To understand the benefits of data interoperability, in late 2022 Barbara Frei spoke with Kaishi Zhang, who has since moved to Johnson Controls.
BF: The industrial landscape has changed from one lacking data to one questioning how to translate data into business value. This is why data interoperability is a game-changer for industrial businesses. What do you think?
KZ: Clearly, the need for data interoperability has escalated with the increased digitalisation of industrial ecosystems. For today’s industrial and manufacturing applications to function, machines need to work with other machines. Systems need to communicate with other systems. This gets more complicated when different parts of a system come from different manufacturers, vendors, or suppliers and when different generations of products coexist together in a plant.
BF: When we talk to customers, this is always one of their biggest pain points. Different standards mean that subsystems are siloed, making operations more prone to errors.
KZ: Yes, the main bottleneck is the closed and proprietary automation architecture that the industrial world still uses. Meaning that most industrial applications are hardware-dependent.
BF: That then ties industrial software applications to specific hardware through their life. And no interoperability between these applications causes the data-sharing issue.
KZ: Exactly, and this is made even worse as plants grow in size, add more smart devices and the number of data points blooms.
BF: The real challenge here is how to aggregate, consolidate, and ensure the quality of the data that is fed into the software. Ensuring interoperability allows the software to access data from wherever you are in the industrial lifecycle, across domains, and even from external sources. The rich data pool can then be analysed to generate precise predictions for engineering, operation, maintenance, and for tracking and tracing supply networks.
KZ: Yes, that is when industrial analytics applications help our customers to better leverage more complete, more accurate data into insightful information to make better business decisions.
BF: What are the biggest roadblocks stopping industrial data interoperability?
KZ: From the point of view of technology, most of today’s industrial automation standards, like EtherNet/IP or Modbus TCP for example, only match one specific function or one specific layer in an industrial control system architecture.
BF: In fact, industrial automation systems are built on applications, or use cases. Closed and proprietary architectures make interoperability at the application layer extremely difficult.
KZ: We need to decouple the software application lifecycle from the hardware.
BF: This is why we’re calling for an approach where we build an ecosystem of portable and interoperable software components that are independent of the underlying hardware infrastructure.
KZ: Yes, that’s how universal automation, based on the IEC 61499 standard for interoperability, can help create industrial automation’s own app store – where users can find plug-and-produce software that works with any compliant device.
BF: Schneider Electric is a pioneer in this space. By joining UniversalAutomation.org, we’re working with a community of like-minded vendors, technology providers and users who see the benefits of sharing a common shared-source software layer across their industrial solutions.
KZ: And we’re already walking the talk here with our first universal automation-based solution, EcoStruxure Automation Expert. Installed now in Schneider Electric’s Smart Distribution Center in Shanghai, this plant’s conveying lines can easily adapt to the output flow, which cuts unexpected downtime by 25% and helps them be more efficient.