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HIGHLIGHTS:
The Connected Enterprise is now a reality. The Internet of Things has brought the industry at a tipping point for its technological adoption. According to Gartner, around 43% of enterprises were either already using or have planned to implement IoT in 2016. With cloud-based IoT at the forefront, at times plant managers wonder if they really need IoT when they’re already using SCADA, ERP & MES systems for plant management & control. They also wonder if IoT will render these obsolete or they can work in tandem to gain more results. In this article, we will discuss the road ahead for traditional plant management systems like SCADA, MES, ERP and likewise and how IoT can help you get more out of them.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
SCADA software has been a critical part of data collection by collecting data from field assets through Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) or Intelligent Electrical Devices (IEDs), which are connected to sensors through a communications network. The system then processes this data and subsequently sends simple commands back to the field (Machine ON/OFF etc.) with individual SCADA applications often working in parallel with one another.
But SCADA is majorly a supervisor’s tool that works in silos. It is a good fit for line level decision making but it lacks the ability to provide a holistic view of the plant floor for top decision makers. SCADA system’s inability to connect to legacy machines, machines with disparate connectivity protocols has created a need for a platform that federated data store of all these diverse data sets.
IoT enhances SCADA by providing real-time as well as historical data analytics that helps in predictive analytics and informed decision-making. Data collected over a period of time across the plant(s) helps in bench-marking, build comparative models, and drive strategic decisions. IoT also enables connectivity with heterogeneous hardware ranging from legacy to cutting edge, that is connected with separate protocols across different lines.
Enterprise Resource Planning
The power of an enterprise to be truly connected can be only realized completely if its people, processes, data, and things can be connected in an intelligent way. ERP software is a backbone of all-pervading data within an enterprise.
But without the power of analytics engine and the flexibility provided by IoT, ERP just remains a large chunk of transactional data. Whereas ERP is useful in providing a picture of the current situation, IoT can be instrumental in providing the root causes and actionable for the way ahead.
IoT provides ERP with real-time agility, flexibility, and predictability. Processes can become leaner, with a larger share of them automated to reduce trivial manual work. Data gathered in ERP system can be cleaned, collected (on the cloud) and analyzed in real time. Whether it’s enabling new ways to interact with customers or gain better insights into consumer behavior to ensure a tailored customer experience; IoT armed with the ERP data is creating newer business models and revenue streams.
Manufacturing Execution System
MES software is the most sophisticated system of the trio, providing a window of the plant floor activity to the managers. It has always been dependent on external smart devices to gather data and communicate it to the system & controllers, that MES can ‘talk’ to.
With the advent of IoT and the sheer volume of the data it pulls in the ecosystem, MES has had evolved from a rigid, hard-coded, limited functionality to more flexible, modular designs that can be tailored to fit varying needs and configurations for the enterprise. With their large deployment times, costs, and limitation in processing real-time data analytics, MES systems are falling short of keeping up the expectations of management of today. The siloed, non-cloud nature of MES makes it extremely difficult for manufacturers to benchmark the efficiency and productivity across the machines in the same plant, versus different plants of the same group versus plants of competitors. In the age of collaborative manufacturing, this leads to a loss of a tremendous opportunity to prosper. This among other reasons; is the reason that is leading to the gradual dying out or consolidation of MES Platforms with IoT.
IoT platforms are now stepping in with data federation, analytics and machine learning capabilities: things that an inflexible MES systems were unable to fulfill. With IoT is in the picture, the system can move from mere live management reporting of plant floor parameters to performing hardcore analytics-driven applications such as predictive analytics, flexible user-configurable dashboards, strong data visualizations that enable actionable insights for all levels. Connected to IoT, MES will then be able to work with & connect with many diverse types of devices based on latest technologies like mobile, wearable and Augmented Reality.
IoT: The road ahead for Industrial Process Automation Systems
Understanding the scene on the Plant floor
Let us now try to understand the case of a manufacturer who possesses all of these systems. Consider for an instance- the case for a manufacturing plant that has SCADA, MES & ERP together. What happens in such cases?
The SCADA system, used by supervisors o collects data from the heterogeneous hardware and takes basic supervisory level actions. However, the large volume of data streamed real time and cannot be stored there for Historical Analysis.
The ERP on-the-other-hand is the other pillar, used by managers and decision makers for planning, strategizing and decision making. The data often is entered manually and hence, there are chances of delays, human inaccuracies that make the data unusable. The MES is the connecting link between these systems and is responsible for evaluating shop floor specific parameters with the real-time data available. However, these are currently deployed & worked on separately for each line, plant.
The MES is the connecting link between these systems and is responsible for evaluating shop floor specific parameters with the real-time data available. However, these are currently deployed & worked on separately for each line, plant.
When we consider the case of a manufacturer with multiple plants, the rigid, soiled nature of this system coupled with the incapability of SCADA to provide a single source of truth of the shop floor data on the go, makes the CXOs feel cut out from the ground reality of the shop floor. With cloud-based IoT, real-time data feed from SCADA coupled with in-stream analytics and machine learning capabilities of IoT can help re-calibrate (with bench-marking) MES and also provide dynamic planning in ERP.
Thus, with IoT in place,
