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ExxonMobil Seeks Open Automation Solutions

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At the most recent ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, ExxonMobil announced that they are not satisfied with business as usual when it comes to industrial automation, and they are looking for something far superior to what is currently being offered.  On January 14, 2016, ExxonMobil announced that they had awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin to serve as the systems integrator in the early stage development of a next-generation open and secure automation system for process industries.  Lockheed Martin is tasked to seek out the architecture and tools needed for an “open, standards-based, secure and interoperable control system” that can be seamlessly integrated with existing facilities, as well as new and future systems.  ExxonMobil wants the hardware and software components to be commercially available and able to function in all current DCS markets.

Rather than simply replace their aging systems with the current state of the art, which is expensive, inflexible, and closed, ExxonMobil wants to leverage new, open, IoT, wireless, and cloud technologies to cut costs, enhance security, and reduce development time. As with other, adjacent areas of technology, they want to see a step-change improvements, not incremental or bolted-on changes to obsolete architectures.

Originally presented at Industry Day on January 26, 2016

Their vision for open automation is standards-based, secure, and interoperable, which will:

  1. Promote innovation & value creation
  2. Effortlessly integrate best-in-class components
  3. Afford access to leading-edge capability & performance
  4. Preserve the asset owner’s application software
  5. Significantly lower the cost of future replacement
  6. Employ an adaptive intrinsic security model

This vision reads like a list of Skkynet connectivity solutions features and benefits:

  1. SkkyHub, DataHub, and the ETK foster innovation and value creation by providing open-standards, real-time data connectivity for hardware and software from almost any vendor.
  2. These Skkynet tools allow users to integrate data from virtually any components.
  3. This kind of real-time data integration enables each component in turn to perform at its highest capacity.
  4. Any generation of equipment, from legacy to state-of-the-art, can be integrated.
  5. Connecting modules can be replaced, and the system itself gets continually updated.
  6. Connections from the DataHub or ETK to SkkyHub are secure by design.

We are currently in communication with Lockheed Martin, and bringing these advantages to ExxonMobil’s attention. We share their vision, and offer tested, verified, working solutions.

Value Propositions for Industrial IoT

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A mong all the fanfare and hoopla over the Industrial IoT, the more practical-minded among us quietly but persistently raise the question, “So, where’s the value?” It’s a fair question. The IoT represents a new area of influence for industrial automation. Before embarking on such a venture, it’s good to have some idea what the benefits may be.

As we see it, there are two main parties involved, producers and suppliers, and each of them stands to benefit in their own way:

Producers

By “producers” we mean any company in the industrial sector that produces goods or services, such as manufacturing, energy, oil & gas, chemicals, mining, water & wastewater, transportation, food & beverages, and so on.

OPEX over CAPEX

Traditionally, projects in the industrial sector require large up front capital expenses (CAPEX) and are usually accompanied by long-term commitments. Shifting these costs to operational expenses (OPEX) means that you do not need to justify a large capital expenditure over years of returns. Just like a cup of coffee, you buy it, consume it and when you need more, you buy it again.

The SkkyHub “pay as you go” model cuts costs in this way. There are no long-term commitments and no initial capital investments. Costs are reduced and shifted from high capital expenses to monthly operating expenses, which improves long-term expense planning and looks better on financial statements.

Data as a Service

There is no need for additional IT personnel or extra hardware, no programming and no upgrade headaches. SkkyHub takes care of data connectivity, freeing up customer staff and resources for higher priority tasks, while increasing ROI.

The Efficiency of Big Data

Knowing exactly what is happening at any given time in the system is a useful step that a producer can take towards improving efficiency, enhancing value. Until recently, this kind of analysis was only available to the biggest enterprises. Now SkkyHub provides a cost-effective way to bring the power of big-data collection to even the smallest enterprise. Combined with custom or third-party analytical tools, the real-time data flowing through SkkyHub can power both historical and real-time analysis, boosting KPIs and enabling significant gains in productivity.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a measure of how efficiently production equipment is being used. In manufacturing, for example, OEE is calculated according to three measures: uptime of production equipment, quantity of output, and quality of finished products. Manual methods and historical data archives give a rough idea of OEE, but according to a recent paper published by the ISA, a much more precise and relevant picture can be drawn by combining real-time operational visibility with real-time analytics. Any drop in production uptime or quantity, or in the quality of finished goods will be noticed immediately, and a fix can be applied on the spot, rather than waiting days, weeks, or months for a report to be generated.

Predictive Maintenance

Today’s engineers and managers recognize the need to shift from reactive to predictive maintenance. Instead of asking “What happened?” or “What’s happening?” they want to be asking “What will happen?” Instead of just putting out fires, management and production staff can use the real-time data provided by SkkyHub for optimization, data mining, and fault prediction.

Suppliers

By “suppliers” we mean companies that supply goods or services to industrial companies, in three broad categories:

  1. Raw Materials Suppliers
  2. OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and Equipment Vendors
  3. System Integrators
Raw Materials Suppliers

Connecting to a customer’s process data via the Industrial IoT provides value by giving suppliers a window into the real-time consumption rates of the raw materials they provide. This allows them to offer just-in-time deliveries, and coordinate their production with demand in real time. A well-known business model shows how the lack of communication between suppliers and producers can cause costly shortages and wasteful overruns. If the Industrial IoT is extended further to include customer order data, then the supply-production-delivery chain could be fully coordinated, with minimal waste and maximum profit.

OEMs and Equipment Vendors

Implemented properly, the Industrial IoT provides a way for OEMs and equipment vendors to monitor their tools and machines in real time. As industrial equipment grows increasingly complex, more and more specialized knowledge is required to maintain and keep it running at optimal efficiency. Meanwhile, customers constantly demand higher uptime rates.

The solution is to stay connected 24/7 in real time. This kind of connection provides vendors and manufacturers immediate notification when something goes wrong, and a convenient channel to check settings and tweak configuration. Rather than sending a technician out to the plant, the tech support team can address the problem using the full set of in-house resources. For the big picture over time, with every machine connected, the vendor or manufacturer can collect histories for every unit in the field, and analyze the data over the entire life of the product.

Given the benefits of OPEX over CAPEX, the growing complexity of machinery, and the convenience of remote monitoring and service, the Industrial IoT may well facilitate a trend towards providing equipment as a service. Plant owners pay a monthly leasing fee for the equipment, and tool manufacturers and/or vendors ensure that it is in place and functioning as expected.

System Integrators

System integration companies come in all sizes, from lone entrepreneurial engineers to mid-sized specialty shops to multi-national giants. Each may offer a different range of skills, products, and services. As the Industrial IoT gains traction, system integrators may begin looking for a way to offer such a service that works well.

Skkynet offers revenue sharing opportunities that meet the needs of any size system integrator working with customers in any sector or niche market. Skkynet partners are able to offer their customers a secure end-to-end solution for the Industrial IoT right now―at a fraction of the cost associated with ad-hoc or home-grown solutions. System integrators who can offer value through best of breed technology to enhance customer performance will deepen relationships with existing clients and grow their customer base.

IoT Valued in Aftermarket Services for Connected Machines

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What if your car dealer cared more about your car than you do, and did something about it?  What if your ride was always in tip-top shape, never broke down, and got regular, dealer-sponsored tune-ups while sitting in your garage, or even on the road?  Wouldn’t that be great?  And what if your dealer gave you a discount for letting him service your car that way?  This is the kind of aftermarket service that the IoT is making possible for industrial machine builders.

A recent blog by Sal Spada, Research Director of Discrete Automation at ARC Advisory Group, highlights the value of the Internet of Things (IoT) for machine builders looking to improve their aftermarket services.  The IoT approach to maintenance and service of industrial tools and machinery has already started, and is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.  Spada introduces a number of reasons for this increase.

Cost effective: Real-time remote monitoring done well gives the supplier full access to the machine 24/7, making it easier to spot problems before they arise. When something occurs that needs a technician, they have immediate access to the system and spend their time solving problems, rather than travelling to the site.

Competitive: Industrial customers are in it for the long haul.  Better maintenance and service translates into less downtime for the equipment, making that supplier more competitive in the marketplace.

Company Growth: As his maintenance costs go down, the machine supplier becomes more competitive in his market, and more able to afford to do business.  This can readily lead to company growth.

Using the IoT for service connectivity has found favor with suppliers of large, expensive products that typically require regular maintenance, such as cranes, hoists, elevators, and escalators, and is expected to expand in a number of areas.  ARC Advisory Group recently published a report “Production Machinery Automation” that covers a range of product segments and machinery sectors, and illustrates the growing value of the IoT in providing aftermarket services.

Cutting Costs with the Industrial IoT

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What is the ongoing attraction of the Industrial IoT?  Why does it get so much press these days?  Moving past the glitz and hype, beyond the desire to follow the “next big thing”, corporate executives from IBM to GE have recognized that there are solid benefits.  And many of these benefits boil down to this: cost savings.

“Leading thinkers have looked at cost savings available in terms of productivity, new business models and environmental benefits compared to the cost of implementing these systems and they’ve determined that this is the direction they want to go,” said Steve Jennis, Senior Vice President for Corporate Development at PrismTech in a speech at Smart Industry 2015 in Chicago last October.

Jennis points out that the steady reduction in costs for hardware and data connectivity infrastructure are making the Industrial IoT possible, and increasingly accessible for more and more companies.  Multi-million dollar SCADA systems, once available only to governments and large corporations, are giving way to thousand-dollar remote monitoring and supervisory control systems that can be implemented by small and medium-sized companies.  And the reach of these systems goes far beyond the plant floor.  “We can connect the enterprise end-to-end for a reasonable cost for the first time ever,” Jennis says.  “That’s what’s making the difference.”

Challenges

That being the case, Jennis does see challenges.  There are cultural challenges of merging the IT (information technology) culture of generalized, people-focused applications with OT (operations technology) requirements for specialized, real-time, mission-critical systems.  And there are technical challenges of integrating data among machines and systems from different epocs, vendors, and locations, often using a variety of protocols and engineering units.

“From a technology standpoint,” recommends Jennis, “systems must be adopted that enable data connectivity on demand in real time across different environments to provide a global data space that can be utilized to give people what they need to do their job.”

At Skkynet we understand these challenges, and develop products like SkkyHub, DataHub, and the ETK to meet them.  At a cost far below a commercial SCADA system, and with very short implementation times, Skkynet users leverage the benefits of real-time cloud computing and off-the-shelf software to get up and running on the Industrial IoT, and start cutting their costs right away.

Connecting Enterprises Need Secure-by-Design

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All over the world, enterprises are connecting. Inspired or pushed by the growing interest in the Internet of Things (IoT), companies are looking into how they can connect and exchange data with their customers, their suppliers, their branches, and among themselves. And they are quickly discovering that current security models are not adequate. A recent Frost & Sullivan report points towards “security-by-design” instead of “security-by-default” as critical for the connected enterprise.

How did we get to this point? On the industrial side, operational technology (OT) has garnered a wealth of experience in data connectivity through SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems that provide plant-wide real-time communications for mission-critical industrial processes. In this space, the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT) is being embraced and extended as the Industrial IoT (or IIoT) among the likes of GE, IBM, and others.

At the same time, these new opportunities for connecting to the plant have caught the interest of the traditional information technology (IT) people within the enterprise. For decades the “top floor” of management has been cut off from what happens on the “shop floor” of operations. Now, using IIoT technologies, it seems that there may be new ways of connecting IT to OT, and integrating enterprise systems directly with operations and production.

The big challenge is security. “Solution providers in the IT and the OT ecosystems must join hands to deploy end-to-end cyber security solutions for industrial systems,” according to Julia Nikishkina at Frost & Sullivan in a summary of the report.

The traditional security model for OT networks has until recently relied mainly on physically restricting all access. Many companies simply do not connect their plant operations network to the Internet―at all. As demand for inbound and outbound data access has grown, companies have been turning to VPNs or other add-on security measures to allow some level of connectivity. These, according to the Frost & Sullivan report, are woefully inadequate.

“The influx of IT solutions into the operational technology space highlights the need for security-by-design rather than security-by-default,” says Nikishkina. “As a majority of industries upgrade to smart systems and processes, industrial cybersecurity will soon make the inevitable shift from a reactive operating model to a proactive design philosophy.”

The Frost & Sullivan report describes what is a daily reality for us at Skkynet. Our SkkyHub service demonstrates how secure-by-design actually works, providing a platform for seamless, end-to-end data connectivity between OT and IT. By keeping all firewall ports closed at both the OT and IT ends, it exposes no attack surface to the Internet, and yet provides bidirectional data flow in real time.

BYOD Impacts the Factory Floor

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The growing worldwide trend for workers to “bring your own device” (BYOD) to work has impacted the industrial space, according an IHS Technology survey.

The past few years have witnessed a remarkable growth in the popularity of smart phones and tablet computers. The Pew Research Center’s Mobile Technology Fact Sheet reported that by January 2014 58% of adults in the USA owned a smartphone, and 42% of them had a tablet computer.  A Nielsen Company report says that people in the UK used their smartphones nearly twice as much by the end of 2013 as they did in the beginning of that year.

With such broad usage of smartphones and tablets, it is not surprising that people expect to bring that power and convenience into the workplace. Indeed, this is rapidly becoming the case, as reported in the 2nd Annual State of BYOD Report issued last year by Good Technology.  According to their survey, 95% enterprises either support BYOD in the workplace, or are at some stage in planning or considering it.

These worldwide trends are resonating in the industrial space, according to Toby Colquhoun and Tom Moore at IHS Technology.  In a recent article, Mobile devices spread to the factory floor, they share the results of an IHS global survey of companies in the manufacturing and energy sectors.  Of the companies surveyed, almost half of them (46%) are currently allowing their employees to use smartphones and tablets at work, and another 11% plan to adopt such technologies within the next three years.

Integration of smartphones and tablets into the company network adds a potential new point of vulnerability for hackers/malware to exploit.

To clarify, this is not actually BYOD in most cases.  You won’t find many factory workers monitoring mission-critical systems on their personal cell phones.  Typically, companies that allow smartphones and tablets on the shop floor issue them to the personnel, preconfigured for the data they are authorized to access.  The investment in equipment is offset by the advantages of this portable technology for monitoring processes from anywhere in the plant, responding quickly to alarms, and in some cases doing supervisory control.

But not everyone sees it this way.  About 7% of the participating companies that are currently using mobile devices plan to discontine this kind of program within the next three years, and another 20% surveyed responded that that they have no plans to adopt the technology over that time period.  The reasons for this reluctance include device performance in an industrial setting, as well as concerns for the security of the data.

“Integration of smartphones and tablets into the company network adds a potential new point of vulnerability for hackers/malware to exploit,” states the report.  It also mentions concerns related to human error and carelessness, which can be addressed by company policy.  But the report does not mention how companies can protect their vital data from exposure to the Internet.

To ensure the success of BYOD in the industrial sector, security questions must be resolved. The approach of Skkynet’s Secure Cloud Service™ addresses these questions in a unique way. Details about the service will be shared in a Skkynet white paper to be published soon. Put briefly, the traditional architecture for industrial networking was not designed for access via the public Internet, because it requires opening the firewall into the production system. With the proper design, as implemented in the Secure Cloud Service, BYOD is not only possible in the industrial space, it can be secure, quick, and convenient. As this kind of high quality service becomes widely adopted over the next few years, we can expect to witness some remarkable changes taking place on the factory floor.