Industrial computers and the IIoT

The next level of industrial evolution is already here. How will you put all the new capabilities to work?

Industry 4.0, the next industrial revolution, is already underway. It is driven by the need for more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing. It will be supported by advances in automation as exemplified by the Industrial IoT and a shift to PC-based controllers.

Major advances in manufacturing are getting faster: if the first industrial revolution happened around 1760 with the advent of steam and hydropower, the second took more than 100 years to emerge with the development of mass production beginning around 1870. That lasted another 100 years until the third industrial revolution in 1970 as computers began to replace mechanical systems. Now, the fourth revolution is already here, and it’s been less than 50 years. We’re talking about Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Their effects will be bigger than the first coming of the computer to the shop floor and it will happen much faster.

Just as electronic sensors replaced pneumatics and CNC replaced cam-driven tools, smart devices using IP communication are already on their way to domination of the industrial landscape. Unlike earlier generations, people working today but nearing retirement have seen one revolution and will see this new one in their lifetime.

One of the main conceptual elements of the IIoT is the ability to have devices talking to devices, machine to machine (M2M). For many industrial users, this might not seem all that new or innovative at first blush. An oil refinery can have tens of thousands of devices communicating with control systems, and that sort of thing has been going on for decades. The difference now is that devices are becoming smarter with more information to exchange, and they will do it using IP communication. Every device will have its own IP address so it can be reached from anywhere via the internet. Users are only beginning to comprehend the full impact of this capability.

Why digital matters

Devices used in manufacturing, whether process or factory automation, are getting smarter in the nature of what they can measure, how they monitor their own condition and how they communicate. A conventional dumb pressure sensor or proximity sensor converts a pressure or distance reading into an analog signal, but that’s all. That may represent M2M communication, but only in its crudest form. Analog communication, with all its limitations, is rapidly giving way to digital, and the effect is like trading two cans and a string for a smartphone.

Sophisticated devices need sophisticated controllers to get the most out of their capabilities. A PLC from 10 or 20 years ago is certainly capable of reading I/O and following program steps. However, manufacturing today goes beyond those simple requirements. A controller today must be able to handle the range of control functions needed now to execute the complex strategies needed to run digital factories. A new generation of controllers has emerged that combines the capabilities of the world’s best PLCs with the versatility of a PC.

Powerful device and controller combinations

The combination of the new generation of devices and controllers helps us create digital factories based on cyber-physical systems. While it’s true that computers have been moving more to the shop floor since 1970, the nature of what they’re doing is evolving very rapidly. Early PLCs weren’t much better than the relays they replaced, but the things they could control changed and grew with technical developments and the ability for users to imagine how they could be put to work. The limits of human creativity had to be overcome before greater things could be realised, and we’re still overcoming that today.

Think about a basic robotic operation. Traditionally, manufacturing robots are programmed to do the same operation again and again, day after day. But with new cyber-physical concepts, the robot and its controller can be programmed to look at its situation and decide what operation needs to be performed. As a simple example, let’s say a conveyor can move a variety of bottles into a capper. They are the same basic shape but can be any one of five different colours. Each colour of bottle needs a matching colour cap. The cyber-physical system can look at each bottle and tell the robot to grab and screw on the appropriate colour cap. But that might not be enough.

The system can also look to make sure the bottle is not deformed, unlabelled or not filled to the correct level. Using information from a group of smart sensors, the same robot can grab bad bottles and pull them off the line. The system can be programmed to consider a whole range of possible situations and respond appropriately for each.

Smart controllers for smart applications

Creative users are finding new approaches to help manufacturing systems do more sophisticated functions in complex applications. New PC-based controllers are at the heart of these cyber-physical systems because of the variety of operations, field devices and communication protocols that may be necessary to make a complex operation possible. One controller may have to work with pressure and flow sensors, machine vision cameras, barcode readers, motor drives, valve actuators, robots and any number of other types of devices, simultaneously.

That variety of devices may depend on a variety of communication protocols from an analog current loop to multiple flavours of Industrial Ethernet. The speed of such systems depends on even faster protocol conversion so everything can work together and support the kind of production a manufacturer expects. Moreover, all those devices can send diagnostic information to a central location where it can be evaluated. It can send a message to its human operator or the maintenance department to say that an LED on the machine vision camera is about to burn out, or the cooling fan on the equipment cabinet is being clogged with dust. These preventive maintenance capabilities avoid failures and shutdowns during production times.

Is it a PLC or a PC? Yes!

One of the most interesting recent developments is the concept of the open controller. It features the same functionalities and form factor as a traditional PLC, but at the same time it is a true industrial PC. On one end it has all the connectivity of a current model PC while on the other it has I/O card slots as expected on a PLC. That gives it the ability to work seamlessly with common industrial field devices or commercial peripherals, regardless of the communication protocols they use.

It can also function as a PLC and a PC at the same time. While it’s running a machine as a controller, the hypervisor isolates the Windows system from the controller functionality, allowing the operator to perform completely different tasks simultaneously in Windows. The real-time operating system working with a dual-core processor makes the separation between the PLC and Windows sides so complete that an operator can put Windows through a cold restart without affecting the machine control functions. Both sides of the controller can be integrated with enterprise-level systems as necessary.

From a functionality standpoint, modern industrial PCs can do anything a PLC can — with all the same capabilities and diagnostics. The lines between various types of controller families are quickly blurring as more units develop more capabilities.

Industrial users expect equipment to operate over the long haul, and there is a natural reluctance to embrace something that evolves as quickly as PC technology. In the world of IT, something that’s been running for two years is considered old and after four years it might be obsolete. Siemens, for example, has agreements with Intel that will allow it to maintain availability of any industrial PC platform for at least 10 years. For most industrial PCs, that means an active selling period of five years, followed by full support for another five years.

Looking ahead

All these elements — smart devices, PC-based controllers, cyber-physical systems and internet communications — are coming together to support Industry 4.0 and the current digital manufacturing revolution. Consider the following description of how a new product can be designed and produced.

Product designers will create the item on a computer, including all its component parts. The design platform will understand the characteristics of the individual parts, their materials of construction and the manufacturing processes necessary to produce them.

A product may involve components that are injection-moulded plastic, machined metal parts and others made from powdered metal or additive processes. The system will consider how all the elements relate and ensure each is structurally sound and capable of being built and assembled efficiently using the anticipated processes.

The design platform will take the next step and determine what is necessary to produce the components and final assembly. It will determine if existing production facilities are up to the task, if specific elements need to be modified to make it more suitable or if it needs to create a completely new manufacturing line. The result will be a very clear and detailed picture of how the product can be made, including cost estimations and production rates.

Once production begins, all the information necessary to develop a service program will be available to support a product over its life cycle. All this can happen without the necessity of creating a single prototype. The product and its manufacturing processes are designed virtually using compatible software, and the manufacturing facility can be built also using compatible production equipment, controllers and software.

On the manufacturing floor

Manufacturing facilities designed this way will be integrated like nothing before. Every device, down to individual sensors and actuators, will use IP communication and each will have its own IP address. Any individual with appropriate authorisation can access any device from any location using the internet, providing diagnostic and production-related information.

Production will be highly reliable thanks to diagnostic information feeding condition-based maintenance programs. Unplanned outages will be a thing of the past. Manufacturing systems will be seamlessly integrated with all other levels up to the enterprise and protected by sophisticated cybersecurity strategies. Companies with multiple locations can share information easily anywhere in the world.

Many of the technologies necessary to make this a reality are already available. Product design software running on industrial computers does the creating, and those same platforms can power and control manufacturing facilities. The last elements still to be realised are industrial sensors and actuators that communicate through the IIoT. The first waves are being designed and more will be on the way soon. The technical elements to make Industry 4.0 a reality already exist. Now all we need are manufacturers with the vision and creativity to put it to work.

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