News & Knowledge

We’re your source for automation news. Keep up with the latest industry updates and E Tech employee spotlights, as well as tips and guidance from our manufacturing experts.  

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Optimize Your Data Historian by Working With a Systems Integrator

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: 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 … Continued

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Team Growth in Texas Leads to New Office

E Tech Group has experienced steady growth over the past few years. As our business has expanded, so has the size of our team and the requirements for our workspaces. Specifically, our Mission Critical team has experienced rapid growth over the last several years.  E Tech Group’s Mission Critical automation team has members located throughout North America, but a large concentration of the team is located in the Greater Dallas/Plano, Texas area. The local team needed a larger space that would allow them to expand testing and collaboration capabilities. In short, they needed a bigger, better and more technically advanced space. New Growth, New Office, New Automation Capabilities Over the last five years, the team has more than doubled in size.  With this growth, the team has expanded its technical capabilities and extended our expertise. E Tech Group wanted a space that would better match the caliber of our team. The E Tech Group leadership team is thrilled to have a new state-of-the-art, flagship office for our local team to work with and bring clients. One particular area we gained and are excited to use in this new space is our new state-of-the-art test lab. The test lab allows sophisticated solutions to go through SFAT (Software Factory Acceptance Testing) before being deployed in a client’s facility. The lab includes the latest PLC hardware that can be configured exactly as it will be deployed in the field. The hardware is hard-wire connected to on-site servers and the HMI used in the SFAT is the same HMI that has been developed for the client site. This ensures proper functionality, helps mitigate any potential failure in the field, and is all a part of the Mission Critical Team’s Zero Defect approach.  Below you can browse pictures of the new office and take a virtual tour. … Continued

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Cybersecurity Crash Course, Pt 2 of 2: Zero Trust Ensures Plant Resilience During a Cyberattack 

In the second edition of this two-part series on OT network security, the popular term “Zero Trust architecture” is fully broken down into individual devices that together take both an offensive and defensive approach to securing an OT network.   Zero Trust Architecture: An All-Encompassing Term for a Defensible OT Network  While the term “zero trust” has become popular within the field of operational technology (OT) network security, its meaning stems from the evolution of ever-increasing network security measures that have had to be implemented in response to increasingly complex threats. As the threat frequency and sophistication of a breach has increased, security measures have also had to increase in lockstep, assuming less and less trust for devices operating on the network. At this point in time, the most robust network design always assumes the worst – trusting absolutely nothing attempting to access an OT network until full authentication has occurred, and regularly interrogating devices currently on the network as if they’ve become malicious. Trust no device, at any point in time – zero trust. Simply put, when it comes to cybersecurity, you’ll find safety in skepticism. Zero Trust vs Safe Zones: Why Assuming the Worst is Best In the Zero Trust model, full identification and credentialing occurs on a continual basis for every single device attempting to access the network. Traffic monitoring is continual, access is limited, and no safe perimeter is assumed. This is a different, nearly inverse approach than that traditionally implemented within an IT network, which assumes a “safe zone” and primarily defends that zone at its perimeter. The Zero Trust approach requires a collection of network components and software solutions, each doing their own task, that work together to collectively keep the network secure.   Some components monitor data; some log events; some actively interrogate existing devices using the … Continued

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Zero-Trust: Ensuring Plant Resilience During a Cyber Attack
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Cybersecurity Crash Course, Pt 1 of 2: The Case for Investing in Cybersecurity 

In an era of increased frequency and sophistication of cyber threats, any one defensive approach can be hacked. To be fully guarded, a secured network must incorporate several different components. A cyberattack on an exposed OT network is a looming security risk with potentially devastating consequences, including extended production downtime, system reformatting and possible hardware replacement. The costs of a cyberattack can be financially catastrophic, but can also hurt your reputation or cause compliance issues that result in hefty fines and even shutdowns. Part 1 of this 2-part blog series helps the reader to understand both the challenge of securing a network as well as the urgent need to do so. Part 2 of the series will discuss most of the OT network components and structuring strategies that collectively build a Zero Trust network architecture. Cyberattacks are a reality; no one can avoid them forever. The goal is to be sufficiently resilient to remain in operation in the midst of an attack. And to accomplish that, we must understand the whats, whys and hows of industrial security automation. Understanding the OT Network in an Automated Facility The Operational Technology (OT) space on a plant floor is a highly complex network environment with distinct characteristics from its Information Technology (IT) network cousin. The space has traditionally been used in a limited manner, connecting local devices that communicate with each other for production purposes and little else. While these devices may be of varying ages and vulnerabilities, as a group their network use patterns are similar, and distinct from typical IT network traffic. Devices on an OT network are generally setup to run all the time, requiring very reliable, and continuous communication as they control and coordinate the manufacturing process. The lifespan of OT devices is typically longer than IT devices, which means … Continued

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