I have been in the process control industry since 1984 and have seen a number of changes over that period. If you are also in this industry and receive the publications and emails that I do, you have been seeing a lot of new terminology over the past few years. My goal in these articles is to help understand this terminology and technology.
I will begin by using the words of Neil Mead, editorial director at Datateam Business Media. You can go to www.4sightbook.com and download a free copy of "4.0 sight: Digital industry around the world" (which I recommend), which includes the following from Neil:
"The digital factory of the future will be full of smart, connected machines that require less human intervention and that can be controlled and monitored remotely. Through the use of sensors, algorithms and software, they will also be able monitor themselves and the process they are undertaking, while constantly adjusting for maximum efficiency and producing data that can be analysed and acted upon by a computer running sophisticated manufacturing execution software (MES)."
If you have been in the process control industry as long as I have, the first thing that might pop into your head after reading this is: "What are we talking about?"
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The factories of 1984 that I began my career in had smart and connected machines. The first paper machine I worked on had scanners with very sophisticated sensors using nuclear sources which sent profiles and other data to a processor for control and display.
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This required less human intervention than manual sampling and adjustment to basis weight valves and steam pressures.
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The first project I worked on was a bleach plant advanced control using sensor data to predict CEk (Kappa number after chlorine and extraction stage). I would consider this use of sensors, algorithms, and software.
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As a practical matter, these applications had to monitor themselves and the process to alert operations to potential problems. To do otherwise would have made them unusable.
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The objective of controls from the origin of the discipline is to make constant adjustments to maximize efficiency.
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That first paper machine I worked on produced a lot of data which was analyzed to identify process or control problems
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That data was also fed into a millwide computer system to enable management to see how we are operating and make decisions.
Is anything new here?
Yes. While my prior analysis may be perceived as a dig at Neil, it really isn't. There is new technology and a new mindset to control systems, the data they produce, and the way we operate. The challenge is to see past the "fluff" to get what is real and new. If we fail to meet that challenge, we are prone to making bad investments in vaporware and myth. That challenge is what Neil recognizes in his subsequent comments:
"There is no doubt that the term Industry 4.0 has been used and abused by some companies as a marketing tool.
Professing to offer 'Industry 4.0 ready' or 'IoT compliant' products sounds impressive, but it's what they can
actually provide to the end-user that's important. Much of this digital technology isn't new, but what the Industry 4.0 concept has done is bring a number of disparate technologies together in a joined-up offering that allows manufacturers to better understand the features and benefits of digitalisation and smart factory solutions. "
I agree with Neil that there are terms that have been abused and much of the technology is not new. I believe if we are going to make good decisions we need to know what we are talking about.
My intention in each of my subsequent articles is to address one buzzword at a time and make it real. Yes, this is a bit of a teaser but it also is a practical approach. I get lost in buzzwords, especially when there isn't clear definition and they are strung together in a way that make an article, paragraph, or sentence incomprehensible. These buzzwords need to be put into real terms that can be properly understood and put in the right context in order to change them from words that confuse us to words that inform us. Trying to define every buzzword at once seems overwhelming for the author and the reader. By taking one buzzword at a time, I am hoping we can over time reach some common understanding of what we are talking about.
