Connecting with everything

For a guy like me who remembers when a landline telephone was the only practical way for an individual to share information immediately over long distances, today’s world of infinite connectedness still has an otherworldly, “Alice in Wonderland” feel to it. But after watching the Internet, cell phones and Wi-Fi take hold and become old news, and after seeing newer concepts like cloud computing and the Internet of Things develop and grow, it’s clear that everyone and everything will be connected in the years ahead.

Take the Internet of Things, which connects Wi-Fi-enabled devices via sensors that transmit data. In 2012, there were more than 10 billion of these devices, and by 2020 there will be more than 50 billion, according to Paul Miller, content director for the ARC Advisory Group Inc., Dedham, Mass. In addition to smartphones, the list of connected devices includes cars, home appliances and industrial machinery, such as machine tools.

Likewise, cloud computing appears to be making big inroads and is being used in manufacturing, among many other industries. The cloud, where companies’ data and software programs are hosted on third-party servers and accessed via the Internet, is changing the way companies large and small manage information technology. It’s touted as a way to rapidly roll out and use new technology, reduce IT capital investments and increase access and mobility for data users.

An article by Michael Lyle of InfinityQS International, Fairfax, Va., states that cloud-based IT is more cost-effective than on-site systems, eliminates the cost of setting up and maintaining servers, and allows automatic upgrades of key software.

The ability to continuously upgrade software will grow in importance because software’s role in metalworking, and machine tools in particular, is expanding, according to Rainer Glatz, president of the electrical automation and software associations in VDMA, the German engineering federation. According to Glatz, software is the central component of Industry 4.0, an initiative by the German government to promote the computerization of traditional industries, such as manufacturing.

“Be it embedded software, control software, ERP software or an app on smart devices, the basic idea is to network everybody and everything,” he said. A study by VDMA found that 30 percent of the manufacturing costs for a mechanical engineering product, such as a machine tool, are attributable to IT and automation technology, and that percentage is growing.

Large manufacturers have been networking their operations for years, but small and medium-sized shops tend not to. However, that too may change. TechSolve, a Cincinnati-based technology developer and consultant, is testing its MiniViz software, aimed at helping floor supervisors at small and medium-sized shops monitor machines and respond faster to malfunctions. According to TechSolve, the goal is to reduce the “digital divide” between small and large companies. MiniViz will translate complex code from different machines into understandable pieces of information using MTConnect, an open-source communication standard. Connecting machines via a network, then, will produce information to help workers detect manufacturing problems.

Of course, one key concern—and a major reason for shops to be skeptical of all this connectedness—is information security. Speaking at the ISA Cybersecurity Conference held in Detroit in July, Bruce Billedeaux of Maverick Technologies noted users must not only secure their outbound communications, they must also make sure their vendors and contractors are secure.

As part of an Obama administration cybersecurity initiative, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies is developing a 16-part cybersecurity road map, which will use best practices to assess and mitigate cybersecurity threats and provide performance-based security measures and controls for facility owners and operators.

That’s a good thing, because I think we’ll all need a lot of help in this brave new IT world. I’ll just grab my owner’s manual—oh, that’s right, nobody prints them anymore! CTE