Always-on Society - Industry
Real-Time Value
Manufacturers need to react to new market conditions faster and faster. That means closing the information gap between business management, production and control systems, so that meaningful data can be obtained in realtime. The foundation for this is provided by Internet technology, real-time- capable Ethernet, intelligent sensors and end-to-end digitization of processes.
The XHQ information portal provides meaningful indicators in realtime, allowing decisions to be made more quickly, and with a higher probability of being on target
Managers often need steady nerves, experience and plenty of common sense. They must be quick to draw the right conclusions from an abundance of information regarding plant utilization, raw materials costs and energy use. Companies like Siemens want to simplify and improve this decision process. "In the future, managers will have meaningful operating figures available to them in real time, without the burden of superfluous details. They will be able to react more quickly to changes in production and in the market," says Dr. Thomas Moser, head of strategy department at Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S). "For the first time, this will give us a lever for increasing productivity that includes the entire value chain."
This is called the "real-time enterprise" model. It actually has less to do with real time than with the immediate compaction, transformation and organization of data from various sources in a professional and appropriate manner. In this context, real time means that the information is at the right place at the right time. To offer such solutions, Siemens created the Real-Time Enterprise project in the framework of the company-wide program top+ Innovation. This project brings together the strengths of units like I&S, Siemens Business Services (SBS) and Automation and Drives (A&D). "The management of value-added chains will turn into the management of value creation networks across companies and industries," explains Rudi Reinhard, head of the center of competence for production at SBS. "At Siemens we have all the technologies needed for this when it comes to RealTime Enterprise."
The market potential is huge, as is clear from the example of the real-time information portal XHQ, a development of the California-based Siemens company IndX Software Corporation. One XHQ user, the El Segundo Refinery of ChevronTexaco, expects a return on investment of more than 300 percent over five years. Other users report that they have achieved an eight-percent reduction in operating costs, a ten-percent increase in the quality of their output, or an 8.5 percent increase in the utilization rate of their plants.
With their recently introduced "Real-Time Operations Intelligence," solution, Siemens and SAP are playing a groundbreaking role in bringing together the previously separate worlds of production process and business process data in the oil and gas industry. The solution is based on XHQ and SAPs NetWeaver integration and application platform. Siemens has developed software that seamlessly integrates SAPs business management data into its plant and product-specific world. The software uses the data to generate user-customized overviews, called Management Dashboards. The dashboards are loaded with indicators such as plant utilization, availability of raw materials, additives, and product quality. Users can compare actual plant performance with business management targets at any time.
This end-to-end linkup of production, sales and management is made possible by many and diverse breakthroughs in information and communications technology. "Companies profit from real-time-capable solutions at all stages of the value chainfrom end-to-end computer simulations of whole production lines and digital control and monitoring of plants, to computer-based user training," says Dr. Carl-Udo Maier, who heads the "Picture of the Future Automation & Control" project at Siemens Corporate Technology.
Internet in the Factory. Years ago, PC technology spurred a wave of innovation in production. Today, Internet technologies are making their way into the world of automation. Whether in Web servers, browsers, protocols and Internet languages (TCP/IP, XML) or transmission technologies such as Industrial Ethernet and Industrial WLANstandards are now being developed for operation and monitoring as well as for the attachment of intelligent sensors and actuators and for data exchange.
One important trend is the effort to establish the Ethernet bus systemwhich matured in the office setting in the production environment as well (see box). Thats because from the IT point of view, todays factory halls are usually full of isolated solutions. Through the use of protocols established in the Ethernet world (TCP/UDP and IP), the automation level can be integrated into other networks too. This increases transparency, because data can then flow freely from the level of production equipment and production control to the office software used for business administration. This eliminates complex translation processes, and the costs of maintenance and employee training drop considerably. The condition of components is reported directly to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) program that organizes and monitors follow-up actionslike maintenance, upgrades or replacements.
And that's just the beginning. "We want to optimize and correct processes remotely. There will be a huge increase in these teleoperations that provide a range of technical support for equipment extending practically to the point of remote-controlled operation," says Prof. Engelbert Westkämper (see Pictures of the Future, Fall 2002, interview). With the help of virtual reality, specialists create a depiction of what is actually taking place, and they can simulate their plans in real time with powerful computers. It then becomes easy to change processes and control production equipment parameters later on, even from remotely, thanks to the Internet and the Web-capability of the machines.
In addition, equipping goods with RFID labels (See The Chip Printers and Pictures of the Future, Fall 2003, Why Transponders are Making Waves) and processing logistics data in real time are measures that create new opportunities in their own right. Being able to uniquely identify merchandise makes it possible to report the level of sales to a companys production centers at any time so they can adjust accordingly. "We want a very close integration of the processes in the real world and their depiction in the digital world. To a much greater extent than today, that will mean the automation of data entry, the integration of system components via Web services and the networking of business processes," says Dr. Joachim Schaper of SAP Research, who oversees strategic research programs in North America.
SAP is striving to develop "smart items"in other words, intelligent merchandise. Containers would monitor their contents themselves, register changes, such as in temperature or location, and sound an alarm when necessary. "Today, this data is fed into business administration software manually. But that doesnt always allow you to determine, for instance, whether merchandise was spoiled by excessive temperatures during transport or whether it was already defective at the outset. To put it differently: In the future, the business logic of the software systems will migrate forward into the merchandise," says Schaper.
Tailor Made yet Inexpensive. "Real-Time Enterprise is primarily concerned with innovation and integration," says Reinhard. The idea is to evaluate innovations of all kindsfrom RFID to real-time-capable Etherneton the basis of their capacity to accelerate the flow of information, and also their capacity for integration into modern software systems. The potential of end-to-end digitization and transparent integration of all production, logistics and management processes is far from exhausted. The objective is the digital factory, in which products are developed and tested with customers and partners on computers under true-to-life conditions (see Pictures of the Future, Fall 2002, Digital Factories). At the same time, automation in production and logistics is being fueled by advances in sensor technology, and by intelligent on-site systems that facilitate autonomous adaptation to given situations. And thanks to Real-Time Enterprise, the head office is always kept abreast of company performance and market activity. Maier is convinced that "the interaction of all these developments presents us with the unique opportunity to manufacture customer-specific products tailored to individual requests and to do this at the cost level of mass-market items."
Achim Born
WLAN and Ethernet: Office Technologies for Industrial Settings
Ethernet, the office standard for data transfer, takes hold in production environments too, allowing companies to achieve a uniform communications infrastructure ranging from production to office software. In the past, businesses have used two distinct technologies whose integration has required considerable readjustment: Ethernet in the office and the field bus systems used in automation with items such as sensors, actuators and PLCs. However, for Ethernet to be used in the factory, it must be made "realtime-capable." In Ethernet networks, the attached stations compete on equal terms for access to the data network, so its not possible to achieve the sometimes extremely high, sub-millisecond clock speeds or sub-microsecond jitter accuracies (time variation in the transmission of cyclical data) required by industry. To devise a solution, Siemens and the organization of Profibus users are relying on Profinet technology, which combines the realtime advantages of the field bus with the high data throughput of Internet technology. One initial step has been taken with the development of Profinet IO, in which a channel implemented in software regulates the transmission of time-critical datawith performance levels matching those of previous field bus systems. The Siemens group Automation and Drives (A&D) is also developing an "isochronous realtime Ethernet." For the first time, this will allow precision-timed synchronous operation of more than 100 driving axes on one bus with a variance of less than one microsecond, and without impeding standard Ethernet functions like high data throughput or Internet access.
Another innovation in the industrial setting is the use of the wireless technology WLAN, which can partially eliminate the need for expensive rewiring and allow specialists to operate the machines via mobile terminals. In February 2002, Siemens installed WLAN in a plant in Amberg, Germany, where A&D manufactures Simatic controls, among other products. In this case, the wireless technology is used to record process and maintenance data online at the machine itself (picture above), and the incoming goods inspection takes place right at the pallet. In other words, the employee can now process data right at the spot where its needed, with complete freedom of movement. A product line that goes even further is IWLAN (Industrial WLAN), which Siemens presented at this years Hanover Trade Fair. "For the first time, this gives industry worldwide a secure, robust and reliable platform for wireless data transfer," says Ewald Kuk, head of Simatic NET product marketing at A&D. The most important feature: IWLAN can reserve fixed transmission bandwidths, for example for control commands, which has so far not been possible with normal WLAN. In WLAN, high volumes of data traffic mean the devices have to "wait their turn." "Thats intolerable in an industrial setting," says Kuk. "Imagine a driverless forklift thats supposed to halt at a certain pointbut doesnt get this information in time. Or a robot thats machining a workpiece, and receives an important control command too late." With IWLAN, Siemens is a year-and-a-half ahead of the competition, Kuk says. The components operate even at -20 °C and in wet conditions, so they are also suited for use at train stations or container transshipment centers. Encryption guarantees access protection and data security; redundant antennas ensure a stable wireless link. Inside buildings, the range is about 30 m; outdoors it is 100 m.