{"id":10833,"date":"2017-12-13T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T15:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/12\/13\/news-4605\/"},"modified":"2017-12-13T07:00:16","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T15:00:16","slug":"news-4605","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/12\/13\/news-4605\/","title":{"rendered":"IIoT and Cloud 101: Why you need an IIoT operational architecture to implement digital transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Rob McGreevy| Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2017 14:38:14 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

This post previously appeared on ARC’s Viewpoints Blog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

With ever increasing competition, tighter margins and growing consumer demand for more personalized products, it\u2019s no surprise that the industry is continuously searching for the next big competitive advantage. This is precisely where digital transformation<\/a> and the industrial internet of things (IIoT) offers tremendous opportunity. With a broad range of use cases including remote monitoring and diagnostics for asset reliability, advanced energy management<\/a>, production performance and quality improvement, it\u2019s clear there are some impressive benefits to be gained.<\/p>\n

That said, many industrial companies are struggling to advance these digital efforts.\u00a0 In my experience, these issues often stem from the pure hype of the IIoT and the need to \u201cdo something\u201d: businesses recognize that they should transform, but they don\u2019t often know how, what areas to target<\/a> or even where to start.<\/p>\n

This typically results in no action at all or a rash of seemingly random or even hastily-assembled pilots or Point of Concepts (POCs) designed to demonstrate some level of progress against corporate objectives.\u00a0 The most successful implementations we\u2019ve seen are based on solid business directives (target areas) that take a very open and comprehensive approach to addressing digital transformation, grounded in a very pragmatic and well-thought out action plan.<\/p>\n

Start with a Business Objective and an Operational Architecture<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A good first step is to determine what areas of the business stand to benefit the most<\/a>. Two major areas of focus we see today include optimizing profitability associated with the production value-stream (think \u201cmaking stuff\u201d or the production side). The other is maximizing the return on assets and capital deployed (think asset reliability, maintenance and performance).<\/p>\n

Going one level down, it\u2019s important to target some specific areas within the business based on areas of improvement. For example, do you need to improve quality? Increase yield? Boost performance or productivity? Or increase margins? The point is to identify the levers needed to drive the business based on market dynamics. Identifying the target areas requiring improvement is the first step. Following that, you can determine your new operational architecture<\/p>\n

You can think about the operational architecture as the \u201cscalable, stable and harmonized framework\u201d that supports your corporate strategies. Once you have determined these business objectives and an operating architecture, perform an investigation into different approaches and technology enablers. This can be a confusing and complicated process thanks to the hype of all things IoT and digital. To better navigate this process, companies should stay grounded in the objectives; that will inform how to apply these enablers.<\/p>\n

\"Discover<\/a> <\/p>\n

Leveraging the IIoT<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One area of considerable hype \u2013 but also considerable value realization \u2013 is the IIoT<\/a>. With unprecedented access to real-time and historical process and production data, companies can access and make use of information from new systems and sources that were previously too expensive to instrument or otherwise disconnected. Don\u2019t get me wrong, most customers we see have more than enough raw data. But, that data is typically stranded and\/or out of context, unreachable or insufficient. By organizing and contextualizing existing data \u2013 and then extending and augmenting with the help of IIoT devices, you can realize significant gains.<\/p>\n

Examples include stranded assets or equipment in remote locations or not \u201cwired\u201d in to PLCs or RTUs; these can now be reached via new wireless protocols and low-cost sensors. \u201cShadow\u201d or secondary sensing\u00a0can access new data sources from existing equipment, providing temperature, vibration and other information. Once this data is collected and consolidated, advanced capabilities can then drive productivity to those targeted business areas. For example, better tracking and proactive management of stoppages can improve performance; additional sensors feed advanced analytics to identify and prevent catastrophic failure. These data sources are certainly important \u2013 but they are merely a feed to the advanced applications\/solutions.<\/p>\n

The Power of the Cloud<\/strong><\/h4>\n

If the IIoT is one of the key building blocks of digital transformation, the cloud<\/a> is the second critical component. The cloud is so valuable in implementing digital transformation because it enables unprecedented commercial and technical flexibility<\/a>. With the cloud, businesses can essentially configure, provision and design exactly the solution they need, when and where they need it. Think of the IIoT as a set of studio microphones capturing and contextualizing all the sound within a room. The cloud is the mixer, combining and amplifying the right pieces of music to create a symphony.<\/p>\n

Migrating to the cloud comes with its own set of decisions over what should move online. Here, as with the IIoT, it\u2019s important to remain focused on the business objectives. It doesn\u2019t do anyone any good to just jam everything into the cloud. There needs to be a reason, such as better access across your organization, or a more secure way to share data externally. For instance, there are many good reasons to keep HMI\/SCADA systems on-premise. But, it may make sense to host predictive maintenance or OEE monitoring<\/a> capabilities in the cloud.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the power of the cloud and the IIoT, and how to get started with a manageable approach to your digital transformation journey today, try our cloud-based IIoT solution Insight powered by Wonderware Online. You can see how it works for free at https:\/\/online.wonderware.com<\/a>, or you can watch this video<\/a> or view this webinar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The post IIoT and Cloud 101: Why you need an IIoT operational architecture to implement digital transformation<\/a> appeared first on Schneider Electric Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blog.schneider-electric.com\/feed\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Rob McGreevy| Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2017 14:38:14 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

This post previously appeared on ARC’s Viewpoints Blog With ever increasing competition, tighter margins and growing consumer demand for more personalized products, it\u2019s no surprise that the industry is continuously… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n

The post IIoT and Cloud 101: Why you need an IIoT operational architecture to implement digital transformation<\/a> appeared first on Schneider Electric Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[12389,12388],"tags":[12531,11728,12539,12410,12396,6269,12546,12533,12548,6549,12728,4229],"class_list":["post-10833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scadaics","category-schneider","tag-asset-management","tag-cloud","tag-food-and-beverage","tag-industrial-software","tag-innovationateverylevel","tag-internet-of-things","tag-operational-excellence","tag-plant-operations-management","tag-predictive-maintenance","tag-renewable-energy","tag-utilities","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}