Electricity + Control July 2018

round up

IIOT + INDUSTRY 4.0

Bringing the connected enterprise to life Industrial organisations must be able to quickly identify ways to tight- en production schedules and maximise revenue. Gaining insight into operations and production capabilities to make informed decisions has often involved time-intensive IT projects and a highly specialised skillset. Rockwell Automation has expanded the FactoryTalk ® Analyt- ics portfolio, a robust advanced analytics environment that empow- ers users with the ability to quickly and confidently make informed decisions. These latest advancements were developed to reduce the complexity of the operations environment for the manufacturers and producers, and their employees who are driving their operations. FactoryTalk Analytics has been developed for scale, discovering and connecting data sources from the edge of the network up through the enterprise, and then intelligently fusing the information to resolve issues close to the source. At the edge or the device, this can result in a near-immediate resolution of production issues. Empowered with machine learning capabilities, FactoryTalk Analytics learns the process and looks for trends in the data, proactively presenting users with insights before an issue arises. FactoryTalk Analytics brings contemporary user experience capa- bilities, which are common for consumer experiences, to the produc- tion environment. Focused on driving ease of use and productivity, FactoryTalk Analytics features internet-like search capabilities of pro- duction data, as well as self-serve drill downs allowing the user to make data-driven decisions quickly. Rockwell Automation has chosen the Microsoft ® Azure™ cloud as the preferred platform for FactoryTalk Analytics, to help develop and power advanced IoT solutions from the edge to the cloud. Rockwell Automation executed customer pilots before the of- ficial release of FactoryTalk Analytics, which generated several pur- pose-driven applications that prioritise ease of use and faster time to value. In one of the pilots, a manufacturer of solar panels used Facto- ryTalk Analytics to connect the data sources of legacy systems spread across multiple facilities. The company is now able to more efficiently manage data both on-premise and in the cloud, which will minimise downtime and allow them to save them millions of dollars in IT spend. In another pilot, a global automotive manufacturer implemented FactoryTalk Analytics to help improve operational productivity. Pur- pose-driven applications brought data together from disparate systems that had previously proven difficult to integrate and had limited workers’ ability to investigate production issues.The solution is giving production managers and executives new visibility into key areas of operations and helping them to forecast production targets more accurately. Enquiries: Enquiries: Michelle JuniusTel. 011 998 1000 or email mjunius@ra.rockwell.com

Electricity + Control

JULY 2018

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