What is on the list of trends for 2020?

Data centre trends for 2020 from Rittal

Growing volumes of data, a secure European cloud (data control), rapid upgrades of data centres and rising energy consumption are the IT/data centre trends for Rittal in 2020. For example, the use of OCP (Open Compute Project) technology and heat recovery offers solutions for the challenges of the present.

Concept of cloud computing or big data, shape of cloud in futuristic style with digital technology interface!

According to the market researchers at IDC (International Data Corporation), humans and machines could already be generating 175 zettabytes of data by 2025. If this amount of data were stored on conventional DVDs, it would mean 23 stacks of data discs, each of them reaching up to the moon. The mean 27 percent annual rate of data growth is also placing increasing pressure on the IT infrastructure.

Since there is hardly any company that can afford to increase its own data storage by almost a third every year, IT managers are increasingly relying on IT services from the cloud. The trend towards the cloud has long since been a feature in Germany: A survey published in the summer of 2019 by the Bitkom ICT industry association together with KPMG showed that three out of four companies are already using cloud solutions.

However, businesses using cloud solutions from third-party providers do lose some control over their corporate data. That is why, for example, the US Cloud Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data) allows US authorities to access data stored in the cloud, even if local laws at the location where the data is stored do prohibit this.

“Future success in business will be sustainable if they keep pace with full digital transformation and integration. Companies will use their data more and more to provide added value – increasingly in real time – for example in the production environment,” says Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler, CEO of Rittal International. “Retaining control over data is becoming a critical success factor for international competitiveness,” he adds.

Trend #1: Data control
The self-determined handling of data is thus becoming a key competitive factor for companies. This applies to every industry in which data security is a top priority and where the analysis of this data is decisive for business success. Examples are the healthcare, mobility, banking or manufacturing industries. Companies are now faced with the questions of how to process their data securely and efficiently, and whether to modernise their own data centre, invest in edge infrastructures or use the cloud.

The major European “Gaia-X” digital project, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy (BMWi), is set to start in 2020. The aim is to develop a European cloud for the secure digitalization and networking of industry that will also form the basis for using new artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft has drawn up the “International Data Spaces” initiative in this context. This virtual data room allows companies to exchange data securely. The compatibility of their own solutions with established (cloud) platforms (interoperability) is also provided.

This means that geographically widespread, smaller data centres with open cloud stacks might be able to create a new class of industrial applications that perform initial data analysis at the point where the data is created and use the cloud for downstream analysis. One solution in this context is ONCITE. This turnkey (plug-and-produce) edge cloud data centre stores and processes data directly where it arises, enabling companies to retain control over their data when networking along the entire supply chain.

Trend #2: Standardisation in data centres with OCP
The rapid upgrade of existing data centres is becoming increasingly important for companies, as the volume of data needing to be processed continues to grow. Essential requirements for this growth are standardised technology, cost-efficient operation and a high level of infrastructure scalability. The OCP technology (Open Compute Project) with its central direct current distribution in the IT rack is becoming an interesting alternative for more and more CIOs. This is because DC components open up new potentials for cost optimisation. For instance, all the IT components can be powered centrally with n+1 power supplies per rack. This way, an efficient cooling is achieved, since fewer power packs are present. At the same time, the high degree of standardisation of OCP components simplifies both maintenance and spare parts management. The mean efficiency gain is around five percent of the total current.

Rittal expects that OCP will establish itself further in the data centre as an integrated system platform in 2020. New OCP products for rack cooling, power supply or monitoring will enable rapid expansion with DC components. Furthermore, new products will support the conventional concept of a central emergency power supply, where the power supply is safeguarded by a central UPS. As a result, it will no longer be necessary to protect every single OCP rack with a UPS based on lithium-ion batteries. The advantage: the fire load in the OCP data centre is reduced considerably.

Trend #3: Heat recovery and direct CPU cooling
Data centres release huge amounts of energy into the environment in the form of waste heat. As the power density in the data centre grows, so too do the amounts of heat, which can then potentially be used for other purposes. So far, however, the use of waste heat has proven too expensive, because consumers are rarely found in the direct vicinity of the site for example. In addition, waste heat, as generated by air-based IT cooling systems, is clearly too low at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius to be used economically.

In the area of high-performance computing (HPC) in particular, IT racks generate high thermal loads, often in excess of 50 kW. For HPC, direct processor cooling with water is significantly more efficient than air cooling, so that return temperatures of 60 to 65 degrees become available. At these temperatures, for instance, it is possible to heat domestic hot water or use heat pumps or to feed heat into a district heating network. However, CIOs should be aware that only about 80 percent of the waste heat can be drawn from an IT rack, even with a direct CPU water cooling. IT cooling is still needed by the rack for the remaining 20 percent.

At the German Government’s 2019 Digital Summit, the topic of heat recovery was discussed in the working group concerned, which identified a high need for action. For this reason, Rittal assumes that by 2020, significantly more CIOs will be involved in the issue of how the previously unused waste heat from the data centre can be used economically.

Trend #4: Integration of multi-cloud environments
Businesses need to be assured that they can run their cloud applications on commonly used platforms and in any country. This calls for a multi-cloud strategy. From management’s point of view, this is a strategic decision based on the knowledge that its own organisation will develop into a fully digitised business.

For example, an excellent user experience is guaranteed by minimising delays with the appropriate availability zones on site. This means that companies choose one or more availability zones worldwide for their services, depending on their business requirements. Strict data protection requirements are met by a specialised local provider in the target market concerned, for example. A vendor-open multi-cloud strategy allows exactly that: combining the functional density and scalability of hyperscalers with the data security of local and specialised providers such as Innovo Cloud. At the push of a button, on a dashboard, with a contact person, an invoice and in the second when the business decision is made – this is what is making multi-cloud strategies one of the megatrends of the coming years. This is because the economy will take further steps towards digital transformation and further accelerate its own continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines with cloud-native technologies – applications designed and developed for the cloud computing architecture. Automating the integration and delivery processes will then enable the rapid, reliable and repeatable deployment of software.

#PAuto @Rittal @EURACTIV @PresseBox

 

PICTIÚIRÍ: Industry 4.0 concept reviewed in Limerick.

EPLAN joined forces with ABB, DesignPro, Douglas Automation, Igus, Industrial Society of Automation (Ireland Section ISA), Omron, Panasonic, Prion PLM, Portalis, Rittal Ireland, Rockwell Automation, Siemens, SL Controls and Weidmuller to bring Industry 4.0 to the Limerick Institute of Technology.

More Pictures on Twitter.
The LimerickIT feed (4 pics).
Abb Feed (1 pic)
Other pics retweeted on Eplan UK Feed.

In the wake of the next industrial revolution, EPLAN hosted the event at The Limerick Institute of Technology with the aim of discussing the German concept, Industry 4.0. The event will allowed companies to understand what 4.0 means and how existing and near future technologies can help them move towards becoming a smart factory which ultimately produce machines and products that effectively talk to one another.

Industry 4.0 (Industrie 4.0) is a high-tech strategy adopted by the German government which promotes the computerisation of traditional industries such as manufacturing. The goal is to create intelligent factories (smart factory) that focus on cyber physical systems primarily consisting of communication technologies, software, senses and processes – all of which have the potential through cloud technology to communicate and interact with each other in an intelligent way.

The well attended event had over 150 registered to attend and many more came without registering.

These are some pictures to give a flavour of the event.

Busy associated exhibition area.

Professor Vincent Cunnane, President of LIT welcomes delegates!

Delegates await the next speaker.

 

Dr Frances Hardiman, Head of Department Electrical and Electronic Engineering discusses the place of LIT in the engineering community.

EPLAN’s Ken Christie welcomes delegates and addresses his company’s place in Industrie 4.0.

Justin Leonard of Igus.

Micahel Gartz of Panasonic

Declan McDevitt of Siemens

Another view of the exhibition area.

@EPLAN_UK @LimerickIT #PAuto #Industry4

Cloud-based sensor services.

Sensors are valuable sources of information and can also be used outside of conventional machine and plant engineering to optimize processes and conserve resources.

The Internet of Things opens up new possibilities for networking even sensors spread over long distances. Sensor signals can be provided at exactly the right time in the place where the information contained in the signals can be used profitably.

For example, the detection of filling levels using modern sensor technology is possible in most cases with lesser or greater ease. Where containers are spread over long distances, however, greater cost is often involved with the transmission of sensor signals. This means automated solutions have to be disregarded and filling levels have to be monitored manually with more or less regular observations.

With networking via the Internet, level data from a large number of sensors spread over long distances can be processed centrally and prepared for further processing.

Pepperl+Fuchs shows connections of sensors to various cloud platforms in a solutions park.

An application has been developed with partner connectavo which uses sensors to record the filling levels of the reservoirs of a number of filling machines in use across various production sites and manages these levels centrally.

The replenishment logistics are simplified as a result and downtimes due to a lack of materials are avoided. In addition, if the filling level falls below a critical level, a message is sent to the mobile phone of the person responsible for replenishment.

A different application has been implemented together with SAP. A sensor for type verification of light units for mobile compressors is used in this application and the data from this sensor is supplied in the cloud of an MES system that organizes the material flow for the complete assembly of the compressors.

Status data from sensors in company IT
The increase in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is one of the most important applications of Industry 4.0. The retrofitting of existing production systems poses major challenges for plant operators.
The application presented as a joint project by Pepperl+Fuchs, TE Connectivity, and Software AG uses hardware that can easily be retrofitted. This is based on the sensor level of the SmartBridge interface from Pepperl+Fuchs and on the control and fieldbus level of the spark device of TE Connectivity. These two data ports transmit the extracted performance data via cable or via a radio interface to the business platform of Software AG. This platform allows three important added value services within the context of Industry 4.0 through data consolidation with a downstream analysis:

1. Process optimization
Spark uses the process data from sensors and actuators from the control level and displays this on a dashboard, which also reveals less obvious delays or micro-downtimes with the help of a historical data recorder.

2. Status monitoring
A correlation of historical events with the actual machine runtimes and maintenance recommendations of the manufacturers provide a good picture of the actual (maintenance) status of the machine or plant.

3. Service on demand
Photoelectric sensors from Pepperl+Fuchs even provide information about diminishing detection capability due to soiling of the exit lens or the reflector. This information is extracted from the machine circuit with the help of the SmartBridge interface and transmitted to a service platform via an Internet gateway. The platform evaluates the status information from the sensors and, where necessary, triggers a field service application, which can be completed either by internal or external maintenance service providers.

 

 @PepperlFuchsUSA #PAuto #IoT

Unlocking the value of cross-facility data sets.

The great migration: cloud computing for smart manufacturing
By Martyn Williams, managing director at COPA-DATA UK.

According to this industry survey by IBM, two thirds of mid-sized companies have already implemented – or are currently considering – a cloud based storage model for their organisation. The analytic advantages of cloud computing in industry are no secret, in fact, 70 per cent of these cloud-using respondents said they were actively pursuing cloud-based analytics to gleam greater insights and efficiency in order to achieve business goals

For the manufacturing industry, the benefits of migrating to cloud computing have been heavily publicised, but in an industry that has been slow to embrace new technology, a mass move to the cloud can feel like a leap in the unknown. Despite an increased adoption of smart manufacturing technologies, some companies may still feel hesitant. Instead, many decide to test the water by implementing a cloud storage model in just one production site. However, this implementation model can only provide limited benefits in comparison to a mass, multi-site migration to the cloud.

So what should companies expect to undertake during their cloud migration?

Define business objectives
Before migrating to the cloud, companies should first consider how it can help them achieve -and in some cases refine – their business objectives and plan their migration with these objectives in mind. For businesses that want to improve collaboration and benchmarking across multiple locations, for example, the cloud plays a significant role.

A company with multiple production sites operating in several locations will be familiar with the complications of cross-facility benchmarking. Often, business objectives or key performance indicators (KPIs) are only set for single site locations. In an ideal situation, the business objectives have to be coordinated across all locations to offer a clear, company-wide mission.

To achieve better collaboration and transparency across sites, companies can resort to using a cloud storage and computing application that gathers all available production data (from multiple production sites) in one place. Certain individuals or teams in the company can be granted access to relevant data sets and reports, depending on their responsibilities within the organisation.

Determine the ideal status
Once a business objective is clear, companies should identify what the ideal status of each process is. By using production data and energy information stored and analysed in the cloud, a company can gain insight on productivity, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), energy usage and more. This insight helps companies make changes that will bring the existing production environment closer to the ideal status.

Combined with the right SCADA software, the cloud unlocks rich company-wide data sets. By bridging information from different facilities in real-time, the software generates a bird’s eye view of company-wide operations and detailed analysis of energy consumption, productivity and other operational KPIs. This makes it easier for a company to monitor progress against the original business objectives and scale up or down when necessary.

Already, a large number of manufacturers are using industrial automation to speed up production and increase efficiency. With the large scale adoption of intelligent machinery, cloud computing is poised to become the obvious solution to store and manage the complexity of data this industry connectivity creates.

Unlike the restrictions associated with on-premises storage, cloud based models provide unlimited scalability, allowing companies to store both real-time and historical data from all production their sites and integrate any new production lines or sites to their cloud solution in a seamless manner. When accompanied with data analytics software, like zenon Analyzer, cloud computing can help companies prevent potential problems in production and even ignite entirely new business models.

Continuous improvement
For manufacturers with strict energy efficiency and productivity targets, easy access to company-wide data is invaluable. However, the knowledge provided by the cloud does not end with past and present data, but also gives manufacturers a glimpse into the future of their facilities.

By using the cloud, companies can implement a long-term continuous improvement strategy. Often, continuous improvement will follow the simple Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model often used in energy management applications. This allows companies to make decisions based on data analytics and to evaluate the effectiveness of those decisions in the short and medium run.

Using data collected from industrial machinery, companies can also employ predictive analytics technology to forecast why and when industrial machinery is likely to fail, which also means they can minimise costly downtime.

Predictive analytics allows manufacturers to identify potential problems with machinery before breakdowns occur. Avoiding expensive overheads for production downtime and costly fines for unfulfilled orders, the priceless insights predictive analytics can provide is the obvious solution to such costly problems.

Converting from the safe familiarities of on-premises storage to an advanced cloud model may seem risky. As with any major business transition, there is bound to be hesitation surrounding the potential problems the changeover could bring. Before making a decision, companies should closely assess three things: business objectives, how the cloud can help them achieve the ideal status across one or multiple production sites and how it can help them continuously improve in the long run.

Future factory – a moderator’s impression!

Read-out was asked to moderate the automation stream at the National Manufacturing & Supplies conference held last week outside Dublin. (26th January 2016). In their wisdom the organisers selected “Future Factory!” as a title for this half day seminar and there were 11 speakers organised to speak on their particular subjects for about 15 minutes each. This was replicated in the the over a dozen different seminars held on this one day.

Long queues lasted well into the morning to enter the event!

We were a little sceptical that this would work but with the help of the organisers and the discipline of the speakers the time targets were achieved. Another target achieved was the number of attendees at the event as well as those who attended this particular seminar.
In all between exhibitors, speakers and visitors well over 3000 packed the venue. Probably far more than the organisers had anticipated and hopefully a potent sign that the economy is again on the upturn. Indeed it was so successful that it was trending (#MSC16) on twitter for most of the day.

Seminar
But back to our seminar. If you google the term Future Factory you get back 207million links, yet it is difficult to find a simple definition as to what it means. The term automation similarly is a very difficult term to define though the term in Irish “uathoibriú” perhaps is a bit clearer literally meaning “self-working.”

Good attendance at the Seminar

Background
The world of automation has changed to an extrordinary degree and yet in other ways it remains the same. The areas where it has experienced least change is in the areas of sensing – a thermometer is a thermometer – and final control – a valve is a valve. Where it has changed almost to the point of unrecognisability is in that bit in the middle, what one does with the signal from the sensor to activate the final control element.

From single parameter dedicated Indicator/Controller/Recorders in the sixties which transmitted either pnuematically (3-15psi) or electrically (4-20mA). Gradually (relatively speaking) most instruments became electronic, smaller in size and multifunctional. The means of communication changed too and fieldbus communication became more common to intercact with computors which themselves were developing at breaknech speed. Then transmission via wireless became more common and finally the internet and the ability to control a process from the computer that we call the intelligent phone. There are problems with these latter, internet/cellphone, of course. One is that the reach of the internet is focussed at present on areas of high population. Another is the danger of infiltration of systems by hostile or mischivous strangers. The importance of security protocols is one that has only recently been apparent to Automation professionals.

• Many of the presentations are available on-line here. The password is manufac2016

The Presentations
Maria Archer of Ericsson spoke on the enabling and facilitating IoT in the manufacturing industry. Diving straight into topic she drew on her experience of big data, e-commerce, media, cyber security, IOT and connected devices.

The second speaker was Cormac Garvey of Hal Software who addressed Supply Chain prototyping. The Supply Chain ecosystem is incredibly complex, usually requiring significant integration of each suppliers’ standards and processes to the manufacturer’s. Cormac will introduce the concept of supply chain prototyping, where easy-to-use, standards-based technology is used to wireframe out the entire supply chain ecosystem prior to integration, thus significantly reducing cost, time and risk on the project. This wireframe can then be used as a model for future integration projects.

Two speakers from the Tralee Institute of Technology, Dr. Pat Doody and Dr. Daniel Riordan spoke on RFID, IoT, Sensor & Process Automation for Industry 4.0. They explained how IMaR’s (Intelligent Mechatronics and RFID) expertise is delivering for their industrial partners and is available to those aiming to become a part of Industry 4.0.

Smart Manufacturing – the power of actionable data was the topic addressed by Mark Higgins of Fast Technology. He shared his understanding of the acute issues companies face on their journey to Business Excellence and how leveraging IT solutions can elevate the business to a new point on that journey.

Assistant Professor (Mechanical & Manuf. Eng) at TCD, Dr Garret O’Donnell,   explained how one of the most significant initiatives in the last 2 years has been the concept of the 4th industrial revolution promoted by the National Academy for Science and Engineering in Germany- ACATECH, known as Industrie 4.0. (Industrie 4.0 was first used as a term in Germany in 2011).

Another speaker from Fast Technologies, Joe Gallaher, addressed the area of Robotics and how Collaborative Robots are the “Game Changer” in the modern manufacturing facility.

Dr. Hassan Kaghazchi of the University of Limerick and Profibus spoke on PROFINET and Industrie 4.0. Industrial communications systems play a major role in today’s manufacturing systems. The ability to provide connectivity, handle large amount of data, uptime, open standards, safety, and security are the major deciding factors. This presentation shows how PROFINET fits into Industrial Internet of Things (Industrie 4.0).

Maurice Buckley CEO NSAI

The CEO of NSAI, the Irish National Standards Authority, Maurice Buckley explained how standards and the National Standards Authority of Ireland can help Irish businesses take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution and become more prepared to reap the rewards digitisation can bring.

The next two speakers stressed the impact of low forecast accuracy on the bottom line and how this coulbe be addressed. Jaap Piersma a consultant with SAS UK & Ireland explained that low forecast accuracies on the business performance is high in industry but with the right tools, the right approach and experienced resources you can achieve very significant result and benefits for your business. Following him Dave Clarke, Chief Data Scientist at Asystec, who mantains the company strategy for big data analytics service development for customers. He showed how are incredible business opportunities possible by harnessing the massive data sets generated in the machine to machine and person to machine hyper connected IoT world.

The final speaker David Goodstein, Connected Living Project Director, GSMA, described new form factor mobile SIMs which are robust, remotely manageable which are an essential enabler for applications and services in the connected world.

All in all a very interesting event and useful to attendees. Papers are being collected and should be available shortly on-line.

It is hoped to do it all again next year on 24th January 2017- #MSC17.

See you there.

@NationalMSC #MSC16 #PAuto #IoT

How cloud computing is changing industrial automation.

Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director of industrial automation supplier European Automation examines how cloud computing is disrupting industrial automation. 

Traditionally, the manufacturing industry has been slow to embrace new technological platforms, but in recent years the introduction and success of cloud computing has meant this technology is becoming vital for manufacturers. 

Adopting the cloud!

One of the most notable changes in industry over the last years has come from advancements in remote connectivity. Traditionally, the location of manufacturing facilities was determined by ready access to water, fossil fuels or electricity grids. Today, the cloud allows manufacturers to connect and manage factory operations regardless of their location.

For demanding environments, such as the offshore oil and gas sector, this remote access is particularly valuable. The industry handles large amounts of data, usually sourced from multiple teams in remote locations. Cloud computing enables the communication of complex data between these locations and back to head office to be analysed.

What’s more, as opposed to simply managing their own operations, cloud computing allows manufacturers to manage their partners too. By working closely together and sharing business data with third party suppliers, logistics partners and other associates or manufacturers can form what is known as a ‘community cloud’. This advanced form of cloud computing allows businesses to gain insight to their entire supply chain and creates a secure platform for business partners coordinate their activities, from prototype right through to the finalised product.

Inevitably, with increased access and connectivity comes a higher security risk for manufacturers. These cyber security risks are not necessarily the work of malicious hackers, but can often be simple mistakes made by employees, such as connecting via unsecure networks, exposing the system to viruses or accidental breaches.

Despite these risks, manufacturers have few alternatives that can compete with cloud computing. Without the help of the technology, manufacturers would have to maintain expensive computing hardware and continually add more storage space to archive the ever-growing data from the factory floor.

For many manufacturers, opting for the cloud is a no-brainer. Cloud computing is capable of performing large-scale, complex computing operations for the largest of manufacturers. Even in the unfortunate event that you run out of computing resources on the cloud – a phenomenon known as ‘cloud bursting’ – manufacturers are able to spill the excess workload to an external cloud on an on-demand basis, making cloud computing a much safer and more secure alternative to in-house storage.

Despite these obvious advantages, cloud computing goes far beyond simple data storage. Many industry experts think the Internet of Things (IoT) is the next step towards the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0. IoT simply refers to online connectivity between different industrial devices, meaning that networks of machines within a factory setting can communicate and coordinate with little human intervention. 

But how can IoT possibly thrive without ways to analyse and store the data generated? This is where cloud computing comes in. As manufacturers are forced to embrace new technology such as smart sensors, IoT and 3D printing, the cloud works to support these major industry shifts.