Managing digital transformation in the Age of AI, open architectures, and sustainability.

ARC’s European Industry Forum is part of theirsuccessful series of worldwide conferences in Europe, America and Asia. The next European Forum will be held in Sitges (ES), Spain on May 6-8, 2024 and focus on “Managing Digital Transformation in the Age of AI, Open Architectures, and Sustainability”. Participants are invited to attend exclusive presentations and workshops on strategies and case studies from the digital front lines.

Florian Güldner, General Manager of ARC Europe, remarks: “Change and transformation accelerate in times of rising pressure and currently, our societies and industries experience a great deal of pressure. Sustainability is one of the main topics, pushed by high energy prices and the growing number of regulations. The scarcity of labor amplifies the need for remote operations and a move towards more autonomous production. These high level trends require new technologies, concepts, and equipment - from the plant floor to the ERP-level. Join us at ARC’s annual European Industry Forum to learn more about use cases, strategies and technologies, while discovering what your peers and industry leaders are doing today and what steps they are taking to prepare for the future.”

ARC industry analysts and other experts from the end user and supplier communities will analyze and discuss trends and drivers for hot industry topics, including:

• AI & Machine Learning
• Asset Management
• Cybersecurity
• Digital Services
• From Edge to Cloud: Future Architectures
• Industrial Data Management
• MES Success Stories
• Module Type Package (MTP)
• Open Automation & Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) Workshop
• Sustainability & Energy Management

---

@arc_advisory #PAuto #Automation

Review of industry forum.

ARC’s European Industry Forum*, part of the successful series of worldwide conferences in Europe, America and Asia, was held in Sitges (ES) last month (May 15 - 17, 2023). The event offered exclusive presentations and workshops on strategies and case studies in line with this year’s topic “Managing Industry Evolution in Times of Global Disruption” to its 160 international participants from over 20 countries.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, industrial innovation is accelerating, and innovative, disruptive technologies emerge. A renewed focus on sustainability, the circular economy, and climate change is sparking innovation and powering transformational and technological change throughout the industrial sector. Resilience has become a priority for many companies in all industries. Digital leaders have now validated their strategies for the real-world challenges brought on by the “new normal” and geopolitical unrest. As a result, they are accelerating their innovation and transformation initiatives. Experts from the end user and supplier communities and ARC Analysts presented, discussed, and analyzed major trends and drivers of today’s industrial automation solutions and technologies:

• 21st Century Operations: Where IT, OT & ET Converge
• Additive Manufacturing
• AI & Machine Learning
• Automation Innovations
• Cool Robotics Innovations
• Cybersecurity for Digitalization & Sustainability
• Digital Twins
• Industrial IoT Platforms: Edge, Cloud & Virtualization
• MES End User Success Stories
• Open Process Automation & Modular Production
• Sustainability as a Business Strategy

The organisers thanked their sponsors, who supported the ARC EIF 2023, and all speakers and presenters, who made the event interesting, exciting and memorable.

---

* ARC Europe offers its online platform, accessible 365 days a year. It aims to maintain the flow of information, and to foster network opportunities. On the platform information concerning relevant economic developments and information on automation markets, as well as their quarterly industry webinars mat be found.

@arc_advisory #PAuto #Europe

Colloboration strengthens development of digital twin technology.

Digital Twin Consortium® (DTC) and OPC Foundation announced a liaison agreement to accelerate the development and adoption of digital twin-enabling technologies during this months ARC Forum 2023. The DTC and the OPC Foundation have worked closely in several open-source reference implementation projects on GitHub and have agreed to collaborate even closer.

“We are excited about working with OPC Foundation,” said Dan Isaacs, GM, and CTO of DTC. "Through our collaboration, we will influence interoperability standards and processes that will advance the use of digital twins in manufacturing across many industries.”

The DTC and OPC Foundation have agreed to the following activities:

• Collaborating on standardization requirements
• Realizing interoperability by harmonizing technology components and other elements
• Aligning work in horizontal domains for adoption in vertical domains and use cases, proof of concepts, and Value Innovation Platforms (VIP) programs, including:
> Technology, terminology, and taxonomy
> Security and trustworthiness
> Conceptual, informational, structural, and behavioral models
> Enabling technologies, such as simulation and AI
> Technology stack across the digital twin lifecycle
> Case study development


• Developing and understanding open-source reference implementations

Stefan Hoppe, President OPC Foundation, said, “The OPC Foundation maintains the global standard for secure industrial interoperability for information modeling and data exchange, which, as part of this relationship with DTC, benefits all who wish to create semantically identical digital twins. Our involvement to liaise with DTC further strengthens the user’s ability to model each data aspect quickly and precisely, creating and interacting with any digital twin. Digital twins will be fully compatible with the OPC UA framework used in the run-time components within the operational domain.”
“As one of the key contributors to Digital Twin Consortium’s open-source program, Microsoft saw the rising demand for open digital twin technology and industrial interoperability standards like OPC UA. The collaboration of OPC Foundation and DTC will continue to elevate the impact of digital twin technologies. These two organizations have already started collaborating on open-source projects and these projects will expand to include emerging technologies,” said Erich Barnstedt, Chief Architect Standards, Consortia and Industrial IoT, Azure Edge + Platform, Microsoft Corporation.

Both consortia will exchange information through regular consultations, joint contributor relations, seminars, open-source projects, and other activities.

@OPCFoundation @DigitalTwinCon @arc_advisory #PAuto 

Attending to process health.

Seeq Corporation announced the Seeq Process Health Solution for advanced process monitoring and diagnostics at the 2023 ARC Industry Forum*, an annual manufacturing conference focused on the acceleration of digitalization, sustainability, and energy transition initiatives. This innovative solution leverages advanced analytics and machine learning to address high value, complex process manufacturing challenges related to production, quality and optimization.

As the process industries continue to invest in digital transformation initiatives to increase profitability and sustainability, the demand for easy-to-use solutions that rapidly derive value from time series data grows in parallel. The Seeq Process Health Solution leverages advanced analytics enhanced by new machine learning technology, to fulfill these demands. The new solution, which includes Seeq ML, a no code multivariate pattern learning and diagnostic technology, empowers organizations to monitor complex manufacturing processes and optimize key performance indicators in near real time for batch and continuous processes.

For oil and natural gas provider Williams Company, the Process Health Solution accelerated the company’s transition from a reactive to a proactive process monitoring approach.

“The Seeq Process Health Solution enabled our team to switch from a rules-based approach, which was difficult to implement and maintain at scale, to an engineer-friendly and transparent, multivariate machine learning approach,” says Oscar Lewis, a senior process operations leader and Technical Specialist at Williams Company. “This identified various process upsets, generating significant savings for our large gas gathering operations.”

With the Process Health Solution, users can leverage their domain expertise and process knowledge, without any prior machine learning experience, to improve their discovery, detection and diagnosis of process performance issues. The new solution extends Seeq’s current market leading capabilities for connecting data, teams and insights across a spectrum of analytics and machine learning. Engineers and process experts benefit from accessing Seeq ML add-on capabilities and multivariate visualizations from within Seeq’s easy-to-use and collaborative advanced analytics platform. Templated solution workflows also enable teams to quickly identify issues and root causes and accelerate improvements in process performance.

“Placing advanced multivariate, machine learning capabilities directly in the hands of frontline process experts and decisions makers aligns perfectly with the Seeq machine learning strategy,” says Mark Derbecker, Chief Product Officer at Seeq. “Providing the Process Health Solution within the Seeq self-service, advanced analytics platform will enable organizations to gain insights and take transformational actions within hours.”

---

* Seeq is a gold level sponsor at the 2023 ARC Industry Forum.

@SeeqCorporation @arc_advisory #IIoT #PAuto 

DCS leadership position maintained.

In a Distributed Control System market worth more than $15 billion (€14.12b), the official ARC Advisory Group report confirms that ABB has maintained its number one position with a leading share of 19%, as it continues to support the acceleration of digital transformation across industry.

The report highlights energy transition and sustainability as key growth drivers for ABB. Growth also came for ABB thanks to the upturn in DCS segments across the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology which was generated by continued external investment in vaccines and medications.

The ABB DCS has one of the largest installed bases in the world allowing them to support their customers on their digital journey through Innovation with Continuity. This in combination with a focus on customer initiatives such as OPAS, Namur and OPC Foundation have contributed to ABB’s on-going authority and agility within the DCS marketplace. A strong presence in the Asian growth market and across Europe have also helped ABB to remain number one.

Their DCS enables safe, smart and sustainable goods production, power generation and water purification to enhance the lives of people around the world. In the process and hybrid industries, ABB’s DCS is the heart of plant-level digitalization, helping producers to become more productive and profitable. Automatically controlling production processes, they assure high production availability, maximum asset utilization, increased process efficiency and optimum product quality.

ABB’s DCS is also a collaboration tool that integrates electrification, instrumentation, automation, telecommunications and safety. Supplementing its production role, data is gleaned from DCS to derive improvement actions that customer and ABB experts employ to drive plant and enterprise operations. An example of the best-in-class technology that producers turn to is ABB’s single-channel Select I/O. With its digital marshalling capability, Select I/O allows users to engineer large capital projects with maximum flexibility and resilience to late changes, thus reducing cost, schedule and footprint.

@ABBgroupnews @abb_automation @arc_advisory #PAuto

European champions analysed.

This year’s European Automation Champions (EAC) analysis has been announced by the ARC Advisory Group. This report provides market intelligence on European automation players, including analyses of market structures, technology trends, and other key factors.

EAC Analysis Ranks Top Suppliers by
Capabilities vs. Industry Coverage

According to Florian Güldner, ARC Europe Managing Director, “The community of European-based automation suppliers is a unique ecosystem that benefits from cooperation with local users, machine builders and system integrators, allowing it to project its strength and competitiveness worldwide.”

The sample for the new EAC analysis consists of 100 European automation suppliers analyzed by player type:

• Broad Solution Providers: Suppliers with a comprehensive offering in hardware and software. They cater to a broad range of industries and their value proposition is the integration of products and industry know-how. Large solution providers like ABB, SAP, Schneider Electric and Siemens lead the ranking with broad portfolios of automation products and industry solutions.
• Technology Specialists: Suppliers with a limited product offering (often best-in-class) that covers a wider range of industries. Companies such as Balluff, Beckhoff, KROHNE or WAGO are covered in this section.
• Industry/Application Experts: These experts have a broad offering but focus on a dedicated set of industries or applications. The Körber Group, SKF, Swisslog and Voith fit into this segment.
• Focused Companies: Narrow in scope in terms of industry and products, these companies provide a mix of best-in-class solution portfolio and industry focus. They are often rooted in a specific product or industry but have expanded their offerings over the years. Examples of focused companies are Bartec, Forcam, Kontron or SAMSON.

Top 20 Suppliers Revenue Analysis
Europe is home to both large solution providers with a global presence, as well as countless domain experts that offer industry-specific solutions. Large solution providers enjoy a large installed base around the globe and a strong service network that provides them with access to the markets and large projects.

Among the Top 5 are Siemens, ABB, Schneider Electric, SAP and SEW Eurodrive. Many of the remaining top 20 suppliers are technology specialists like Sick or Lenze, often referred to as hidden champions. Many companies have positioned themselves clearly, often with outstanding business relationships with their customer base. There is direct competition among the top 20 in a few areas such as sensors or drive technology, otherwise the competencies are clearly divided, so that there is also cooperation between different organizations.

The competitive environment is highly fragmented, and many suppliers from small to larger ones compete in the high-end European market. A few specialists with unique selling propositions address less competitive niche markets, in some cases with limited market opportunities.

Overall, the European automation market is well positioned with solution providers across a broad spectrum of applications. It is highly innovative, making Europe a leading and competitive region in the global automation world, from sensors to enterprise software.

@arc_advisory #PAuto #Automation

Compliance assures application portability, interoperability and efficient engineering & easy maintainability.

UniversalAutomation.Org (UAO)* has announced the first launches of UAO-compliant offers from Advantech, ESA S.P.A, Kongsberg Maritime, Flexbridge and R. Stahl.

At ARC Industry Forum 2022, UAO are showcased the latest solutions in a live demo. This provides potential members, from end-users to providers, with the first opportunity to see the technology in action and the benefits provided by the shared runtime.

Using the same UAO runtime based on the IEC 6199 standard for distributed information and control systems, the offers will allow customers to test the benefits of the technology, notably:

• Application portability – applications can be developed independently of the hardware, and then be seamlessly deployed and run on the different devices.
• Application interoperability – one application can be deployed to multiple devices that will then interoperate automatically at the application level to execute the distributed application.
• Efficient engineering & easy maintainability - using plug & produce, asset-centric software components.

Advantech
“Advantech looked at using IEC 61499 many years ago, developing a very advanced prototype with NxtControl GmbH”, said Marco Zampolli, Industrial IoT Product Sales Director at Advantech, “but we didn’t release the offer to market because we were alone. The creation of UniversalAUtomation.Org resolves this issue, creating an Ecosystem of IEC 61499 vendors and users that will drive innovation by creating portable reusable software components to solve common problems, particularly in IT/OT convergence and information orchestration. Advantech wants to play a leading role in this UAO Ecosystem with our Uno-430 data gateways.”

ESA. S.P.A
“We launched our first IEC 61499 offer at SPS Parma on 24th May,” said Cesare Colombo, Chief Marketing Officer at ESA. S.P.A. “ESA has been committed to innovation as a supplier of automation systems for machine builders for over 40 years. This latest offer using UniversalAutomation.Org shared-source runtime engine is further proof of that. We are fully committed to the digital transformation of our customers, and the asset-centric plug & produce approach of UniversalAutomation.Org addresses many of the pain-points of our customers”

Kongsberg Maritime
“As a supplier of control systems for ships and offshore platforms, we were looking for a solution to better orchestrate the different mechanical & electrical sub-systems,” said Sølve Raaen, Principal Architect at Kongsberg Maritime. “We had been considering IEC 61499 for several years because of its object-oriented event-driven architecture. The creation of UniversalAutomation.org was the turning point for us as we saw it as evidence that the technology was reaching maturity. We use the UniversalAutomation.Org runtime as an orchestration layer for our control systems.”

Flexbridge
“Flexbridge AB is an innovative startup from Sweden that develops provisions of flexibility in manufacturing and process technologies in a form of swarm intelligence” says Dmitrii Drozdov, CTO at Flexbridge. “We enable adaptivity and reconfigurability of production lines by embedding nanoPLCs called Iceblocks into their parts. Iceblocks master wireless communication including 5G and mesh network and are programmed in IEC 61499 enabled by the UAO runtime. This enables the key benefits of fully decentralised control and engineering of heterogeneous systems integrating the swarm with devices of other vendors.”

R. Stahl
“R. Stahl is one of the pioneers in remote I/O technology for hazardous locations. Our company philosophy is to bring products to the market that offer advantages to the end users by integrating latest available technology and make it usable for the explosion hazardous environments.” said André Fritz, Senior Product Manager at R. Stahl. “Embedding the UAO IEC 61499 runtime in our Remote IO, makes it very simple to integrate to any Universal Automation system – plug & produce! The cherry on the cake is the real-time/right-time capabilities of IEC 61499 will allow us to also implement IIoT functions directly in the IO devices, and this allows Stahl and our Ecosystem to provide added value to our customers. This is like a toolbox for digitalization in hazardous areas.”

“We are delighted to announce the launch of the first UniversalAutomation.Org-compliant offers and are sure it is the first wave of many.” said John Conway, President of UAO . ”Users can now test the UniversalAutomation.Org technology and experience the benefits for themselves”.

---

* UAO enables vendors, end-users, OEMs, and academics to share a common automation runtime layer across their automation technology regardless of brand. The technological collaboration creates an entirely new category of industrial automation device where the decoupling of software from hardware drives the development of an ecosystem of portable, interoperable, “plug and produce” software components.

@Join_UAO @ARCWorldForum@teamlewisglobal #PAuto 

Beschleunigung der industriellen digitalen Transformation und Nachhaltigkeit.

Auf Englisch

Die ARC Advisory Group öffnet am 17. und 18. Mai 2022 die virtuellen Pforten des „European Industry Forum”. Das Forum ist Teil der erfolgreichen ARC-Veranstaltungsreihe mit Konferenzen in den USA, Indien, China und Japan. Im Mai 2020 und 2021 veranstaltete ARC in Europa bereits sehr gelungene Foren mit über 900 Anmeldungen.

Den Teilnehmern bietet sich eine Reihe exklusiver Vorträge und Workshops, in denen Strategien und Erfahrungsberichte rund um das Thema Digitalisierung im Mittelpunkt stehen. Industrieanalysten und weitere Automatisierungsexperten aus Endanwender- und Lieferantenkreisen analysieren Trends und Entwicklungen im Hinblick auf die folgenden Themen:

• 21st Century Operations: Where IT, OT & ET Converge
• AI & Machine Learning
• Asset Performance Management
• Automation Innovation (5G, Edge, Future Architectures, IoT Platforms, Networks)
• Cybersecurity for the Connected Industrial World
• Digital Twins & Connected Smart Machines
• Hydrogen & Decarbonization
• Industrial Communications
• MES End-user Success Stories
• Smart Infrastructure
• Smart Sensing, Measurement & Identification

Die Konferenzsprache ist Englisch.

​​​​​​​Ein Vertreter von Philip Morris International sagt über die Veranstaltung: „Das ARC-Forum bietet eine sehr gute Gelegenheit, viel mehr über die Veränderungen bei IT/OT zu erfahren. Wir alle wissen, dass die Technologie verfügbar ist und hier haben wir gelernt, dass wichtige Erfolgsfaktoren Menschen, Unternehmenskultur und Sicherheit sind.“

Beim ARC Industry Forum Europe erhalten sowohl Nutzer als auch Technologieanbieter wertvolle Informationen darüber, wie sie die Transformation von Fabriken, Städten und Infrastruktur für sich nutzen können. Sie erfahren, was andere Fachleute und Branchenführer heute tun und wie sie sich auf die Zukunft vorbereiten.

Zu diesem Zeitpunkt plant ARC das Industry Forum als reine Online-Veranstaltung. ARC behält sich das Recht vor, das Format zu ändern unter Einhaltung der geltenden Corona-Regeln.

@arc_advisory @ARCWorldForum #Pauto #Europe

Accelerating industrial digital transformation and sustainability.

Auf Deutsch

ARC Advisory Group has scheduled its European Industry Forum on May 17-18, 2022 as a virtual event. The forum is part of ARC’s successful series of worldwide conferences in the USA, India, China and Japan. In 2020 and 2021 ARC Europe hosted highly successful virtual events with over 900 registrations.

Participants are invited to attend exclusive speeches and workshops on strategies and stories from the digital front lines. ARC industry analysts and other automation experts from the end-user and supplier communities will analyze trends and drivers for the following topics:

• 21st Century Operations: Where IT, OT & ET Converge
• AI & Machine Learning
• Asset Performance Management
• Automation Innovation (5G, Edge, Future Architectures, IoT Platforms, Networks)
• Cybersecurity for the Connected Industrial World
• Digital Twins & Connected Smart Machines
• Hydrogen & Decarbonization
• Industrial Communications
• MES End-user Success Stories
• Smart Infrastructure
• Smart Sensing, Measurement & Identification

A representative of Philip Morris International commented on a previous forum: “ARC's forum is a very good opportunity to learn much more about the IT/OT transition. We all know the technology is available and we have learned that important success factors are people, culture, and security.”

Participants in ARC’s European Industry Forum learn more about how transforming factories, cities, and infrastructure will benefit technology end users and suppliers alike. Discover what your peers and industry leaders are doing today and what steps they are taking to prepare for the future.

The event is currently planned as a virtual event. ARC will observe the development of the pandemic and will communicate any change in format.

@arc_advisory @ARCWorldForum #Pauto #Europe

Leading in DCS.

Global market leadership of ABB in Distributed Control Systems confirmed for 22nd consecutive year

Since its introduction more than four decades ago, the distributed control system (DCS) – a digital platform for automated control and operation of plants and processes – has been at the core of process and energy industries. As the digital transformation of industry accelerates, the DCS continues to be key to ensuring safe, efficient and reliable operations, enabling the collection and analytics of valuable data for realtime insights.

Ability™ System 800xA

“ABB leads the field in DCS thanks to its domain knowledge in multiple industries, extensive service network, a continued investment in developing technology, loyal customers and digital solutions that meet rapidly changing customer requirements,” said Bernhard Eschermann, Chief Technology Officer, ABB Process Automation. “Much of our development is focused on advancing technology such as modular automation, select I/O and secure Edge integrated solutions which address new process and business challenges while protecting investments. We believe these type of solutions to be some of the catalysts needed for the successful implementation of industrial IoT and agile navigation within Industry 4.0.”

Recognized as one of the industry’s most authoritative sources, the DCS market analysis and forecast report by ARC Advisory Group has been published annually for the past 40 years, with ABB consistently in the lead for more than half that time. The report lists the top DCS players, providing an overview of key trends, the progress of the DCS over the past year within regional and industry contexts, potential market impacts and the expected DCS trajectory over a five year period.

“Our industry-leading technology integrates the automation of the power and process side of operations – two traditionally separate domains,” said Peter Terwiesch, President, ABB Process Automation. “The industries that we serve require reliable power, while working on improving the sustainability of their operations. Integration of power and process automation enables a higher share of inherently more volatile renewable sources in their energy mix – without compromising reliability.”

The recent launch of the latest version of ABB Ability™ System 800xA represents an evolution for automated control and plant operations of tomorrow. It is a process control system, an electrical control system and a safety system and a collaboration enabler, allowing further improvement of engineering efficiency, operator performance and asset utilization. In addition, ABB Ability™ Symphony Plus, is an industry leading DCS in the power, water and waste water markets and ABB’s Freelance offering is a DCS tailor-made for hybrid markets.

ARC’s report also highlights ABB Ability™, ABB’s unified, cross-industry portfolio of digital solutions, which includes more than 170 Industrial Internet solutions and an Industrial Internet technology platform and cloud infrastructure. Drawing on insights across over 20 industries and more than 40 years of experience in digital technology, ABB Ability™ helps customers to develop new processes and advance existing ones by providing insights and optimizing planning and controls for real-time operations. These insights can then be fed into control systems like ABB Ability™ System 800xA and ABB Ability™ Symphony Plus to improve key performance metrics of plants and assets. With an installed base of 35,000 DCS systems across more than 100 countries ABB is a trusted leader in creating digital solutions for customers in the industrial space.

@abb_automation @ABBgroupnews @arc_advisory #PAuto

Secure industrial remote access platform.

Red Lion’s Secure Remote Access Platform, in partnership with MB connect line GmbH, is now available in Great Britain, Norway, Iceland as well as Ireland*, Sweden, Finland, and France. This next-generation remote access solution meets the most demanding security requirements of modern industrial applications. 

Red Lion’s Secure Remote Access Platform centralizes the management of routers, allowing users to quickly respond to and act on their most crucial assets from anywhere, at any time. The ability to remotely access, monitor and manage diverse equipment helps to lower operational costs and downtime by reducing site visits and dramatically improving response times.

“As the industrial world rapidly shifted to the new normal of remote production operations due to the pandemic, demand for platforms that securely enables these remote production operation capabilities has never been stronger and more critical,” according to Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group. “Red Lion’s Secure Remote Access Platform was designed to enable secure access in real-time from any location. ARC expects that this new normal of remote production operations will remain even after the pandemic, as the industry has recognized its benefits to maximizing productivity, key performance indicators, profitability, and most importantly, sustainability to overcome any future pandemic-like challenges.”

Red Lion’s Secure Remote Access routers and software provide flexible capability with unyielding security. The RLConnect24, a remote service portal, provides a simple centralized site to monitor and manage deployed assets and users. RLConnect24 also provides data visualization, geographic mapping, data logging, and alarms based on operational or system-generated data. The RLDialUp client software enables operators to securely connect their PC to remote assets for maintenance and configuration, just as if they were plugged into it locally. The routers are industrial-grade gateways that offer optional LAN, WAN, serial, USB, Wi-Fi or 4G LTE connectivity to ensure seamless integration with any industrial application.

Red Lion also launched RA10, a compact industrial firewall, which provides OT-cybersecurity. This intelligent firewall can learn and self-configure to help secure older assets, avoid address conflicts, and/or logically isolate machines or groups of machines.

* Red Lion products are marketed in Ireland through Instrument Technology.

@redlioncontrols @arc_advisory @mepaxIntPR #Pauto #Europe

"Most important interoperability technology in industry!" - report.

The OPC Foundation has announced that the ARC Advisory Group published a report entitled “OPC UA Momentum Continues to Build” (pdf). This eleven-page executive overview provides timely insights into what makes OPC UA the global standard of choice for industrial data communications in process and discrete manufacturing industries. In addition, the report provides a list of ARC recommendations for process manufacturers considering adopting OPC UA.

Stefan Hoppe, President and Executive Director of the OPC Foundation, commented, “This ARC report serves an excellent independent overview of the role OPC UA plays in the IIoT era. Packed with facts about OPC UA, ARC’s expert industry insights, and practical recommendations, the report provides a great starting point for those considering adopting OPC UA as the core of their data interoperability infrastructure.”

Set against the backdrop of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0, the report examines OPC UA from multiple perspectives including how it differs from other connectivity technologies and standards. Topics examined include the technology OPC UA is based on and the OPC Foundation’s initiatives, collaborations, and governance. The report provides a well-rounded view of why OPC UA is so popular today and why OPC UA will continue to grow in relevance for years to come.

Key take-aways the report offers include:

• OPC Foundation is run independently and transparently, the OPC UA standard is open and vendor agnostic, and the standard and Companion Specifications are freely available to everyone. All of these factors help maximize OPC UA adoption. • OPC UA is an enabler for next-generation automation standards that will, according to ARC, potentially change the industry structure of process automation eg. Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet APL), NAMUR Open Architecture, and the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) • OPC UA is arguably the most extensive ecosystem for secured industrial interoperability • OPC UA is independent of underlying transport layers. As such, it uses the most suitable transports for the right applications (ex. TCP, UDP, MQTT, and 5G) • OPC UA is highly extensible via its Information Modeling (IM) capabilities. This makes OPC UA an excellent fit for use by automation vendors and other standards organizations wishing to express and share semantic data seamlessly across all verticals. • The OPC Foundation Field Level Communications (FLC) Initiative is defining a new OPC UA Field eXchange (OPC UA FX) standard that is supported by virtually all leading process automation suppliers. • OPC UA FX will extend OPC UA to the field level to enable open, unified, and standards-based communications between sensors, actuators, controllers, and the cloud. • Forward-looking companies should make OPC UA a crucial part of their long-term strategies today because the changes this technology brings will become a necessity faster than most people anticipate

“Industry faces issues today as result of the post-pandemic new normal. Those are e.g. maintaining supply chain integrity, the ability to shift to remote operations, the need for operational resilience and sustainability, and maximizing cybersecurity protection. That require a single framework for secure interoperability and information exchange as well as a common interoperability technology from cloud service providers to process field devices. Today this is mandatory for processors and manufacturers to grow and remain viable” according to Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group. “OPC UA is the standard that solves these interoperability challenges, and acts as an ecosystem enabler to ensure that multiple open standards, such as Industry 4.0, NAMUR NOA, OPAF, and Ethernet APL can seamlessly work together. The goal is to ensure that all business and control information is based on a single version of the truth so companies can maximize their growth, productivity, and profitability.”

@OPCFoundation @arc_advisory @ARCWorldForum #PAuto #IIoT

IIoT and terminal automation.

New market research on Terminal Automation Systems from ARC Advisory reveals that today’s terminal applications are expected to handle increased volume, higher flexibility, and greater capacity.  Terminal operations should streamline their business processes to stay competitive and retain profitability by leveraging the new technologies.

“In many cases, terminal operators have very little real-time visibility into what equipment is running without predictive activities. Industrial IoT solutions play a highly important role for digital transformation of tank farm management.  More modern terminal automation systems are being upgraded or reconfigured to support Industrial IoT-enabled connectivity and applications, including predictive maintenance,” according to Rex Sun, Analyst at ARC Advisory Group and key author of this report.

In addition to providing specific market data and industry trends, this market research also identifies and positions the leading suppliers to this market and provides and summarizes their relevant offering. 

This ARC research explores current and historical market performance and related technology and business trends, identifies leading technology suppliers, and provides five-year global forecasts for the terminal automation systems market.  This new research is based on ARC’s industry-leading market research database, extensive primary and secondary research, and proprietary economic modelling techniques.  The research includes competitive analysis, plus five-year market forecasts by primary business focus, revenue categories, sales channels, customers, and world region.

This new research is available in a variety of formats to meet the specific research and budgetary requirements of a wide variety of organizations. 

#Pauto @arc_advisory

ARC Industry Forum Europe 2021.

In English

Die ARC Advisory Group öffnet am 18. und 19. Mai 2021 die virtuellen Pforten des „European Industry Forum”. Das Forum ist Teil der erfolgreichen Veranstaltungsreihe von ARC mit Konferenzen in den USA, Indien, China und Japan. Im Mai 2020 veranstaltete ARC in Europa bereits ein sehr gelungenes Forum, an dem 250 Industrievertreter teilnahmen.

Den Teilnehmern bietet sich eine Reihe exklusiver Vorträge und Workshops, in denen Strategien und Erfahrungsberichte rund um das Thema Digitalisierung im Mittelpunkt stehen. Die Konferenzsprache ist Englisch. Industrieanalysten und weitere Automatisierungsexperten aus Endbenutzer- und Lieferantenkreisen analysieren Trends und Entwicklungen im Hinblick auf folgende Themen:

• 21st Century Operations: Where IT, OT and ET Converge
• AI and Machine Learning
• Asset Performance Management
• Automation Innovations
• Blockchain for Industry
• Cybersecurity for the New Normal in Industry, Infrastructure and Smart Cities
• Digital Twins and Connected Smart Machines
• Digital Workforce and Culture
• Industrial 5G
• Industrial IoT Platforms, Edge Infrastructure and End Devices
• Manufacturing Execution Systems
• Smart Cities

Ein Vertreter von Philip Morris International berichtet über ein früheres Forum: „Das ARC-Forum ist eine sehr gute Gelegenheit, viel mehr über die Veränderungen bei IT/OT zu erfahren. Wir alle wissen, dass die Technologie verfügbar ist und wir haben hier gelernt, dass wichtige Erfolgsfaktoren Menschen, Unternehmenskultur und Sicherheit sind.“

Beim ARC Industry Forum Europe erhalten sowohl Nutzer als auch Technologieanbieter wertvolle Informationen darüber, wie sie die Transformation von Fabriken, Städten und Infrastruktur für sich nutzen können. Sie erfahren, was andere Fachleute und Branchenführer heute tun und wie sie sich auf die Zukunft vorbereiten.

Accelerating Digital Transformation in a Post-COVID World.

Auf Deutsch

ARC Advisory Group is to host its European Industry Forum on May 18-19, 2021 as an online event. The forum is part of ARC’s successful series of worldwide conferences in the USA, India, China and Japan. Earlier this year, ARC Europe hosted a highly successful virtual event attended by 250 delegates.

Participants are invited to attend a series of exclusive speeches and workshops to discover strategies and stories from the digital front lines. ARC industry analysts and other automation experts from the end-user and supplier communities will analyze trends and drivers for the following topics:

• 21st Century Operations: Where IT, OT and ET Converge
• AI and Machine Learning
• Asset Performance Management
• Automation Innovations
• Blockchain for Industry
• Cybersecurity for the New Normal in Industry, Infrastructure and Smart Cities
• Digital Twins and Connected Smart Machines
• Digital Workforce and Culture
• Industrial 5G
• Industrial IoT Platforms, Edge Infrastructure and End Devices
• Manufacturing Execution Systems
• Smart Cities

A representative of Philip Morris International comments on a previous forum: “ARC's forum is a very good opportunity to learn much more about the IT/OT transition. We all know the technology is available and we have learned that important success factors are people, culture, and security.”

ARC’s Industry Forum Europe helps delegates to learn more about how transforming factories, cities, and infrastructure will benefit technology end users and suppliers alike. They will discover what their peers and industry leaders are doing today and what steps they are taking to prepare for the future.

@ARCWorldForum @arc_advisory #PAuto #Cybersecurity #Digititalisation

#coróinvíreas #COVID19 #coronavirus

Wireless excellence recognised!

Iberian Lube Base Oil Company, S. A. (ILBOC), has won the 2019 ISA100 Wireless Excellence in Automation award. In so doing they join a list of distinguished end users which include BAPCO, Alcoa, Phillips 66, PETRONAS, Nippon Steele & Sumikin Engineering.

Andre Ristaino,  ISA100 Wireless MD, presented Luis Sancho Gomez with ILBOC's award at the ARC World Forum. Vicente Blazquez, CEO of Bitherm is on the right.

Each year the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute honors one end-user who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, creativity, and engineering excellence in the field of deploying ISA100 Wireless technology.

In winning, ILBOC was chosen from several potential candidates. Their use case was a 904 node ISA100 Wireless steam trap monitoring application. A steam trap monitoring application of this large size is a great example of the power of ISA100 Wireless technology. The installation also included a unique ESCO (Energy Services company) contract with Bitherm that had NO upfront costs. All payments to Bitherm from ILBOC are based upon energy savings.

Later Luis Sancho Gomez presented ILBOC's experiences at the forum in Orlando (FL USA). His presentation may be viewed here (pdf).

#PAuto #ILBOC @ISA_Interchange @arc_advisory @ARCWorldForum @ISA100WCI

Defining the Principal Roles in Cybersecurity.

Overview Planning, operating, and maintaining an effective response to cybersecurity risks can be a daunting exercise for many asset owners. They must address the cybersecurity of automation and related systems across their entire life cycle, from specification and development to operations and maintenance. Although they are not directly responsible for all activities, asset owners must understand the requirements and translate these into responsibilities for those performing the tasks required.

Eric Cosman

This report is authored by Eric Cosman an expert on the subject. ARC Advisory Group clients can view the complete report at ARC Main Client Portal. Eric Cosman was one of the speakers at the ISA Food and Pharmaceuticals Industries Division Symposium (FPID) on Cybersecurity held in Cork two years ago.

The lifecycle of an automation solution provides the context or back-ground for defining processes and associated roles. If defined in sufficiently general terms, it can be applied easily across a wide range of situations and help improve communications and cooperation between the various contributors and stakeholders. This is a major goal for people involved in standards development efforts since it would enable broader use of their work.

Many of the available standards, frameworks and guidelines for cybersecurity stress the need to address the people and process elements of the response in addition to technology. However, it is often left up to the reader to define the needed processes and associated roles. This requires a detailed understanding of business processes and organizational structure, including identification and definition of roles and responsibilities. Although the details may vary by situation, the fundamentals are often common.

A general-purpose lifecycle model includes the definition of several principal roles that are not industry specific. By using these general definitions, it is possible to provide guidance that can be applied broadly.

#Cybersecurity #PAuto @arc_advisory

Excellence in wireless automation.

Alcoa Corporation (Alcoa) was presented the 2017 ISA100 Wireless Excellence in Automation Award for “Leadership in Development and Implementation of Wireless Applications for Mining/Refinery Operations.”

Andre Ristaino (right), Managing Director, ISA100 WCI,
presents 2017 ISA100 Wireless Excellence in Automation
Award to Chester Davidson, Global Services Manager, Alcoa.

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute presented Alcoa the award at the February 2018 ARC Industry Forum in Orlando during the 'Smart Field Systems Creating Business Value for Process Industries' session, hosted by Tim Shea.

The presentation was on Wireless applications for Alcoa.

Alcoa is recognized for its visionary work with wireless technology. In 2014 Alcoa established ISA100 Wireless technology as its global standard across refinery operations. The company established engineering standards, installed wireless infrastructure and monitoring equipment, and developed wireless training modules and support processes. In 2015 Alcoa established a wireless advisory board to provide corporate governance for wireless technology implementation and developed instrumentation selection criteria.

From 2016 to 2018, the company has worked with its vendor to develop new ISA100 Wireless instruments for its specific needs, including a lower cost, lightweight wireless pressure transmitter, a wireless safety shower panic button, a multi-use wireless push button, and an ISA100 Wireless serial interface for use on in-house specialty analyzers. Additionally, it enabled Wi-Fi in the process area, supporting a global, corporate connected worker initiative.

Alcoa’s objectives in selecting ISA100 Wireless as an enabling technology were to:

• Provide an engineered, secured, managed and integrated wireless network into alumina refinery process areas.
• Support mobile operators using handheld devices.
• Allow for wireless connectivity of PCS/EHM equipment that is either remote or mobile.
• Enable IIOT and IOT in the future.

The adoption and implementation of ISA100 Wireless has reduced capital expenditure related to installation of process/condition monitoring instruments, increased deployment speeds, facilitated troubleshooting via mobile/temporary sensors, and extended monitoring applications to moving equipment.

The complete presentation on Alcoa’s work can be found here.

“Our engineered wireless infrastructure has provided the necessary foundation for us to introduce digital transformation initiatives such as Connected Worker & Connected Plant to our operations and pave our way toward the refinery of the future vision,” said Alcoa representative Ali Nooraii, Ph.D., Director, Global Alumina & Bauxite Process Systems.

“Working with wireless instrumentation suppliers to develop new, innovative and lower cost sensors will be key to our success in improving plant performance through improved data-based predictive maintenance and diagnostics. The next wave of disruptive technology is one good idea away,” said Alcoa representative Robert Polinelli, Manager, Global Alumina PCS Infrastructure.

“We are now seeing large-scale deployments of ISA100 Wireless technology, and the Alcoa approach is a good example of company-wide wireless technology adoption in order to ensure 100 percent instrumentation coverage at operational sites,” said Andre Ristaino, Managing Director, ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute.

@ISA100WCI #PAuto @Alcoa

First Globally in DCS.

With around 20% market share across industries, ABB is the leader of digitally enabled control and automation according to the ARC Advisory Group's  “Distributed Control Systems Global Market 2016-2021” report.

ABB remains the number one in the market for distributed control systems (DCS) globally. The group has effectively maintained its market-leading position since 1999, according to ARC’s research analysts. Their analysis takes into account multiple factors including market size and segmentation, market forecast, industry structure, supplier market shares, and supplier profiles.

This report also recognizes ABB for the launch of ABB Ability™, its unified, cross-industry digital capability. ABB Ability helps customers in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure develop new processes and advance existing ones by providing insights and optimizing planning and controls for real-time operations. The results can then be fed into control systems to improve key metrics such as factory uptime, speed and yield.

“With our installed base of over 70 million connected devices and 70,000 control systems, and an annual investment of $1.5 billion in research and development, ABB is leading the digital transformation of industry,” says Peter Terwiesch, President ABB’s Industrial Automation division.

This recognition by ARC follows the recently announced award by business consultants Frost & Sullivan, naming ABB as 2017 Company of the Year. ABB has been commended for setting the benchmark for digitalization with its DCS portfolio. With its deep domain knowledge and unparalleled digital experience, ABB partners with its customers to best meet their needs, delivering sustainable progress for power, water and process industries.

ABB’s leadership in DCS stems from countless ground-breaking projects around the globe. ABB Ability System 800xA plays a key role in securing the success for Sadara, the world’s largest chemicals complex built in a single phase. The monitoring and automating of the entire production process is fully integrated with System 800xA, all coming together in 18 control systems and 260 operator work stations. The integration capabilities also helped the Garpenberg mine to become one of the world's most cost-effective and modern mines in the world. Hoists, mill drives, ventilation, dewatering, substations, conveyors, crushers, ore storage, and maintenance, as well as document management and communications are seamlessly integrated to the automation system. Very recently Emami Cement has chosen System 800xA to automate its new production plant which will help boost infrastructure growth in India.

ABB Ability Symphony® Plus is, for example, the core solution for integrating new emission control technology at a power plant in Wisconsin, US; for protecting the UNESCO World Heritage site of Venice, Italy from high water by controlling the city’s MOSE flood barrier system; for providing the automation and electrification solution for Adani, the world’s largest solar power plant in a single location, in Kamuthi India; and for enabling the Vietnamese utility Saigon Water Corporation (SAWACO) to control and operate its infrastructure in real time, significantly reducing the amount of non-revenue water.

ABB is a leading provider of integrated power and automation solutions with unparalleled experience in partnering with global industries, bringing them improved operations and sustainable progress. ABB delivers integrated and secure digital systems, services and solutions to automate and optimize the performance of process and power industries.

@ABBgroupnews #PAuto @abbcontroltech @ABBUKInst  @arc_advisory 

SCADA systems for the power sector.

ABB has been named as the global market leader in SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems for the power transmission and distribution sector by ARC Advisory Group, a leading technology research and advisory firm for industry, infrastructure, and cities, in its newly released report titled “SCADA Systems for the Electric Power Industry Market Analysis, 2016-2021."

SCADA is a computer-based system for gathering and analyzing real-time data to monitor and control equipment that deals with critical and time-sensitive materials or events. Data is gathered, processed and presented, often to issue warnings when conditions become hazardous by sounding alarms.

According to the report, ABB is also the number-one supplier of SCADA control center solutions for Transmission and Distribution in North America and Latin America, and the global leader in large-scale SCADA projects (over USD $1 million). The report also positions ABB as the leading global supplier in terms of revenues from software, service, maintenance and customer support.

“We are encouraged by this recognition of ABB’s continued global leadership in network management solutions and our track record with the world’s leading utilities” said Claudio Facchin, President Power Grids division. “SCADA systems are becoming increasingly critical for the control and operation of an increasingly digitalized grid, and our ABB AbilityTM based solutions are ideally suited to support this transition, reinforcing our position as a partner of choice for enabling a stronger, smarter and greener grid.”

“ABB moved to the top of the leader board in 2016 having picked up more than six market-share percentage points on the strength of its integrated SCADA solutions,” said Steve Couther, ARC’s smart grid analyst and the report’s author. “We expect to see continued growth in this market driven by significant global trends such as the expansion of renewable energy sources, microgrids and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). As per our estimates the SCADA market for T&D-related components of the electricity grid exceeded two and a half billion dollars in 2016 and is expected to grow through 2021.”

ABB Ability™ Network Manager SCADA is a real-time platform to securely and efficiently manage all remotely controlled operations across energy generation, transmission and distribution systems. These control solutions allow utilities to improve system reliability and resiliency, increase safety and security, and maximize operational efficiency. Key customer benefits include performance, scalability, cyber security and optimized total cost of ownership.

ABB also offers its ABB AbilityTM based MicroSCADA Pro solution for application at the station level and a distributed generation solution to integrate and manage renewables, like solar photovoltaic and wind, enabling simplified plant operations, remote monitoring, analytics, and
forecasting.

 @ABBgroupnews #PAuto @arc_advisory #SCADA