SPOTLIGHT u IoT
Edge computing holds the key to IT/OT integration
Christian Nomine, Strategic Product Manager Visualisation, Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V, explains how edge computing provides manufacturers the tools they need for the smart connection of their business processes.
T
he digital transformation of industry has given new momentum to the connection of the operational technology of the
plant floor to the information technology of the higher-level enterprise. However, making the most of the potential of digitalisation requires more than just a network connection between these two levels of the business. The goal of the digital transformation is to
provide a foundation to boost productivity, increase product quality, optimise asset availability and maximise plant utilisation, to better meet the real-time demand requirements of customers. That foundation is built on a rapidly growing
network of increasingly sophisticated plant floor devices – the IIoT – all generating data related to different aspects of a plant’s operations. But surely data is data. Why should a direct
vertical link between the shop floor and the higher-level business systems not be a sufficient enabler to realise the goal of the digital transformation? The answer lies in the way in which
information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) platforms have evolved to deal with different types of data with different processing requirements. The OT world now operates in real-time
with process speeds of seconds or below; the IT world in contrast operates at much greater sampling times, from minutes to hours or longer. Behind the model of Industry 4.0 is the need
for the OT and IT spaces to each capitalise on the data the other can provide. But neither is set up to translate and interpret the data received from the other in a fashion or timescale that can
10 June 2022 Irish Manufacturing
have a direct impact on the plant floor operations in real time. As the digital transformation progresses, the result of direct IT/OT integration is often simply one delivering high volumes of unfiltered data instead of just the relevant information that is needed to drive genuine improvements in operations. Some have argued perhaps the Cloud could
provide an environment for managing these high volumes of data, providing a platform for efficient data aggregation, filtering and analysis. And certainly, protocols like OPC UA can provide a direct link from the shop floor, through the higher-level systems and on to the Cloud. But while the Cloud provides an ideal platform
to develop knowledge about the plant operations, it is not the right platform to turn knowledge into action for the production operations. Yes, it can provide useful and essential data analytics functions, but not the real-time aggregation and analytics that are needed at the OT/IT bridge.
BRIDGING THE DIVIDE A more appropriate solution for OT/IT integration is provided by the new smart technology that is appearing at the ‘Edge’. Forming an intermediate layer between the shop floor and the higher- level business systems, these Edge computing technologies provide a simple interface between the IT and OT worlds, as well as new options for where data analysis takes place. Mitsubishi Electric’s MELIPC Edge-Computing solution offers this functionality combined with OPC UA compatibility. Data can be pre- processed locally and aggregated to create valuable information for the systems that need it.
In additionn, it can seamlessly connect the shop floor with higher level IT systems such as MES and ERP platforms. By performing sophisticated data analysis in
real-time, increasingly making use of AI algorithms as well as machine learning to deal more intelligently with data, the MELIPC is able to make improved production efficiencies a reality. The cost of data processing can also be considerably reduced, as only the information that is necessary and relevant is passed from one level of the enterprise to the other. The MELIPC provides a real time data logging
and processing environment in a ruggedized industrial form factor. From a data processing perspective, it incorporates a suite of analytical tools including multiple regression analysis, the Mahalanobis-Taguchi system and Statistical Process Control (SPC) as well as AI functionality such as Similar Waveform recognition – giving feedback to the plant floor in real time. As a result, it can combine functions from data collection, filtering, processing and analysis utilising shop floor knowhow with diagnosis and predictive maintenance feedback. This occurs within a real-time information flow that can drive the production systems’ decisions. It delivers a foundation for the digital transformation of the business, providing a platform for connecting machines and devices so that manufacturing processes can react more quickly and more intelligently to production changes, whether they be asset-centric, demand-led or supply-driven.
Mitsubishi Electric
https://ie.mitsubishielectric.com/fa
www.irish-manufacturing.com
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