SAFETY IN THE PLANT
DATA-DRIVEN DIGITALISATION
Malte Berndt explains why the key to effi ciency lies in operational technology (OT) communicating with information technology (IT)
Connecting the IT and OT worlds brings greater safety and operational effi ciencies for workers
T
he industry changes: skills shortages, emerging developing countries, rising energy costs, supply chain issues; the pressure to
increase effi ciency is enormous. After automating production processes, companies are now looking for further ways to increase effi ciency. T e biggest promise: connecting the operational technology (OT) world to information technology (IT) systems. But why should you do that? T e OT world is not made for being connected to external networks. It is made to work in real time with highly automated robots, using diff erent systems, embedded, PLC, industrial computers. T ese systems are not prepared to be operated safely on global and public networks. It would be mandatory to ensure absence of
interaction with the OT layer to keep it safe and reliable. If somebody wants to connect this world with the IT world, there must be a big win. Why else should companies push this quite complex and elaborate activity? Just to be clear: it is not about process
control via IT levels, it is about getting data out. And sometimes in. In the last years digitisation was much hyped – and it still is. However, benefi ts are getting clearer. T e biggest lever is uptime: if you can understand your machines and processes even better, you are able to be more productive, reduce downtimes, get maintenance right on time as effi cient as possible. With historic data, device manufacturers understand what conditions are benefi cial
to keep their machines on the highest productivity level. With live data, reactions times can be
reduced. Service technicians know what is going on, what spare parts are needed for repair, or they can even solve issues remotely.
And if both comes together, it can
even prevent downtimes – with predictive maintenance.
GREAT PROMISE BUT OT NEEDS TO BE CONNECTED For this to happen, data needs to move from OT to the IT layer. T is is the fi rst important step to digitisation and the key to effi ciency gains. Many manufacturers are already helping companies with this. Dräger Safety, for example, is
developing gateways to collect data of gas
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