One of the many benefits Internet of Things technology brings to companies in the commercial and industrial space is predictive maintenance, where machines and other equipment essentially tell you when they need attention. But it only works if you’ve got a solid  Industrial Edge   infrastructure that can process all the data predictive maintenance requires.     The problem with prescriptive maintenance Predictive maintenance is a major step forward as compared to the prescriptive maintenance that commercial and industrial companies have used for decades. Prescriptive is similar to auto maintenance, where you change the oil, filters, belts, hoses and so on according to a schedule the manufacturer suggests.   The problem with this approach is none of these things fail according to any schedule; it all depends on the conditions they face. A car that routinely travels on dusty country roads will likely need filter changes far more often than one that travels predominantly on highways. Similarly, if you live in an extremely hot or cold climate, or tend to drive fast, that will put additional strain on your engine oil.   The same goes for machines on plant floors and equipment such as refrigerators and ovens. While there’s nothing wrong with maintaining them according to the manufacturers’ instructions, it’s generally more expensive than addressing issues only as they crop up. Prescriptive maintenance is also more risky; there’s no guarantee a machine won’t fail because a part wears out before it’s “scheduled” to, leaving you with costly downtime.   How predictive maintenance works Predictive maintenance relies on various sensors and software that enable machines and appliances to continually report on their own status.   Consider a machine on a plant floor. When it’s new, you establish a baseline for what normal performance looks like for that machine. In real time, the machine generates status reports covering dozens or hundreds of data points – how much current it’s drawing, pressure readings and so on. Powerful analytics software continually examines all this data, looking for any anomalies that suggest something is veering from the established baseline or expected performance. At that point, maintenance teams can be assigned to look into the issue and address the problem.   The idea is you fix problems only as they crop up, and before they cause a complete failure. That saves significant money on both manpower and parts vs. performing scheduled maintenance. It also reduces the amount of planned and unplanned downtime, which increases productivity.   Industrial edge powers predictive analytics Predictive maintenance only works if you’ve got the compute power on-site (or nearby) to crunch all the data your machines or appliances are generating. This can be millions of data points per hour, so it’s not practical to ship it all to a faraway data center or the cloud. What’s more, some of this data may be quite sensitive, such as production data; you wouldn’t want it falling into the wrong hands – another reason to keep it local and well-protected.   That’s where edge computing comes in. What’s required is infrastructure such as enclosures that can protect the IT compute and storage equipment required to support the analytics software. You need to supply proper power and cooling, as well as physical security to protect against unauthorized access. Depending on the environment, you may also need protection against the environment, whether that’s excessive dust, noise, cold, heat, moisture or the like. Shift to predictive maintenance: access industrial edge resources Schneider Electric, of course, offers an array of   micro data center solutions   that are a perfect fit for industrial edge environments, and we have   numerous partnerships with IT vendors   for compute, storage and networking component. On top of that, our recent merger with  AVEVA , which makes powerful analytics software for commercial and industrial environments, positions us to offer everything you need to make predictive analytics a reality.   It’s time to throw the schedule away and look into the benefits that predictive maintenance can deliver in your environment. ... View more

Industrial physical infrastructure and the methods for managing industrial assets are transforming before our very eyes. According to IHS Markit, the volume of Cloud/Edge analytics that support manufacturing operations are set to double by 2020 and, by 2030, the installed base of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is projected to exceed 120 billion.     Industrial Edge Applications   In 2019, technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and video analytics will expand their influence and will help to drive these transformations as more and more “industrial edge” applications take root (Industrial Edge enriches industrial automation through live and constantly available data and analytics, to drive operations more efficiently and effectively).   As these technologies proliferate, their business value will manifest itself in multiple ways:   Artificial Intelligence (AI)   AI combines a set of defined rules, intelligence and information. For example, when data is coming from different sources, AI can flag information that bucks the trend as a risk or as an opportunity for savings. These tools analyze the data on a continuous basis and come up with recommended decisions or actions based on the data. The more an AI algorithm is asked to process, the more it learns and the more accurate it becomes because of the way the algorithms are organized. Such algorithms help to make predictive maintenance of industry assets possible, thus radically reducing equipment support costs while boosting production uptime.   Augmented Reality (AR)   New ways to both maintain physical assets and to train new employees are just two examples of how AR is helping to open new doors to improved efficiency. Newcomers to the industry, for example, will require very little training as visualization software combined with real-time data are tightly integrated. Such digital tools make it easy to maintain and save domain expertise (i.e., tribal knowledge of experienced employees) by capturing the ways that experienced employees resolve issues so that users in the future have access to this brain power, even after the physical people have left.   Video Analytics   Integrated video analytics (IVA) are impacting a broad set of industrial edge applications across a wide variety of environments including factories. In the case of manufacturing, video analytics applications are helping to increase throughput, reduce energy consumption, and improve overall product quality. The great enablers of these kinds of benefits, high definition video cameras, are providing information in such detail, that real-time decision-making is greatly enabled. The software supporting such applications drives hardware requirements that then feed the specifications for a micro data center which bundles IT server processing power and storage with power, cooling, rack, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and remote monitoring so that the integrated video analytics applications can run in a reliable, predictable and safe manner.   Power Protection that Backs Up the Industrial IoT   The one common element that will allow these technologies to deliver the expected ROI across the various industrial application areas is a power protection infrastructure that supports 24×7 availability. Since all compute power is fueled by electricity, the stability of the power infrastructure that generates, transmits and distributes that electricity has a direct impact on business continuity. As even the simplest of devices becomes equipped with microprocessors, the growth in device intelligence raises demand for clean power and electrical infrastructure capable of supporting such increased connectivity. In connected environments, where real-time decisions will become the norm, failure of systems is not an option.   IIoT and industrial edge frameworks must account for the power systems that enable uptime in a cyber-secure manner. To learn more about how power systems support and help to harden new generation IIoT solutions, visit our Schneider Electric Industrial Business Continuity site.   Originally published on SE Blog by @VincenzoSalmeri. ... View more

With the end of the year upon us, it’s a good time to reflect on what topics most resonated with blog post readers this year in the commercial and industrial sector. We had one big (relatively) new topic – the industrial edge – along with a strong focus on the role of power protection in an overall business continuity strategy and the role industrial UPSs and electrical contractors play in that effort.   How the Industrial Edge Drives Productivity   As companies increasingly digitize operations and adopt Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, they find they need more localized or “edge” computing infrastructure. When edge infrastructure is applied to commercial and industrial companies, such as for Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications, it’s known as the “industrial edge.”   It’s an important trend, and one that can help companies boost productivity, as the post “How Industrial Edge Applications are Driving Much Needed Manufacturing Productivity Gains,” detailed. It explained how IIoT applications and analytics can drive predictive maintenance programs that prevent machine failures and improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics. Another example is video analytics, such as to detect defective products on a conveyor belt.   We are in the early stages of the IIoT trend, as our “What is the Industrial Edge” post explained, with only 15% of companies having deployed IoT use cases. That post detailed the story of a manufacturer that upgraded its legacy systems to digital processes and found four success factors emerged: high availability, backup and recovery, power protection and security.   Power Protection as a Business Continuity Driver   Those four factors are all inter-related, of course. Power protection, for example, is crucial to high availability, which is a topic we covered repeatedly in 2018.   One example is in the semiconductor industry. The post “Semiconductor Megatrends are Driving the Need for Critical Power Solutions,” detailed how power protection and industrial UPSs are critical to ensuring the semiconductor manufacturing process isn’t derailed by power problems. For semiconductor manufacturers, the issue is not just ensuring power is available, but that it’s good, “clean” power that won’t harm sensitive manufacturing machines. That’s a job only an industrial UPS can handle.   It’s a similar story in the healthcare field, as the post “Why MRI Machine Cooling is Critical to Reliability and Patient Satisfaction” makes clear. A single MRI machine may perform about 6,000 scans per year, at a cost of around $2,600 per scan – so it’s important that the machines don’t go down. Cooling systems are crucial to that effort, but so is clean, reliable power – to keep both the cooling system operating properly as well as the MRI machine itself.   Another post, “Sustainability and Power Stability Determine the Ultimate Success of the World’s Biggest Football Tournament,” details the importance of power protection in producing mega-events, as Russia did in 2018. In addition to stadiums in 11 cities, tournament-related infrastructure included 96 training sites, 26 transport facilities (including 3 airports), 29 utility facilities, 12 power stations, and 27 new hotels. Industrial UPSs and generators were important to ensuring reliable power in all of these facilities – and, hence, to the comfort and protection of athletes and fans.   Electricians Play Big Role in Ensuring Power Protection   While industrial UPSs play an important role in power protection and business continuity, so do the electrical contractors and electricians who are responsible for properly sizing and installing the UPSs.   It’s clear that was a topic that resonated with readers in 2018. The post, “UPS Basics for Electrical Contractors & Specifiers: How to Choose, Configure and Cost-Justify,” was our most popular of the year, viewed more than 11,000 times.   Similarly, the post “Internet of Things Technology Presents Big Opportunities for Electrical Contractors,” focused specifically on how contractors can capitalize on the IIoT trend. It’s a significant opportunity to say the least, given the installed base of IoT devices is expected to exceed 75 billion by 2025, according to Forbes. What’s more, $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions between 2015 and 2020 according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.   Another post, “It’s All About Business Continuity: How Electricians Can Offer Back Up Power Protection to Commercial Customers,” neatly laid out the various areas of a typical commercial business that can benefit from industrial UPSs. They include safety and security systems, HVAC, point of sale systems and more.   Staying Up to Speed in 2019   We hope these blog posts helped shed some light on the requirements commercial and industrial companies face in maintaining business continuity, and the important role industrial UPSs play in a comprehensive power protection system. As more companies adopt IIoT applications, we’ll surely see more infrastructure at the industrial edge that requires power protection.   Make sure you stay up to speed by frequently checking our blog and taking advantage of the various resources on our web site, including our Industrial Business Continuity site. Here’s to a productive, successful, outage-free 2019.   Originally published on SE Blog by @VincenzoSalmeri      ... View more

Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott is bullish on edge computing technology, particularly the industrial edge. “There’s a whole class of things that we’re able to do with the intelligent edge that were economically infeasible or outright impossible before,” he told The Wall St. Journal.   Scott believes edge computing has the potential to transform industries ranging from agriculture to industrial manufacturing and healthcare with its ability to offer real-time data analysis and insight from billions of devices in the field, WSJ reports. “It’s a really cool new frontier,” he says.   I couldn’t agree more, and a “new frontier” is a good way to put it. Schneider Electric research shows only about 15% of companies have deployed Internet of Things technology to support industrial applications – which are a prime driver behind edge computing.   Another big Microsoft bet   Microsoft is looking to get in on the ground floor. As the WSJ story reports, Microsoft last year announced it is putting a $5 billion bet on Internet of Things technologies – “of which edge computing is a major component.”   That kind of large bet brings to mind a couple of other seminal moments in Microsoft’s history that marked major technology shifts. One is the “Internet Tidal Wave” memo Bill Gates sent to all Microsoft executive staff in 1995, outlining the threats and opportunities he saw in the Internet (many of which turned out to be remarkably accurate).   The other is the memo Gates sent to all Microsoft employees in 2002 that launched the company’s “Trustworthy Computing” initiative. Again, Gates and Microsoft correctly identified the cyber security threat and how an effective response could position Microsoft well for the future. “By delivering on Trustworthy Computing, customers will get dramatically more value out of our advances than they have in the past,” Gates wrote in his conclusion to the memo.   More value from the industrial edge   The industrial edge holds similar promise for delivering more value to customers.   The oil and gas industry is a prime candidate for edge computing. An example cited in the WSJ story mentions a Schneider Electric application used to predict mechanical problems with rod pumps ­– the iconic pivoting pumps that extract oil in remote locations around the world. The Schneider Realift Rod Pump Control application has long been used to monitor and configure pump settings. When we wanted to upgrade Realift to also predict impending failures, we worked with Microsoft to implement its Azure IoT Edge and Azure Machine Learning, all running out in the field. Now customers have the flexibility to run it wherever they like, in the cloud or at the edge.   Similarly, in manufacturing environments IIoT devices and sensors on the factory floor measure temperature and humidity, plus energy, motor and drive characteristics, vibrations and other variables. All this data drives accurate predictions regarding when machine components will start to fail, giving companies time to take steps to remedy the situation before it causes a shutdown. This improves the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metric, which impacts availability, quality and efficiency. (Check out this blog post by Diego Tamburini, Principal Manufacturing Industry Lead for Microsoft’s Azure Industry Experiences Team, to learn more about how edge computing enables smart manufacturing.)   IIoT applications also play a role in quality control, such as through real-time video analytics. Picture a conveyor belt where humans are tasked with sorting nice, shiny supermarket-ready apples from their bruised counterparts that are more suitable for apple sauce or juice. In a fraction of the time, and with far more accuracy, a video- and analytics-driven inspection can sort them according to criteria including shape, weight, finish, color and more – but it requires edge computing to reduce latency.   Agriculture is another example, which Microsoft’s Scott points to the WSJ article. To assess which areas need more or less water or fertilizer, farmers have to manually inspect hundreds or thousands of acres – a nearly impossible task and certainly cost-prohibitive given the amount of manual labor involved. But farmers can use sensors and cameras in the fields to report on everything from moisture levels to pests. The resulting data is fed to machine-learning algorithms running on IT gear located on or near the farm – at the network edge. Farmers get real-time information on the status of their crops, and probably a far more complete picture than they ever could garner manually.   Improved productivity from edge applications   Which brings me to a final benefit of industrial edge computing: improved productivity. Statistics show labor productivity has grown only 1.1 percent annually since late 2007. Across many industries, we’ve essentially reached a productivity ceiling.   As the examples from the agriculture, manufacturing, and oil and gas industries show, industrial edge applications can change that dynamic. Just as Microsoft did with the Internet and cyber security, it’s just a matter of accepting the sea change that IIoT and the industrial edge represent and exploring ways to make it pay for your company.   Schneider Electric stands ready to help in that journey, such as with our Micro Data Centers, which provide an easy way to bring up complete edge data centers at the speed today’s business environment requires.   Originally published on SE blog by @VincenzoSalmeri  ... View more