Collaboration in the Power Industry Using Business Process Management

 Power Generators and Utilities have to run very efficiently because of narrow profit margins due to rising operational costs.  Changing market conditions require them to ensure zero fault tolerance while maintaining lower operating costs. To meet these challenges, utilities must evaluate, optimize and improve their business processes across their organization. Business Process Management becomes an enabling technology.

The issues that the Power sector faces are numerous:

• High and fluctuating costs of fuel, resulting in narrow profit margins
• Stringent regulatory and environmental compliance requirements
• Uneven load cycles, resulting in inefficient operation of power stations
• Time-sensitive per energy costs, which cause frequent loading/unloading on the power plant
• Significant losses due to unplanned shutdowns
• Lack of effective preventative or emergency maintenance
• Shortage of skilled manpower, and loss of critical process and maintenance knowledge due to a retiring workforce

So what is the solution? Workflow! 

Wonderware MES Case Study: Lexmark International

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Is a picture worth a thousand words?

Because then I've just written 3,000! The beauty of a product like Wonderware Workflow is that it enables cross-enterprise collaboration on a single platform. Whether you access workflow using your mobile device, or via an email, text message or other means, Workflow ensures that your processes and procedures stay intact and active. 

We have customers today using workflow to solve a variety of operations challenges: from enterprise integration, to quality management, to validating processes within a regulated environment.  Workflow enables you to visualize, model and capture all activities surrounding a series of operations.  It does not matter which industry you are in, or if you have 100, or 100,000 employees--it's scalable, adapatable and easy to implement.

Want proof?  Read this success story by Fujirebio--who makes biomarkers, and uses Workflow as part of their validated manufacturing solution.

Wonderware MES Customer Review

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Better Inventory Management Using Wonderware MES

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Join me at the #MarketingtoEngineers Conference Monday, March 31 in Downtown Chicago!

http://www.controleng.com/events-and-awards/marketing-to-engineers.html

Join us at what is planning to be "the" event of the season!  A focused day of presentations and discussions on marketing to engineers.  As any of you know, Business to Business marketing is very different than the Business to Consumer marketing.  For one thing, our audience is a lot more educated, less apt to be swayed by shiny objects and pretty pictures, and more fact and logic focused.  This makes it extremely challenging to create the value propositions and positioning that are "real" and tangible, versus soft and fluffy.

I'll be discussing how to create an integrated marketing plan--ie, all of the facets it takes to bring a product (or service) to market.  I'm basing it on my many, many years of working both in sales & marketing in industrial automation.  I'll be joined by Rob McGreevy, VP of Operations, Information and Asset Products here at Schneider Electric (Invensys). It should be a lot of fun, and a lot of great networking.  I hope you can make it!

Repost, with Comments: Key Trends Driving the Global Packaging Market

http://www.packworld.com/trends-and-issues/global/revealing-key-trends-driving-global-packaging-market?utm_source=New_Issue_Alert&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=PW_NIA_2014-02-26%20(Actual)&spMailingID=8048300&spUserID=NzgwMDkzOTQ1OQS2&spJobID=122200754&spReportId=MTIyMjAwNzU0S0

This article by Packaging World reveals an uptick and growth in the opportunities for packaging.  We at Invensy|Schneider Electric have seen a growing interest in operations management solutions that can boost, improve and optimize packaging operations. Packagers need to ensure maximum uptime with minimal resource consumption--that means, no downtime, excessive energy usage, labor or materials. It's about providing solutions that integrate easily to the process, the controllers, and the applications used on the floor; provide fast ROI, and are scalable to multiple lines, sites, and locations.  If you are a packager, and are interested in how you can achieve more output, quality, and uptime--please visit: http://software.invensys.com/solutions/operations-management-and-mes/manufacturing-operations-management/

Customer Payback: Less Than 9 Months Using Wonderware MES!

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Wonderware MES Customer Statistic

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For more information on Wonderware MES Solutions, please visit: http://software.invensys.com/solutions/operations-management-and-mes/manufacturing-operations-management/
 

Repost, with comments: where have all the food plants gone?

http://www.foodprocessing.com/blogs/thescoop/where-have-all-the-food-plants-gone/

This article from Food Processing.com brings up an interesting point: how did we lose count of 40,000 plants in one year?  Could companies be that adverse to reporting that they'd simply "forget" to add themselves to the FDA's registry?

It's hard to understand how the requirements for food safety can be ignored by these entities.  Certainly, those firms that are under 500 employees will bear some hardship for implementing controls and systems to reduce and limit the effects of quality breaches. But isn't that for the public good (and their own brand management) that they'd want to have a system that allows them to track, trace and ensure compliance?

We at Wonderware spent a lot of time last year educating the market on the need for compliance, and the impact that the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) would have on manufacturing companies.  If you are interested in accessing that material, please visit: http://www.real-time-answers.com/food-beverage/

Repost: Deployed Enterprise Historian in the Cloud Discussions with Actual Use Cases, Confirms the Opportunity for Leveraging the Cloud to Increase Uptime.

Deployed Enterprise Historian in the Cloud Discussions with Actual Use Cases, Confirms the Opportunity for Leveraging the Cloud to Increase Uptime



by Tim Sowell, Invensys Fellow

Congratulations to Tableau Software, Leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence!

http://www.tableausoftware.com/gartner-magic-quadrant-2014?elq=5938dccfe6504b648a2774e26c73bd41

Invensys is proud to have its Wonderware Intelligence Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence product feature the dashboarding & visualization capabilities of Tableau Software. Not only is it the leading BI product on the market, but customers can enjoy an single tool for the enterprise--no longer do you have to purchase one dashboard for the plant, and another for the business.  Tableau with Wonderware Intelligence scales to multiple plants, multiple lines or sites. Wide integration capabilities make it simple to connect to plant and enteprise data sources, for a "single view of the truth."

Repost, with Comments: Moving CPG Analytics from Hindsight to Foresight

http://www.progressivegrocer.com/top-stories/headlines/trending-topics/id41038/moving-cpg-analytics-from-hindsight-to-foresight/

An interesting article from Progressive Grocer uncovers opportunities for CPG companies to use analytics in their decision making, especially for anticipating consumer habits, trends and the resultant product determinations that can be made.

We see a similar trend for the operations side of CPG/Food and Beverage companies.  That although the need for products such as Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) exist, the uptick is not as great as for complementary products, such as Manufacturing Execution Systems.  Because "EMI" functionality can be partially achieved by reporting and other historian-based analysis, companies may not appreciate the full benefits of a pure EMI product. 

Wonderware Intelligence actually employs the industry-leading BI (Business Intelligence) dashboard from Tableau Software. This makes your enterprise more transparent, because you can use the same tool for business analytics as well as operational performance.  EMI, and BI, provide insight, allow you to make informed decisions, and avoid disruptions in your business by anticipating trends, out of norm conditions, or seasonal anomalies.

Pepsi Eliminates Guesswork and Assumptions

Pepsi Eliminates Guesswork and Assumptions

Wonderware MES Customers Report Improved Inventory Turnover!

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Repost, with comments: Virtual Reality Helps Field Operators Improve Performance | Chemical Processing

Virtual Reality Helps Field Operators Improve Performance | Chemical Processing

A very good article from Chemical Engineering on the variety of Virtual Reality offerings for operator training and process simulation.  SimSci's EYESIM is an industry-leading 3D VR system, providing an interactive and realistic view of the plant, offering operators a training and familarization platform for best practices, education and maintenance.

Food Trends: 2014 Ingredients and Flavors Trends

Food Trends: 2014 Ingredients and Flavors Trends

From FoodProcessing.com, insight into consumer flavor preferences for 2014.  Why should we care? Because it will drive new recipes, formulations, equipment, and overall industry movement to meet demands. It's a good and necessary development, and we as suppliers to the industry must react with products and technologies that make processing, recipe management, and equipment automation easier, from purchasing (can anyone say cloud/SaaS?) to more complete solutions (OEE, integrated batch management, workflow, etc.).

See us at the ARC 2014 Forum next week in Orlando, FL!

Invensys| Schneider Electric will be at the ARC 2014 Industry Forum next week.  We are pleased to be on a number of panels that discuss the foremost trends and concerns of customers in industrial automation, including the cloud for manufacturing, Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence, Operator Training Simulation Systems and Cyber Security. We hope to see you there!

Operations Innovation & Transformation – Flexible Teams, Part 5 of 5

by Stan Devries, Senior Director Solutions Architecture, Invensys|Schneider Electric

The 4 quadrants described in the article “Operations Innovation & Transformation – the 4 Types Part 1 of 5” positions the lower right quadrant as a strategy for using a team of human assets in a new way.

In this quadrant, teams of specialists (with the same or different areas of specialization) are grouped to provide value improvement to a group of physical assets, and the group of physical assets can be used as a “fleet” or as a “chain.”  This is much more than a passive “help desk.”  One example is where specialists use real-time benchmarking and other tools, working with new business processes with the physical assets and the dedicated workers, to unlock value of themselves and the physical assets. 

Operations Innovation & Transformation – Fleet Management Part 4 of 5

by Stan Devries, Senior Director Solutions Architecture, Invensys|Schneider Electric

The 4 quadrants described in the article “Operations Innovation & Transformation – the 4 Types Part 1 of 5" positions the lower left quadrant as a strategy for using a “fleet” of physical assets in a new way.

In this quadrant, a group of similar industrial operations (2 or more) adapt their performance objectives, business processes and accompanying hiring and information strategies to optimize the “fleet.”  The move is to unifying the industrial enterprise over multiple sites (in groups or as a whole), with a more holistic view in terms of operating strategy and performance management.

Operations Innovation & Transformation – Operations Control Loops, Part 3 of 5

by Stan Devries, Senior Director Solutions Architecture, Invensys|Schneider Electric

The 4 quadrants described in the article “Operations Innovation & Transformation – the 4 Types Part 1 of 5" positions the upper right quadrant as a strategy for governing business processes and teams of human assets in a new way.

In the upper right hand quadrant, managers and supervisors use consistent measures and business processes to adjust targets for specialists and other workers, using the industrial automation concept of a “control loop.”  One example of this control loop is where managers negotiate the next day’s production targets each day using the same business process for all specialists and industrial locations.

Repost, with comments: If you manage your time terribly, you’ll get more done

If you manage your time terribly, you’ll get more done

What a great article from Brooke Allen. He describes how "structured procrastination" actually helps people get more done, because you do what you like, and you focus on those tasks.  We all need help these days either starting or completing tasks when you have a barrage of "things" thrown at you.  This article provides some good coping skills for managing.

Operations Innovation & Transformation – Value Chain Management, Part 2 of 5

by Stan Devries, Senior Director Solutions Architecture, Invensys|Schneider Electric

The 4 quadrants described in the article “OperationsInnovation & Transformation – the 4 Types Part 1 of 5" positions the upper left quadrant as a strategy for using a “value chain” of physical assets in a new way:

In this quadrant, a group of similar industrial operations (2 or more) adapt their performance objectives, business processes and accompanying hiring and information strategies to optimize the “value chain.”  The move is to unifying the industrial enterprise over multiple sites (in groups or as a whole), with a more holistic view in terms of operating strategy and performance management.

Fun with Wordle: Wonderware Enterprise Integrator

 You may have read my post last week on Enterprise Integration bringing Enterprise Intelligence.  What I didn't tell you is how to do it..well, here's one suggestion. Wonderware Enterprise Integrator.  It allows you to programmatically integrate your business and operations management systems together, offering features such as data mapping, queuing, determinism (did the message get through?) and redundancy for error-free operations.  So connecting to an ERP, such as Oracle or SAP, just got a lot easier.

Fun with Wordle: Wonderware Workflow

  Need real-time collaboration between people, systems and equipment? Closed-loop remediation for procedures such as CAPA (Corrective and Preventative Action) or alarm management?  Wonderware Workflow is your answer.  It can join your business systems with your operations by enforcing tasks, procedures, or activities. It can ensure specific actions are taken upon an event, such as a quality failure, emergency shut down, or line stoppage.  For more information on how you can use Wonderware Workflow to improve your operations, check here.

MES Customer Success: Lexmark International

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Invensys is using TechValidate to reach and document our customer successes. Here is Lexmark International--a leading maker of printers and supplies, based out of Lexington, KY with locations worldwide.

The case study provides an insight into the drivers behind a MES selection: enterprise integration, Bill of Material (BOM) visibility, as well as process enforcement through workflow.

Operations Innovation & Transformation – the 4 Types Part 1 of a 5 Part Series

by Stan Devries, Senior Director Solutions Architecture, Invensys|Schneider Electric

Operations innovation and transformation: there has been much marketing on the innovations in supply chain and customer relationship management during the last 7+ years.  During this time, manufacturing and industrial operations has begun a less publicized transformation on their own.  This transformation goes beyond lean and total quality management principles.  In the 1980’s, we saw the impact of Japanese quality strategies; in the 1990’s, the consumer globalization fundamentally changed where facilities are built, how frequently new products are introduced, and in the 21^st century, industrial operations focus on how they create value for their customers, often focused on reliability.  These strategies might seem to be dreams without understanding the innovations that make these sustainable and the new risks can be practically managed.

These innovations are focused on unlocking the value of groups of physical and human assets:

• 1.       Physical Assets: the move to unifying the industrial enterprise over multiple sites (in groups or as a whole), with a more holistic view in terms of operating strategy and performance management.
• 2.       Human Assets: the shift to operational teams that spread across the multiple sites (in groups or as a whole), central, and Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) to make a rapid and dynamic decision support system in a dynamic operational world.

The following table published by ARC Advisory Group describes a spectrum of coordination or collaboration across assets, both physical and human:

Fun with Wordle: Wonderware IntelaTrac

As the leading mobile workforce management product, IntelaTrac offers an effective platform for capturing and ensuring good manufacturing and maintenance practices are adhered to and improved upon.  New features such as drawing mark up for images allow workers to reflect real-life conditions when doing equipment inspections, adding details which become part of the system of record.  IntelaTrac is the true embodiment of Workforce Enablement.

Fun with Wordle: Avantis Condition Manager

Avantis Condition Manager is a unique, intelligent real-time condition management solution that collects and analyzes real-time diagnostics from all plant production assets. It drives appropriate action to improve overall asset performance and manage the appropriate operations, engineering and maintenance actions.

Customers such as RasGas use Avantis Condition Manager to maintain the world’s largest LNG train.

From early equipment failure detection to detailed analysis, Condition Manager meets the demanding needs for more effective and proactive equipment maintenance.

Fun with Wordle: Wonderware Intelligence Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence Software

Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) software takes discrete events and relates them, provides context to them, and presents them in an interactive, informative dashboard in the form of Key Performance Indicators, or KPI's.  Companies use EMI software to help them to determine relationships between actions such as energy consumption by shift, or yield and throughput by line or equipment.  It allows for "if then" analysis, to help you make better decisions on staffing, loading, or production optimization. Wonderware Intelligence can connect to any plant source, such as data historians or MES products, and bring key information together for analysis and decision making.  It creates and enforces a plant model for easy data configuration, with templates available for most Wonderware applications, including MES and Corporate Energy Management.

Fun with Wordle: SmartGlance

Many of our customers report that mobile device-enabled reporting is a top priority for them. Pushing data to a familiar portable device, whether it's a tablet or a smart phone, is the most effective way of keeping management on top of critical events and decisions.  We agree, and have continued to develop and enrich our leading mobile reporting product, SmartGlance.  Whether you use it hosted within your four walls, or as a Software as a Service, SmartGlance provides real-time reporting in an interactive, graphically rich format. No matter what industry you are in, SmartGlance can bring your real-time operations data to you, on demand, supporting all popular mobile formats.