Video | How to Tackle Asset Management in the IIoT Era

My upcoming December print column details how Duke Energy is expanding its maintenance offerings and rolling out remote monitoring contract services for their own wind turbines and external customers. Maintenance service trends are here to stay, and the combination of remote monitoring and sensors are pushing companies to examine how IIoT platforms can create new revenue streams — also known as new business outcomes.

The real challenge with IIoT strategies and more sensors is the roadmap on how to implement these new tools for your plant. As an end user said to me earlier this year, “we’re experts on exhaust systems, not data visualization tools.” So, as management starts to explore these initiatives, end users are looking at consulting services to provide direction for pilot projects.

Beeond is a company that’s filling this gap for end users, as they help guide companies through a “complete technology adoption lifecycle of IIoT by educating management teams on the value and challenges of OPC UA and implementing this standard.”

OPC UA, as written about before (see case study), is an industrial networking standard used to help connect multiple machines — with different vendors — in the field and plant floor. The big takeaway with the OPC protocol is the ability to move plant floor data to Level 3 (Purdue Model) and 4 applications in the enterprise, such as Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Most ERP and MES platforms reside with Information Technology (IT) departments and don’t connect with plant floor machines without the use of an interface like OPC.

This video above, via the OPC Foundation, provides an overview on OPC and a look at standards in the Pharmaceutical industry. The video may provide ideas on how Beeond could help in creating solutions for your plant floor or field.

Companies | Beeond