Best of Rockwell Automation TechED

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Byline
Best of
Rockwell
Automation
TechED
The editors of Control, Control Design and Smart
Industry bring you the breaking news and best
sessions from Rockwell Automation TechED 2016.
Caption

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Disruptive tech and The Connected Enterprise.....................................................3
FIRST movement about more than robots..............................................................5
Safer heat treating for aerospace manufacturer....................................................7
Re-skilled workers bring the Industrial IoT to life.................................................9
A technological approach to a classic sauce........................................................10
Plan for integration in MES modernization........................................................... 12
Connecting the ‘things’ to the IIoT.......................................................................... 13
A look under the hood of smart devices............................................................... 15
Smart industry compels The Connected Enterprise........................................... 16
High performance, future-proofed.......................................................................... 18
HMI as gateway to data-driven operations.......................................................... 20
SCADA shines light on solar fleet............................................................................22
App Platform aims to ‘drive the 33s’..................................................................... 24
Evolving technology changes attitudes about safety........................................25
Mine the gold in Big Data..........................................................................................27
A window into extruder operations....................................................................... 29
Ease the transition to virtualization........................................................................ 31
Simply virtualized HMI solution...............................................................................33
Save the Date for Automation Fair® 2016..............................................................35
2

DISRUPTIVE TECH AND THE
CONNECTED ENTERPRISE
Information flows liberated throughout a flexible computing and
control architecture enable dramatic productivity improvements
By Keith Larson
Just as advances in communications and computing
technology have transformed our personal
lives, they continue to disrupt business as usual in
the realm of industrial automation, according to Sujeet
Chand, chief technology officer, Rockwell Automation.
Chand shared with the more than 2,100 attendees of
this week’s Rockwell Automation TechED event in Orlando
how the company’s control and information architecture
is designed to liberate longstanding silos of
information, as well as incorporate and build upon new,
disruptive technologies as they arise – all in the pursuit
of improvements in time-to-market, asset utilization, total
cost of ownership and enterprise risk management for
its industrial customers.
“The convergence of IT and OT is happening now,”
Chand said, noting the rising tally of connected devices
(to 50 billion by 2020), the proliferation of collaborative
robots (or ‘cobots’) in industrial environments, the
increased application of artificial intelligence and machine
learning to predict pending operational failures,
and the effects of wearables and mobile technology on
information accessibility and workflows. “These technology
trends are only accelerating The Connected Enterprise,”
Chand said.
since itself becoming a Connected Enterprise. “Take
the information that exists in your data silos and bring it
into operations and other phases of the asset lifecycle,”
Chand said.
An example of this might include a wiring design diagram
generated in Eplan that, once built, was seldom
accessed again. In The Connected Enterprise, Chand
said, that diagram is available to help troubleshoot operations
and maintenance activities. Benefits realized
due to this improved information access include more
tightly integrated design and simulation activities, im-
Liberated information silos
In particular, the opening and integration of formerly
siloed sources of information is enabling dramatic gains
in productivity, Chand said, citing the 4-5% annual productivity
gains that Rockwell Automation has realized
“Will every bit of data be sent to the cloud? Not
likely.” Rockwell Automation CTO Sujeet Chand on the
company’s two-tiered approach to real-time analytics
performed locally and higher level analytics for
optimization tasks.

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proved project delivery time, more sustainable production
and better overall equipment effectiveness (OEE),
together with optimization of asset uptime, production
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throughput and energy use.
Byline From an architectural perspective, smart assets are
at the center of The Connected Enterprise vision, surrounded
by groups of enabling technologies such as mobility
and visibility, information management and analytics,
scalable computing (edge, control and cloud),
multi-disciplinary control and secure network infrastructure.
These core platform enablers are, in turn, surrounded
by technologies a step further removed, such
as the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented and virtual
reality (AR/VR), multivariable optimization, and endto-end
security. With these elements in place, “we now
have the right architecture for implementing The Connected
Enterprise.”
Analytics where needed
The Connected Enterprise also is designed to accommodate
analytics wherever they are most appropriately
deployed. “We estimate that 80% of analytics will continue
to be done on premise, enabled by continued advances
in local computing power,” Chand said. “Realtime
analytics, meaning those that result in a controller
setpoint change or alarm displayed to an operator, must
be done on premise,” Chand said.
“Meanwhile, the cloud has a distinct role to play, particularly
in the area of historicized data and for remote
assets,” Chand said. “But will every bit of data be sent to
the cloud? Not likely.”
An example of this tiered approach to analytics is a
recent solution deployed by Rockwell Automation to
maintain and optimize operation of production assets
in oil & gas fields. Instead of relying on periodic maintenance
rounds to detect malfunctioning wells, downhole
sensors together with ControlLogix-based real-time
analytics detect and alert operations to actual and pending
problems. Meanwhile, a distilled view of individual
well data is transferred to the cloud, where analytics can
optimize oilfield performance across multiple individual
wells.
“The Rockwell Automation cloud platform is based
on Microsoft Azure,” Chand explained. “This allows
you to leverage whichever of the many analytics solutions
available are most appropriate. Look at the business
outcomes you are trying to achieve, then plug in
whichever analytics you need.”
While The Connected Enterprise can do much to
improve industrial performance today, it will become
even more capable in the future, concluded Chand.
“We’re working to make it increasingly predictive and
optimized. Longer term, it will be both self-adaptive and
self-healing.”
Keith Larson is group publisher responsible for Putman Media’s manufacturing automation titles Control,
Control Design and Smart Industry. Corporately, he also serves as vice president of content across Putman
Media’s other magazine titles.
4

FIRST MOVEMENT ABOUT MORE
THAN ROBOTS
Dean Kamen, the force behind the Segway, the insulin pump, the
DARPA arm and Slingshot water purifier, inspires kids to take on
the world.
By Paul Studebaker
Dean Kamen is one of America’s greatest inventors
with more than 400 patents for devices
ranging from the Segway to the autosyringe
insulin pump and DARPA arm. But his
favorite topic arises from his role as founder of FIRST
(for inspiration and recognition in science and technology),
the organization behind the FIRST robotics
competitions.
“I’m here because this is Geek Central,” Kamen
told attendees of his keynote presentation at Rockwell
Automation TechED this week in Orlando. “I have
to use my time carefully, but this was a no-brainer.
Rockwell Automation has been an incredible supporter
of FIRST, and you are thousands of techies.
“We need more technologists and a louder voice
in the culture, and FIRST helps,” Kamen
said. “Today, technology is moving
faster, but society and regulation is,
if anything, slowing down. The rate of
adoption is slowing down. That’s partly
because the technical community has
not had enough voice.”
Kamen described technological
breakthroughs including the Crown
stent, which eliminated 100,000 openheart
surgeries in its first year; the wearable
insulin pump, which took one year
to invent but 15 years to be accepted;
and the peritoneal dialysis machine.
“Instead of three sessions a week of hell
at the hospital, our peritoneal dialysis system works
at home, overnight, using a disposable cassette,” he
said. “We’ve recently shipped our 600 millionth cassette,
but it’s life support – you need to be a pretty
sophisticated person to be willing to use it. The new
version is Cloud-connected so doctors and family
members can monitor and know what’s going on.”
Kamen said similar breakthroughs will be more
common and more rapidly accepted when we can
popularize science, technology, engineering and
math (STEM). “FIRST is not another curriculum or
another science fair,” he said. It’s intended to inspire
by recognition and celebration. “In any free country,
you get what you celebrate. We bring the same recognition
as people who sing or bounce a ball.”
“I’m here because this is Geek Central.”
Inventor Dean Kamen spoke to attendees
of his keynote presentation at Rockwell
Automation TechED in Orlando.
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The difference between science and
science fiction is timing
For example, the iBOT mobility system – a Segway-inspired
device that allows disabled people to access regular
spaces and climb stairs – is life-changing, but the
wheelchair manufacturers wouldn’t touch it. “Now
we’ve partnered with Toyota to redesign and relaunch
it. Like the self-driving car, it’s a science fiction project
that’s now available science.”
In the Civil War, soldiers who lost an arm were given
a Copy wooden stick with a hook on it. “For Iraq, the wooden
stick was replaced by plastic, but IEDs often take off
both arms,” Kamen said. “So we invented the DARPA
mind-controlled prosthetic arm, which is critically important
to a small group of people.
“But the number one cause of death of people less
than five years old is contaminated water. So we invented
the Slingshot water purification system, which
uses distillation with 98% energy recovery. It’s a box
with two hoses: you connect one to something wet,
which can be salty, sewage or polluted with chemicals,
and out the other hose comes water that meets
FDA standards.”
Help change the world. Seriously.
How do you make life- and world-changing technology
more common and accepted? “Kids will get good at anything
grownups make them think is important,” Kamen
said. “We founded FIRST 26 years ago, using the sports
model. LeBron James is not a phys ed teacher, he is a role
model. So we find tech superstars – you – to inspire kids.”
FIRST now has 46,000 teams in 86 countries participating
in a “Super Bowl of Smarts,” Kamen said.
“And every kid on our teams can turn pro – there’s a
job for every one. In 10 or 15 or 20 years, one will cure
Alzheimer’s disease or cancer, or build an engine that
doesn’t pollute.”
Team members are 30% women and minorities,
50% more likely to attend college, and twice as likely
to become engineers. The competition awards $30
million in scholarships.
“The top technical universities fight to get our kids,
and now the military is looking for them. No matter
what equipment we have, if we don’t have the brightest
kids, we can’t defend our country,” Kamen said.
FIRST used to be found at USFirst.org. This year,
recognizing the global scale, it’s become FIRSTInspires.org.
“Instead of waiting for more than 86 countries to bubble
up, we’ve started the FIRST International organization
to spread the word,” Kamen said. “Politics divides
countries, science unites the world. Maybe instead of
teaching history, we can teach kids everywhere the common
language of STEM and let them work together to
solve the world’s problems.”
The FIRST competition is not just about the robots.
It’s a lesson in humility, hard work and collaboration;
a roadmap to engineering; a rock to smash
the glass ceilings; a sledgehammer to break cultural
barriers; a compass to peace; and a Rosetta stone to
translate the future.
It’s not just a robot, it’s a machine to build the people
who will change the world.
“The technical community gets an A+ for abilities
and effects, but only a C for community,” Kamen said.
“FIRST participants say you always get more out of it
than you put into it. By becoming a FIRST mentor,
you can be part of a global network that, for the first
time in history, will allow people to work together and
fix the world.”
Paul Studebaker is chief editor of Control. He earned a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering and
gathered 12 years experience in manufacturing before becoming an award-winning writer and editor for
publications including Control and Plant Services.
6

SAFER HEAT TREATING FOR
AEROSPACE MANUFACTURER
A real life look at how the Rockwell Automation architecture is
used to boost machine and process productivity and quality.
By Dave Perkon
A
risky thermal process in a faraway location
successfully came together for O’Brien &
Gere and the integrator’s global aerospace
client – with a generous dose of high-performance
technology from Rockwell Automation.
The manual process had required that two strong
operators handle a red hot part between a furnace and
quenching process. It also required controlling a combustible
furnace and quenching process with their attendant
safety risks, plus tight mechanical tolerances
and process requirements. Adding to the difficulty
was a 2,200°F, 40-lb aerospace gear that imparted a
high moment load to the end of a robot arm.
Key to the project’s success was the Rockwell Automation
high-performance architecture, related Bill
Klick, O&G integration lead, who discussed the project
at this week’s Rockwell Automation TechED event
in Orlando. O&G decided early to use a fully integrated
design and selected Rockwell Automation due
to support and hardware availability at the end-user
site in the Philippines. A Fanuc robot was selected as
the workhorse of the system. With the control architecture
selected, a conceptual design was created in
AutoCAD Inventor and using Fanuc Roboguide to
simulate the part movement.
A distributed approach
A single ControlLogix controller in the main panel
worked with distributed controllers in each piece of
equipment, Klick explained. “One of the biggest successes
of this project was the use of distributed control
in the design.” Each piece of equipment had its
own control panel with Allen-Bradley POINT I/O
modules, including the infeed conveyor, Fanuc robot,
furnace, atmosphere, quench and washer.
Some panels also included automation devices
such as silicon-controller rectifiers (SCRs), variable
frequency drives (VFDs) and servo drives all connected
in an EtherNet/IP ring topology. “The ring
topology eliminated single point failures and the system
layout, in a circle, made the network connections
easy. The connection to adjacent devices, in a
“The modular design of the Rockwell Automation
architecture made teardown and then installation at
the end user simpler.” O’Brien & Gere’s Bill Klick on
testing its machine in New York before shipment to the
Philippines.
7

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network wiring.”
daisy-chain configuration, was simple and reduced
The equipment was designed, built and tested in
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O&G’s Liverpool facility in New York. “Once tested
Byline and 100% operational, the equipment was partially
disassembled and shipped overseas,” said Klick. “The
modular design of the Rockwell Automation architecture
made teardown and then installation at the
end user simpler. Each piece of equipment had its
own control panel, so the wiring stayed intact when
shipped. “It didn’t take much more than supplying
each machine with air, power and Ethernet,” Klick
said. “It reduced much of the commissioning and
testing, such as checking for sensor and cable hookup
errors.”
“A Stratix managed Ethernet switch was used to segregate
the control network from the plant network,”
said Klick. “POINT I/O was the smartest platform we
used on this project. The cost was less than some of
the rack-based options, and it allowed us to combine
both safety and non-safety I/O on a single adapter. We
could do both safety and control via Ethernet.”
The main operator interface is an Allen-Bradley
PanelView Plus 6 graphic terminal. “The client requested
a single operator interface with data acquisition.
We utilized the DataStore functionality on
the PanelView Plus to gather time, temperatures and
transfer times. We also added a Cisco firewall / VPN
to support the customer remotely.”
Commissioning & training
O&G worked closely with the customer during commissioning
and training. “Installation took a little over
a week,” said Klick. “Our control engineer was onsite
to set up and teach the robot. And, during startup testing,
we trained the operator using as many test parts
as were available.”
“One of the keys to a successful project are engineers,
operators and maintenance people who can
properly support the equipment 24/7,” Klick added.
“In this case, the operators took ownership of the machine
quickly.”
Replacing a risky manual operation with some automation
and the Rockwell Automation architecture
created a safe system that complied with industry
safety requirements, increased production and improved
product quality. It improved the furnace temperature
uniformity from within 25°F to within 10°F,
reduced transfer time from furnace to quench by
50%, increased throughput by 38%. In the end, the
customer saw 100% ROI within 1 year and 7 months.
Dave Perkon is technical editor for Control Design. He has engineered and managed automation projects for
Fortune 500 companies in the medical, automotive, semiconductor, defense and solar industries.
8

RE-SKILLED WORKERS BRING THE
INDUSTRIAL IOT TO LIFE
As the lines between IT and OT blur, professionals on both sides
of the divide are in need of new skills
By Sudarshan Krishnamurthi
Industrial operators, attracted by promises of gains in
productivity and increased insight, will add an exponential
number of devices onto their networks in the
coming years.
However, as more devices are connected, manufacturers
are experiencing a deficit in skilled workers able
to maintain plant floor equipment. Workers are simply
not able to keep up with the exponential growth of the
Internet of Things (IoT), and are left unable to design,
implement and maintain these technologies. And with
more devices coming on the network, the skills gap will
continue to widen.
IT/OT convergence
For years, operation technology (OT) professionals
have maintained the networks and devices in industrial
settings. On the other hand, information technology
(IT) professionals were
consulted on the few devices
that were operating on Ethernet
to help manage deployment,
management and troubleshooting.
However, as plant networks
are becoming increasingly
connected, there’s a rebalance
of responsibility taking
place. As a greater variety of
devices are being added to
the network, the lines for who
maintains what are blurring
between IT and OT.
In order to keep plants productive
and help manufacturers
realize the full potential
of the IoT, IT and OT professionals will have to
learn new skills and reevaluate their current job requirements.
IT will need to learn more about the plant
floor, and OT will need to learn about operations and
maintenance on an Ethernet/IP network.
New skill sets
Though there will still be some differences in job
roles, training will help both IT and OT teams learn
to install, operate and maintain the industrial networks
that are becoming prevalent in manufacturing
facilities today.
Both professions will learn the intricacies of connecting
control systems to network systems and how
to maintain them. These best practices will maximize
plant uptime and security for critical industrial systems
and assets.
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They will also be responsible for managing the scalability,
availability and reliability of the industrial
control systems. Beyond set-up, they must know how
to monitor and diagnose network issues.
Building and guarding the infrastructure
Another big part of the convergence will be learning to
provide security services to the industrial network.
In 2015, there were a large number of security
breaches. Major companies struggled to find security
specialists to provide adequate protection from hackers.
This highlights how critical the skill set is from a security
operations perspective, both for the enterprise and
the plant. With hardly enough security specialists available
to guard an enterprise, there’s even less of a chance
there are enough to guard a plant.
The IT and OT professionals in plants will need to
learn to choose and install security devices such as firewalls
to protect the entire plant. But beyond just installation,
workers must be trained to monitor for security
issues. Actively monitoring for security issues can help
thwart attacks before they even start.
Bridging the skills gap
The skills gap has always existed. But the expansion
of IP technology throughout a plant is reinforcing the
need for re-skilling. The growing desire to gather analytics
from IP-based devices means the skills to implement
network changes are in increasing demand.
At the Rockwell Automation TechED 2016 event, attendees
can sample courses in the network design eLearning
program from Industrial IP Advantage that
teaches the critical design skills needed to build a plantwide
network. These hands-on sessions will allow attendees
to work through common manufacturing scenarios
on wireless, security, segmentation and more.
Sudarshan Krishnamurthi is senior product manager for Cisco, on behalf of Industrial IP Advantage
A TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH TO
A CLASSIC SAUCE
Employing FactoryTalk Batch software, the century-old Ragu
sauce gets a boost from modern technology
By Chris McNamara
Steve Christian remembers the days—not too long
ago—when production schedules were printed on
sheets of paper and distributed to operators at his
plant, who would manually twist valve handles to send
the Ragu sauce tomato slurry from one kettle to another.
“Our infrastructure was hodge-podge,” summarized
Christian during his presentation at the 2016 Rockwell
Automation TechED conference. “As we were growing
more and more, we had to connect all the PLCs talking
to one another. And to gather that information we had to
hunt for it online rather than going local to the site. We
used to run something until it was completely broken and
obsolete. Then we’d have to upgrade just to stay current
with the software.”
Lost in the sauce
These days, the plant technician at Owensboro, Kentucky-based
Mizkan Americas is happy to report that
the sauce-production process is decidedly more modern,
thanks to upgrading to FactoryTalk Batch software, imple-
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“If we don’t look at the entire process in a plant we end
up with islands of automation.” Randy Otto of ECS
Solutions on the importance of a big picture view when
undertaking an automation system modernization.
menting a virtualized server and standardizing kitchens
on the new software. “Now we’re doing a much better job
keeping current with technology,” said Christian, with a
hint of relief in his voice.
ECS Solutions, Inc. is guiding Mizkan through that
evolution, resulting in boosted data-storage and network
speed along with widened internal accessibility to the entire
system. ECS recommended a redundant star architecture,
which enables quicker convergence and greater
expandability with less intrusion. Otto, together with
Steve Christian, related the story of Mizkan’s journey this
week at Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.
“We made these changes in phases,” explained Randy
Otto, vice president of ECS Solutions, Inc. Phase 1, which
was completed in November 2015, entailed upgrading
servers and software. Phase 2 focuses on an overhaul of
the plant-wide manufacturing network.
Implementing a FactoryTalk Batch network enables
the processing plant to be compliant with the ISA-88
standard, making the process more flexible, enabling
switching between some 200 recipes without having
to know PLC programming or enlisting the services of
engineers for programming support. Added Otto, “We
also wanted to bring management visibility into the
process and support the convergence of IT and OT.”
Throughout the TechED presentation, Otto stressed
the importance of prioritizing and clarifying ownership
of the IT role during an initiative like this. “The people
who were in place for engineering, maintenance and tech
support didn’t have the knowledge required to do the
backup and maintenance on servers and the database,” he
explained. Without this oversight, servers fill to capacity
and data is overwritten.
Likewise, Otto stressed the need for a clear strategy when
launching upgrades of this magnitude. “If we don’t look at
the entire process in a plant, we end up with islands of automation,”
he explained. “Developing a Connected Enterprise
makes you step back and look at the entire plant strategically.
How much data do you want to collect? How much
bandwidth will this take up? Where do we need switches
throughout the plant? How are we going to support everything?
These are the types of things that need to go into a
plan. If you don’t start with a clear strategy, you end up with
a crashing, daisy-chain network.”
The results at Mizkan speak volumes. Otto and
Christian boast comprehensive, real-time reporting
from the floor and package areas, full time-series data
in the CIP systems as required by the FDA, speedy
ingredient-analysis reports, and data-storage reports
available upon request within seconds. There have
been no occurrences of downtime in 2016.
The production, the technology, the sauce and the
profits keep flowing.
“The sauce has the same great taste,” said Christian, who’s
had a hand in producing the century-old Ragu for nearly
three decades. “The way we make it is just a lot easier.”
Chris McNamara is content director of Smart Industry. He has spent 20 years in the corporate-communications/
digital-marketing world, while authoring features for a host of newspapers, magazines and websites.
11

PLAN FOR INTEGRATION IN MES
MODERNIZATION
Fit-for-purpose software applications allow users to begin connecting
their plant floor and enterprise systems for a fraction of
the cost of an entire MES.
By Khris Kammer
The Internet of Things (IoT) is turning traditional
homes into high-tech havens. The most successful
solutions allow consumers to start small. For
instance, vendors offer lighting systems controlled remotely
via your smartphone. As a separate package, they
might offer a smoke detector that integrates with the lighting
system, so lights flash to visually alert you of a fire.
When purchased separately, these compatible components
can be obtained for only a couple hundred dollars
each. Once you start to see value of your initial investment
and have more money to spend, you can often easily
integrate them into your home’s digital platform.
That same basic principle is now applicable for a manufacturing
execution system (MES). New, fit-for-purpose
software applications are available that allow users
to begin connecting their plant floor or operations technology
(OT) with their IT and enterprise systems for less
than a fraction of the cost of an entire MES.
Fit-for-purpose solutions can fill a gap for users who do
not have large MES infrastructures, but need
to improve areas from quality to yield to cost.
But before you begin building an MES system
one application at a time, you must have
an integration plan in place to ensure all the
pieces eventually connect. The benefits increase
exponentially once fit-for-purpose systems
are talking to each other and utilizing
data across systems.
system designers did not pay heed to the importance of
integration. Because of this, many production operations
today struggle with legacy applications that cannot
talk to each other, creating communications silos.
To topple that barrier, over the last 15 years, companies
have implemented single software solutions horizontally
across manufacturing lines. While the approach has
streamlined production, the upfront cost has proven substantial,
especially for smaller manufacturers. Now, truly
embracing the essence of the IoT movement, producers
can take a modular approach to connecting enterprises.
Step-by-step solutions
Applying MES applications modularly keeps the door
open for growth if a company wishes to expand into
other solutions. A project that starts small is easier to justify
to management. The results are apparent when applied
to specific MES functions – leading to concrete
evidence to highlight increased efficiency.
Silos versus betting the farm
The introduction of computers and the ability
to deploy a MES and enterprise resource planning
system in manufacturing led to new efficiencies
in the 1990s. But in the beginning,
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Take, for example, a fit-for-purpose, quality-management
application. Instead of modeling and applying a
proof-of-concept solution thinly across an MES, a modular
quality-management application can be rolled out
at the machine level for specific, quality data collection
and elimination of paper-based reporting.
The software alerts a plant operator if a quality check
is needed via laptop, tablet or smartphone. If the check
fails, a configurable, escalation work flow drives operations
into additional quality sampling and corrective action
plans, creating the potential to salvage product still
on the line. This also gives plant and operations managers
insight into the total number of completed, suspected and
wasted batches.
It’s a full, quality-management solution, but future
goals need to be kept top of mind because the real benefits
lie in integration. Without a plan, future MES integration
becomes a challenge.
A key first step in your standardization plan is selecting
products and vendors that comply with ISA 95. This will allow
you to pick functionality from different vendors while
ensuring the products work together. Just know that crossvendor
integration will never be as smooth as single-vendor
integration.
The next step to consider is system design. For example,
if you add a production management application to a system
that already has quality management, you can pull data
from several systems to improve operational procedures
without the additional cost of data collection. So, start with
applications that share similar context for the best insights.
Manufacturing is moving into a new age. Quality and
efficiency are improving as a result of capturing and using
valuable data. While the task of connecting systems seems
daunting, there is now a simple starting point with an application-based
approach. Before you jump in, have a plan in
place. Your foresight will save you headaches in the future.
Khris Kammer is information partner and competency manager for Rockwell Automation
CONNECTING THE ‘THINGS’ TO THE
IIoT
Optimizing smart connectivity, realizing business goals
By Chris McNamara
Much attention goes to the first two words that
make up the buzz-phrase Industrial Internet of
Things. “Industrial” is the arena in which the
“Internet” is playing an increasingly important role. But the
“things” – the T at the end of IIoT – is where the rubber
meets the road in digital transformation.
“Smart assets are critical to the connected enterprise,”
stressed Blake Moret, senior vice president of control projects
& solutions and incoming president and CEO of Rockwell
Automation, during his opening keynote presentation
at TechED this week in Orlando. “These are the things in
the IIoT, and we have home-field advantage.”
The advantage Moret references is his company’s acumen
with delivering value to enterprises by optimizing
their smart connectivity. And the applications are varied.
“Pharmaceutical companies care about serialization,” explained
Moret. “Auto manufacturers care about scheduling.
Oil and gas industries care about the optimal flow
to extend the life of wells. We combine innovation and
expertise through our Connected Enterprise offerings.
Rockwell Automation takes advantage of a wide range of
devices, understands changes in process, and we can apply
reliability science to not only repair what breaks but to
keep stuff from breaking.”
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“These are the things in the IIoT, and we have homefield
advantage.” Blake Moret at Rockwell Automation
TechED in Orlando.
Broken industrial assets – smart or not – don’t benefit
anybody.
During his presentation, Moret detailed his company’s
history, labeling it a “preamble to The Connected Enterprise.”
The integrated-control focus of the 1990s led to the
multi-discipline control era of the 2000s, which prompted
the current era of information enablement and applying IT
principles on the plant floor via connected services.
Business drivers
“Connected services is all about helping partners and
customers get the most value out of automation investments
in the connected enterprise,” added Scott Lapcewich,
vice president and general manager of customer
support & maintenance with Rockwell, who,
during his keynote presentation on day two of TechED
outlined key elements of implementing a successful
connected-services strategy: proper connectivity, understanding
enterprises’ key business drivers, optimally
leveraging all of the data generated to inform business
decisions, etc.
Lapcewich detailed how his team categorizes five offerings
related to connected services:
Networks and security – implementing networks and preventing
the loss of IP
Product and application-lifecycle support – educating
clients to properly use connected offerings from Rockwell
Automation and troubleshooting problems with a team of
1,000+ technical experts
Remote-monitoring and cloud analytics – boosting enterprises’
ability to perform key functions, expediently, off-site
Asset-management and reliability services – monitoring
and tracking assets in real time to optimize asset-utilization
People and asset safety – maintaining the health and
safety of machines and machinists
Lapcewich singled out asset safety among the hot topics
in the connected-services discussion. How, along with increasing
adopting of worker-safety regulations in developing
countries, asset safety is increasingly on the minds of industry
leaders around the globe.
Unsafe industrial assets – smart or not – don’t benefit anybody.
“The Connected Enterprise is all about high-performance
architecture,” said Lapcewich. “All of the smart assets
that make up The Connected Enterprise are now integrated.
They communicate with one another. So connected
services build upon The Connected Enterprise in different
ways — the set of services to achieve this in the installation
of a plant, then, once the plant is connected, leveraging the
data that is produced and delivering that data back to the
customer in the form of insight.”
In short, just as important as generating data is contextualizing
it – translating it into actionable form. And increasingly,
agreed Lapcwich and Moret, the focus is using assetperformance
information generated by connected assets
in a forecasting manner, looking miles down the highway
rather than monitoring the rearview mirror.
When the rubber meets the road, it’s great to be prepared
for bumps. It’s better to avoid them altogether while taking
a shortcut.
Chris McNamara is content director of Smart Industry. He has spent 20 years in the corporate-communications/
digital-marketing world, while authoring features for a host of newspapers, magazines and websites.
14

A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD OF
SMART DEVICES
Things go wrong in any complex process; the challenge is to mitigate
the fallout
By Chris McNamara
Brian Schriver’s presentation on day two of TechEd
– “Smart Devices: Helping Design, Operate and
Maintain The Connected Enterprise” – was bedeviled
by technical difficulties. The clicker for his slideprojector
failed, so he had to manually advance from one
graphic to the next. A USB plug mysteriously unplugged.
PowerPoint panels began formatting strangely.
To his credit, the Rockwell Automation commercial
competency developer lived up to his title. Schriver delivered
his presentation as smooth as silk. And the technical
glitches only served to reinforce his message –
things go wrong in any complex process; the challenge
is to mitigate the fallout.
The method to that mitigation in the manufacturing
realm is smart devices, or more accurately, the strategic,
connected deployment of smart devices. “There is no
question that a smart, connected system using intelligent
devices is easier to operate and maintain, and will have
higher uptimes,” summarized Schriver. “All of the situations
that would have required downtime, troubleshooting
and other efforts can either be prevented or,
in the event of an interruption, we can move
more quickly that we were previously able to.”
Schriver credits enterprises like Apple and
Google for prompting changes in the industrial
arena. “What they have done with smart devices
raises the bar for us,” he said. “My 18-month-old
was able to play videos on my phone, while we
as an industry have typically produced products
that required an engineering degree to use. This was just
accepted as the way things were. Now we’re making a
concerted effort to make our products easier to use.”
Working smarter, working easier – not
harder
The presentation summary promised to give attendees a
look “under the hood” of smart “edge” devices, and the
presenter delivered just that – a video feed on one screen
broadcast Schriver manipulating device controls as he
described the processes for each.
Schriver repeatedly referenced sensors as the best examples
of smart devices on the factory floor. Whereas
sensors historically communicated just one message
(“This part of the process is working”), the modern,
smart sensor performs that basic task while also providing
real-time updates on its own performance (“I am not
functioning optimally”), analysis of its own condition (“I
am overheating”), and a projection of its own lifespan
(“I need to be replaced soon”). “This information en-
“Situations that would have required downtime,
troubleshooting and other efforts can either be
prevented or, in the event of an interruption, we
can move more quickly,” said Brian Schriver at
Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.
15

ables predictive maintenance, rather than reactive maintenance,”
the presenter said.
A key component of Schriver’s presentation was using IO-
Link point-to-point serial-communication protocol to communicate
with sensors and/or actuators, and the troubleshooting
advantages that tool provides. “We have just had
to live with spending hours troubleshooting to learn why a
sensor stopped working,” he said. “To get advanced notice
of that built into a control system is a really powerful thing.”
The application of (and benefits from) smart devices
was highlighted throughout the presentation, as was
Schriver’s simple description of what, exactly, makes a
device smart. “To me, a smart device has two aspects.
One – can I get contextual, useful information out of
it? Two – is it easy to use? A smart device should just
work, without me having to do a whole lot of things to
it to make it work.”
Tell that to the slide projector.
Chris McNamara is content director of Smart Industry. He has spent 20 years in the corporate-communications/
digital-marketing world, while authoring features for a host of newspapers, magazines and websites.
SMART INDUSTRY COMPELS THE
CONNECTED ENTERPRISE
Data-driven initiatives are best addressed with commercial technology
including standard, unmodified Ethernet
By Paul Studebaker
The world has discovered a tremendous opportunity
for businesses to benefit by harnessing data
from machines. Over the past two years, smart
manufacturing initiatives around the world have led to
public/private partnerships that are writing specifications
for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the
cloud and mobility, and industry consortia are forming
to drive the initiatives.
“New products over the next 12-18 months will show
how we’re working to extend process control and information
software, and how we’re uniquely positioned to
leverage our portfolio for value-based outcomes – for
your financial results,” said John Genovesi, vice president
and general manager, Information Software and
Process Business, Rockwell Automation, in his keynote
presentation at Rockwell Automation TechED this week
in Orlando.
The conventional DCS continues to rely on closed,
locked-down, centralized systems that offer determinism,
redundancy and high availability, but make it costly
to procure, maintain and run. “Users are locked into
expensive service agreements, and it’s hard to integrate
other systems and standalone equipment such as skids,”
Genovesi said.
In contrast, the Rockwell Automation modern DCS
uses commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to
support plant-wide systems. Its DCS extends beyond the
process to the balance of the plant with networks that
offer better data, better access and integration, with an
open, future-proof approach that is easily updated.
“Conventional DCS network infrastructures are
closed and proprietary, and not easily extended,”
Genovesi said. “You end up with disparate, multiple,
proprietary systems that do not work well with each
16

“Technology lifecycles are becoming ever shorter.
Don’t be a hostage to your DCS.” John Genovesi, vice
president and general manager, Information Software
and Process Business, Rockwell Automation, in his
keynote presentation at Rockwell Automation TechED
in Orlando.
other or with IT. Instead, we use standard, unmodified
Ethernet, the same on the plant floor as in the
office. It’s flexible, adapts to new technology, and is
secure, because it’s easily adapted to changing threats
and their requirements.”
“Our PlantPAx library and design tools also make
it easy to design, implement and modify systems,”
Genovesi said. “We have thousands of engineers
around the globe, but can’t be all things to all people,
so there are also thousands of partners to help get the
right things in the right places.”
Information management on the rise
Today, fewer than 14% of manufacturers connect their production
to the enterprise, and many report increased cyber
security risk and the loss of intellectual property. “A
single, secure, robust network infrastructure is essential,”
Genovesi said. That’s why Rockwell Automation leverages
Ethernet architecture. It also speeds IT/OT integration –
millions of IT professionals can use it – and it facilitates the
use of commercial technology in manufacturing.
Think of automation devices as smart, connected assets,
all producing information about their own state.
“We call it self-awareness,” Genovesi said. “They can
give you a tremendous amount of information about
your process.”
If your factory could talk, the collected data could tell
you how much energy is consumed per unit product and
give you alerts to correct deviations. “It’s said that we’ll
have 44 ZB of data by 2020, but only one-third of it is
WHAT’S NEW WITH THE MODERN DCS?
The Rockwell Automation
modern DCS uses Ethernet/IP
and commercial technology to
provide a deterministic, secure
infrastructure at all layers. “This
allows it to empower a collapsed,
collaborative environment with
easy integration to business
systems,” said Keith McPherson,
marketing development director,
Rockwell Automation, at the
company’s TechED event this
week in Orlando. The same
platform can be applied across
process, discrete, safety and
drives, which allows users to
optimize, for example, process
and packaging on one system.
Rockwell Automation offers
an expanded range of virtualized
applications including historian and
batch – 12 in all. Batch sequences
can be downloaded from the
servers to the controllers, so
the code runs at the controller
for speed and response without
concerns about network or server
problems disturbing a batch.
An increasing number of
faceplates for devices and templates
for control strategies are now
preconfigured. “Just point at a
device and it lights up,” McPherson
said. “The integrated development
environment makes it easy to design
and deploy, and set control strategies
in a drag-and-drop environment.”
Workforce productivity rises with
preconfigured control strategies
and templates, which also ease the
work of the larger community of
system integrators and equipment
manufacturers.
“You can make a skid, deliver
it and plug it in,” McPherson
said. “All the tags and alarms are
instantly available so you can
configure it and have it up and
running in days instead of weeks.
The time savings are huge.”
This month, “Our batch
software is going mobile, so you
can run untethered, see alarms
and events, and monitor progress
on an iPhone or other mobile
device.” McPherson added. “We’re
doing this across the portfolio,
with HTML 5, for AssetCentre,
ViewPoint HMI, ProductionCentre
MES, and more.”
17

useful for analysis, and only a third of companies have
begun putting it to work,” Genovesi added.
Rockwell Automation continues to work with OSIsoft
to integrate its PI data infrastructure in Rockwell Automation
systems, at both the edge and enterprise levels.
Martin Otterson, senior vice president, sales, marketing
and industry, OSIsoft, added, “We need to go from just
a historian to an infrastructure that goes from the edge of
production to the cloud, with context and the ability to leverage
third-party applications,” such as MES, condition
monitoring, energy management and future data-mining
and analysis applications yet to be defined.
“The cloud, mobility and virtualization are disruptive
to old systems, but we can easily integrate them.”
Genovesi said. “Technology lifecycles are becoming
ever shorter. Don’t be a hostage to your DCS.”
Paul Studebaker is chief editor of Control. He earned a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering and
gathered 12 years experience in manufacturing before becoming an award-winning writer and editor for
publications including Control and Plant Services.
HIGH PERFORMANCE, FUTURE-
PROOFED
Rockwell Automation has evolved its integrated architecture into
a high performance version that’s smart, productive and secure
By Dave Perkon
Today’s high performance architecture from
Rockwell Automation can provide an easy way
to make more cars. A recent study by an automotive
customer planning a processor migration found
that by just changing to the new Allen-Bradley ControlLogix
5580 controller it could produce 100 more
cars a month thanks to a substantially faster scan time.
And if upgrading the controller isn’t fast enough, earlier
this year, Rockwell Automation unveiled new Allen-Bradley
Compact I/O that is 40% smaller and offers
a 10-fold increase in performance.
Rockwell Automation has made a number of technology
investments over the past few years to boost the
performance of its systems, commented Frank Kulaszewicz,
senior vice president of architecture and software,
at this week’s Rockwell Automation TechED event in
Orlando. The new, high performance architecture combines
the Integrated Architecture with unified communications,
systems intelligence and industrial information
management.
“Our high performance architecture is future-proof,
creating value over time and taking advantage of new
capabilities as they come to market,” noted Kulaszewicz.
“Backwards compatibility is important, but taking advantages
of capabilities as they evolve is equally important.
Technology is changing quickly, and we want our
customers to be able to take advantage of that.”
Logix and Studio 5000
“The core of the high performance architecture is
Logix,” said Fran Wlodarczyk vice president and general
manager product management, control and visualization,
during his turn at the TechED keynote podium.
“The latest controllers, the ControlLogix 5580 and
CompactLogix 5380 also have additional bandwidth to
move information important for The Connected Enter-
18

“Our high performance architecture is future-proof,
creating value over time and taking advantage
of new capabilities as they come to market.”
Frank Kulaszewicz of Rockwell Automation on
the continued performance enhancements to the
company’s automation platform.
prise. They have the latest technology under the hood
and are a platform for the future.”
“The backbone of the high performance architecture
is a secure network based on standard unmodified
Ethernet, and 1-gigabit Ethernet is embedded,”
said Wlodarczyk. “With this connection, we are continuing
to partner with Cisco to bring together the
best of the IT and OT worlds. This collaboration
will result in a security appliance later this year for
the Stratix family of products that is essentially an industrial
firewall with deep packet inspection allowing
both IT and OT personnel to manage traffic with increased
security.”
Wlodarczyk also discussed some of the new functionality
of the Studio 5000 design environment, including
a library tool for managing graphics and logic.
“Protecting intellectual property created within Studio
5000 is also important, so we recently released a
license-based content protection system that allows you
to create your own security keys for greater protection.”
Later this year, Rockwell Automation is excited to add
interfaces to third-party engineering tools, Wlodarczyk
continued. “We’re working with market leaders to
provide bi-directional data flow to electrical CAD and
simulation packages.”
In addition to programming and visualization, Studio
5000 Application Code Manager will have a new addition
in October, Application Content. “I am proud and
excited to see Application Content from Rockwell Automation
becoming part of a more formalized offering,”
said Joachim Thomsen, senior manager, application IP.
“Our vision for Application Content is to make an active
contribution by helping engineers create automation
projects in an efficient and sustainable way.” Also in
the works are best-practice programming add on instructions
(AOI) and standard program templates that will reduce
engineering time, Thomsen said.
Visualization and mobility
Similar to the company’s advances in design software, controllers,
I/O and networks, Rockwell Automation also is
making investments in its visualization portfolio, continued
Wlodarczyk. “This includes driving productivity, modernizing
the portfolio and embracing mobile technology,” he
said. “The release of the PanelView 5500 starts the drive in
productivity by reducing engineering hours with tight integration
to Logix controllers and intuitive development workflow.
Some of Logix integration is also extending to the FactoryTalk
View SE product, with better exposed tag data and
an improved trend template.”
“We have mobilized many of our products, but more exciting
is our work to transform the smartphone into an industrial
tool – an effort code-named Project Stanton,” said
Wlodarczyk. “Later this year, we will release an app platform
for maintenance personnel with modules to drive productivity.
Future modules will focus on other areas of the
manufacturing space.”
Rockwell Automation also introduced self-aware and
system-aware concepts. Self-aware, for example, is a
photo-eye that knows it needs to be cleaned or aligned.
Rockwell released the self-aware Kinetix 5000 family,
which is a space-saving, high-performance motion
control package with dynamic auto-tuning features.
19

Self-aware devices working together translates into
system-awareness. Think of it as machine capability and
functionality without having to program it, Wlodarczyk
said. System-aware pieces of this high performance
architecture include the company’s recently acquired
iTRAK and MagneMotion linear motor conveyor platforms.
“These systems provide the ability to move product
within machines or between machines,” said Wlodarczyk.
The platform is modular and has “polite” cart traffic
management, accumulation and merging functionality
with little programming needed. “It’s system-aware and
handles much of that automatically.”
Dave Perkon is technical editor for Control Design. He has engineered and managed automation projects for
Fortune 500 companies in the medical, automotive, semiconductor, defense and solar industries.
HMI AS GATEWAY TO DATA-DRIVEN
OPERATIONS
The human-machine interface as advanced, decision-making tool
By Scott Miller
Are you playing Pong while the competition plays
Halo 5? The human machine interface (HMI)
system has evolved from push-button controls to
the primary platform for operational decision-making. Just
as today’s best video games offer up dramatic, new capabilities,
today the HMI provides more impactful graphics, contextualized
alerts and intuitively placed information that enables
operators to make quick, in-process decisions.
Expectations for HMI software are progressing as original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and users seek to
take advantage of new enabling technologies. Migrating to
more advanced HMI software can help unlock new benefits
by reducing design and commissioning time, as well as by
boosting uptime and productivity. The drivers behind these
benefits are improved visualization, more detailed and accurate
alarm information, and anytime, anywhere access to
information.
Behind the screen
Every day, control systems collect a swarm of unused operational
data that could potentially help in plantwide, decision-making
processes. Companies that are electing to
converge their information technology (IT) and operations
technology (OT) are now uncovering that once-ignored
data from the controllers and supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) systems.
Thanks to the confluence of IT and OT solutions, the
HMI can take on producer and consumer roles in the system-wide
data flow. In short, not only does it display all of
the real-time information needed to control a system, but by
accessing data from other sources, operators can visualize
and contextualize a broader set of information. This results
in making decisions and solving problems closer to where
the data is created, when it’s created.
Reducing design time
The idea of HMI system migration can seem very daunting,
but modern HMI software alleviates this with simplified
design and commissioning processes.
By offering a common development tool, multiple users
involved in a deployment can create machine- and
site-level HMI applications in a single, scalable design
20

environment. Developers, for instance, can
create re-usable objects that ensure consistency,
and manage entire object libraries to
improve the overall productivity of the design
process. Plus, entire machine-level applications
or their individual components can be
imported into supervisory-level applications.
For running systems, edits to applications are
straightforward during commissioning. When
changes are made, the system will update without
costly redeployment or recompile cycles.
Advanced HMI software is also integrated
with the control system instead of existing as a separate
entity. The HMI can directly reference tags and alarms
in the controller instead of using abstracted intermediate
databases. This direct connection means reduced error
rates in design and increased accuracy in state-tracking
and time stamps.
Bringing data to light
You’ve integrated IT and OT systems. You’ve reduced
design time. Now, an abundance of data is available
at your fingertips. This quantity of information might
seem overwhelming and in itself doesn’t monitor or control
production. It requires presentation in a clear, concise
and consistent view that enhances the operational
role of a modern HMI solution.
Fancy graphics do make a contribution, but what users
really need is a way to visualize complex information in
an intuitive way. By leveraging industry standards for operator
awareness, an HMI can present even that swarm
of data on a physical screen without confusion. For example,
Web-browser-style navigation buttons empower
operators to quickly respond to problems or select specific
screens from a list.
By supporting multiple platforms and form factors,
the view from an operator terminal at one plant can be
consistent with a PC-based system at another. Organizations
with multiple plants can actually improve the efficiency
of their workforce by supporting consistent, visualization
standards across their enterprise.
Alarmingly detailed information
As the primary view into a production system, quickly
alerting users to a current or potential issue is a critical
task for any HMI system. An especially relevant component
of a modern visualization system is comprehensive
alarming.
Modern HMIs simplify alarming functions and tightly
integrate them with the controller. Controllers hold alarm
configurations and state conditions, displaying state
changes and alarm triggers on the HMI without constantly
polling for information. And if a network outage
occurs, alarms are buffered in the controller and show on
the display in the right order with accurate time stamps.
This advanced HMI solution is key to improving accuracy,
productivity and effectiveness.
On the go? So is the HMI
The benefits do not stop at unprecedented access to easyto-use
information. Modern HMI also provides greater
flexibility in where and how information is available.
Smartphones and tablets have put almost unlimited
information in the palm of your hand. Blending advanced
HMI software with mobile devices lets an organization
extend the reach of their systems.
Modern HMI systems with responsive displays mean
that operators, maintenance, quality, plant managers or
other key users have instant access to their operations
anywhere -- from the plant floor, to the couch at home,
to seat 24B on an airplane.
The future is now
Data that was once untapped or lost in complexity can
be brought to life through modern HMI software integrated
with IT and OT systems. An HMI’s value doesn’t
end at the operator interface. Rather, it can and should
extend into your information architecture for easier and
21

more robust information-sharing and decision-making.
When an HMI can directly integrate with plant-floor
systems, you gain access to real-time information from
a controller along with information stored on the plant
floor. This data can be delivered as actionable information
via the HMI software to help plant personnel better
analyze production, optimize equipment performance,
improve fault detection, track product quality and more.
Accessing and visualizing valuable data has never
been easier. A modern HMI isn’t just fancy graphics.
It can be the catalyst needed to push your production
forward.
Scott Miller is business Manager at Rockwell Automation.
SCADA SHINES LIGHT ON SOLAR
FLEET
Duke Energy standardizes on SCADA to speed deployments, reduce
risk
By Paul Studebaker
Duke Energy has invested $4 billion in solar
power since 2007. It now has more than 50 installations
across the United States, generating
more than 2,900 MW. “We wanted them to have a single
view of the entire fleet,” said Sean Hicks, SCADA
engineer, Duke Energy, to attendees of his session at
Rockwell Automation TechED, this week in Orlando.
Along with reliable, real-time monitoring 24/7 from
the company’s control center in Charlotte, N.C., Duke
sought a new SCADA system that would give visibility
to on-site operations and maintenance technicians, support
control, allow emergency response, work at all the
sites, and provide them all a consistent user experience,
look and feel. With zero downtime.
“Duke relies heavily on OSIsoft PI,” Hicks said.
“Any data tag that’s available, we want it.” A typical
site might have 20,000 or more tags, and data can’t be
lost due to a telecom outage. The remote control and
emergency capabilities called for redundancy and security,
with limited third-party access for monitoring
and maintenance.
Hicks also wanted to avoid Windows servers. “Pretty
much anyone can deploy a Windows-based server but
maintaining and patching is a nightmare, so we want to
do away with them,” he said.
Grantek Systems Integration proposed a system built
on the FactoryTalk View SE platform using Control-
Logix for site data acquisition and the FactoryTalk Historian
ME module for on-site data buffering. “The local
historian module is able to buffer the data when
telecom is interrupted, and it runs OSI PI so it’s easy to
connect and integrate,” said Jacob Chapman, Grantek
systems engineer.
In Charlotte, six main servers provide redundancy for
alarms and events, HMI and terminal service, as well as
non-redundant administration, reporting and programming
packages. Enterprise servers support PI API and SQL.
“The core PI server is the all-seeing eye for Duke,”
Chapman said. “But it doesn’t make sense to collect all
data. The FactoryTalk gateway at the site brings data into
the SCADA system only if it’s needed.”
The new control center interface gives operations
more real estate, information and resolution, showing
key performance indicators (KPIs) and drilldowns to individual
inverter status with any alarms. It shows tracker
angles, weather station data, power meters and breaker
22

“Pretty much anyone can deploy a Windows-based
server, but maintaining and patching is a nightmare.”
Sean Hicks, SCADA engineer, Duke Energy, at Rockwell
Automation TechED in Orlando.
status, and can show inverter outputs over time for individual
or aggregate sites, nationwide.
“We can manually control the trackers, change one
or all, to stow them for a windstorm,” Hicks said. “In an
emergency, you can trip the entire site.”
A FactoryTalk AssetCentre implementation backs everything
up every day for disaster recovery, auditing,
regulatory compliance and program integrity. “If anything
is changed, it can send an e-mail to the staff,”
Chapman said.
The wide variety of installed equipment at generating
sites means integration varies according to inverter
brand, local control network (Modbus variants), and
controls methodology. “One site has 866 little inverters,”
Chapman said, “But we have yet to find an architecture
that we have not been able to integrate.”
The main drive for the new system was to improve productivity
by giving operators one view with a common
look and feel, so they don’t have to open multiple views
into individual sites. But it also satisfies Duke Energy’s
wish list by providing historized data that can’t be lost by a
telecom outage, remote control, flexibility to fit any site or
hardware (new or existing), scalability for future growth,
redundancy, security, scheduled reports and a disaster recovery
plan that can be quickly deployed.
Paul Studebaker is chief editor of Control. He earned a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering and
gathered 12 years experience in manufacturing before becoming an award-winning writer and editor for
publications including Control and Plant Services.
23

APP PLATFORM AIMS TO ‘DRIVE
THE 33S’
Be just 33 seconds more productive each hour, and the savings
mount quickly
By Dave Perkon
Rockwell Automation previewed its new, forwardlooking
App Platform for mobility at this week’s
TechED conference in Orlando. While focused
first on redefining smartphone use on the plant floor – with
the aim of making individual workers more productive –
this developing platform ultimately is intended to connect
all pillars of the company’s Connected Enterprise vision.
Kyle Reissner, mobility platform leader, Rockwell Automation,
discussed the development team’s vision to “drive
the 33s” during his keynote presentation. Just a 33 second
increase in productivity each hour provides a huge net
result on an assembly line or manufacturing facility, Reissner
said. “Do it across every worker in the U.S. manufacturing
industry, and we’d see $13.8 billion in savings.”
An app for the plant floor
The Rockwell Automation App Platform is the first fruits
of Project Stanton, a Rockwell Automation initiative to
find ways to make every industrial worker more productive,
and do so with as little friction – as little upfront investment
of time and money – as possible.
“The App Platform connects and mixes human information
and machine information via the smartphone,”
Reissner explained. “Unstructured data, such as worker
experience and knowledge, meet equipment status and
information, increasing overall worker productivity.”
Taking advantage of the “supercomputer in your
pocket,” Rockwell Automation created a smartphone
app that requires no manual, works on iOS and Android
devices, and includes a server, database and front end
– all available in a simple 60 MB download. The eight
initial modules allow users to create and engage teams,
resolve issues and connect to plant-floor devices. The
eight modules are chat, incident, connect, pinboard,
teamboard, device health, trend and knowledge-base.
Once authenticated, team members can collaborate
directly on a peer-to-peer basis using Wi Fi or Bluetooth
connectivity – a full-time Internet connection isn’t
needed. This is especially important in industrial environments
where wireless infrastructure signals are notoriously
unreliable. The platform leverages thali, an opensource
prototype plug-in, that ensures all changes and
communications ultimately synch up when a cloud connection
is re-established.
“If the all-seeing cloud isn’t available, the app goes
sideways in a mesh-based architecture.” Kyle Reissner
of Rockwell Automation on the company’s use of
thali technology to enable secure, peer-to-peer
communication among smartphones even when an
Internet connection isn’t available.
24

While this sounds straightforward, “nobody has done it
securely or across platforms,” said Reissner. “We think we
have it: Secure, synchronized, local peer-to-peer communication
with server-optional.” This means that in-plant
teams can securely collaborate – with encryption – whether
connected to the Internet or not. “If the all-seeing cloud
isn’t available, the app goes sideways in a mesh-based architecture,”
Reissner said. “We think the peer-to-peer, side-byside
radio capability of the smartphone is huge. thali keeps
the data flowing and the collaboration going.”
You’re invited
The Project Stanton team is effectively a lean startup
within Rockwell Automation – and they’re moving forward
at startup speed. “Instead of taking five years to release
a tightly integrated product, we did it in a year and
a half,” Reissner said. “This tees us up for ongoing releases
in a very rapid fashion. Bug fixes won’t be a sixmonth
process – they’ll be fixed in days or overnight.
Users of the cloud and mobile apps expect as much.”
“This summer we are putting a pre-release of the App
Platform out to our community, to learn from all of
you,” Reissner said. “Problems are not unexpected and
the feedback may be tough, but we don’t want to develop
for five years and discover we are wrong. With our customers,
we will focus on value that matters.”
To accept Reissner’s invitation and start claiming your
33s, visit 33seconds.io and click “Join the Mission!”
Dave Perkon is technical editor for Control Design. He has engineered and managed automation projects for
Fortune 500 companies in the medical, automotive, semiconductor, defense and solar industries.
EVOLVING TECHNOLOGY
CHANGES ATTITUDES ABOUT
SAFETY
By Chris McNamara
Chris Brogli regularly encounters safety systems
that he describes as kludgey. That’s tech jargon
for a computer system constituted of poorly
matched elements. And while Brogli’s official title is
global business development manager for Rockwell Automation,
a more colloquial label might be “safety dekludging
expert.”
“You’ll see safety systems within a facility that
aren’t connected to one another,” he explained.
“You’ll see three or four software packages working
on one process.” Many industrial safety systems out
there are a total mess, he said. They’re kludgey. And
kludgey isn’t safe.
The remedy is an offering that Brogli touted during a
half-dozen safety-system presentations at TechED this
week – the Rockwell Automation machinery Safety Life
Cycle, which presents a systematic approach to implementing
and maintaining machine safety. This Life Cycle
is comprised of five elements: risk assessment, functional
specification development, product selection/
design/verification, installation and validation, and an
operate/maintain/improve plan.
25

The machinery Safety Life Cycle
describes a systematic approach for
achieving safety without compromising
productivity, the theme of Chris Brogli’s
presentation at Rockwell Automation
TechED in Orlando.
Before a Life Cycle plan is created, Rockwell
Automation uses a safety-maturity index
tool to evaluate where customers are on the
safety journey. It’s a long journey, and enterprises
can be found at many different stages.
Some, Brogli noted, barely know anything about safety.
“They see safety as an obstacle to production. An expense
they can’t afford.”
Others operate in a partially safe capacity. Some are
overly safe, resulting in inhibited efficiency. And some
companies have created the optimum balance between
getting things done and getting things done with limited
risk.
A lack of education is behind most of the problem.
“Decision-makers at some companies don’t see that
safety and productivity go hand-in-hand,” surmised the
presenter. “They have an old thought process. They’re
far removed from the production floor and they still reference
a time when safety was an obstacle.”
This prompts Brogli to wear the hat of an educator.
“The greatest challenge facing safety is a lack of
knowledge,” he summarized, noting that this gap extends
from the executives in charge to the engineering
and safety teams, which often fail to realize their cooperation
is critical. Aligning these two parties ensures
that their respective business goals (Go fast! vs. Careful!),
are in lockstep. “Companies do their best when
engineers and safety professionals are connected at the
hip,” he said.
One method of educating customers and enabling
them to justify safety projects is, simply put, a peek at
the bottom line. Hard ROI figures can be connected
to safety initiatives, based on the average cost of workplace
injuries, and the fallout from downtime and resulting
reduced output. “We can tell decision-makers,
‘You’re no longer going to be having these safety issues
that are costing you money,’” explained Brogli. “We
can tie ROI to projected revenue increases.”
Another tool in the safety-justification box is the human
appeal – the boosted morale that results from a
safe production floor. People prefer to work in safe environments,
naturally, and happy workers are more productive
workers.
Global safety upgrades
Brogli is encouraged by the trend of multinational customers
adopting international standards, most commonly ISO
3849 and, to a lesser extent, IEC 62061. Some 80% of multinational
companies directly reference ISO 3849 as their
main standard, he said.
In the best scenarios, there is a tickle-down effect with industrial
safety. A multinational company can influence an
entire region by changing mindsets of the local OEMs who
work in their facility. These OEMs adopt the proper methodologies
and implement them at other local enterprises.
On a global scale, the technological advances of the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) are encouraging as well.
Smart, integrated machines have safety systems built into
them, offering owners access to information they previously
lacked. Just as machine-generated data enhances productivity,
it can simultaneously generate safety information to
limit risk in the workplace.
For example, a sensor alerts a controller that a door on a
machine that is supposed to open just once during a shift
has been opened 120 times. Investigation reveals that a
worker was repeatedly going into the machine to fix a jam,
violating the plant’s safety protocol. “IIoT elements give you
that visibility,” said Brogli. “The IIoT can be a risk-management
tool.”
So what’s the larger view -- what’s the modern state
of manufacturing safety? Brogli’s take is that we’re
26

still developing. The European market is most mature,
with the U.S. market not far behind. Modernized
pockets of Asia are very mature; less so in other
regions. “And adoption in Latin America is faster than
anywhere else in the world,” he said, crediting strong,
enforced local standards (Brazil is an example) and
the increasing influence of multinational companies.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” said the safety dekludging
expert. “Technology is improving things in
that there’s no need to bypass safety elements. We can
design flexibility into machines that we couldn’t in the
past. Technology is enhancing reliability. It’s enhancing
dependability. As a result, we’re seeing a change
from safe or productive to safe and productive.”
Chris McNamara is content director of Smart Industry. He has spent 20 years in the corporate-communications/
digital-marketing world, while authoring features for a host of newspapers, magazines and websites.
MINE THE GOLD IN BIG DATA
By Paul Studebaker
Is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) just the latest
Y2K, or is there real business value? Analysis by LNS Research
shows potential for great returns on investment,
but it takes commitment. “It’s starting to happen, but there’s
still a lot of room for early adopters to gain competitive advantage,
providing they’re willing to buy in and get started,”
said Matt Littlefield, president and principal analyst, LNS
Research, in his keynote presentation at Rockwell Automation
TechED this week in Orlando.
LNS Research focuses on the industrial space using a
social model: Companies that participate by sharing information
gain access to research results. Current council
member companies number in the hundreds and are about
60/40 discrete/process, with company size and location demographics
representative of global industry as a whole.
LNS’ recent “Metrics that Matter” study explored
their level of understanding and participation in smart
industry initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing,
as well as their results from any implementations
of IIoT technology.
It takes a framework
Mature companies – those that have an effective approach
to harnessing IIoT – implement technology on
multiple levels, using strategic objectives to drive operational
excellence, operational architecture, business
case development and selection of solutions. Each level
involves different technologies and expertise. Some
suppliers might promise a one-stop, integrated solution,
but “Companies that take an ecosystem approach,
using a set of partners that address individual needs,
will be most successful,” Littlefield said.
While the vast majority of companies are not mature
when it comes to IIoT, “over the past year we’ve seen a
dramatic reduction in companies that don’t know what it
is and how it can help their businesses, with the number
that say they’re not going to adopt it dropping from onethird
to one-quarter,” Littlefield said.
The number of companies “in deep implementation” is
rising, but only 13% are “enthusiasts” and 22% are “visionaries,”
leaving two-thirds still skeptical or waiting.
The key is to find an application where IIoT technology
will provide rapid return on investment (ROI), and
expand on that experience. Littlefield pointed out that
operational excellence is built on five pillars: productivity,
asset performance management, quality, energy efficiency,
and environment/health/safety (EHS). “Building
out that foundation is critical, and if a pillar starts
27

“A less mature company can start in a department, such
as quality, to prove the concept and be sure it’s ready
to move into that big value application.” Matt Littlefield,
president and principal analyst, LNS Research, at
Rockwell Automation TechED in Orlando.
breaking, the whole system becomes unstable,” he said.
Those pillars are often where early adopters have found
their first opportunities.
At the enterprise level, ERP, MES, PLM and supply
chain applications often involve strong analytics, but “no
connection to the things,” Littlefield said. Look for opportunities
where it will pay to bring in data.
Got big data?
To qualify as “big,” data must have velocity, volume and
variety (variety means it is unstructured). Plants typically
quickly generate lots of structured data, but, “The industrial
sector has typically lacked variety, so it’s not big data,” Littlefield
said. In contrast, “The consumer world is all over unstructured
data,” he said, which can offer breakthrough opportunities
for manufacturers.
Big data calls for analytics, which are common at the enterprise
level. “Many companies are doing analytics, but
only 14% apply them to manufacturing data,” Littlefield
said. “Many of the rest don’t think they have a problem yet,
but they will be surprised by their competitors.”
Powerful analytics must be adapted and tailored to be
used for operations. “When we did statistical process control,
we didn’t put statisticians in the plant,” Littlefield said.
Like SPC, “We have to put analytics in a form that manufacturing
can trust and use.”
Build the business case
“The biggest challenges to IIoT implementation are funding
and building a business case, not security or executive
support,” Littlefield said. “It’s difficult to predict the benefit
without having the tools, and difficult to get the tools without
proving the benefit.”
Surveyed adopters show their top four current opportunities
are “what you’d expect,” Littlefield said: remote monitoring,
energy savings, predictive maintenance/reliability,
and quality. But a year from today, they expect two of those
top four to include “business model transformation and material
optimization – not what you’d expect,” he said.
Mature companies that have processes in place for adopting
new technologies and ways of doing business may be
able to go straight to “full smart manufacturing,” Littlefield
said. “But a less mature company can start in a department,
such as quality, to prove the concept and be sure it’s ready to
move into that big value application. Map your journey. Use
metrics to show results.”
LNS Research reports show that IIoT implementations
can pay. “Don’t anticipate step-change performance gains,
but many companies are outperforming the typical 1% to
2% yearly performance improvement,” Littlefield said.
Get started by instituting a digital transformation network
to allow data to flow easily throughout the organization.
Then deploy IIoT-enabled big data architecture. Build a
business case and gain competitive advantage, and then justify
more advanced analytics to achieve strategic objectives.
“If you aren’t collecting the data yet, you’re behind the
curve,” Littlefield said. “Use IIoT to solve today’s problems,
and be ready for tomorrow’s.”
Paul Studebaker is chief editor of Control. He earned a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering and
gathered 12 years experience in manufacturing before becoming an award-winning writer and editor for
publications including Control and Plant Services.
28

A WINDOW INTO EXTRUDER
OPERATIONS
By Paul Studebaker
A
year ago, Andersen decided to build a new
extrusion facility to meet increased demand
and avoid the cost of shipping product from
Minnesota to Texas. The new facility, which brought
to 15 the number of manufacturing facilities for
North America’s largest maker of windows and doors,
offered an opportunity for the company to improve
best practices, and would provide a template for future
upgrades and rollouts.
“We were running out of capacity at our extrusion
lines,” said John Wendt, manufacturing systems architect,
Andersen, to attendees of his session at Rockwell
Automation TechED this week in Orlando. “IT
had been involved on the discrete side, but not on the
process side. And we needed an ERP system in the
new plant. But the major economic driver for involving
IT was to provide real-time visibility to actual –
rather than estimated – material consumed.”
At Andersen, extrusion batch recipes and orders
are traditionally paper-based, and the plant was ready
to order the same equipment yet again when IT sent
Wendt in to review the plans. As an IT professional
with a background in chemical engineering, Wendt
suggested they add digital recipes and an historian to
automatically record process parameters and better
support the manufacturing execution system (MES).
Production could see the value, but the timeline
was already set. “They knew they could run the plant
with paper, and they were going to go live on time
with or without IT,” Wendt said. They were also unwilling
to go over budget.
Andersen uses Infor LN for ERP, and Rockwell Automation
FactoryTalk ProductionCentre in discrete
manufacturing. “We’d never used ProductionCentre
in the process space,” Wendt said. So Anderson engaged
system integrator Brock Solutions. Along with
expertise in automation, MES and panels, Brock had
experience with extruders, so it could talk to production
in their own language.
The original plan was to add MES stations where
operators could print out instructions and key in
completions. “But we thought there had to be a better
way,” said Brent Vanderspiegel, project manager,
Brock Solutions. “We decided to hide the MES behind
the controls, and put MES data collection on the
HMI.” Instead of at a separate kiosk, the IT/OT interface
now sits at the human-machine interface (HMI).
“Now we can automatically download the 20 to 30
process parameters to set up the machine, and the op-
“They knew they could run the plant with paper, and
they were going to go live on time with or without IT.”
John Wendt, manufacturing systems architect, Anderson
Windows, to attendees of his session at Rockwell
Automation TechED in Orlando.
29

erators can concentrate on production,” Vanderspiegel
said.
Development started in November 2015, and the
system went live in February 2016. “The Rockwell
Software ERP Integration Gateway [EIG] tool helped
a lot,” said Vanderspiegel. “The other critical piece is
the Rockwell Software CPGSuite.”
A new era for Andersen extruders
Now orders and materials created in Infor LN can be
grouped by color and type for maximum material efficiency.
Infor LN drops the associated XML files to
a network share, where the EIG processes the XOnce
a campaign is started, orders are pulled into the line
programmable logic controller (PLC). At the HMI,
the operator can view the next or current recipe and
material data, with the required setpoint changes
clearly highlighted. On changeover, the operator selects
the changes, then goes to the running state.
“This really cuts down on setup time and improves
productivity,” said Vanderspiegel.
During the run, the system collects data including
production time, material, piece count and dimensions.
Once the order is completed, the operator uses
the HMI to close it out. Pallet labels are automatically
printed by the line-side label printer, and standard activity
sets trigger the EIG to issue consumption and
production XML files to the ERP system.
“Adding FactoryTalk Historian and FactoryTalk
VantagePoint adds value, and the standardized interface
with the MES makes integrating legacy equipment
much easier,” Vanderspiegel said. “All customization
is below the control layer.”
VantagePoint enterprise manufacturing intelligence
(EMI) dashboards make it easy to see causes of
problems and shorten diagnostic times from days to
“pretty quick,” Vanderspiegel adds.
The ERP system gets production reports, overall
equipment effectiveness (OEE), quality, speed, schedule
attainment, material used and material wasted – a
better understanding of what happened.
The system provides Andersen process operations
with a foundation it can apply to all its new plants,
Wendt said. “It’s had a major dollar impact on material
consumption, given visibility into operations, reduced
setup time, and tightened control of key process
variables, which raises quality.” And eliminating
the MES terminals reduced space requirements and
IT maintenance on the shop floor.ML files to create
materials and orders in ProductionCentre.
Paul Studebaker is chief editor of Control. He earned a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering and
gathered 12 years experience in manufacturing before becoming an award-winning writer and editor for
publications including Control and Plant Services.
30

EASE THE TRANSITION TO
VIRTUALIZATION
Up-front planning, bundled solutions smooth the move to a virtualized
production environment.
By Chris Di Biase
More and more manufacturers are seeing the measurable
benefits that a virtual infrastructure can
bring to their production environment and making
the leap. But others are hesitant to make the transition,
often feeling they don’t have the proper IT capability to do
so effectively. The good news is that introducing virtualization
doesn’t have to be a headache-inducing affair implemented
by dedicated IT resources and expertise. Consider
current and future system requirements and work with a
trusted third-party to design and implement a right-size system
to make the transition faster and easier.
Why virtualize?
The advantages of virtualization are numerous. For one,
it enables a facility to run multiple applications and operating
systems from a single server versus the traditional
one-to-one approach. Greater server utilization and consolidation
can free up floor space, while bringing down
maintenance and energy costs.
Virtualization finally breaks the invisible chain between
hardware and software. Traditionally, upgrading
IT-based plant hardware like PC-based HMIs required
that manufacturers also upgrade their software
(often prematurely). By decoupling
hardware from software, virtualization allows
manufacturers to create separate upgrade
cycles, extending the useful life of
their software systems. As a result, plant
managers are empowered to make application
upgrades based on business need, instead
of being beholden to the hardware.
On top of all of this, virtualized infrastructures
can self-heal. If one physical server goes
down, for example, the virtual system can
automatically restart the lost applications on
other physical servers to quickly get production running
again or even prevent it from stopping. Hardware failures no
longer need to be major production-halting events.
Design considerations
From a hardware standpoint, a virtualized infrastructure
in a manufacturing environment typically requires two
to four physical servers with sufficient RAM to host all of
the virtual machines, enough disks to run a plant’s applications
at the required speed, and switches and cabling.
The process of transitioning to a virtualized system
should begin with an audit to assess design specifications
and business objectives, and then to identify the functional
and informational requirements for the virtualized
infrastructure. Some questions that will need to be addressed
at this stage include:
• How much RAM, CPU and disk I/O do your applications
require?
• How many client workstations will be deployed in the
virtual environment?
• How many servers will be needed?
• What kind of network switching will be used?
31

And while understanding how a virtualized infrastructure
will support current operations is an obvious
immediate need, it’s also critical to be thinking ahead
in order to anticipate future needs. Don’t shortchange
what operations might be doing in the next five years.
Systems grow and evolve over time, and designing room
for growth into a virtualized infrastructure will allow for
greater agility, making it easier to deploy new applications
down the road.
Some of these design considerations for future growth
could include ensuring enough switch ports and communication
throughput to add a third or fourth server at a later
point, or having the capacity to add memory to the servers
at a future date.
To build or to bundle?
When procuring hardware for a virtualized infrastructure,
there are two options.
The first option is to build the infrastructure from
scratch, which requires ordering all of the necessary
equipment, assembling it and commissioning it. This
can be a burdensome and time-consuming approach:
Equipment must be ordered from multiple vendors and
system design, fabrication and testing can take weeks.
There also are added costs of hiring certified installation
professionals or trained technicians to provide support.
The alternative to this piecemeal approach is a bundled
solution. Bundled offerings are preassembled systems
that include all of the hardware, software and
documentation for a virtualized system in one turn-key
solution. These solutions are assembled using industry
best practices in areas like cable management, system
grounding and labeling and have been pre-engineered
so that the infrastructure design effectively addresses all
system needs.
Bundled offerings typically include implementation
services to execute the on-site network configuration
and integration. From design to deployment, a virtualized
system can be up-and-running in a matter of days
for a bundled solution versus a matter of weeks for a nonbundled
solution.
When going the bundled route, it’s crucial to understand
that not all solutions are designed to exclusively
to address the unique characteristics of a manufacturing
environment. This is an important consideration to
keep in mind, because different industries have different
priorities when it comes to downtime, system complexity
and cost.
A five-minute system crash in a corporate office environment,
for example, could lead to the temporary
loss of email and business systems. An inconvenient
and perhaps even costly event. But a five-minute server
crash in the manufacturing environment can lead to a
catastrophic downtime event, such as the loss of a highvalue
batch.
Similarly, some bundled solutions that are designed
for environments such as corporate data centers could
include features that are in excess of or not relevant to
the needs of a manufacturer, which can drive up costs.
Consider whether the solution you choose is purposebuilt
and purpose-priced to meet your unique needs.
Simplify your support
One of the appeals of a virtualized infrastructure versus a
traditional client-server architecture is the simplification
of ongoing management. A virtualized system makes it
possible to control and manage operator and engineering
workstations from a central location. But as with anything
in a production facility, the system still requires servicing
and support for maintenance, repairs and upgrades.
Selecting a solution provider that offers technical support
with their product can make life easier for the maintenance
manager – they’ll have one phone number to call
for whatever questions or support issues arise across the
system’s life cycle.
Also consider what additional levels of support may elevate
the organization’s performance given new capabilities
enabled by virtualization. A virtualized environment
simplifies remote monitoring, for example, allowing a
provider to monitor the complete virtualized infrastructure,
identifying and troubleshooting issues, or contacting
maintenance personnel immediately to alert them of
a problem – all from an off-site location. This is particularly
important for manufacturers that don’t have an IT
administrator in their plants or lack the expertise needed
to maintain and service the virtual infrastructure.
Chris Di Biase is Principal Consultant, Network & Security Services for Rockwell Automation
32

SIMPLY VIRTUALIZED HMI
SOLUTION
Used in the IT world for many years, virtualized HMIs solved obsolescence
problems and now feed productivity at Post Consumer
Brands cereal plant in Battle Creek, Michigan
By Dave Perkon
Post Consumer Brands (PCB), one of the largest
producers of ready-to-eat cereal, struggled to
maintain uncoordinated and obsolete HMI platforms.
Not only was the computer hardware failing and
hard to replace, but the operating systems were obsolete
and difficult to support. So in 2014, PCB began a much
needed multi-year migration to replace a large number
of aging HMI clients.
Key to the project’s success was the use of modern,
high-performance HMI architecture leveraging the
power of virtualization, thin clients and FactoryTalk
View SE, according to Bill Menser, PCB electrical engineering
lead, who discussed the project at this week’s
Rockwell Automation TechED event in Orlando. Virtualizing
the servers and using thin-client HMIs simplified
hardware, design and development time, and eliminated
the obsolete operating systems.
HMI client computers, most running obsolete Windows
XP. The desktop computers were starting to fail in the
industrial environment due to years of exposure to dust,
water and vibration.” The system also included about 20
HMI servers, also running on vintage hardware.
The HMI PCs were running a variety of HMI packages,
including both standalone and Active Display System
versions of RSView32, multiple versions of Panel-
View, and some installations of FactoryTalk View SE.
HMI hardware and software woes
PCB’s manufacturing site in Battle Creek has operated
since the late 18th century and now produces more than
half a dozen cereal varieties on its 64 acres. Until recently,
the lines were being operated on about a halfdozen
different aged HMI platforms with obsolete operating
systems.
“Before the migration, PCB had a large amount of legacy
equipment that was difficult to support,” said Menser.
“The production lines consisted of approximately 175
“The desktop computers were starting to fail in the
industrial environment due to years of exposure to dust,
water and vibration.” Bill Menser, electrical engineering
lead at Post Consumer Brands, presented at Rockwell
Automation TechED in Orlando.
33

Virtualization and high performance
architecture to the rescue
The solution uses a VMware platform for virtualization.
This allows creation of many virtual machines
(VM) – operating systems or application environments
that reside in software and mimic actual hardware. The
VMware basically allows creation of multiple hardware
instances on a single server.
After the migration, there will still be 175 HMIs, but
they are now becoming thin clients with no local operating
systems to support. The new HMIs are also hardwareindependent,
simplifying future hardware upgrades.
“About one-third of the migration is complete and going
well,” said Menser. “The final installation will include
six to eight physical HMI servers. The servers allow
hardware consolidation, with approximately 50 virtual
machines installed on them.” Each physical server can
support multiple HMIs, as the VMWare allows multiple
operating systems with HMI applications for each on a
single piece of server hardware.
Hardware replacement is easy, and the new installation
allows servers to be managed from a single location.
“Since the servers can handle multiple HMIs, the total
number of server/client operating systems was reduced
from about 200 to 50,” said Menser.
System architecture in detail
All the virtualized, thin-client HMIs use FactoryTalk
View SE and Open Virtual Format (OVF) Templates.
“Once I configured the HMI and the VM image was in
the server, minimal work was needed,” said Menser. In
the field, the thin-client HMI is simply pointed to the
VM image.
“We also installed the VMware vSphere Essentials Bundle,
which allows support of up to six physical computer platforms,
each capable of hosting multiple VM HMI projects,”
said Menser. “FactoryTalk View SE Redundancy, which we
were already using, made the application support easier.”
The ACP ThinManager is incredible, continued
Menser. “It managed content delivery to the thin-client
HMIs,” he said. “It enabled selection of different HMI
projects from the same thin-client HMI. I can pull
content from all over the campus.” The menu system,
through an optional login, controls the content viewed
through the menu, such as selection of HMI project,
IP camera view, or engineering software such as Studio
5000 Logix Designer.
During HMI development, FactoryTalk View SE
Global Objects were used extensively due to many common,
duplicate screens and devices. “There are a huge
number of duplicated field devices,” said Menser. “I created
a parameter list for global objects with parameter
list references [#1, #2, #3, etc.]. This is similar to controller
tag dot fields [Tagename.Out], and it’s an efficient
way to program in FactoryTalk as you only need to create
the object once, then simply substitute the tag.”
The new system offers greater flexibility on the shop
floor; tighter change management controls; the ability to
develop and maintain HMI systems from a single portal;
and significantly shorter time required to replace a failed
client terminal. Once you have 10 to 12 or more HMIs,
virtualization and thin clients are a good choice.
Dave Perkon is technical editor for Control Design. He has engineered and managed automation projects for
Fortune 500 companies in the medical, automotive, semiconductor, defense and solar industries.
34

SAVE THE DATE!
Automation Fair® 2016 is headed to Atlanta
Join us at the Georgia World Congress Center November 9-10
for Automation Fair®, and for the Process Solutions Users
Group, November 7-8
35