The automation of process manufacturing has seen explosive growth over the last 10 years and is only projected to follow the same trajectory for the foreseeable future. Manufacturing automation solutions are the driving force behind this sector’s growth, allowing companies to meet higher benchmarks including quality, consistency and throughput.
More Automated Manufacturing, More Operational Data
It stands to reason that the increased manufacturing volume will also increase associated byproducts, one of the most critical being operational data. Every piece of equipment within an automation system produces a continuous stream of data containing invaluable logistical information. The required collection, analysis and archival of this data is imperative to staying operational for the long-term.
However, while the scope of data has proliferated, the roles requires to achieve these things manually are going unfilled. While the manufacturing sector has seen a small rebound since the pandemic, finding and retaining talent is still reported a main concern for companies. This leaves the industry in a severe deficit, requiring facilities to become more dependent than ever on technology to bridge the gap.
Data Historians: Beyond Just Export and Archival
Data historians have been in use for several decades, but their progression has played a part in the advancement of automation and systems capabilities. Where they originally had a limited scope of application, historians are now used across a number of industries, and now satisfy more than just data export and archival.
While still executing their originally designed function, historians have evolved to provide three key utilities:
- Centralized data visualization, which can be used in active troubleshooting and remediation
- Deeper analytic capabilities, which allows for optimization and improved system customization
- Integration into other systems, which provides an operational ecosystem for the automated facility
While today’s data historians are a tool for control system customization, the historian itself must be attuned first. Most historian solutions are not optimized right off the shelf for any one specific application, requiring customization to properly integrate and function with existing assets. It’s important to consult a qualified automation system integrator with expertise to adapt, tailor and deploy your historian in order to get the desired results.
So, who do you call when you need not only the right historian for your business, while making sure it’s integrated and deployed properly, guaranteeing you have everything you need?…….here’s a hint, it’s not the Ghost Busters….
Advantages of Working with a Systems Integrator
There are numerous advantages to coordinating with and contracting a qualified systems integration company. When the time is taken to properly partner and plan, what can initially present itself as a complex, time consuming and expensive process can be greatly simplified. Contracting a CSIA control system integrator results in:
- Decreased Cost: When factoring in potential downtime, decreased throughput, and lost revenue, the cost of working with a systems integrator that can provide product knowledge and support through the design, implementation, and post deployment period is far more cost effective than tackling it alone.
- Decreased Downtime: Ultimately downtime is an inevitability, but working with a qualified systems integrator can greatly decrease the amount of time your facility is down, and their tailored implementation can help mitigate problems during commissioning.
- Improved Performance and Decreased Complexity: Knowing that an off-the-shelf solution can be more flexible than something proprietary or black box, it is still an advanced piece of technology and benefits from having a systems integrator manage the customization of features, and integration into the existing system to achieve the desired results. Like, being able to utilize real-time performance data for planned maintenance to upgrade or replace those aging assets negatively impacting throughput.
- Increased Security: Ensuring you’re receiving all necessary updates and latest versions of your historian solution at the time of deployment or for an incremental upgrade; a systems integrator can help make sure that your operational data remains secure and maintain data integrity.
With what can be a monumental investment into a facility’s operational process data historian solution, it really only makes sense to partner with a automation and control systems integrator who can help identify, design, and deploy a solution truly tailored to your current and future needs.
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