Next Gen Automation Trends That Can Transform Your Business

Technological innovation and the penetration of machines in our society have created unimaginable changes in the business landscape that would have seemed like science fiction 30 years ago. The reality today however is just that - machines run everything. Well, almost everything.

Automation processes are driving bottom line growth for manufacturing units across most verticals including petrochemicals and refineries, pulp and paper, oil and gas, metals and minerals, and life sciences industries. Companies that serve the needs of these industries through the development of industrial automation technologies are in turn getting larger and more profitable every year. The market revenue of automation process industries crossed $160 billion in 2013 and is projected to cross $200 billion by 2015 according to IMS Research.

The current trends that need to be understood and incorporated towards maximising gains and facing business challenges are drawn from the existing digital landscape; Big Data, cybersecurity, mobility, software innovations, cloud and virtualisation solutions, any of which can be the difference between prosperity and failure.

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Trend: Data Applications - Top Floor To Shop Floor

Like all digital business, process industries also find themselves struggling to make sense of Big Data. However, unlike the others, process industries are finely tuned and critically dependent even on the smallest shifts in the data values of the process chain.

Software solutions developed towards helping engineers maintain, monitor, visualise, diagnose and solve process control elements within the workflow are the critical next step. Service providers who are able to provide both passive and proactive methodologies in data collection and visualisation are going to be the big winners in the next few years; since any solution that contributes to increased uptime of the system and detects early performance drift can save industries millions in value. An added necessity is that of connecting the implications of industry process data in relation to real business data, and to make connections between the two that maximise the accuracy of actionable insights.

Manufacturing units produce millions of data points across their operational cycles every day, from the specifications of manufactured components to diagnostic data on operational machinery. All these different data points are stored in differing collection models based on their source; manufacturing execution systems, process historians and enterprise resource planning modules themselves are vastly different from each other.

Solution providers that can build an efficient, cohesive and coherent (and ideally real-time) visualisation of all these data points can provide exponential cost savings and new revenue. Providing insights from “the top floor to the shop floor” can also help detect patterns in machine errors and component performance deviations thereby increasing savings by preventing downtime failures.

The key values that need to be considered are those of predictive diagnostics towards errors and remote intelligence, whereby the data is transmitted in its interpreted and actionable form to decision makers in the control room.

Trend: Cybersecurity Advancement

Since the shocking incident of July 2010, when the Stuxnet worm was unleashed on the Siemens control systems, process industry professionals have become paranoid about the sanctity of their network’s vulnerabilities.

Reports from the Repository of Industrial Security Incidents (RISI) show that there has been a 20 percent increase annually in the cyber threats faced by Fortune 500 companies in Europe and America within their process control environments. With vast infrastructural and natural resource assets at risk, even the former head of the CIA has termed cybersecurity in the process industry as a potential target for terrorist attack.

Within the Indian landscape itself the National Cyber Security Policy dictates that all critical sector operations undergo periodic audits and conform to global standards. According to Gulshan Rai, Director General, Indian Computer Emergence Response Team: “Policy makers, organisations and solution providers must work together to build necessary expertise and implement the policy to safeguard the business and process networks in critical areas.”

Business’ need to take a proactive measure to conduct a thorough assessment and audit of their process control networks and by examining and fixing flaws in their process chain; people, process and technology, they can mitigate their exposure to cybersecurity threats. Service providers aimed towards providing true value to business’ need to go beyond compliance to truly secure their digital vulnerabilities.

Trend: Remote Operations Excellence

A key obstacle in leveraging technological advantages in high-risk business environments such as mining, oil refineries, large machinery units and other high-risk areas is that of remote operational control. By automating as much of the process chain as possible the preservation of human life is ensured, but at the cost of agility in reaction times.

Solutions aimed towards supporting, maintaining and optimising system performance through innovative technology integration and workflow methodologies is the next step of value addition for any solutions provider. A solutions workflow product needed is one that would allow engineers and operators to remotely access and implement actions, access change management protocols, provide scalable technology upgrades and provide installation support.

In this regard any vendor or solutions provider that can incorporate direct customer feedback regarding compliance requirements and open system complexities to better manage operational assets would come ahead of the game. In addition to this technological offering, the need for collaborative customer support is also a must in the new age; such that experienced, qualified and immediately accessible professionals are an integral part of the product offering.

By quickly collaborating on resolving performance problems, implementing software upgrades and securing technological investments, process industry decision-makers can sleep easy knowing that even in the event of a crisis they are not alone. In this regard offering skilled personnel to manage the backbone of automation solutions is a must have requirement for enterprises to achieve Operations Excellence.