Electricity + Control November 2019

Product News

INDUSTRY 4.0 + INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS

Information gateways enable big picture view The business case for automation and remote monitoring and the role of IoT in this continue to grow as customers seek ways to cut costs and gain a single view of systems. Customers looking to manage infrastructure, sensitive equipment, energy and water distribution remotely, or respond accurately to environmental threats such as fires or flooding, can do so at scale and across multiple sites with a Point of Presence Convergence gateway. When multiple devices are deployed, they can create a full view of events and help ensure the even distribution of services, such as power and water, in a multi-site environment. This offers a solution for manufacturers, industrial sites and infrastructure operations teams, among others that need to monitor multiple and often disparate and siloed systems and applications across a specific geographic area. A series of point of presence convergence devices can be run to provide insights into multiple events. They can also be used to automate otherwise manual activities, helping a service provider meet service level agreements (SLAs), for example, and reduce costs of unnecessary callouts and delays to customers. Inus Dreckmeyr, CEO at Netshield South Africa, says, “The devices monitor every aspect of a critical system at a granular level. Service providers looking to monitor remote high sites, branch offices and mobile applications can zoom into the environment to view who has accessed the installation, monitor cyclical events, check the power feed, the temperature, flooding and humidity. The same application can be used to monitor substations in remote areas, for example. The convergence gateways create a single view of multiple remote sites or different instances and applications on a single dashboard.” By connecting IoT sensors to monitor multiple applications that could potentially disrupt business, such as power, temperature, humidity, flooding, access control, energy consumption and security systems, the application becomes almost limitless. In warehousing environments, for example, Enabling more effective use of digital data At SPS – Smart Production Solutions 2019, taking place from 26 to 28 November in Nuremberg, Germany, Siemens is presenting industry-specific applications and future technologies for digital transformation in the manufacturing and process industries. Under the banner: ‘Digital Enterprise – Thinking industry further!’ it will be showcasing products, solutions and services from its Digital Enterprise portfolio, which help customers to reduce their time-to-market and to increase productivity, flexibility and environmental efficiency.

transport companies can use the point of presence gateway together with a remote locking system when transporting goods to different destinations. With the integrated API, database information can be pivoted between various databases and information from events from different sources can be converged – and used in a customised, holistic dashboard that brings together silo-based information into a single view. This convergence simplifies remote support by providing an overall view of systems and events. Dreckmeyr says, “In terms of an SLA, a company can cut costs by up to 45%, considering callout costs, travel and delays. By using the remote management features built into the devices, such as remote power reset and remote network management, unnecessary support costs and downtime for the client can be avoided. “In our experience the gateways are particularly useful for companies that havemultiple instances of an application they need to track,” he adds. “The power of automation that IoT sensors give us is staggering, especially when deployed at scale and when they are used to alert users to events, monitor environments and provide proactive insights and actions.” For more information contact Inus Dreckmeyr at Netshield. Tel: +27 (0)12 841 0320, email: sales@netshieldsa.com

nologies in the portfolio offers companies in all industries new opportunities to make better use of the rapidly growing volume of data in industry. These range from the use of artificial intelligence and edge computing to future factory and process automation. Data sovereignty always remains with the data owner. Using the example of the automotive industry, Siemens will demonstrate at the fair how development and production times can be reduced regardless of the engine concept (diesel, gas, electric). Fully automated manufacturing concepts with high quality and accuracy as well as industrialised additive manufacturing

industrial operation and monitoring. The web-based visualisation system comprises Simatic WinCC Unified visualisation software and a new generation of Simatic HMI Unified Comfort Panels. With Sinumerik One, the company is presenting a CNC system for the digital age. By seamlessly combining the virtual and real world, this system makes machine tools more productive, reduces time-to-market and increases machine performance. As part of Digital Connectivity, Siemens is also presenting new CloudConnect products that enable data from plant to be transferred quickly, easily and securely to the cloud. The integration of cutting-edge tech-

At the show Siemens is introducing a newly developed complete system for

10 Electricity + Control

NOVEMBER 2019