Engineering Magazine – June 2019

24 JUNE 2019 ENGINEERING

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

The Fourth Dimension

Adopting the latest technologies across a manufacturing operation has

the potential to deliver many different benefits says David Robinson

S

mart Manufacturing is about

combining the physical world,

of products and manufacturing

machines, with the digital world of rapid

communication, advanced data analytics

and artificial intelligence. It has the

potential to do all sorts of good things

for manufacturers, like improving the

accuracy of their demand forecasts, the

flexibility of their production systems

and the reliability of their assets.

A host of technologies such as

sensors and automation systems,

industrial networks and data analysis

tools have been evolving quietly for

decades. All of those are real things

that many companies already rely

on to run their businesses. So what’s

changed? Here are five ways that the

latest technologies stand out from their

predecessors and the legacy systems in

use across industry today:

Open -Today’s systems are built on

open standards for communication, data

storage and user interaction, making

them faster and cheaper to develop,

implement and maintain. It reduces

the risk that companies are caught out

by technologies that can’t talk to each

other, or which become obsolete. And

makes it far easier to scale solutions

rapidly as new approaches are proved,

or as business needs change.

Integrated -Those open standards

also make it possible to connect multiple

machines, data sources or applications

in a seamless way. Capula’s OPUS

building performance management

solution, for example, provides a single

management interface for energy

management systems, security and

access controls, HVAC systems and

even production equipment. It can

connect multiple facilities together to

give organisations total control over

their buildings worldwide. And it shares

data with external business applications,

from financial management systems to

HR tools.

Accessible -Internet technologies

are transforming the usability of even

the most powerful automation systems.

Users can access the data and control

functions they need from anywhere,

using a wide range of devices – from

dedicated HMI panels to smart phones.

That boosts productivity, increases

management flexibility and simplifies

maintenance, technical support and

troubleshooting.

Adaptable -Open standards,

again, coupled with today’s advanced

development environments, make it

far easier to extend and adapt existing

solutions. New equipment can be

added, new applications developed

or new data sources integrated in a

modular way.

Secure -Today’s solutions are

built for the rigours of real industrial

environments. Robust encryption and

security technologies make it easy to

ensure the right people have access to

David Robinson