Truly Continuous Availability
of Critical Industrial
Applications
n our increasingly
competitive “always-on”
world, where doing more
with less is the objective,
automation is empowering
industrial enterprises to be dramatically
more productive, twenty-four seven.
I
You could say that this is a matter of
operational excellence; the successful,
reliable and consistent execution of a
business strategy that yields industry-
leading performance. We are just starting
to scratch the surface of potential gains
in efficiency and profitability for discrete
manufacturing and process plants through
the application of big data and analytics,
synchronised in real-time with operations.
This is accomplished by using “Edge”
computing at the sensors and actuators
in order to perform real-time analysis and
drive decisions that change operating
parameters. This helps to minimise
overhead costs, eliminate production steps
(thereby reducing transaction and other
‘friction’ costs) and generally optimise
business processes.
With the stakes so high in an unforgiving
economic climate, it is not surprising that
business is investing in technology to
improve operations. Industrial operators
can get a continuous view into key areas
such as procurement, production and
materials management. They gain the
ability to see problems as they happen,
which means that they can solve them
quickly and guarantee they have minimal
effect on performance. Even better, it
is possible to see trends developing
which allows operators to take proactive
measures to counteract problems before
they happen. By preventing problems,
costs can be reduced, losses prevented,
revenues improved, and new business
opportunities can be identified.
By focusing on the fastest and most
efficient ways of doing things, operation
excellence is ultimately about delighting
customers and setting a new standard of
performance in industry.
This unwavering focus allows those
undertaking automation improvements
to grow revenue with existing customers
and to attract business away from the
competition. Operational excellence
requires a modern, ‘smart’ and flexible
infrastructure designed to increase
reliability.
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PECM Issue 27
However, building
or updating the
infrastructure for
industrial automation
requires a unique
implementation of
technologies designed
to