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The Convergence eBook:The future of industrial automationstrategies

Moores Law has proved an all-important inu-

ence as advanced automation technologies

leaprog the capabilities o legacy PLC, PAC, HMI,

I/O, CNC, saety and motion technologies.

A key change in developed markets is the

demographics o the industrial automation

user. What is happening to the generation that

grew up in North America with purpose-built

PLCs, ladder logic, vendor-driven device busesand limited human-machine interace graph-

ics? Theyre starting to retire, and they are being

supplanted by a polarized work orce consisting

o computer scientists applying automation

technologies on the one hand, and a perenni-

ally under-educated labor pool operating the

machinery on the other.

Meanwhile, globalization is driving automation

into emerging markets where standards and a

skilled workorce dont exist. Manuacturers need

a strategy or international standards that will

help them control costs and maximize productiv-

ity across both emerging and developed markets.

The natural progression across both worlds will

be to apply advanced technologies to increase

ease o use by an order o magnitude. Much like

the evolution o the automobile, automation

will embed technologies in such a way that they

are transparent to the user and allow untrained

users to not only operate but also become

capable o perorming sel-guided maintenancetasks.

Leading the way is the convergence o

unctionalities on a single HMI dashboard, as

part o an integrated control capability based on

international standards. This convergence is led

by Moores Law and enabled by a host o new

technologies, ranging rom three-dimensional

immersive animation to networked saety, to

energy and condition monitoring technologies,

to mainstream consumer and IT platorms.

Key to the productivity gains arising rom

convergence are compounded benets: an

easier and saer machine to use has better

Overall Equipment Eectiveness (OEE).

Better OEE reduces energy consumption,

which translates to improved sustainability.

Sustainable operation also means reduced

scrap, which improves quality, etc. And all

these metrics have the net eect o increasing

revenue streams and protability. n

Executive summaryControl:

Motion

Logic

Robotics

Safety

PackML

OEE

OPC

I/O

Vision

Human-machine

interface:

Visualization

Dashboards

Video/animation

Predictive maintenance

Energy monitoring

Condition monitoring

Wireless access

Remote diagnostics

Multi-touch functionality

IntegratedHMIand

control

N E X T A R T I C L E

The future of automation

A key attribute o convergence is integration o and access to a broad range o control and HMI

unctionalities, made practical by Moores Law.
http://www.br-automation.com/


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Into the 1960s cars were simple. It was a time when the shade tree

mechanic could literally climb inside the engine compartment,

make adjustments and replace parts

with the skills o a arm boy. However,

regular maintenance tasks such as timing,

replacement o plugs and points, valve jobs

and the like kept maintainers busy.

By the 1970s and 1980s, things like

emissions controls, permanently lubricateddrivetrain components and early computers

had made cars ar more complex to maintain.

But they also laid the groundwork or a third

generation o vehicles with such tight manu-

acturing tolerances, advanced materials and

sophisticated onboard control systems, that

we would eventually change spark plugs at

50,000 mile intervals. And when was the last

time you needed a valve job?

Industrial automation has much in common

with the evolution o the automobile. What

were buttons are now touchscreens. Micro-

processors are distributed down to the input and output (I/O) level.

I/O device communications, run on networks that no longer sweat

the bandwidth to run I/O, motion, vision, robots, saety and data

acquisition together on the same wire. Not to mention the same

sotware project. And everything but saety

(by denition) can run on the same processor.

Whats happened here? Weve ollowed

Moores Law rom the consumer and IT

markets into industrial controls.

Yet, legacy control platorms still

predominantly oer low volume, dedicatedmicroprocessors instead o the latest Atom

and Core i5 and i7 Intel processors. They

tend to incorporate proprietary attributes in

an era o open systems.

These legacy platorms are now acing

pressure rom more advanced technologies.

Change is inevitable. n

The future of automation


Challenging the status quo

Automation controllers that ollowMoores Law now oer an incredibleperormance range compared to legacy

PLCs and PACs.


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The most common arguments or maintaining the status quo have included the learning curve to change control platorms, concern over

increasing purchasing costs and spare parts to stock, and simply resistance to change.

These arguments have become increasingly diluted to the extent that unctional, standards-based control specications are accelerating

among end users. The growing acceptance o advanced technology providers by end users has given machinery builders and systems

integrators the condence to select best-in-class automation technologies to dierentiate their products. And it has caused the new class o

automation suppliers to experience double-digit growth and establish global ootprints.

While it was back in the 1960s and 1970s that no one ever got red by buying IBMin IT, a semblance o this extreme conservatism still

lingers among some industrial automation users. Ater all, when the primary mission is to keep production uninterrupted, any change at all

equates to the perception o risk.Now, however, corporate mandates go ar beyond simply keeping the line running. Sustainability, global competitiveness and lean

manuacturing initiatives require increased throughputs with reduced use o materials, energy, water and other natural resources.

And those challenges make change the only path. n

Challenging the status quo


The worlds workforce: a driver for change

Corporate mandates or sustainability, global

competitiveness and lean manuacturinginitiatives require increased throughputs with

reduced use o materials, energy, water and other

natural resources. Legacy solutions arent good

enough any more.


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The need to de-skill manuacturing jobs has become

increasingly obvious. In developed economies, its becoming

harder to nd skilled machine operators and maintenance

technicians despite the promotion o continuing education,

training certications and relatively high wages or job

seekers with relatively low levels o education.

In emerging economies, the skills dont exist because the

demand is new, so the educational and training inrastructure

doesnt exist. The employer must train employees, whoincreasingly are taking these transerable skills to the

highest bidder in markets such as China. For consumer goods

makers expecting the majority o their near-term growth to

come rom developing regions, BRICS and beyond, this is a

requirement o strategic signicance.

In the short term, lean manuacturing calls or more

efcient processes and use o labor. In the long term, the

workorce skills gap is projected to become more acute with

aging demographics. More eective automation technologies

are the answer. n

The worlds workforce: a driver for change


A slippery example

The aging workorce will

have a proound eect on

automation in developedmarkets, creating the

same skills gaps aced bymanuacturers in emerging

economies today. The answer

is increased ease o use.

Chart courtesy o :

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-

jobs-greenstone-looney,

Michael Greenstone and

Adam Looney, The Hamilton

Project, Brookings Institution,

March 9, 2012
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/03/09-jobs-greenstone-looneyhttp://www.br-automation.com/


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Adapting to workorce issues is a key

aspect o mechatronic design principles

that roll right into this convergence.

As an example, consider machine

lubrication systems. Hard-to-reach

zerk ttings tend not to get greased.

Its a common problem.

So machine builders began to invest

in centralized clusters o grease ttingsthat make the task easier. The next

step was to install a motorized pump

and automate the lubrication process.

The next logical step is to graphically

display the level o the lubricant

reservoir on the HMI when it is due

or replenishment, the only remaining

manual task. I the pump or motor

burns out, the machine can be disabled

and the ailed devices highlighted

on the HMI with the ault identied,

replacement instructions described

by video or animation, and even

automated parts ordering.

This is a win-win on many levels. A

critical task is largely removed rom

human error and becomes more

consistent, in keeping with Six Sigma

and the pharmaceutical industrys

Good Manuacturing Practices (GMP).

Regardless o whether the operator isskilled or unskilled, it is a labor savings

that will be readily recouped. And its

clearly ideal or lean manuacturers

implementing vendor-managed

inventory.

Ultimately predictive maintenance

will call or actively monitoring

machine conditions, such as critical

bearings, using vibration analysis to

detect signs o wear and damage.

Condition monitoring technology is

available today. n

A slippery example


How mainstream technologies arechanging the face of industrial automation

Automated systems can simpliy tasks such as bearing lubrication while monitoring conditions to implementpredictive maintenance, yielding both labor and maintenance cost savings.


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Everything in an industrial control system used to be purpose-

built. In the late 1980s it was elt that or motion networks

to be reliable on the actory oor, they needed to use special

purpose ber optic networks, but now most use Cat 5

Ethernet cables. There were even vendor-specic avorso

longstanding industrial standards such as RS-232 and RS-485

serial communications. PLCs were somehow considered di-erent rom industrial PCs, which today sport the same indus-

trial hardening, real-time operating systems and IEC 61131-3

compliant programming as purpose-built PLCs or PACs.

(The term PAC was coined by an automation analyst rm to

signiy that the controls called PLCs could now do more than

logic. PAC stands or programmable automation controller,

which is at best a redundant statement. The reality is that

in the vernacular, the term PLC has come to be synonymous with

machine controller. The generic use o the PLC acronym is also

recognition that theres a lot more processing power out there than

there today, but the amiliar name stands.)

Today, the internet sets new standards by which we dene

control and communication architectures. We use onboard web

servers, internet connections and VNCs (virtual network commu-

nications) to diagnose issues, as well as to download and upload

data to and rom remote locations, using intranets and in-plant

Wi-Fi connections or recipe management, production data and

OEE data acquisition. We are applying the reliability o Flash

and other solid state memory.

We are just beginning to apply multi-touch screen technol-ogy and user experience (UseEx) techniques to improve us-

ability. We are exploring how to apply the engaging aspects

o video games and HTML5 programming to interact with

machine operators.

This only makes sense. Many contemporary technologies,

especially mobile devices, are already robust enough or most

or the plant oor. For instance, Atom processors are heat

and vibration resistant. And the computing industrys volumes

are an order o magnitude higher than industrial control, so this

is where the basic R&D into new technologies is cost-justied.

Many o the resulting capabilities, such as VNC, even end up being

reeware. n

How mainstream technologies arechanging the face of industrial automation


What does convergence meanin terms of automation technology?

Increasingly, industrial automation systems are taking

advantage o mainstream tech, rom wireless devices to

computer usability or UseEx practices.


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In a nutshell: one sotware development envi-

ronment, one runtime sotware application, one

control hardware module, one processor

(possibly multiple cores), one network, all

unctionalities. That means human-machine

interace, multi-axis motion, logic, robotics,

sensors and vision, saety, energy and condition

monitoring, data acquisition, recipe manage-

ment, diagnostics and operator instructions.

Between ten and teen years ago, high speed

motion networks did not have the bandwidth

to accommodate additional nodes such as I/O

and variable speed drives. The device networkwas separate rom the connection between the

HMI and PLC, and the separate motion controller

might also be on a dedicated connection or the

PLC backplane. S aety would be hardwired.

Vision would require its own dedicated PC.

Data acquisition might be on a non-

deterministic Ethernet network or require a

data concentratorPLC.

Each robot required its own proprietary con-

troller and a lot o communications sotware to

synchronize with the machines PLC. Hardware,

sotware license and engineering costs were

signicant. Communicating between dierent

controls across multiple networks made the

system collectively run slower. And PLCs were

not necessarily scalable between low, mid-range

and high-end platorms, each requiring theirown programming environment and oten di-

erent motion and I/O hardware.

These scenarios are improving but these plat-

orms are still in wide use, even on new-build

equipment. It must be recognized that these

limitations are unnecessary in light o available

converged technologies.

This convergence has been embraced by a

number o advanced machinery builders and has

been documented in the trade press. n

What does convergence meanin terms of automation technology?


The i moment

As this video shows, automation technology can be scaled up and down in terms o

throughputs and process complexity.

Th C B k
http://www.br-automation.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62H9EHFKIDM


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It was well beore 2010 that industrial

automation strategists began to envision the

uture HMI as iPhone, then as iPad. This

ah-hamoment came and passed because no

automation supplier was ready to dedicate

the R&D resources to so radically simpliy their

sotware. And because multi-touch industrial

computers didnt yet exist.

Technologists had to satisy themselves bywirelessly connecting their actual iPhones and

iPads to their control systems, proving that they

could view and even manipulate their systems

wirelessly rom just about anywhere the other

side o the machine or the other side o the

world.

Plant personnel were no longer tethered to

the panels on the machine, including the more

maneuverable pendants on coiled cords and the

moveable arm-mounted HMI panels. Now they

could wander around a large machine or a line

without losing touch.

But that was never the end game. The real

leap is to make the control system as easy to

use and accessible as the elegantly simple

navigation pioneered by the iPhones visual

and tactile experience. Now that iPhone and

its expanding competition have changed the

worlds expectations orever, its time to do the

same in automation.

Multi-touch, HD industrial computers are nowa reality, in IP65 rated enclosures and ranging in

size rom not much bigger than an iPhone 5 to

two eet wide. Industrial sotware suppliers are

beginning to launch multi-touch applications.

The revolution, o to a slow start, has begun.

Does anyone need multi-touch industrial con-

trols? No more than SCADA systems needed re-

alistic graphical process depictions or HMI panels

needed more than glowing green, alphanumeric

CRT displays. Or electromechanical buttons on

grey enameled steel cabinets, or that matter.

But why would anyone go back? n

The i moment


3D immersive animation

Industrial multi-touch panels are now a reality and promise to become popular or bothpractical unctionality and perceived value.

Th C B k
http://www.br-automation.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Eq6wQU1uE


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Here is a genie about to be released rom the bottle. Right now

its too expensive, in the vicinity o a $40,000 one-time cost per

machine. But once the early adopters start loading animated work

instructions into their HMI panels, it will soon become an expecta-

tion. Its that much more eective than even video, and certainly a

quantum leap rom todays practice o loading a pd o the machine

manual on the HMI.

Its the ideal technology to overcome educational and language

barriers. It is proven to improve both comprehension and retentionin learning. It can be developed widely used 3-D CAD modeling

sotware such as Solidworks. It doesnt generate the visual clutter

o video when ocusing on specic elements o a complex assem-

bly or task. And it uses computer graphics skills that are popular

curricula among undergrads hoping to break into the videogame

industry, but that largely go wonting once the designers enter the

workorce (making them available or hire by machine builders).

Today, its unheard o or a machinery builder to have a computer

graphic specialist on sta. Instead, controls engineers design the

HMI screens the way that their HMI suppliers allow. In the near

uture, OEMs will let their engineers ocus on engineering and hire

the specic skillsets to create graphics that reduce the learning

curve or operators, maintenance technicians, integrators and

supervisors, not to mention trainers and cross-training.

Lets say an operator needs to perorm a ormat change. The

animation lets them reach on screen or the change parts they

think are correct, and they get immediate reinorcement whether

they are right or wrong. They can roll over sections o the machine

to learn what they do.

In the event o a ault, the control program can automatically

bring up a series o animated troubleshooting sequences. I no,then. I yes, then. And the system can automatically escalate to

a supervisor, maintenance technician, or even a remote contract

maintenance provider i the problem cannot be resolved by the

operator.

This allows operators to perorm a greater range o rst echelon

maintenance tasks without involving a technician. It takes the

judgment call out o the equation. It ensures that the proper par-

ties are made aware o the situation in a timely manner. It resolves

the issue in the shortest time possible, based on the machine

builders intimate knowledge o their design. It uses visuals over

words, and the words can be in any language or use anywhere in

the world, not to mention universally understood symbols.

Not that video doesnt have its place alongside animation. For

example, instructions or a one-o specialty subsystem might not

justiy animation. Talking heads, application videos and more ben-

et rom video. Its just that animation opens the door to a whole

new level o productivity.

Combine animation with usability on a wide ormat, multi-touch

screen and you have a powerul productivity tool indeed. n

3D immersive animation


Simulation and code generation

Animation onboard the machines HMI provides inherentadvantages over both video and still images.

Th C B k


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Mathworks has its Matlab and Simulink, allowing engineers to

ow seamlessly between design, simulation and control program-

ming. This has been a holy grail in the CNC world, where STEP NC

has long promised to link CAD, CAE and CAM.

The processing and network horsepower to make this happen

are here. The will to move rom legacy programming methods

takes two catalysts, both currently active: a changing o the guard

and a drive or the next big gains in cost productivity.

Convergence o other applications can reduce coding and dataentry in other ways. For example, sotware development envi-

ronments can interace with applications like ePlan to simpliy

development o wiring diagrams and to automatically generate

bills o materials. n

Simulation and code generation


The HMI becomes the dashboard

Technologies are commercially available to simulate machine

models and automatically generate real-time control code toemulate system behavior. New designs can be tested beore a

prototype is actually built.

The Convergence eBook:


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As the control platorm transitions to an industrial PC with a hard real-time

operating system, virtually any standard computer programming language can

be supported. As HMI incorporate more sophisticated diagnostics, users will

not typically need to access code or troubleshooting, recipe changes or process

optimization. They will parameterize graphical, menu-driven selections instead.

This is one o Nestls key initiatives in The Organization or Machine Automation

and Control (OMAC). They do not want maintenance technicians to manipulate

the code written by machine builders or their packaging lines. Machine builders

agree. At worst it creates service issues and high warranty costs or the OEM anddowntime or the user.

Instead, Nestl is leading the charge to perorm most tasks rom the HMI.

This means that machine builders must increase the unctionality o their HMI

sotware.

This will lead to another level o HMI development in which unctions that were

once viewed as lines o code will now become interactive dashboards that are

parameterized and perorm the complex tasks behind the scenes. n

The HMI becomes the dashboard


Applying UseEx to the dashboard

Dashboards like this motion control interace will make integrated control

technology easier to use.



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User experience, or UseEx, describes the discipline that applies

computer usability, briey mentioned earlier, to graphical user

interace design. Computer usability brings together concepts such

as the iPad, with ewer clicks across a 16x9 ormat, the ability to

keep the original page on screen while bringing up new pages on

the right (instead o scrolling through screens), and proessionally

designed graphical user interaces (GUIs) that are intuitively

unctional without becoming distractions.

These are mainstream skills to get the most rom the

mainstream technologies now available to industrial HMI. Ear ly

adopters are now adding computer graphics graduates to their

development teams. They are consulting with UseEx consultants

rom the computing industry.

Instead o controls engineers being drated to design icons

or select them rom libraries o the same old two-dimensional

objects, graphic designers are developing realistic yet elegantly

simple, easy to recognize buttons, sliders, device images and

process illustrations. And they are tying animation and video into

their dashboards to maximize their eectiveness.Arguments that such graphics are only cost-justied on high end

control applications are now being disproved. Cost competitive

multi-touch industrial panels are now being produced rom as

small as 7 inches to as big as 24 inches.

Consider the user experience o a good app or the small screen,

and compare it to navigating a well-designed website on a ull-

sized screen. They are each scaled to their use, but they use many

o the same graphic devices. To increase amiliarity, the small

screen control dashboard might even be designed in a portrait

ormat, channeling the look o the operators smart phone and

tablet. n

Applying UseEx to the dashboard


Intellectual property protection

The advent o multi-touch panels rom 7

to 24 allows a ull range o machinery to

beneft rom enhanced computer usability,

or a better user experience (UseEx).


13/20



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It used to be that saety was about regu-

latory compliance, avoiding liability and

simultaneously adding cost to a machine.

Those days are in the past. With the latest

networked saety technologies, a saer

machine is a more productive machine.

O course, a sae machine has less down

time and higher OEE. A sae worker isnt

absent rom the job. Machines that arente-stopped are subjected to less potential

damage.

But a machine or line with networked

saety represents a new level o produc-

tivity. Thats because instead o minor

shutdowns, it might only encounter mi-

nor slowdowns. And not stopping a line is

the best thing you can do or throughput.

Networked saety ollows the new

saety norms coming rom Europe. It

doesnt require control power to be

removed, instead it provides zoning and

sae torque, sae speed, sae robotics al-

lowing mechanical systems to operate in

sae modes while a human intervention

occurs.

Imagine a continuous process, such as a

snack ood ryer or plastics extruder, that

must be shut down to clear a downstream

jam. What i the line could be slowed

down instead o stopped, perhaps withno more accumulation than originally

designed in? And what i an operator

could saely enter a robotic envelope to

remove a damaged pallet or corrugated

case blanks?

Now imagine that the robot arm

can keep operating, but at a speed

slow enough, torque low enough, and

envelope restricted enough that it will

not touch the human, and even i it did, it

would not harm anyone?

This is the new world o saety. n

Safety = productivity



With networked saety, the same Ethernet cable controlling machine modules and machines across an

entire line also unctions as the saety network, connecting saety processors, sae drives and sae I/O,replacing hardwired saety PLCs and saety circuits with a much higher degree o unctionality.



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The dierence between preventive and predictive maintenance?

A better understanding o when a system will ail, how, and

what needs to be done when to prevent it. Simple preventive

maintenance is typically based on measuring things like

B10 bearing lie, cycles and hours o operation. Preventive

maintenance doesnt know, it assumes.

Predictive maintenance includes eedback and analysis to

identiy behaviors leading to ailure beore they happen. Act ively

monitoring the condition o bearings will pinpoint unusualwear, or example. Monitoring o motor torque (current) and

temperatures have long been used to indicate potential problems.

But dedicated sensors can provide a host o inormation about

abnormal vibrational orces. Ti ed into the control system,

scheduled maintenance can be perormed to avoid the disruption

o unscheduled preventive maintenance or repair o a ailure.

This inormation can now travel over the same network and

share the same processor and control sotware as the rest o the

machinery. n



Integrated control the basis for convergence

Condition monitoring can also take place over the same Ethernet cable controlling the machinery, making predictive

maintenance programs a more practical reality.



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Fact is, communications between machine controllers, robots,

vision systems and other third party devices typically account or

30% o the control sotware. And this is oten duplicated by each

machine builder even though they are using the same third party

device suppliers.

Integrated control reduces the prolieration o discrete controllers

on a machine, using a powerul state-o-the-art machine

controller instead.

For example, a dedicated industrial PC has been provided byvision suppliers to do image processing. Today, an IEC compliant

unction block may be all the interace required to do the

processing on a centralized, Intel powered machine controller.

Robot controllers have predominantly been proprietary black

boxes. Early attempts to adapt legacy PLCs or PACs to robot

control have generated slow-running kinematic routines. Adding

industrial PC modules with dedicated robotic sotware makes the

PLC appear to be perorming high perormance robotic kinematics,

but in reality its still two programs running on two controllersa

costly alternative.

Going back to Moores Lawrunning an integrated robotic

unction on a highly capable integrated hardware and sotware

platormchanges the equation or good (and or better) n

Integrated control the basis for convergence


Why OMAC matters

One example o integrated control is a new POWERLINK

interace that connects vision systems over the machinecontrol network to the industrial PC running the machine,

eliminating the need or a dedicated vision PC. Its a very

practical example o convergence.

The Convergence eBook:i


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The Organization or Machine Automation and Control began in

automotive manuacturing in 1994, specically with a white paper

co-authored by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. At that time,

OMAC stood or Open, Modular Architecture Control. It suppor ted

standards- and PC-based controls. Sound amiliar? In 1995 the

OMAC Users Group was ormed.

Fast orward to 2000, and the Motion or Packaging Workgroup

was ormed. While the original Machine Tool Workgroup ocused

on computer numerical control (CNC) metalworking applications,the new packaging group began by ocusing on general motion

control (GMC) which, at the time, had been steadily gaining

ground in mechatronic packaging machinery design circles.

Today the scope o the OMAC Packaging Workgroup has greatly

expanded and is merging with the parent Organizations overall

manuacturing mission.

Since 2010, led by Nestl and embraced by companies such as

Arla Foods, Boeing, John Deere, MillerCoors, PepsiCo, Pzer and

Procter & Gamble, The Organization has developed a comprehen-

sive approach to standardization that is destined to include the

HMI template described earlier, along with standardized networks,

programming, state model and modes, tag naming conventions,

and even a universal User Requirements Specication (uURS).

The business strategy driving this standards initiative, in

a word, is globalization. Multiple and de acto standards indeveloped markets, combined with a dearth o standards in

emerging markets, pose a cost-prohibitive barrier to globalizing

manuacturing and packaging operations. OMAC member

companies recognize that more than ever beore, eective

automation strategies need global standards.

More inormation is available at www.omac.org. n

Why OMAC matters


The authors perspective

The Organization or Machine Automation and Control is

developing, adopting and promoting the use o internationalstandards that enable innovation and overcome proprietarybarriers to productivity.

The Convergence eBook:t t i


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gThe future of industrial automationstrategies

B&R Industrial Automation has prepared this

white paper to provide the global manuacturing

community with a critical path to increasing

productivity to the next level.

B&R Industrial Automation has also embraced

The Organization or Machine Automation and

Control, with B&R personnel serving on the

OMAC Board o Directors and as the Chair o

the Packaging Workgroup. The company hasincorporated the OMAC architecture into its

control architecture.

Commercially, B&Rs comprehensive

automation product line has enabled the

capabilities described in this paper. It oers

a competitive solution to other automation

suppliers based not on proprietary systems, but

on its value proposition instead.

This is the market strategy o a challenger that

reinvests a large percentage o its revenue intoresearch & development. As a global, privately

held technology rm on a rapid ascent, B&R has

reached a threshold where legacy competitors

relying on proprietary systems are becoming

less relevant to automation users as they remain

conservative yet demand new sources o cost

reduction and marketplace advantage.

The ollowing recommendations are

presented as supplier-agnostic criteria or

vendor evaluation, nevertheless criteria that

B&R Industrial Automation eels condent in itsabilities to meet.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

1. Conduct an audit o current and

prospective automation suppliers

Begin by identiying your current automation

suppliers (even companies with strict vendor

specications typically have exceptions to their

own rules operating in their plants because non-specied suppliers provide unique and necessary

advantages in particular applications).


Automation convergence will have a direct and proound impact on the upcoming generationo manuacturing systems, yielding top and bottom line advantages in the global marketplace.

C O N T I N U E D


The Convergence eBook:t t i


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Next, consult with your most progressiveequipment suppliers. Share your vision o

convergence with them. Do not enter a nancial

discussion at this time, simply dene the

capabilities you seek.

Then ask your equipment suppliers what

automation suppliers they would recommend

to achieve convergence and why. Progressive

machine builders routinely evaluate suppliers

capabilities and even oer them as standard to

customers without restrictive specications.

The importance o this last step cannot be

overemphasized, as very oten equipment

manuacturer Sales will not jeopardize a sale by

proposing a non-specifed control solution that

Engineering has ound to be superior.

Some rms engage a third party consultancy

in the automation space, two prominent rms

being ARC Advisory Group (www.arcweb.com)

and IMS Research (www.imsresearch.com).The result will be a shortlist o automation

suppliers to evaluate.

2. Conduct an internal audit

Identiying current suppliers may appear to

belong in the internal audit, but it is chicken-

or-egg. The purpose o the internal audit is to

gather inormation to conduct the external audit.

The internal audit will identiy both the

motivations and the unctions that drive change

and those that cause resistance to change. It

will identiy bottlenecks and opportunities.

The results will help understand the perceived

risks and advantages o both sides. It will help

prioritize change and develop a roadmap.

Include all stakeholders in the audit, not just

Engineering, Manuacturing, Plant Maintenance,

Operations and Packaging Engineering.

Equally important but too oten not included

in a discussion o manuacturing technology

are Business Unit P&L-responsible managers,

Purchasing, Sales & Marketing, Logistics,

Quality and even Human Resources. All

are impacted.

The internal audit should

include all stakeholderswho will be impacted by

the companys automationstrategy.

C O N T I N U E D


The Convergence eBook:strategies


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3. Become a corporate membero The Organization or Machine

Automation and Control

This is a small investment in a 501(c)6

organization to cooperate with peers,

automation technology providers, standards

bodies and systems integrators to develop and

drive adoption o global standards.

4. Evaluate automation suppliers based

on key criteria or uture-proofng

your business

Today, automation is intrinsically tied to

key perormance indicators (KPIs) driving

corporate objectives ranging rom operational

gains to time-to-market. It is thereore

imperative that automation unctionalities be

evaluated in a three-step process to connect

these unctionalities with their impact onmanuacturing operations, and manuacturings

corresponding ability to support corporate

goals.

Basing automation platorms on international

standards creates transparency on multiple

levels that eliminates dependency on a sole

vendor. It is entirely possible to accept a practical

number o preerred automation suppliers,

nominally three or possibly our.

This appears to be a manageable balance

between the overall number o automation

suppliers to support, and extracting maximum

competitive advantage rom an automation

supplier base. It should be noted that being

based on international standards, it is much

simpler to replace a preerred supplier should

the need arise. n

A small investment in OMAC corporate membership gains access to important standardsand best practices.
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