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.

| January 15, 2024

The Power of PI in Power Plants

The power industry is facing several challenges, including the need to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and meet elevated environmental regulations. With the available workforce decreasing and facilities looking toward digital transformation, investing in a platform capable of facilitating these requirements is almost a necessity. As these systems continue to become more and more technical, the need for a real-time data management software platform that can help power plants address these challenges is increasing exponentially. That’s where the AVEVA PI (formerly OSI PI) Historian can come into play. Capable of providing a central repository for plant data, enabling operators to monitor and analyze plant performance in real-time, AVEVA PI is able to positively influence critical decisions that may need to be made on the fly. This information can be used to identify and resolve operational issues, increase efficiency, and optimize plant operations. Benefits of AVEVA PI AVEVA PI’s advanced capabilities are a result of its origins. AVEVA acquired OSIsoft’s PI system when they acquired the company in 2021. They then combined OSI’s strengths: real-time data acquisition and analysis, with AVEVA’s strengths: engineering and operational software applications, to create an automation platform with improved visibility, decision-making, performance, and security. 3 big benefits this particularly dexterous PI historian has to offer: Increased Efficiency  With it becoming more difficult than ever to staff positions in this industry, and the power plant workforce projected to decline by 10% over the next ten years, increasing and improving efficiency is key in ensuring projected output. AVEVA PI Historian can help power plants improve efficiency by providing centralized, real-time insights into plant performance. This information can be used to identify and resolve operational issues, improve process control, and optimize asset utilization. Reduced Costs  You don’t know what you don’t know. At a glance, you may think everything is performing optimally, but there … Continued

| January 2, 2024

E Tech Group Announces Brand Name Change of Recently Acquired System Integrator, E-Volve Systems

E Tech Group announces the immediate renaming of E-Volve Systems to E Tech Group, following their strategic acquisition on February 23, 2023, emphasizing a unified vision, expanded services, and enhanced client and market value through this integration. E Tech Group, a leader in providing high-quality automation, control, and engineering services for industrial clients and Gold Certified Rockwell Automation Partner, today announced that the brand formerly known as E-Volve Systems has now been renamed as E Tech Group. Effective immediately, the brand formerly known as E-Volve Systems will operate under the name E Tech Group, unifying the two entities under one market-leading brand. The transition to the new name will be seamless for clients and partners. All existing commitments remain in place, ensuring continuity and stability. “We’ve gained the ability to market and deliver large-scale projects that may not have been available to us before the acquisition due to our size,” said Kevin Stout, previous E-Volve Systems founder and president and current vice president at E Tech Group. “We’ve also gained a tremendous network of team members whose skillsets seem limitless.” E Tech Group’s acquisition of E-Volve Systems was finalized on February 23, 2023. This strategic move allowed E Tech Group to significantly expand its range of services, thereby enhancing the overall value offered to its clients. The acquisition was a step towards integrating complementary strengths, consolidating market presence, and fostering innovation in service delivery. “The name change at this time is a formality as E-Volve Systems has been a part of the E Tech Group since late February 2023,” said Matt Wise, Chief Executive Officer of E Tech Group. “Their contributions have positioned E Tech Group to elevate its service offerings and reach with the added benefit of resources located throughout North America as well as a broader suite of … Continued

| December 18, 2023

The Importance of an IT/OT Assessment

This article was written by Matt Smith, E Tech Group Network Engineer, and originally appeared on Automation World. Click here to view it. An IT/OT assessment is an inventory of all operations technology assets that are necessary for production. This assessment provides the foundation for ensuring your equipment is connected, secured, monitored, working efficiently, and running up-to-date firmware. Because so much equipment on a production floor runs different types and versions of software and firmware, it is common for engineering managers to lack a full understanding of the state of the equipment currently in operation. They may have limited knowledge of all devices’ ages and stages in their lifecycle, the version of the firmware being run, and how to connect the device to their larger network. Sometimes even the physical whereabouts of certain operations technology (OT) assets is unclear. With this uncertainty, it is difficult to measure and suggest meaningful improvements for overall production line efficiency. It is also challenging to determine areas of high cybersecurity exposure and risk. As a result, capital planning becomes a murky task, lacking the required data to make fully informed decisions on the best areas of investment. To get a handle on this kind of disjointed environment, the first step to take is to complete a full accounting of all equipment in operation using automated and onsite data collection methods. This is referred to as an IT/OT assessment. Documenting assets In an IT/OT assessment, each piece of equipment is evaluated to obtain information such as: Firmware revision is currently in operation. IP address. Network location. Communication across the network. Frequency of packet errors. General performance compared to expected performance. Once collected, this data can be used to make fully informed, rather than speculative planning decisions. Recommendations can then be given for how best to move forward with problem area … Continued

| November 28, 2023

E Tech Group Builds a PlantPAx Automation Solution for a Cultivated Meat Pilot Plant

Food and beverage automation is undergoing a series of transformations, from more ethical livestock treatment to eliminating artificial ingredients and processes to improving the hygiene of irrigation systems in agriculture. But perhaps the most impactful and paradigm-shifting development in this industry is the emergence of lab-grown meat, which is changing not only how we view meat production and consumption, but also how we view the nature of food automation. Understanding the Cultivated Meat Movement Cultivated meat, also called lab-grown or cultured meat, grows mammalian and fish cells for human consumption in a process similar to biotech drug substance manufacturing. Cultured meat is real meat that is grown from a cell bank of a small number of real animal cells. It doesn’t require animals to be raised, fed, and slaughtered as traditional meat does. In theory, cultured meat should be more sustainable than traditional animal-slaughtered meat. Bio-cultured meat requires significantly less land and water, has a better yield per pound of feedstock, and produces pure meat protein and/or fat that creates minimal waste and byproducts. A single batch can grow 350 pounds of pure meat protein in less than two weeks with no feathers, beaks, claws, blood, bones, or excrement to dispose of. Traditional meat raises the animals where few people live and must be transported to a slaughter facility, processed and further transported to market. Cultured meat plants can be built much closer to population centers, reducing travel time and expense. Additionally, because it is grown in a sterile environment, it is cleaner and has a shelf life that is significantly longer than slaughtered meat – as most contaminants that spoil meat are introduced during slaughter processing. Cultured Meat Automation Intersects with Biotech Automation Growing cultivated meat is a relatively new concept in the biotech marketplace. Although this new industry is … Continued