April 2020

30 April 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com W hen looking to develop and install new smart manufacturing systems at an existing location, one of the most important pieces of groundwork that you need to carry out is to understand fully what the organisation is trying to achieve and where the“pinch points”are. In addition, you need to know the level of automation and infrastructure that already exists at a site, and what you will need to add to create a bridge between the organisation’s operational technology (OT) and the information technology (IT) levels. This vertical integration of a plant has automated machines on one side, and the enterprise level on the other. It is the ability to gather information and to bridge this OT/IT gap that will ultimately create the opportunity to become a smart manufacturing operation. As already mentioned, to enable IT and OT integration, you need horizontal connectivity at the shopfloor level – between machines from different suppliers with disparate automation vendors’equipment and different elements of plant control. Therefore, the openness of the automation technologies being used plays a vital role. You need to use communications standards that will“speak”to all of the machines, sensors, actuators and other components. Evaluating the current level of automation and network infrastructure is critical in Implementing the latest Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and smart factory technologies in manufacturing plants brings with it unique challenges. Chris Evans, marketing and operations groupmanager at Mitsubishi Electric UK, examines these challenges and possible solutions. n DIGITALISATION Making smart technologies happen