the DARPA mind-controlled prosthetic arm, which is critically im-portant to a small group of people.

“But the number one cause of death of people less than five years old is contaminated water. So we in-vented the Slingshot water purification system, which uses distillation with 98% energy recovery. It’s a box with two hoses: you connect one to something wet, which can be salty, sewage or polluted with chemi-cals, and out the other hose comes water that meets FDA standards.”

Help change the world. Seriously.How do you make life- and world-changing technology

more common and accepted? “Kids will get good at any-thing grownups make them think is important,” Kamen said. “We founded FIRST 26 years ago, using the sports model. LeBron James is not a phys ed teacher, he is a role model. So we find tech superstars – you – to inspire kids.”

FIRST now has 46,000 teams in 86 countries par-ticipating in a “Super Bowl of Smarts,” Kamen said. “And every kid on our teams can turn pro – there’s a job for every one. In 10 or 15 or 20 years, one will cure

Alzheimer’s disease or cancer, or build an engine that doesn’t pollute.”

Team members are 30% women and minorities, 50% more likely to attend college, and twice as likely to become engineers. The competition awards $30 million in scholarships.

“The top technical universities fight to get our kids, and now the military is looking for them. No matter what equipment we have, if we don’t have the brightest kids, we can’t defend our country,” Kamen said.

FIRST used to be found at USFirst.org. This year, recognizing the global scale, it’s become FIRSTIn-spires.org.

“Instead of waiting for more than 86 countries to bub-ble up, we’ve started the FIRST International organiza-tion to spread the word,” Kamen said. “Politics divides countries, science unites the world. Maybe instead of teaching history, we can teach kids everywhere the com-mon language of STEM and let them work together to solve the world’s problems.”

The FIRST competition is not just about the ro-bots. It’s a lesson in humility, hard work and collabo-ration; a roadmap to engineering; a rock to smash the glass ceilings; a sledgehammer to break cultural barriers; a compass to peace; and a Rosetta stone to translate the future.

It’s not just a robot, it’s a machine to build the people who will change the world.

“The technical community gets an A+ for abilities and effects, but only a C for community,” Kamen said. “FIRST participants say you always get more out of it than you put into it. By becoming a FIRST mentor, you can be part of a global network that, for the first time in history, will allow people to work together and fix the world.”

Paul Studebaker is chief editor of Control. He earned a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering and gathered 12 years experience in manufacturing before becoming an award-winning writer and editor for publications including Control and Plant Services.

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A risky thermal process in a faraway location successfully came together for O’Brien & Gere and the integrator’s global aerospace

client – with a generous dose of high-performance technology from Rockwell Automation.

The manual process had required that two strong operators handle a red hot part between a furnace and quenching process. It also required controlling a com-bustible furnace and quenching process with their at-tendant safety risks, plus tight mechanical tolerances and process requirements. Adding to the difficulty was a 2,200°F, 40-lb aerospace gear that imparted a high moment load to the end of a robot arm.

Key to the project’s success was the Rockwell Au-tomation high-performance architecture, related Bill Klick, O&G integration lead, who discussed the proj-ect at this week’s Rockwell Automation TechED event in Orlando. O&G decided early to use a fully inte-grated design and selected Rockwell Automation due to support and hardware availability at the end-user site in the Philippines. A Fanuc robot was selected as the workhorse of the system. With the control archi-tecture selected, a conceptual design was created in AutoCAD Inventor and using Fanuc Roboguide to simulate the part movement.

A distributed approachA single ControlLogix controller in the main panel worked with distributed controllers in each piece of equipment, Klick explained. “One of the biggest suc-

cesses of this project was the use of distributed con-trol in the design.” Each piece of equipment had its own control panel with Allen-Bradley POINT I/O modules, including the infeed conveyor, Fanuc ro-bot, furnace, atmosphere, quench and washer.

Some panels also included automation devices such as silicon-controller rectifiers (SCRs), variable frequency drives (VFDs) and servo drives all con-nected in an EtherNet/IP ring topology. “The ring topology eliminated single point failures and the sys-tem layout, in a circle, made the network connec-tions easy. The connection to adjacent devices, in a

“The modular design of the Rockwell Automation architecture made teardown and then installation at the end user simpler.” O’Brien & Gere’s Bill Klick on testing its machine in New York before shipment to the Philippines.

SAFER HEAT TREATING FOR AEROSPACE MANUFACTURERA real life look at how the Rockwell Automation architecture is used to boost machine and process productivity and quality.By Dave Perkon

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daisy-chain configuration, was simple and reduced network wiring.”

The equipment was designed, built and tested in O&G’s Liverpool facility in New York. “Once tested and 100% operational, the equipment was partially disassembled and shipped overseas,” said Klick. “The modular design of the Rockwell Automation archi-tecture made teardown and then installation at the end user simpler. Each piece of equipment had its own control panel, so the wiring stayed intact when shipped. “It didn’t take much more than supplying each machine with air, power and Ethernet,” Klick said. “It reduced much of the commissioning and testing, such as checking for sensor and cable hook-up errors.”

“A Stratix managed Ethernet switch was used to seg-regate the control network from the plant network,” said Klick. “POINT I/O was the smartest platform we used on this project. The cost was less than some of the rack-based options, and it allowed us to combine both safety and non-safety I/O on a single adapter. We could do both safety and control via Ethernet.”

The main operator interface is an Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus 6 graphic terminal. “The client re-quested a single operator interface with data acqui-sition. We utilized the DataStore functionality on

the PanelView Plus to gather time, temperatures and transfer times. We also added a Cisco firewall / VPN to support the customer remotely.”

Commissioning & trainingO&G worked closely with the customer during com-missioning and training. “Installation took a little over a week,” said Klick. “Our control engineer was onsite to set up and teach the robot. And, during startup test-ing, we trained the operator using as many test parts as were available.”

“One of the keys to a successful project are engi-neers, operators and maintenance people who can properly support the equipment 24/7,” Klick added. “In this case, the operators took ownership of the ma-chine quickly.”

Replacing a risky manual operation with some au-tomation and the Rockwell Automation architecture created a safe system that complied with industry safety requirements, increased production and im-proved product quality. It improved the furnace tem-perature uniformity from within 25°F to within 10°F, reduced transfer time from furnace to quench by 50%, increased throughput by 38%. In the end, the customer saw 100% ROI within 1 year and 7 months.

Dave Perkon is technical editor for Control Design. He has engineered and managed automation projects for Fortune 500 companies in the medical, automotive, semiconductor, defense and solar industries.

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Industrial operators, attracted by promises of gains in productivity and increased insight, will add an expo-nential number of devices onto their networks in the

coming years.However, as more devices are connected, manufac-

turers are experiencing a deficit in skilled workers able to maintain plant floor equipment. Workers are simply not able to keep up with the exponential growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), and are left unable to design, implement and maintain these technologies. And with more devices coming on the network, the skills gap will continue to widen.

IT/OT convergenceFor years, operation technology (OT) professionals have maintained the networks and devices in indus-trial settings. On the other hand, information technol-ogy (IT) professionals were consulted on the few devices that were operating on Ether-net to help manage deploy-ment, management and trou-bleshooting.

However, as plant networks are becoming increasingly connected, there’s a rebal-ance of responsibility taking place. As a greater variety of devices are being added to the network, the lines for who maintains what are blurring between IT and OT.

In order to keep plants pro-ductive and help manufac-turers realize the full poten-

tial of the IoT, IT and OT professionals will have to learn new skills and reevaluate their current job re-quirements. IT will need to learn more about the plant floor, and OT will need to learn about operations and maintenance on an Ethernet/IP network.

New skill setsThough there will still be some differences in job roles, training will help both IT and OT teams learn to install, operate and maintain the industrial net-works that are becoming prevalent in manufacturing facilities today.

Both professions will learn the intricacies of con-necting control systems to network systems and how to maintain them. These best practices will maximize plant uptime and security for critical industrial systems and assets.

RE-SKILLED WORKERS BRING THE INDUSTRIAL IOT TO LIFEAs the lines between IT and OT blur, professionals on both sides of the divide are in need of new skillsBy Sudarshan Krishnamurthi

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They will also be responsible for managing the scal-ability, availability and reliability of the industrial control systems. Beyond set-up, they must know how to monitor and diagnose network issues.

Building and guarding the infrastructureAnother big part of the convergence will be learning to provide security services to the industrial network.

In 2015, there were a large number of security breaches. Major companies struggled to find security specialists to provide adequate protection from hackers. This highlights how critical the skill set is from a secu-rity operations perspective, both for the enterprise and the plant. With hardly enough security specialists avail-able to guard an enterprise, there’s even less of a chance there are enough to guard a plant.

The IT and OT professionals in plants will need to learn to choose and install security devices such as fire-

walls to protect the entire plant. But beyond just instal-lation, workers must be trained to monitor for security issues. Actively monitoring for security issues can help thwart attacks before they even start.

Bridging the skills gapThe skills gap has always existed. But the expansion of IP technology throughout a plant is reinforcing the need for re-skilling. The growing desire to gather analyt-ics from IP-based devices means the skills to implement network changes are in increasing demand.

At the Rockwell Automation TechED 2016 event, at-tendees can sample courses in the network design eL-earning program from Industrial IP Advantage that teaches the critical design skills needed to build a plant-wide network. These hands-on sessions will allow at-tendees to work through common manufacturing sce-narios on wireless, security, segmentation and more.

Sudarshan Krishnamurthi is senior product manager for Cisco, on behalf of Industrial IP Advantage

Steve Christian remembers the days—not too long ago—when production schedules were printed on sheets of paper and distributed to operators at his

plant, who would manually twist valve handles to send the Ragu sauce tomato slurry from one kettle to another.

“Our infrastructure was hodge-podge,” summarized Christian during his presentation at the 2016 Rockwell Automation TechED conference. “As we were growing more and more, we had to connect all the PLCs talking to one another. And to gather that information we had to

hunt for it online rather than going local to the site. We used to run something until it was completely broken and obsolete. Then we’d have to upgrade just to stay current with the software.”

Lost in the sauce These days, the plant technician at Owensboro, Ken-tucky-based Mizkan Americas is happy to report that the sauce-production process is decidedly more modern, thanks to upgrading to FactoryTalk Batch software, imple-

A TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH TO A CLASSIC SAUCEEmploying FactoryTalk Batch software, the century-old Ragu sauce gets a boost from modern technologyBy Chris McNamara

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menting a virtualized server and standardizing kitchens on the new software. “Now we’re doing a much better job keeping current with technology,” said Christian, with a hint of relief in his voice.

ECS Solutions, Inc. is guiding Mizkan through that evolution, resulting in boosted data-storage and network speed along with widened internal accessibility to the en-tire system. ECS recommended a redundant star archi-tecture, which enables quicker convergence and greater expandability with less intrusion. Otto, together with Steve Christian, related the story of Mizkan’s journey this week at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.

“We made these changes in phases,” explained Randy Otto, vice president of ECS Solutions, Inc. Phase 1, which was completed in November 2015, entailed upgrading servers and software. Phase 2 focuses on an overhaul of the plant-wide manufacturing network.

Implementing a FactoryTalk Batch network enables the processing plant to be compliant with the ISA-88 standard, making the process more flexible, enabling switching between some 200 recipes without having to know PLC programming or enlisting the services of engineers for programming support. Added Otto, “We also wanted to bring management visibility into the process and support the convergence of IT and OT.”

Throughout the TechED presentation, Otto stressed the importance of prioritizing and clarifying ownership of the IT role during an initiative like this. “The people who were in place for engineering, maintenance and tech support didn’t have the knowledge required to do the backup and maintenance on servers and the database,” he explained. Without this oversight, servers fill to capacity and data is overwritten.

Likewise, Otto stressed the need for a clear strategy when launching upgrades of this magnitude. “If we don’t look at the entire process in a plant, we end up with islands of au-tomation,” he explained. “Developing a Connected Enter-prise makes you step back and look at the entire plant strate-gically. How much data do you want to collect? How much bandwidth will this take up? Where do we need switches throughout the plant? How are we going to support every-thing? These are the types of things that need to go into a plan. If you don’t start with a clear strategy, you end up with a crashing, daisy-chain network.”

The results at Mizkan speak volumes. Otto and Christian boast comprehensive, real-time reporting from the floor and package areas, full time-series data in the CIP systems as required by the FDA, speedy ingredient-analysis reports, and data-storage reports available upon request within seconds. There have been no occurrences of downtime in 2016.

The production, the technology, the sauce and the profits keep flowing.

“The sauce has the same great taste,” said Christian, who’s had a hand in producing the century-old Ragu for nearly three decades. “The way we make it is just a lot easier.”

“If we don’t look at the entire process in a plant we end up with islands of automation.” Randy Otto of ECS Solutions on the importance of a big picture view when undertaking an automation system modernization.

Chris McNamara is content director of Smart Industry. He has spent 20 years in the corporate-communications/digital-marketing world, while authoring features for a host of newspapers, magazines and websites.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is turning traditional homes into high-tech havens. The most success-ful solutions allow consumers to start small. For

instance, vendors offer lighting systems controlled re-motely via your smartphone. As a separate package, they might offer a smoke detector that integrates with the light-ing system, so lights flash to visually alert you of a fire.

When purchased separately, these compatible compo-nents can be obtained for only a couple hundred dollars each. Once you start to see value of your initial invest-ment and have more money to spend, you can often eas-ily integrate them into your home’s digital platform.

That same basic principle is now applicable for a man-ufacturing execution system (MES). New, fit-for-pur-pose software applications are available that allow users to begin connecting their plant floor or operations tech-nology (OT) with their IT and enterprise systems for less than a fraction of the cost of an entire MES.

Fit-for-purpose solutions can fill a gap for users who do not have large MES infrastructures, but need to improve areas from quality to yield to cost.

But before you begin building an MES sys-tem one application at a time, you must have an integration plan in place to ensure all the pieces eventually connect. The benefits in-crease exponentially once fit-for-purpose sys-tems are talking to each other and utilizing data across systems.

Silos versus betting the farmThe introduction of computers and the ability to deploy a MES and enterprise resource plan-ning system in manufacturing led to new ef-ficiencies in the 1990s. But in the beginning,

system designers did not pay heed to the importance of integration. Because of this, many production opera-tions today struggle with legacy applications that cannot talk to each other, creating communications silos.

To topple that barrier, over the last 15 years, compa-nies have implemented single software solutions horizon-tally across manufacturing lines. While the approach has streamlined production, the upfront cost has proven sub-stantial, especially for smaller manufacturers. Now, truly embracing the essence of the IoT movement, producers can take a modular approach to connecting enterprises.

Step-by-step solutionsApplying MES applications modularly keeps the door open for growth if a company wishes to expand into other solutions. A project that starts small is easier to jus-tify to management. The results are apparent when ap-plied to specific MES functions – leading to concrete evidence to highlight increased efficiency.

PLAN FOR INTEGRATION IN MES MODERNIZATIONFit-for-purpose software applications allow users to begin con-necting their plant floor and enterprise systems for a fraction of the cost of an entire MES.By Khris Kammer

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Take, for example, a fit-for-purpose, quality-manage-ment application. Instead of modeling and applying a proof-of-concept solution thinly across an MES, a mod-ular quality-management application can be rolled out at the machine level for specific, quality data collection and elimination of paper-based reporting.

The software alerts a plant operator if a quality check is needed via laptop, tablet or smartphone. If the check fails, a configurable, escalation work flow drives opera-tions into additional quality sampling and corrective ac-tion plans, creating the potential to salvage product still on the line. This also gives plant and operations managers insight into the total number of completed, suspected and wasted batches.

It’s a full, quality-management solution, but future goals need to be kept top of mind because the real ben-efits lie in integration. Without a plan, future MES inte-gration becomes a challenge.

A key first step in your standardization plan is selecting products and vendors that comply with ISA 95. This will al-low you to pick functionality from different vendors while ensuring the products work together. Just know that cross-vendor integration will never be as smooth as single-vendor integration.

The next step to consider is system design. For example, if you add a production management application to a sys-tem that already has quality management, you can pull data from several systems to improve operational procedures without the additional cost of data collection. So, start with applications that share similar context for the best insights.

Manufacturing is moving into a new age. Quality and efficiency are improving as a result of capturing and using valuable data. While the task of connecting systems seems daunting, there is now a simple starting point with an appli-cation-based approach. Before you jump in, have a plan in place. Your foresight will save you headaches in the future.

Khris Kammer is information partner and competency manager for Rockwell Automation

Much attention goes to the first two words that make up the buzz-phrase Industrial Internet of Things. “Industrial” is the arena in which the

“Internet” is playing an increasingly important role. But the “things” – the T at the end of IIoT – is where the rubber meets the road in digital transformation.

“Smart assets are critical to the connected enterprise,” stressed Blake Moret, senior vice president of control proj-ects & solutions and incoming president and CEO of Rock-well Automation, during his opening keynote presentation at TechED this week in Orlando. “These are the things in the IIoT, and we have home-field advantage.”

The advantage Moret references is his company’s acu-men with delivering value to enterprises by optimizing their smart connectivity. And the applications are varied. “Pharmaceutical companies care about serialization,” ex-plained Moret. “Auto manufacturers care about schedul-ing. Oil and gas industries care about the optimal flow to extend the life of wells. We combine innovation and expertise through our Connected Enterprise offerings. Rockwell Automation takes advantage of a wide range of devices, understands changes in process, and we can ap-ply reliability science to not only repair what breaks but to keep stuff from breaking.”

CONNECTING THE ‘THINGS’ TO THE IIoTOptimizing smart connectivity, realizing business goalsBy Chris McNamara

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Broken industrial assets – smart or not – don’t benefit anybody.

During his presentation, Moret detailed his company’s history, labeling it a “preamble to The Connected Enter-prise.” The integrated-control focus of the 1990s led to the multi-discipline control era of the 2000s, which prompted the current era of information enablement and applying IT principles on the plant floor via connected services.

Business drivers“Connected services is all about helping partners and customers get the most value out of automation invest-ments in the connected enterprise,” added Scott Lap-cewich, vice president and general manager of cus-tomer support & maintenance with Rockwell, who, during his keynote presentation on day two of TechED outlined key elements of implementing a successful connected-services strategy: proper connectivity, un-derstanding enterprises’ key business drivers, optimally leveraging all of the data generated to inform business decisions, etc.

Lapcewich detailed how his team categorizes five offer-ings related to connected services:

Networks and security – implementing networks and pre-venting the loss of IP

Product and application-lifecycle support – educating clients to properly use connected offerings from Rockwell Automation and troubleshooting problems with a team of 1,000+ technical experts

Remote-monitoring and cloud analytics – boosting enter-prises’ ability to perform key functions, expediently, off-site

Asset-management and reliability services – monitoring and tracking assets in real time to optimize asset-utilization

People and asset safety – maintaining the health and safety of machines and machinists

Lapcewich singled out asset safety among the hot topics in the connected-services discussion. How, along with in-creasing adopting of worker-safety regulations in developing countries, asset safety is increasingly on the minds of indus-try leaders around the globe.

Unsafe industrial assets – smart or not – don’t benefit any-body.

“The Connected Enterprise is all about high-perfor-mance architecture,” said Lapcewich. “All of the smart as-sets that make up The Connected Enterprise are now inte-grated. They communicate with one another. So connected services build upon The Connected Enterprise in different ways — the set of services to achieve this in the installation of a plant, then, once the plant is connected, leveraging the data that is produced and delivering that data back to the customer in the form of insight.”

In short, just as important as generating data is contextu-alizing it – translating it into actionable form. And increas-ingly, agreed Lapcwich and Moret, the focus is using asset-performance information generated by connected assets in a forecasting manner, looking miles down the highway rather than monitoring the rearview mirror.

When the rubber meets the road, it’s great to be prepared for bumps. It’s better to avoid them altogether while taking a shortcut.

“These are the things in the IIoT, and we have home-field advantage.” Blake Moret at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.


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Brian Schriver’s presentation on day two of TechEd – “Smart Devices: Helping Design, Operate and Maintain The Connected Enterprise” – was be-

deviled by technical difficulties. The clicker for his slide-projector failed, so he had to manually advance from one graphic to the next. A USB plug mysteriously unplugged. PowerPoint panels began formatting strangely.

To his credit, the Rockwell Automation commercial competency developer lived up to his title. Schriver de-livered his presentation as smooth as silk. And the tech-nical glitches only served to reinforce his message – things go wrong in any complex process; the challenge is to mitigate the fallout.

The method to that mitigation in the manufacturing realm is smart devices, or more accurately, the strategic, connected deployment of smart devices. “There is no question that a smart, connected system using intelligent devices is easier to operate and maintain, and will have higher uptimes,” summarized Schriver. “All of the situa-tions that would have required downtime, troubleshoot-ing and other efforts can either be prevented or, in the event of an interruption, we can move more quickly that we were previously able to.”

Schriver credits enterprises like Apple and Google for prompting changes in the industrial arena. “What they have done with smart devices raises the bar for us,” he said. “My 18-month-old was able to play videos on my phone, while we as an industry have typically produced products

that required an engineering degree to use. This was just accepted as the way things were. Now we’re making a concerted effort to make our products easier to use.”

Working smarter, working easier – not harderThe presentation summary promised to give attendees a look “under the hood” of smart “edge” devices, and the presenter delivered just that – a video feed on one screen broadcast Schriver manipulating device controls as he described the processes for each.

Schriver repeatedly referenced sensors as the best ex-amples of smart devices on the factory floor. Whereas sensors historically communicated just one message (“This part of the process is working”), the modern, smart sensor performs that basic task while also provid-ing real-time updates on its own performance (“I am not functioning optimally”), analysis of its own condition (“I am overheating”), and a projection of its own lifespan (“I need to be replaced soon”). “This information en-

A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD OF SMART DEVICESThings go wrong in any complex process; the challenge is to miti-gate the falloutBy Chris McNamara

“Situations that would have required downtime, troubleshooting and other efforts can either be prevented or, in the event of an interruption, we can move more quickly,” said Brian Schriver at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.

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ables predictive maintenance, rather than reactive main-tenance,” the presenter said.

A key component of Schriver’s presentation was using IO-Link point-to-point serial-communication protocol to com-municate with sensors and/or actuators, and the trouble-shooting advantages that tool provides. “We have just had to live with spending hours troubleshooting to learn why a sensor stopped working,” he said. “To get advanced notice of that built into a control system is a really powerful thing.”

The application of (and benefits from) smart devices was highlighted throughout the presentation, as was Schriver’s simple description of what, exactly, makes a device smart. “To me, a smart device has two aspects. One – can I get contextual, useful information out of it? Two – is it easy to use? A smart device should just work, without me having to do a whole lot of things to it to make it work.”

Tell that to the slide projector.


The world has discovered a tremendous opportu-nity for businesses to benefit by harnessing data from machines. Over the past two years, smart

manufacturing initiatives around the world have led to public/private partnerships that are writing specifica-tions for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the cloud and mobility, and industry consortia are forming to drive the initiatives.

“New products over the next 12-18 months will show how we’re working to extend process control and infor-mation software, and how we’re uniquely positioned to leverage our portfolio for value-based outcomes – for your financial results,” said John Genovesi, vice presi-dent and general manager, Information Software and Process Business, Rockwell Automation, in his keynote presentation at Rockwell Automation TechED this week in Orlando.

The conventional DCS continues to rely on closed, locked-down, centralized systems that offer determin-ism, redundancy and high availability, but make it costly to procure, maintain and run. “Users are locked into expensive service agreements, and it’s hard to integrate other systems and standalone equipment such as skids,” Genovesi said.

In contrast, the Rockwell Automation modern DCS uses commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to support plant-wide systems. Its DCS extends beyond the process to the balance of the plant with networks that offer better data, better access and integration, with an open, future-proof approach that is easily updated.

“Conventional DCS network infrastructures are closed and proprietary, and not easily extended,” Genovesi said. “You end up with disparate, multiple, proprietary systems that do not work well with each

SMART INDUSTRY COMPELS THE CONNECTED ENTERPRISEData-driven initiatives are best addressed with commercial tech-nology including standard, unmodified EthernetBy Paul Studebaker

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other or with IT. Instead, we use standard, unmodi-fied Ethernet, the same on the plant floor as in the office. It’s flexible, adapts to new technology, and is secure, because it’s easily adapted to changing threats and their requirements.”

“Our PlantPAx library and design tools also make it easy to design, implement and modify systems,” Genovesi said. “We have thousands of engineers around the globe, but can’t be all things to all people, so there are also thousands of partners to help get the right things in the right places.”

Information management on the riseToday, fewer than 14% of manufacturers connect their pro-duction to the enterprise, and many report increased cy-ber security risk and the loss of intellectual property. “A single, secure, robust network infrastructure is essential,” Genovesi said. That’s why Rockwell Automation leverages

Ethernet architecture. It also speeds IT/OT integration – millions of IT professionals can use it – and it facilitates the use of commercial technology in manufacturing.

Think of automation devices as smart, connected as-sets, all producing information about their own state. “We call it self-awareness,” Genovesi said. “They can give you a tremendous amount of information about your process.”

If your factory could talk, the collected data could tell you how much energy is consumed per unit product and give you alerts to correct deviations. “It’s said that we’ll have 44 ZB of data by 2020, but only one-third of it is

The Rockwell Automation modern DCS uses Ethernet/IP and commercial technology to provide a deterministic, secure infrastructure at all layers. “This allows it to empower a collapsed, collaborative environment with easy integration to business systems,” said Keith McPherson, marketing development director, Rockwell Automation, at the company’s TechED event this week in Orlando. The same platform can be applied across process, discrete, safety and drives, which allows users to optimize, for example, process and packaging on one system.

Rockwell Automation offers an expanded range of virtualized

applications including historian and batch – 12 in all. Batch sequences can be downloaded from the servers to the controllers, so the code runs at the controller for speed and response without concerns about network or server problems disturbing a batch.

An increasing number of faceplates for devices and templates for control strategies are now preconfigured. “Just point at a device and it lights up,” McPherson said. “The integrated development environment makes it easy to design and deploy, and set control strategies in a drag-and-drop environment.” Workforce productivity rises with preconfigured control strategies and templates, which also ease the

work of the larger community of system integrators and equipment manufacturers.

“You can make a skid, deliver it and plug it in,” McPherson said. “All the tags and alarms are instantly available so you can configure it and have it up and running in days instead of weeks. The time savings are huge.”

This month, “Our batch software is going mobile, so you can run untethered, see alarms and events, and monitor progress on an iPhone or other mobile device.” McPherson added. “We’re doing this across the portfolio, with HTML 5, for AssetCentre, ViewPoint HMI, ProductionCentre MES, and more.”

“Technology lifecycles are becoming ever shorter. Don’t be a hostage to your DCS.” John Genovesi, vice president and general manager, Information Software and Process Business, Rockwell Automation, in his keynote presentation at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.

WHAT’S NEW WITH THE MODERN DCS?

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useful for analysis, and only a third of companies have begun putting it to work,” Genovesi added.

Rockwell Automation continues to work with OSIsoft to integrate its PI data infrastructure in Rockwell Automa-tion systems, at both the edge and enterprise levels.

Martin Otterson, senior vice president, sales, marketing and industry, OSIsoft, added, “We need to go from just a historian to an infrastructure that goes from the edge of

production to the cloud, with context and the ability to le-verage third-party applications,” such as MES, condition monitoring, energy management and future data-mining and analysis applications yet to be defined.

“The cloud, mobility and virtualization are disrup-tive to old systems, but we can easily integrate them.” Genovesi said. “Technology lifecycles are becoming ever shorter. Don’t be a hostage to your DCS.”


Today’s high performance architecture from Rockwell Automation can provide an easy way to make more cars. A recent study by an auto-

motive customer planning a processor migration found that by just changing to the new Allen-Bradley Con-trolLogix 5580 controller it could produce 100 more cars a month thanks to a substantially faster scan time. And if upgrading the controller isn’t fast enough, ear-lier this year, Rockwell Automation unveiled new Al-len-Bradley Compact I/O that is 40% smaller and offers a 10-fold increase in performance.

Rockwell Automation has made a number of tech-nology investments over the past few years to boost the performance of its systems, commented Frank Kulasze-wicz, senior vice president of architecture and software, at this week’s Rockwell Automation TechED event in Orlando. The new, high performance architecture com-bines the Integrated Architecture with unified commu-

nications, systems intelligence and industrial informa-tion management.

“Our high performance architecture is future-proof, creating value over time and taking advantage of new capabilities as they come to market,” noted Kulaszewicz. “Backwards compatibility is important, but taking ad-vantages of capabilities as they evolve is equally impor-tant. Technology is changing quickly, and we want our customers to be able to take advantage of that.”

Logix and Studio 5000“The core of the high performance architecture is Logix,” said Fran Wlodarczyk vice president and gen-eral manager product management, control and visual-ization, during his turn at the TechED keynote podium. “The latest controllers, the ControlLogix 5580 and CompactLogix 5380 also have additional bandwidth to move information important for The Connected Enter-

HIGH PERFORMANCE, FUTURE-PROOFEDRockwell Automation has evolved its integrated architecture into a high performance version that’s smart, productive and secureBy Dave Perkon

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prise. They have the latest technology under the hood and are a platform for the future.”

“The backbone of the high performance architec-ture is a secure network based on standard unmodi-fied Ethernet, and 1-gigabit Ethernet is embedded,” said Wlodarczyk. “With this connection, we are con-tinuing to partner with Cisco to bring together the best of the IT and OT worlds. This collaboration will result in a security appliance later this year for the Stratix family of products that is essentially an in-dustrial firewall with deep packet inspection allowing both IT and OT personnel to manage traffic with in-creased security.”

Wlodarczyk also discussed some of the new func-tionality of the Studio 5000 design environment, in-cluding a library tool for managing graphics and logic. “Protecting intellectual property created within Stu-dio 5000 is also important, so we recently released a license-based content protection system that allows you to create your own security keys for greater protection.” Later this year, Rockwell Automation is excited to add interfaces to third-party engineering tools, Wlodarc-zyk continued. “We’re working with market leaders to provide bi-directional data flow to electrical CAD and simulation packages.”

In addition to programming and visualization, Studio 5000 Application Code Manager will have a new addi-tion in October, Application Content. “I am proud and excited to see Application Content from Rockwell Auto-mation becoming part of a more formalized offering,” said Joachim Thomsen, senior manager, application IP. “Our vision for Application Content is to make an ac-tive contribution by helping engineers create automa-tion projects in an efficient and sustainable way.” Also in the works are best-practice programming add on instruc-tions (AOI) and standard program templates that will re-duce engineering time, Thomsen said.

Visualization and mobilitySimilar to the company’s advances in design software, con-trollers, I/O and networks, Rockwell Automation also is making investments in its visualization portfolio, continued Wlodarczyk. “This includes driving productivity, modern-izing the portfolio and embracing mobile technology,” he said. “The release of the PanelView 5500 starts the drive in productivity by reducing engineering hours with tight inte-gration to Logix controllers and intuitive development work-flow. Some of Logix integration is also extending to the Fac-toryTalk View SE product, with better exposed tag data and an improved trend template.”

“We have mobilized many of our products, but more ex-citing is our work to transform the smartphone into an in-dustrial tool – an effort code-named Project Stanton,” said Wlodarczyk. “Later this year, we will release an app plat-form for maintenance personnel with modules to drive pro-ductivity. Future modules will focus on other areas of the manufacturing space.”

Rockwell Automation also introduced self-aware and system-aware concepts. Self-aware, for example, is a photo-eye that knows it needs to be cleaned or aligned. Rockwell released the self-aware Kinetix 5000 fam-ily, which is a space-saving, high-performance motion control package with dynamic auto-tuning features.

“Our high performance architecture is future-proof, creating value over time and taking advantage of new capabilities as they come to market.” Frank Kulaszewicz of Rockwell Automation on the continued performance enhancements to the company’s automation platform.

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Self-aware devices working together translates into system-awareness. Think of it as machine capability and functionality without having to program it, Wlodarc-zyk said. System-aware pieces of this high performance architecture include the company’s recently acquired iTRAK and MagneMotion linear motor conveyor plat-

forms. “These systems provide the ability to move prod-uct within machines or between machines,” said Wlodar-czyk. The platform is modular and has “polite” cart traffic management, accumulation and merging functionality with little programming needed. “It’s system-aware and handles much of that automatically.”


Are you playing Pong while the competition plays Halo 5? The human machine interface (HMI) system has evolved from push-button controls to

the primary platform for operational decision-making. Just as today’s best video games offer up dramatic, new capabili-ties, today the HMI provides more impactful graphics, con-textualized alerts and intuitively placed information that en-ables operators to make quick, in-process decisions.

Expectations for HMI software are progressing as origi-nal equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and users seek to take advantage of new enabling technologies. Migrating to more advanced HMI software can help unlock new benefits by reducing design and commissioning time, as well as by boosting uptime and productivity. The drivers behind these benefits are improved visualization, more detailed and ac-curate alarm information, and anytime, anywhere access to information.

Behind the screenEvery day, control systems collect a swarm of unused op-erational data that could potentially help in plantwide, de-

cision-making processes. Companies that are electing to converge their information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) are now uncovering that once-ignored data from the controllers and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.

Thanks to the confluence of IT and OT solutions, the HMI can take on producer and consumer roles in the sys-tem-wide data flow. In short, not only does it display all of the real-time information needed to control a system, but by accessing data from other sources, operators can visualize and contextualize a broader set of information. This results in making decisions and solving problems closer to where the data is created, when it’s created.

Reducing design timeThe idea of HMI system migration can seem very daunt-ing, but modern HMI software alleviates this with sim-plified design and commissioning processes.

By offering a common development tool, multiple us-ers involved in a deployment can create machine- and site-level HMI applications in a single, scalable design

HMI AS GATEWAY TO DATA-DRIVEN OPERATIONSThe human-machine interface as advanced, decision-making toolBy Scott Miller

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environment. Developers, for instance, can create re-usable objects that ensure consis-tency, and manage entire object libraries to improve the overall productivity of the design process. Plus, entire machine-level applica-tions or their individual components can be imported into supervisory-level applications.

For running systems, edits to applications are straightforward during commissioning. When changes are made, the system will update with-out costly redeployment or recompile cycles.

Advanced HMI software is also integrated with the control system instead of existing as a separate entity. The HMI can directly reference tags and alarms in the controller instead of using abstracted intermediate databases. This direct connection means reduced error rates in design and increased accuracy in state-tracking and time stamps.

Bringing data to lightYou’ve integrated IT and OT systems. You’ve reduced design time. Now, an abundance of data is available at your fingertips. This quantity of information might seem overwhelming and in itself doesn’t monitor or con-trol production. It requires presentation in a clear, con-cise and consistent view that enhances the operational role of a modern HMI solution.

Fancy graphics do make a contribution, but what users really need is a way to visualize complex information in an intuitive way. By leveraging industry standards for op-erator awareness, an HMI can present even that swarm of data on a physical screen without confusion. For ex-ample, Web-browser-style navigation buttons empower operators to quickly respond to problems or select spe-cific screens from a list.

By supporting multiple platforms and form factors, the view from an operator terminal at one plant can be consistent with a PC-based system at another. Organiza-tions with multiple plants can actually improve the effi-ciency of their workforce by supporting consistent, visu-alization standards across their enterprise.

Alarmingly detailed informationAs the primary view into a production system, quickly alerting users to a current or potential issue is a critical

task for any HMI system. An especially relevant com-ponent of a modern visualization system is comprehen-sive alarming.

Modern HMIs simplify alarming functions and tightly integrate them with the controller. Controllers hold alarm configurations and state conditions, displaying state changes and alarm triggers on the HMI without con-stantly polling for information. And if a network outage occurs, alarms are buffered in the controller and show on the display in the right order with accurate time stamps.

This advanced HMI solution is key to improving ac-curacy, productivity and effectiveness.

On the go? So is the HMIThe benefits do not stop at unprecedented access to easy-to-use information. Modern HMI also provides greater flexibility in where and how information is available.

Smartphones and tablets have put almost unlimited information in the palm of your hand. Blending ad-vanced HMI software with mobile devices lets an orga-nization extend the reach of their systems.

Modern HMI systems with responsive displays mean that operators, maintenance, quality, plant managers or other key users have instant access to their operations anywhere -- from the plant floor, to the couch at home, to seat 24B on an airplane.

The future is nowData that was once untapped or lost in complexity can be brought to life through modern HMI software inte-grated with IT and OT systems. An HMI’s value doesn’t end at the operator interface. Rather, it can and should extend into your information architecture for easier and

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more robust information-sharing and decision-making.When an HMI can directly integrate with plant-floor

systems, you gain access to real-time information from a controller along with information stored on the plant floor. This data can be delivered as actionable informa-tion via the HMI software to help plant personnel better

analyze production, optimize equipment performance, improve fault detection, track product quality and more.

Accessing and visualizing valuable data has never been easier. A modern HMI isn’t just fancy graphics. It can be the catalyst needed to push your production forward.

Scott Miller is business Manager at Rockwell Automation.

Duke Energy has invested $4 billion in solar power since 2007. It now has more than 50 in-stallations across the United States, generating

more than 2,900 MW. “We wanted them to have a sin-gle view of the entire fleet,” said Sean Hicks, SCADA engineer, Duke Energy, to attendees of his session at Rockwell Automation TechED, this week in Orlando.

Along with reliable, real-time monitoring 24/7 from the company’s control center in Charlotte, N.C., Duke sought a new SCADA system that would give visibility to on-site operations and maintenance technicians, sup-port control, allow emergency response, work at all the sites, and provide them all a consistent user experience, look and feel. With zero downtime.

“Duke relies heavily on OSIsoft PI,” Hicks said. “Any data tag that’s available, we want it.” A typical site might have 20,000 or more tags, and data can’t be lost due to a telecom outage. The remote control and emergency capabilities called for redundancy and se-curity, with limited third-party access for monitoring and maintenance.

Hicks also wanted to avoid Windows servers. “Pretty much anyone can deploy a Windows-based server but

maintaining and patching is a nightmare, so we want to do away with them,” he said.

Grantek Systems Integration proposed a system built on the FactoryTalk View SE platform using Control-Logix for site data acquisition and the FactoryTalk His-torian ME module for on-site data buffering. “The lo-cal historian module is able to buffer the data when telecom is interrupted, and it runs OSI PI so it’s easy to connect and integrate,” said Jacob Chapman, Grantek systems engineer.

In Charlotte, six main servers provide redundancy for alarms and events, HMI and terminal service, as well as non-redundant administration, reporting and program-ming packages. Enterprise servers support PI API and SQL.

“The core PI server is the all-seeing eye for Duke,” Chapman said. “But it doesn’t make sense to collect all data. The FactoryTalk gateway at the site brings data into the SCADA system only if it’s needed.”

The new control center interface gives operations more real estate, information and resolution, showing key performance indicators (KPIs) and drilldowns to in-dividual inverter status with any alarms. It shows tracker angles, weather station data, power meters and breaker

SCADA SHINES LIGHT ON SOLAR FLEETDuke Energy standardizes on SCADA to speed deployments, re-duce riskBy Paul Studebaker

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status, and can show inverter outputs over time for indi-vidual or aggregate sites, nationwide.

“We can manually control the trackers, change one or all, to stow them for a windstorm,” Hicks said. “In an emergency, you can trip the entire site.”

A FactoryTalk AssetCentre implementation backs ev-erything up every day for disaster recovery, auditing, regulatory compliance and program integrity. “If any-thing is changed, it can send an e-mail to the staff,” Chapman said.

The wide variety of installed equipment at generat-ing sites means integration varies according to inverter brand, local control network (Modbus variants), and controls methodology. “One site has 866 little inverters,” Chapman said, “But we have yet to find an architecture that we have not been able to integrate.”

The main drive for the new system was to improve pro-ductivity by giving operators one view with a common

look and feel, so they don’t have to open multiple views into individual sites. But it also satisfies Duke Energy’s wish list by providing historized data that can’t be lost by a telecom outage, remote control, flexibility to fit any site or hardware (new or existing), scalability for future growth, redundancy, security, scheduled reports and a disaster re-covery plan that can be quickly deployed.

“Pretty much anyone can deploy a Windows-based server, but maintaining and patching is a nightmare.” Sean Hicks, SCADA engineer, Duke Energy, at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.


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Rockwell Automation previewed its new, forward-looking App Platform for mobility at this week’s TechED conference in Orlando. While focused

first on redefining smartphone use on the plant floor – with the aim of making individual workers more productive – this developing platform ultimately is intended to connect all pillars of the company’s Connected Enterprise vision.

Kyle Reissner, mobility platform leader, Rockwell Auto-mation, discussed the development team’s vision to “drive the 33s” during his keynote presentation. Just a 33 second increase in productivity each hour provides a huge net result on an assembly line or manufacturing facility, Re-issner said. “Do it across every worker in the U.S. manu-facturing industry, and we’d see $13.8 billion in savings.”

An app for the plant floorThe Rockwell Automation App Platform is the first fruits of Project Stanton, a Rockwell Automation initiative to find ways to make every industrial worker more produc-tive, and do so with as little friction – as little upfront in-vestment of time and money – as possible.

“The App Platform connects and mixes human infor-mation and machine information via the smartphone,” Reissner explained. “Unstructured data, such as worker experience and knowledge, meet equipment status and information, increasing overall worker productivity.”

Taking advantage of the “supercomputer in your pocket,” Rockwell Automation created a smartphone app that requires no manual, works on iOS and Android

devices, and includes a server, database and front end – all available in a simple 60 MB download. The eight initial modules allow users to create and engage teams, resolve issues and connect to plant-floor devices. The eight modules are chat, incident, connect, pinboard, teamboard, device health, trend and knowledge-base.

Once authenticated, team members can collaborate directly on a peer-to-peer basis using Wi Fi or Blue-tooth connectivity – a full-time Internet connection isn’t needed. This is especially important in industrial envi-ronments where wireless infrastructure signals are notori-ously unreliable. The platform leverages thali, an open-source prototype plug-in, that ensures all changes and communications ultimately synch up when a cloud con-nection is re-established.

APP PLATFORM AIMS TO ‘DRIVE THE 33S’Be just 33 seconds more productive each hour, and the savings mount quicklyBy Dave Perkon

“If the all-seeing cloud isn’t available, the app goes sideways in a mesh-based architecture.” Kyle Reissner of Rockwell Automation on the company’s use of thali technology to enable secure, peer-to-peer communication among smartphones even when an Internet connection isn’t available.

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While this sounds straightforward, “nobody has done it securely or across platforms,” said Reissner. “We think we have it: Secure, synchronized, local peer-to-peer commu-nication with server-optional.” This means that in-plant teams can securely collaborate – with encryption – whether connected to the Internet or not. “If the all-seeing cloud isn’t available, the app goes sideways in a mesh-based archi-tecture,” Reissner said. “We think the peer-to-peer, side-by-side radio capability of the smartphone is huge. thali keeps the data flowing and the collaboration going.”

You’re invitedThe Project Stanton team is effectively a lean startup within Rockwell Automation – and they’re moving for-

ward at startup speed. “Instead of taking five years to re-lease a tightly integrated product, we did it in a year and a half,” Reissner said. “This tees us up for ongoing re-leases in a very rapid fashion. Bug fixes won’t be a six-month process – they’ll be fixed in days or overnight. Users of the cloud and mobile apps expect as much.”

“This summer we are putting a pre-release of the App Platform out to our community, to learn from all of you,” Reissner said. “Problems are not unexpected and the feedback may be tough, but we don’t want to develop for five years and discover we are wrong. With our cus-tomers, we will focus on value that matters.”

To accept Reissner’s invitation and start claiming your 33s, visit 33seconds.io and click “Join the Mission!”


Chris Brogli regularly encounters safety systems that he describes as kludgey. That’s tech jar-gon for a computer system constituted of poorly

matched elements. And while Brogli’s official title is global business development manager for Rockwell Au-tomation, a more colloquial label might be “safety de-kludging expert.”

“You’ll see safety systems within a facility that aren’t connected to one another,” he explained. “You’ll see three or four software packages working on one process.” Many industrial safety systems out

there are a total mess, he said. They’re kludgey. And kludgey isn’t safe.

The remedy is an offering that Brogli touted during a half-dozen safety-system presentations at TechED this week – the Rockwell Automation machinery Safety Life Cycle, which presents a systematic approach to imple-menting and maintaining machine safety. This Life Cy-cle is comprised of five elements: risk assessment, func-tional specification development, product selection/design/verification, installation and validation, and an operate/maintain/improve plan.

EVOLVING TECHNOLOGY CHANGES ATTITUDES ABOUT SAFETYBy Chris McNamara

http://33seconds.io

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Before a Life Cycle plan is created, Rock-well Automation uses a safety-maturity index tool to evaluate where customers are on the safety journey. It’s a long journey, and enter-prises can be found at many different stages. Some, Brogli noted, barely know anything about safety. “They see safety as an obstacle to production. An ex-pense they can’t afford.”

Others operate in a partially safe capacity. Some are overly safe, resulting in inhibited efficiency. And some companies have created the optimum balance between getting things done and getting things done with lim-ited risk.

A lack of education is behind most of the problem. “Decision-makers at some companies don’t see that safety and productivity go hand-in-hand,” surmised the presenter. “They have an old thought process. They’re far removed from the production floor and they still ref-erence a time when safety was an obstacle.”

This prompts Brogli to wear the hat of an educa-tor. “The greatest challenge facing safety is a lack of knowledge,” he summarized, noting that this gap ex-tends from the executives in charge to the engineering and safety teams, which often fail to realize their coop-eration is critical. Aligning these two parties ensures that their respective business goals (Go fast! vs. Care-ful!), are in lockstep. “Companies do their best when engineers and safety professionals are connected at the hip,” he said.

One method of educating customers and enabling them to justify safety projects is, simply put, a peek at the bottom line. Hard ROI figures can be connected to safety initiatives, based on the average cost of work-place injuries, and the fallout from downtime and re-sulting reduced output. “We can tell decision-makers, ‘You’re no longer going to be having these safety issues that are costing you money,’” explained Brogli. “We can tie ROI to projected revenue increases.”

Another tool in the safety-justification box is the hu-man appeal – the boosted morale that results from a safe production floor. People prefer to work in safe en-vironments, naturally, and happy workers are more pro-ductive workers.

Global safety upgradesBrogli is encouraged by the trend of multinational custom-ers adopting international standards, most commonly ISO 3849 and, to a lesser extent, IEC 62061. Some 80% of mul-tinational companies directly reference ISO 3849 as their main standard, he said.

In the best scenarios, there is a tickle-down effect with in-dustrial safety. A multinational company can influence an entire region by changing mindsets of the local OEMs who work in their facility. These OEMs adopt the proper meth-odologies and implement them at other local enterprises.

On a global scale, the technological advances of the In-dustrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are encouraging as well. Smart, integrated machines have safety systems built into them, offering owners access to information they previously lacked. Just as machine-generated data enhances produc-tivity, it can simultaneously generate safety information to limit risk in the workplace.

For example, a sensor alerts a controller that a door on a machine that is supposed to open just once during a shift has been opened 120 times. Investigation reveals that a worker was repeatedly going into the machine to fix a jam, violating the plant’s safety protocol. “IIoT elements give you that visibility,” said Brogli. “The IIoT can be a risk-manage-ment tool.”

So what’s the larger view -- what’s the modern state of manufacturing safety? Brogli’s take is that we’re

The machinery Safety Life Cycle describes a systematic approach for achieving safety without compromising productivity, the theme of Chris Brogli’s presentation at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.

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still developing. The European market is most ma-ture, with the U.S. market not far behind. Modern-ized pockets of Asia are very mature; less so in other regions. “And adoption in Latin America is faster than anywhere else in the world,” he said, crediting strong, enforced local standards (Brazil is an example) and the increasing influence of multinational companies.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” said the safety de-kludging expert. “Technology is improving things in that there’s no need to bypass safety elements. We can design flexibility into machines that we couldn’t in the past. Technology is enhancing reliability. It’s enhanc-ing dependability. As a result, we’re seeing a change from safe or productive to safe and productive.”


Is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) just the latest Y2K, or is there real business value? Analysis by LNS Re-search shows potential for great returns on investment,

but it takes commitment. “It’s starting to happen, but there’s still a lot of room for early adopters to gain competitive ad-vantage, providing they’re willing to buy in and get started,” said Matt Littlefield, president and principal analyst, LNS Research, in his keynote presentation at Rockwell Automa-tion TechED this week in Orlando.

LNS Research focuses on the industrial space using a social model: Companies that participate by sharing in-formation gain access to research results. Current council member companies number in the hundreds and are about 60/40 discrete/process, with company size and location de-mographics representative of global industry as a whole.

LNS’ recent “Metrics that Matter” study explored their level of understanding and participation in smart industry initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and Smart Man-ufacturing, as well as their results from any implementa-tions of IIoT technology.

It takes a frameworkMature companies – those that have an effective ap-proach to harnessing IIoT – implement technology on

multiple levels, using strategic objectives to drive op-erational excellence, operational architecture, business case development and selection of solutions. Each level involves different technologies and expertise. Some suppliers might promise a one-stop, integrated solu-tion, but “Companies that take an ecosystem approach, using a set of partners that address individual needs, will be most successful,” Littlefield said.

While the vast majority of companies are not mature when it comes to IIoT, “over the past year we’ve seen a dramatic reduction in companies that don’t know what it is and how it can help their businesses, with the number that say they’re not going to adopt it dropping from one-third to one-quarter,” Littlefield said.

The number of companies “in deep implementation” is rising, but only 13% are “enthusiasts” and 22% are “vision-aries,” leaving two-thirds still skeptical or waiting.

The key is to find an application where IIoT technol-ogy will provide rapid return on investment (ROI), and expand on that experience. Littlefield pointed out that operational excellence is built on five pillars: productiv-ity, asset performance management, quality, energy ef-ficiency, and environment/health/safety (EHS). “Build-ing out that foundation is critical, and if a pillar starts

MINE THE GOLD IN BIG DATABy Paul Studebaker

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breaking, the whole system becomes unstable,” he said. Those pillars are often where early adopters have found their first opportunities.

At the enterprise level, ERP, MES, PLM and supply chain applications often involve strong analytics, but “no connection to the things,” Littlefield said. Look for oppor-tunities where it will pay to bring in data.

Got big data?To qualify as “big,” data must have velocity, volume and variety (variety means it is unstructured). Plants typically quickly generate lots of structured data, but, “The industrial sector has typically lacked variety, so it’s not big data,” Little-field said. In contrast, “The consumer world is all over un-structured data,” he said, which can offer breakthrough op-portunities for manufacturers.

Big data calls for analytics, which are common at the en-terprise level. “Many companies are doing analytics, but only 14% apply them to manufacturing data,” Littlefield said. “Many of the rest don’t think they have a problem yet, but they will be surprised by their competitors.”

Powerful analytics must be adapted and tailored to be used for operations. “When we did statistical process con-trol, we didn’t put statisticians in the plant,” Littlefield said. Like SPC, “We have to put analytics in a form that manu-facturing can trust and use.”

Build the business case“The biggest challenges to IIoT implementation are fund-ing and building a business case, not security or executive support,” Littlefield said. “It’s difficult to predict the benefit without having the tools, and difficult to get the tools with-out proving the benefit.”

Surveyed adopters show their top four current opportuni-ties are “what you’d expect,” Littlefield said: remote moni-toring, energy savings, predictive maintenance/reliability, and quality. But a year from today, they expect two of those top four to include “business model transformation and ma-terial optimization – not what you’d expect,” he said.

Mature companies that have processes in place for adopt-ing new technologies and ways of doing business may be able to go straight to “full smart manufacturing,” Littlefield said. “But a less mature company can start in a department, such as quality, to prove the concept and be sure it’s ready to move into that big value application. Map your journey. Use metrics to show results.”

LNS Research reports show that IIoT implementations can pay. “Don’t anticipate step-change performance gains, but many companies are outperforming the typical 1% to 2% yearly performance improvement,” Littlefield said.

Get started by instituting a digital transformation network to allow data to flow easily throughout the organization. Then deploy IIoT-enabled big data architecture. Build a business case and gain competitive advantage, and then jus-tify more advanced analytics to achieve strategic objectives.

“If you aren’t collecting the data yet, you’re behind the curve,” Littlefield said. “Use IIoT to solve today’s problems, and be ready for tomorrow’s.”

“A less mature company can start in a department, such as quality, to prove the concept and be sure it’s ready to move into that big value application.” Matt Littlefield, president and principal analyst, LNS Research, at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.


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A year ago, Andersen decided to build a new extrusion facility to meet increased demand and avoid the cost of shipping product from

Minnesota to Texas. The new facility, which brought to 15 the number of manufacturing facilities for North America’s largest maker of windows and doors, offered an opportunity for the company to improve best practices, and would provide a template for fu-ture upgrades and rollouts.

“We were running out of capacity at our extrusion lines,” said John Wendt, manufacturing systems ar-chitect, Andersen, to attendees of his session at Rock-well Automation TechED this week in Orlando. “IT had been involved on the discrete side, but not on the process side. And we needed an ERP system in the new plant. But the major economic driver for involv-ing IT was to provide real-time visibility to actual – rather than estimated – material consumed.”

At Andersen, extrusion batch recipes and orders are traditionally paper-based, and the plant was ready to order the same equipment yet again when IT sent Wendt in to review the plans. As an IT professional with a background in chemical engineering, Wendt suggested they add digital recipes and an historian to automatically record process parameters and better support the manufacturing execution system (MES).

Production could see the value, but the timeline was already set. “They knew they could run the plant with paper, and they were going to go live on time with or without IT,” Wendt said. They were also un-willing to go over budget.

Andersen uses Infor LN for ERP, and Rockwell Au-tomation FactoryTalk ProductionCentre in discrete

manufacturing. “We’d never used ProductionCentre in the process space,” Wendt said. So Anderson en-gaged system integrator Brock Solutions. Along with expertise in automation, MES and panels, Brock had experience with extruders, so it could talk to produc-tion in their own language.

The original plan was to add MES stations where operators could print out instructions and key in completions. “But we thought there had to be a bet-ter way,” said Brent Vanderspiegel, project manager, Brock Solutions. “We decided to hide the MES be-hind the controls, and put MES data collection on the HMI.” Instead of at a separate kiosk, the IT/OT inter-face now sits at the human-machine interface (HMI). “Now we can automatically download the 20 to 30 process parameters to set up the machine, and the op-

A WINDOW INTO EXTRUDER OPERATIONSBy Paul Studebaker

“They knew they could run the plant with paper, and they were going to go live on time with or without IT.” John Wendt, manufacturing systems architect, Anderson Windows, to attendees of his session at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.

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erators can concentrate on production,” Vanderspie-gel said.

Development started in November 2015, and the system went live in February 2016. “The Rockwell Software ERP Integration Gateway [EIG] tool helped a lot,” said Vanderspiegel. “The other critical piece is the Rockwell Software CPGSuite.”

A new era for Andersen extrudersNow orders and materials created in Infor LN can be grouped by color and type for maximum material ef-ficiency. Infor LN drops the associated XML files to a network share, where the EIG processes the XOnce a campaign is started, orders are pulled into the line programmable logic controller (PLC). At the HMI, the operator can view the next or current recipe and material data, with the required setpoint changes clearly highlighted. On changeover, the operator se-lects the changes, then goes to the running state. “This really cuts down on setup time and improves productivity,” said Vanderspiegel.

During the run, the system collects data including production time, material, piece count and dimen-sions. Once the order is completed, the operator uses the HMI to close it out. Pallet labels are automatically

printed by the line-side label printer, and standard ac-tivity sets trigger the EIG to issue consumption and production XML files to the ERP system.

“Adding FactoryTalk Historian and FactoryTalk VantagePoint adds value, and the standardized inter-face with the MES makes integrating legacy equip-ment much easier,” Vanderspiegel said. “All custom-ization is below the control layer.”

VantagePoint enterprise manufacturing intelli-gence (EMI) dashboards make it easy to see causes of problems and shorten diagnostic times from days to “pretty quick,” Vanderspiegel adds.

The ERP system gets production reports, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), quality, speed, sched-ule attainment, material used and material wasted – a better understanding of what happened.

The system provides Andersen process operations with a foundation it can apply to all its new plants, Wendt said. “It’s had a major dollar impact on mate-rial consumption, given visibility into operations, re-duced setup time, and tightened control of key pro-cess variables, which raises quality.” And eliminating the MES terminals reduced space requirements and IT maintenance on the shop floor.ML files to create materials and orders in ProductionCentre.


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More and more manufacturers are seeing the mea-surable benefits that a virtual infrastructure can bring to their production environment and mak-

ing the leap. But others are hesitant to make the transition, often feeling they don’t have the proper IT capability to do so effectively. The good news is that introducing virtualiza-tion doesn’t have to be a headache-inducing affair imple-mented by dedicated IT resources and expertise. Consider current and future system requirements and work with a trusted third-party to design and implement a right-size sys-tem to make the transition faster and easier.

Why virtualize?The advantages of virtualization are numerous. For one, it enables a facility to run multiple applications and oper-ating systems from a single server versus the traditional one-to-one approach. Greater server utilization and con-solidation can free up floor space, while bringing down maintenance and energy costs.

Virtualization finally breaks the invisible chain be-tween hardware and software. Traditionally, upgrading IT-based plant hardware like PC-based HMIs required that manufacturers also upgrade their soft-ware (often prematurely). By decoupling hardware from software, virtualization al-lows manufacturers to create separate up-grade cycles, extending the useful life of their software systems. As a result, plant managers are empowered to make applica-tion upgrades based on business need, in-stead of being beholden to the hardware.

On top of all of this, virtualized infrastruc-tures can self-heal. If one physical server goes down, for example, the virtual system can automatically restart the lost applications on

other physical servers to quickly get production running again or even prevent it from stopping. Hardware failures no longer need to be major production-halting events.

Design considerationsFrom a hardware standpoint, a virtualized infrastructure in a manufacturing environment typically requires two to four physical servers with sufficient RAM to host all of the virtual machines, enough disks to run a plant’s appli-cations at the required speed, and switches and cabling.

The process of transitioning to a virtualized system should begin with an audit to assess design specifications and business objectives, and then to identify the func-tional and informational requirements for the virtualized infrastructure. Some questions that will need to be ad-dressed at this stage include:

• How much RAM, CPU and disk I/O do your applica-tions require?

• How many client workstations will be deployed in the virtual environment?

• How many servers will be needed?• What kind of network switching will be used?

EASE THE TRANSITION TO VIRTUALIZATIONUp-front planning, bundled solutions smooth the move to a virtu-alized production environment.By Chris Di Biase

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And while understanding how a virtualized infra-structure will support current operations is an obvious immediate need, it’s also critical to be thinking ahead in order to anticipate future needs. Don’t shortchange what operations might be doing in the next five years. Systems grow and evolve over time, and designing room for growth into a virtualized infrastructure will allow for greater agility, making it easier to deploy new applica-tions down the road.

Some of these design considerations for future growth could include ensuring enough switch ports and commu-nication throughput to add a third or fourth server at a later point, or having the capacity to add memory to the servers at a future date.

To build or to bundle?When procuring hardware for a virtualized infrastruc-ture, there are two options.

The first option is to build the infrastructure from scratch, which requires ordering all of the necessary equipment, assembling it and commissioning it. This can be a burdensome and time-consuming approach: Equipment must be ordered from multiple vendors and system design, fabrication and testing can take weeks. There also are added costs of hiring certified installation professionals or trained technicians to provide support.

The alternative to this piecemeal approach is a bun-dled solution. Bundled offerings are preassembled sys-tems that include all of the hardware, software and documentation for a virtualized system in one turn-key solution. These solutions are assembled using industry best practices in areas like cable management, system grounding and labeling and have been pre-engineered so that the infrastructure design effectively addresses all system needs.

Bundled offerings typically include implementation services to execute the on-site network configuration and integration. From design to deployment, a virtual-ized system can be up-and-running in a matter of days for a bundled solution versus a matter of weeks for a non-bundled solution.

When going the bundled route, it’s crucial to under-stand that not all solutions are designed to exclusively

to address the unique characteristics of a manufactur-ing environment. This is an important consideration to keep in mind, because different industries have different priorities when it comes to downtime, system complex-ity and cost.

A five-minute system crash in a corporate office en-vironment, for example, could lead to the temporary loss of email and business systems. An inconvenient and perhaps even costly event. But a five-minute server crash in the manufacturing environment can lead to a catastrophic downtime event, such as the loss of a high-value batch.

Similarly, some bundled solutions that are designed for environments such as corporate data centers could include features that are in excess of or not relevant to the needs of a manufacturer, which can drive up costs. Consider whether the solution you choose is purpose-built and purpose-priced to meet your unique needs.

Simplify your supportOne of the appeals of a virtualized infrastructure versus a traditional client-server architecture is the simplification of ongoing management. A virtualized system makes it possible to control and manage operator and engineering workstations from a central location. But as with anything in a production facility, the system still requires servicing and support for maintenance, repairs and upgrades.

Selecting a solution provider that offers technical sup-port with their product can make life easier for the main-tenance manager – they’ll have one phone number to call for whatever questions or support issues arise across the system’s life cycle.

Also consider what additional levels of support may el-evate the organization’s performance given new capabili-ties enabled by virtualization. A virtualized environment simplifies remote monitoring, for example, allowing a provider to monitor the complete virtualized infrastruc-ture, identifying and troubleshooting issues, or contact-ing maintenance personnel immediately to alert them of a problem – all from an off-site location. This is particu-larly important for manufacturers that don’t have an IT administrator in their plants or lack the expertise needed to maintain and service the virtual infrastructure.

Chris Di Biase is Principal Consultant, Network & Security Services for Rockwell Automation

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Post Consumer Brands (PCB), one of the larg-est producers of ready-to-eat cereal, struggled to maintain uncoordinated and obsolete HMI plat-

forms. Not only was the computer hardware failing and hard to replace, but the operating systems were obsolete and difficult to support. So in 2014, PCB began a much needed multi-year migration to replace a large number of aging HMI clients.

Key to the project’s success was the use of modern, high-performance HMI architecture leveraging the power of virtualization, thin clients and FactoryTalk View SE, according to Bill Menser, PCB electrical en-gineering lead, who discussed the project at this week’s Rockwell Automation TechED event in Orlando. Virtu-alizing the servers and using thin-client HMIs simplified hardware, design and development time, and eliminated the obsolete operating systems.

HMI hardware and software woesPCB’s manufacturing site in Battle Creek has operated since the late 18th century and now produces more than half a dozen cereal varieties on its 64 acres. Until re-cently, the lines were being operated on about a half-dozen different aged HMI platforms with obsolete op-erating systems.

“Before the migration, PCB had a large amount of leg-acy equipment that was difficult to support,” said Menser. “The production lines consisted of approximately 175

HMI client computers, most running obsolete Windows XP. The desktop computers were starting to fail in the industrial environment due to years of exposure to dust, water and vibration.” The system also included about 20 HMI servers, also running on vintage hardware.

The HMI PCs were running a variety of HMI pack-ages, including both standalone and Active Display Sys-tem versions of RSView32, multiple versions of Panel-View, and some installations of FactoryTalk View SE.

SIMPLY VIRTUALIZED HMI SOLUTIONUsed in the IT world for many years, virtualized HMIs solved ob-solescence problems and now feed productivity at Post Consum-er Brands cereal plant in Battle Creek, MichiganBy Dave Perkon

“The desktop computers were starting to fail in the industrial environment due to years of exposure to dust, water and vibration.” Bill Menser, electrical engineering lead at Post Consumer Brands, presented at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.

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Virtualization and high performance architecture to the rescueThe solution uses a VMware platform for virtualiza-tion. This allows creation of many virtual machines (VM) – operating systems or application environments that reside in software and mimic actual hardware. The VMware basically allows creation of multiple hardware instances on a single server.

After the migration, there will still be 175 HMIs, but they are now becoming thin clients with no local operat-ing systems to support. The new HMIs are also hardware-independent, simplifying future hardware upgrades.

“About one-third of the migration is complete and go-ing well,” said Menser. “The final installation will in-clude six to eight physical HMI servers. The servers allow hardware consolidation, with approximately 50 virtual machines installed on them.” Each physical server can support multiple HMIs, as the VMWare allows multiple operating systems with HMI applications for each on a single piece of server hardware.

Hardware replacement is easy, and the new installa-tion allows servers to be managed from a single location. “Since the servers can handle multiple HMIs, the total number of server/client operating systems was reduced from about 200 to 50,” said Menser.

System architecture in detailAll the virtualized, thin-client HMIs use FactoryTalk View SE and Open Virtual Format (OVF) Templates. “Once I configured the HMI and the VM image was in the server, minimal work was needed,” said Menser. In

the field, the thin-client HMI is simply pointed to the VM image.

“We also installed the VMware vSphere Essentials Bun-dle, which allows support of up to six physical computer plat-forms, each capable of hosting multiple VM HMI projects,” said Menser. “FactoryTalk View SE Redundancy, which we were already using, made the application support easier.”

The ACP ThinManager is incredible, continued Menser. “It managed content delivery to the thin-client HMIs,” he said. “It enabled selection of different HMI projects from the same thin-client HMI. I can pull content from all over the campus.” The menu system, through an optional login, controls the content viewed through the menu, such as selection of HMI project, IP camera view, or engineering software such as Studio 5000 Logix Designer.

During HMI development, FactoryTalk View SE Global Objects were used extensively due to many com-mon, duplicate screens and devices. “There are a huge number of duplicated field devices,” said Menser. “I cre-ated a parameter list for global objects with parameter list references [#1, #2, #3, etc.]. This is similar to control-ler tag dot fields [Tagename.Out], and it’s an efficient way to program in FactoryTalk as you only need to create the object once, then simply substitute the tag.”

The new system offers greater flexibility on the shop floor; tighter change management controls; the ability to develop and maintain HMI systems from a single portal; and significantly shorter time required to replace a failed client terminal. Once you have 10 to 12 or more HMIs, virtualization and thin clients are a good choice.


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