Electricity and Control August 2021

COMMENT

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT

What do we need to know? W e do indeed live in interesting times. We live in an increasingly connected world. This applies as much to news that travels quite literally at the speed of light (or 60% of it, depending on the medium…) as well as data logged at our plants. It is also a reminder that in order to optimise what we do, there has to be ‘intelligence’ in the system. Decisions must bemade that arebasedon an understanding of the situation, and the ability for the plant to adapt to those conditions. Equally, emergency or unexpected situations require rapid and often different responses. In the interconnected world we live in, these capabilities are within the reach of every system, every plant, every factory and even individual residences. But the devil, as always, is in the detail. It’s all very well being interconnected, and to be monitoring every variable all the time, but it’s quite another thing to know quite how to use the data you have. Of course you can invest in systems that do all this for you and allow you to optimise your plant and effectively keep it stable no matter what. But, of late, I have been quite astounded in engagements with various organisations that have data piling up and – in effect – falling out of the ether onto the floor. What can be done? We need to recognise that it is so easy to generate data. But data tells us very little unless we analyse it properly. That way we convert our data into information, and the information becomes useful to us. The phrase ‘big data’ is used often – and that really is the challenge! Data is pouring off our sites into our devices and controllers – and what should we be doing with it? I am reminded of the story I heard (and

energy + information in industry

it was a while ago…) about a production facility where, once every so often, a technician would walk the plant and record the readings at a series of meters along the way. These would be reported back to the control room (lots of flashing lights and nice chairs…) where folk (and I am imagining this) in white coats would look at the data, nod sagely – and observe that not much had changed in the past hour. All good. Of course the punch line of the story is: when that particular technician finally retired, and the task fell to another person – the plant immediately became completely unstable and almost had to close down. The truth of the matter was not that any­ thing changed on the plant (which still runs), but the new technician doing the readings actually recorded what was seen on the meters at the time – rather than simply basing the measurement on what the expected value should be. It’s amusing and partly true. But the mes­ sage is clear: be sure you know what must be measured, why it must be measured, and what it is that the measurement actually means. Then you need to be sure that your response is appropriate based on what is being measured. This is all automatic, no doubt – but the principle remains. There is no need for data unless it can be processed and analysed to become information. And once it is information, then and only then do you have knowledge of any value. Enjoy as we explore the use of sensors, as well as test andmeasurement equipment, among the other information-packed topics for this month.

Lead HV is the sole authorised supplier of BAUR cable fault location solutions in Southern Africa, enabling fast and accurate cable fault location. (Read more on page 3.)

Editor: Leigh Darroll Design & Layout: Darryl James Advertising Manager: Heidi Jandrell Circulation: Karen Smith Editorial Technical Director: Ian Jandrell Publisher: Karen Grant Deputy Publisher: Wilhelm du Plessis

Audited circulation: Quarter 1 (January-March) 2021 Total print and e-editions: 9559

Published monthly by: Crown Publications (Pty) Ltd Cnr Theunis and Sovereign Sts, Bedford Gardens, PO Box 140, Bedfordview 2008 Printed by: Tandym Print Telephone: +27 (0) 11 622 4770 E-mail: e-mail: ec@crown.co.za; admin@crown.co.za Website: www.crown.co.za/electricity-control

CROSS PLATFORM CONTENT INTEGRATION: * Electricity+Control Magazine * Online Edition * Bi-monthly Newsletter * Website* LinkedIn

Publisher of the year 2018 (Trade Publications)

Electricity+Control is supported by

Ian Jandrell PrEng IntPE(SA), BSc(Eng) GDE PhD, FSAAE FSAIEE SMIEEE

Electricity + Control AUGUST 2021

1

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor, SAAEs, SAEE, CESA or the Copper Development Association Africa