February 2021

26 n ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING February 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com T he goal of the digital transformation is to provide a foundation to boost productivity, raise product quality, optimise asset availability and maximise plant utilisation. That foundation is built on a rapidly growing choice of increasingly sophisticated shopfloor devices, all generating data related to different aspects of a plant’s operations. Surely data is data? Why would a direct link between the shopfloor and higher-level business systems not be enough to achieve digital transformation? The answer lies in the way in which IT (information technology) and OT (operational technology) platforms have evolved to deal with different types of data with different processing requirements. The OT world operates in real-time with process speeds of seconds or below; the IT world operates on much greater sampling times – fromminutes to hours or longer. Behind the Industry 4.0 model is the need for OT and IT each to capitalise on the data that the other can provide. But neither is set up to translate and interpret the data received from the other in a fashion or timescale that can have a direct impact on operations in real time. As digital transformation progresses, the result of direct IT/OT integration is often simply delivering high volumes of unfiltered data instead of just the relevant information that is needed to drive genuine improvements in operations. Some have argued that the cloud could provide an environment for managing these high volumes of data, offering a platform for efficient data aggregation, filtering and analysis. And certainly, protocols such as OPC UA can deliver a direct link from the shopfloor, through the higher-level systems, and on to the cloud. But while the cloud provides an ideal platform for developing knowledge about plant operations, it is not the right platform for turning knowledge into action for production operations. Yes, it can provide useful analytics functions, but not the real-time aggregation and analytics that are essential for the OT/IT bridge. Bridging the divide A more appropriate answer to OT/IT integration is provided by the smart technologies that are appearing at the“edge”. Forming an intermediate layer between the shopfloor and higher-level business systems, edge computing technologies offer a simple interface between the worlds of IT and OT, as well as new options for where data is analysed Edge systems can pre-process data locally and aggregate it to create valuable information for the systems that need it. And they can connect the shopfloor seamlessly with higher-level IT systems, such as MES and ERP platforms. By performing sophisticated data analyses in real-time – and increasingly using AI algorithms as well as machine learning to deal more intelligently with data – edge computing systems can improve production efficiencies. They can also cut the cost of data processing considerably, because only the information that is necessary and relevant is passed from one level of the enterprise to the other. Edge computing platforms – such as Mitsubishi’s MelIPC – provide real-time datalogging and processing in a rugged industrial form factors. Using analytical tools such as multiple regression analysis, SPC (statistical process control) and the Mahalanobis-Taguchi system, as well as AI functions, these systems can deliver feedback to the plant floor in real time. They can combine functions from data collection, filtering, processing and analysis with diagnosis and predictive maintenance feedback. This occurs in real-time information flows that can drive production decisions. These systems deliver a foundation for the digital transformation of businesses, providing a platform for connecting machines and devices so that manufacturing processes can react faster and more intelligently to production changes, whether they are asset- centric, demand-led or supply-driven. The rising volumes of data from the plant floor, and the need to use that data more intelligently is both an enabler for the digital transformation, and a challenge. Edge computing as an intermediate layer between IT and OT can answer that challenge, paving the way for the event-driven architecture that defines Industry 4.0. It is the key enabler for any manufacturing plant to realise the potential of transforming into a smart operation. This technology provides the natural bridge between the worlds of OT and IT in a format that both sides of the divide can embrace. n To achieve the full benefits of digital transformation, manufacturers have to link their shopfloor and IT systems, but this needs more than simple network connections. Christian Nomine, Mitsubishi Electric Europe’s strategic product manager for visualisation, explains how edge computing can provide the essential middle layer, giving manufacturers the tools to connect their business processes intelligently. Edge computing systems can act as an intermediate layer between the shopfloor and the higher-level business systems Edge computing is bridging the IT/OT gap