What are many manufacturers missing to succeed in digital transformation, smart manufacturing, and successful artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives? A common foundation for reliably getting the right data and information to the right place at the right time. In short, what’s often missing is enterprise-grade industrial connectivity.
Normalizing, organizing, and making available the massive amounts of data from both automation and information systems is not straightforward. Discerning which systems can deliver it is crucial to a manufacturer’s short-and long-term success. In this Buyer’s Guide, we discuss essential evaluation criteria for an industrial connectivity foundation that’s flexible and future-ready.
Please enjoy the summary* below. For the full research, please visit our sponsor Kepware (formerly PTC, now Velotic), (registration required).
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Why Connectivity Matters
- Modernizing Industrial Connectivity
- Standardize Connectivity Benefits
- AI Accelerates Urgency to Build Data Foundation
- Evaluating Industrial Connectivity Software Solutions
- Technology basics
- Enterprise-Grade Technology
- Functionality
- Provider & Services
- Enterprise Considerations
- Buying Team
- Connectivity Buying Process
- Recommendations
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
Why Connectivity Matters
Leveraging Data to Compete
Manufacturers have learned they need to leverage their data, turning it into information and intelligence to compete. Getting the right data to the right place at the right time is essential. Moving operations technology (OT) data to other OT elements in real time is often required to run processes efficiently and effectively. Beyond that, sharing data between OT and IT for offline analysis, improvement, and optimization is essential for successful line, plant, and enterprise decision-making.
Connecting Diverse Industrial Data
Industrial connectivity is unique –it’s a more heterogeneous environment and more time-sensitive than many others. Data may be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured, time-series, parametric, and more. To create operational and business context, or meaning, all of those data types need to be normalized, harmonized, and secured. Compounding this issue are the many generations of equipment, automation, and devices in most production facilities. For one more layer of complexity, information technology (IT) now wants to connect with automation or OT, leveraging traditional IT data ops principles.
Connectivity is the Foundation
Connectivity is a foundation for any approach to the industrial data infrastructure. It is the way data comes in reliably and in an organized fashion for any of these initiatives:
- Industrial DataOps(IDO)
- Industrial data management (IDM)
- Unified namespace (UNS)
- Model-based data and model-based enterprise (MBE)
- Digital transformation (DX) and Industrial transformation (IX)
- Continuous Improvement (CI)
- Digital Twins of processes, plants, and as-built products
- Simulation, analysis, and optimization
- Industrial analytics and artificial intelligence (AI)
Thus, it needs to be an early consideration in any of these programs. Like building a house, the foundation comes first.
Evaluating Industrial Connectivity Software Solutions
Aspects to Consider
Manufacturers have many aspects to consider for long-term success with industrial connectivity. These include technology, functionality, the provider, and specific considerations to ensure long-term ability to meet business needs, recognizing that needs will change.
Technology
Industrial connectivity is a crucial element of today’s manufacturing technology infrastructure, so extensible, secure technology matters. As described, it’s best to adopt a standard enterprise approach that supports a wide variety of current and legacy OT and IT interfaces and protocols. It must also meet security, scalability, and edge-deployment requirements.
Functionality
The functionality for industrial connectivity is also worth careful evaluation. It must be comprehensive to serve both OT (automation) and IT needs. Ideally, it does more than connect; transforming data into useful information at this level can significantly improve the timeliness of usable results.
Provider
The provider should have a proven track record in industrial connectivity. Look for case studies and reference accounts you can contact. It’s important to seek out a company with employee experts to support needs before, during, and after implementation. An ecosystem of partners can boost this support.
Enterprise Considerations
Many companies also have specialized industrial connectivity needs, such as older or specialized equipment that lacks native standard data output protocols. Many companies also have multiple sites and a desire for enterprise-level control and governance of their industrial connectivity.
Enterprise Grade Technology
Scalability and Performance
While industrial data connectivity projects often start small, ideally, the connectivity can support continued growth and new initiatives over time. Scalability for industrial connectivity is about how easy it is to replicate and extend a solution. As connectivity scales, the performance and availability of normalized, secure data are also crucial. OT systems rely on real-time data, often mixing data from other systems.
Reliability
For all of this to be useful, the system and the contextualized data it makes available must be reliable. Look for a connectivity solution that can confidently handle a high volume of fast-moving data. Connectivity might extend from a line to a site, multiple sites, or an enterprise. Digital transformation needs to get the right in-context industrial data to everyone in the plant and throughout the company –think supply chain, design, finance, sales –every time.
Ease of Management
Standardizing on industrial connectivity across an enterprise also requires options for using and managing it at the enterprise level. Increasingly, manufacturers are using the industrial edge to ensure data capture and processing close to the devices. This approach helps keep latency low for high-performance operations, data, and intelligence. Containers at the edge also simplify deployment and re-deployment.
Connectivity Buying Process
Enterprise Decision
Be sure this is a broader enterprise strategic decision, not only for a specific project or initiative. Consider reliability, longevity, performance, and scale of both the connectivity software and vendor. Select to create a company standard for this foundational infrastructure to gain all of the benefits available at a lower TCO and time to value (TTV). Plan to drive the adoption of your connectivity standard over time in every new project and pressing modernization projects.
Initiative Foundation
One great way to drive to an enterprise connectivity standard is through a broader initiative. DX, IX, AI, SM, or Industry 4.0 or 5.0 initiatives often trigger a close examination of the solution provider landscape to ensure they can meet their needs. Clearly, this review should include connectivity, since it is the foundation for the industrial data infrastructure.
Start of a Journey
Realize that selecting your industrial connectivity solution is the beginning of the journey, not the end. Plan for ongoing education, evangelizing, and organizational change management – people must get on board. You will need to establish owners for industrial connectivity governance, adoption, and cascading training. Creating documentation and aligning with established company standards is a starting point. Expect expansion as technology, your processes, people, and products change.
Be Prepared for AI
Lack of data is the #1 most-cited challenge in predictive analytics. Usually, the company has the data, but it’s not connected, normalized, harmonized, or available reliably and quickly enough to enable predictive insights that prevent problems. Standardized industrial connectivity can avoid that challenge.
Recommendations
- Selecting the best industrial connectivity solution matters. It is the foundation for both current success and forward-looking initiatives. Every aspect we discussed will matter over the long run: modern technology, deep functionality, a proven provider, and custom and enterprise capabilities.
- Explore whether you can find a single industrial connectivity solution to ease training, use, configuration, and management.
- Check technology aspects for current and future needs, including cybersecurity posture, capabilities, and track record.
- Look for a provider with a solid track record and market presence to meet your needs across the company now and in the future.
- Seek out a solution that provides comprehensive, reliable, and performant industrial connectivity and is evolving as OT and IT do.
- If you plan to use this as an enterprise standard, which we recommend, review scalability, management, configuration, and support, as well as specialized connectors or customization to meet every facility’s needs.
- Ensure consistent industrial connectivity can be a foundation for your success with AI.
*This summary is an abbreviated version of the ebook and does not contain the full content. For the full research, please visit our sponsor, Kepware (formerly PTC, now Velotic) (registration required).
If you have difficulty obtaining a copy of the research, please contact us.
