A guest blog post by Dr. Ravi Gopinath.
Industrial operations today are faced with
many challenges. Aging and new workforces, new regulatory requirements and the
pace of change in a flat world economy that requires a flexible way to meet
business challenges. The advent of software for the purpose of industrial
automation, information, asset and operations management is the key to meeting
the needs of the modern enterprise. This is the first in a series of blogs
where I will explore some of the history behind this and speak about why it is
important for industrial operations to continue to make healthy investments in
their software technology to remain competitive in the marketplace.
How did we get here?
Electrical and electronics technology have been key
staples for industrial operations since the 1950s. In the beginning there were
relay boards that acted as the nerve centre for industrial operational assets.
On the shop floor electronic circuit boards would perform calculations, and
control actuators and sensors were used to improve production consistency and
keep workers and operational assets safe.
The configuration of these technologies was largely
through the manipulation of physical circuits and electromechanical devices.
Systems were improved through trial and error, where one operating asset having
been built and operated acted has a guinea pig for the next operation that
could benefit from mistakes made and lessons learned. Engineers were designing
for failure mechanisms and, in fact, would over engineer a particular device or
process to ensure maximum reliability and uptime.
Energy prices were not that high in relation to the cost
of raw materials and labor costs. Due to geo politics, individual markets were
more self-contained. In addition, product lifecycles were very long and a
company could be very successful with only a few product lines so long as they
would re-evaluate things every one to two years and make adjustments.
What’s so different about the world today?
Today the world is much different. The control loop which
was designed as a mechanism to control the input and output of any machine,
system or process has grown up. The expectation is that machines at the line
level will execute in milliseconds, the local operation will be coordinated at
every second and the enterprise will be able to react to changes within
minutes.
Energy costs in some industries are now being treated as
a precious raw material which is allocated per production unit and conserved.
Baby boomers who have made up the majority of the industrial workforce for the
past 30 years are now retiring in droves. Every time somebody retires the
approach is to investigate whether the job can be off shored or automated out.
In developing countries the issue is around a brand new workforce with less
experience, but with the same level of operational and quality expectations.
The cost of capital to build industrial assets has also
gone up, requiring engineers to scrutinize design and operations to cut any
cost possible, while at the same time ensuring maximum safety and uptime. Operators
are expected to be able to retool on a regular basis to handle new products and
improve revenues of existing products to meet consumer and business demand.
Why is software the key to success in an
industrial environment?
Software is the fluid medium that allows companies to be
agile enough to remain competitive. Mechanical and electronic devices meet the
need to control operations and produce finished goods, however software is so
amazingly flexible, configurable and modifiable, a company that does not
leverage it, will find itself at a severe disadvantage versus the competition.
Furthermore, software today embodies much more – it is capable of embedding
human intelligence and business knowledge to solve a diverse set of business
challenges and solve problems across the entire supply chain. In addition, the
number of platforms available to leverage and interact with software has
increased considerably – from cell phones, to mobile devices, to tablets, to
wearable devices, and and list goes on and on. This provides for more powerful
workflow coordination, optimization and productivity.
Software development is also taking leaps and bounds. In
the early days programmers would use numeric keypads to program instructions
into chips. Then came software development programs and compilers, allowing for
easier manipulation of software functions. More recently with the advent of
object oriented programs software became more configurable where small programs
can be created and automatically generate similar programs with little
additional effort. Development processes have also matured from a “waterfall”
approach for large developments where it might take one of two years, to
“agile” processes were smaller functionalities are created more frequently for
a system and therefore made available to users very quickly.
How can today’s industrial businesses
leverage software?
Modern software spans the timeframe from when an
operating asset is built, including when it is commissioned and through to it
running on a day-to-day basis. Design tools use sophisticated mathematical
models that take into account material strength, thermodynamic characteristics
and the dynamics of the material used in the process. This results in a
perfectly designed machine, processing line or operational asset that is the
safest, lowest cost, most efficient and easiest to maintain. Those same models
used in the design of an operating asset can also be used when running it to
optimize the process and allow owners and operators to take advantage of new
business opportunities as they present themselves.
The control room has evolved from a series of screens and
computers that provided information on everything that was happening in the
process to an environment where operations personnel get the information that
they need at the right time and in the right format to do their jobs. And this
can happen anywhere they are located.
Together, Schneider Electric with the addition of
Invensys is changing the game for software. The combination of the software
from the two companies provides a unified framework and a suite of
function-rich applications that deliver tangible value and optimized business
processes across specific vertical solution sets, linking together operating
assets, people and processes to improve competitive advantage.
How will you leverage an enhanced software portfolio?
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About Dr. Ravi Gopinath
Ravi Gopinath, Ph.D., is president, Software Business Unit of Schneider Electric Global Solutions, responsible for R&D; project management; regional sales; services, support and partnerships, including the company’s Ecosystem of Partners; and all functional support. He has more than 15 years of global engineering solutions and services experience, beginning his professional career with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in India in 1994. Gopinath received his Ph.D. in advanced process control from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
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