Customer Case Study: Microsoft/Wonderware Benefits Cargill with Improved Process Visualization

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

This case study outlines the value that joint customer Cargill, a leader in food manufacturing, gained from the Wonderware/Microsoft partnership.

Repost, with comments: Survey: Feds sacrificing billions in savings by skipping cloud

This survey discussion posted in SmartBriefs highlights the cost savings being ignored by the government not using the cloud for application hosting and user access.  It states that up to $19 billion could be saved by migrating services and applications to the cloud--$19 billion! 

Of course you'd say, well that would be insane for anyone to not take advantage of the benefits.  But I suspect that education and awareness has a lot to do with the indecision and/or inactivity of not going to the cloud. Not all agencies can be that tech savvy.  And, there is still a slight stigma of security when it comes to the cloud.  Regardless of infrastructure (and I use Microsoft Azure as an example) for triple-redundancy for high availability and security, no one can guarantee fault-free operations. 

So let's look at manufacturing cloud adoption.  A survey by LNS Research, as published in Manufacturing.net last October, showed a slight bump in the anticipated use of the cloud for plant software--around 17% of the respondents intended to use (or consider).  I'd still say this is a small percentage, but it's progress.  The benefits and cost savings for ERP using a cloud SaaS, as defined by Hudson IT, show over $2M in savings over 3 years--extrapolate that to Industrial automation users, and you could still see over a $1M savings (assuming that large, complex industrial automation projects run 50% of the cost of an ERP).

Wonderware has been working with Microsoft for well over three years now to bring solutions and knowledge of the cloud to industry. What have we found?  Well, the cloud is the delivery mechanism--but what customers really want is to make reporting and analysis easier, more accessible, and cheaper.  That's what the cloud does.  Maybe we need to call it "hosted" or "hands off reporting" in order to remove the stigma of what the cloud is perceived to be.  In reality, it's a productivity tool that provides users with unrestricted use of solutions to help them manage and execute their operations. Applications such as #SmartGlance and #Historian Online bring mobile reporting and analysis.  Do you think we should just drop the word "cloud?"  Let me know.
maryanne.steidinger@schneider-electric.com.

New White Paper from Microsoft and Invensys on Cloud for Manufacturing!

http://global.wonderware.com/EN/PDF%20Library/WhitePaper_InvensysandMicrosoft.pdf

Hot off the presses! A white paper jointly penned by Microsoft and Invensys on the basics, and benefits, of cloud computing for manufacturing.

This white paper explains the basics of different types of cloud architecture (hybrid, on premises, off premises) and delivery mechanisms, such as Software as a Service.

For Invensys, we use cloud architecture for several of our products:

• SmartGlance mobile-enabled reporting
• Wonderware Workflow's Work Tasks for mobile-enabled collaboration
• Wonderware Historian Online tiered data historian
• Wonderware Intelligence enterprise manufacturing intelligence software

These products offer the convenience of a cloud hosted solution, with lower IT, implementation and maintenance costs, great scalability, and the ease of mobile access to critical applications.

Repost: 10 Cloud Solutions For Common Business Challenges, with comments

https://www.openforum.com/articles/10-cloud-solutions-for-common-business-challenges/?extlink=of-syndication-sb-p

Eye Opener Seminars

The cloud is becoming a pervasive delivery mechanism for software.  It offers cost-effective, easy to use, on-demand capabilities for scalability and usability.  The industrial automation industry has been slowly introduced to the cloud (Invensys was a leader in bringing cloud-based apps to market, partnering with Microsoft for their Azure platform) and after two years we are seeing not only interest, but demand, in solutions hosted on the cloud.

Why the cloud?  Firstly, because it's scalable.  You can start with one user, or a plant, and then scale on a cost-per-use basis.  Secondly, it's portable.  You bring your application with you, so productivity and uptime are enhanced.  Thirdly, it's light.  A browser is all you need.  And lastly, it's adaptable--it adjusts to your needs, you pay for only what you use, so access and performance are ensured.

Invensys now offers multiple cloud-based apps. Some are client-based, such as the Wonderware Workflow Mobile Client, others are fully cloud-enabled, such as the smart-device enabled reporting capabilities of SmartGlance.  Both offer as-you-need-it capabilities to bring either work tasks (Workflow) or reporting (SmartGlance) to users in an easy-to-use format.  Historian in the cloud and other applications will follow, as will services capabilities for application monitoring.

The cloud is now "real" and offers value to both the office worker, as well as the industrial worker.  More applications will leverage the cloud's "elasticity" and scalability, and it's the users that are the beneficiaries of this technology, as well as it should be.

ArchestrA Workflow from Wonderware Supports the Coolest New Tablets

by Jim Frider, Product Marketing Manager, Invensys

Everybody wants one.  Tablet computers are gaining popularity not only at home but at work too from CEO’s to field operators.  Why?  Because tablets are light, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive.  Plus they give you access to a world of information through a myriad of interesting and useful applications or apps.

Tablets are great for collaborating and keeping you informed while away from your office.  With most security concerns being addressed along with the ubiquitous of wireless networks, tablets are coming into their own as the mobile platform of choice for many workers.

This ability to stay connected provides a great opportunity for companies to improve worker productivity by allowing them to stay involved in important workflows regardless of their location.  For example, an operations manager within a manufacturing facility is attending a staff meeting.  Elsewhere in the plant a hazardous material spill occurs.  The Work Tasks app from Wonderware can help notify you of the spill and ask for your approval to take specific mitigation steps in real-time. 

What You Want to Read-- A Recap of My Top Posts

You, my readers, are the ultimate determinator (is that even a word??) of what we write.  When I look at the posts I've had over the past year or so, the content that you seem to respond to isn't necessarily the heavy duty, technical specs and product details of the wonderful portfolio of software products that Invensys Operations Management offers.  Instead, it's a higher level, socially conscious view of what's going on in the world of industrial automation.

Musings on the Cloud

I recently attended the Cloud Channel Summit in Silicon Valley.  The attendees represented leading software, hardware, systems and cloud hosting providers, as well as their channel—distributors, value-added resellers, systems integrators. Billed as a networking event to help build strategic alliances for a #cloud offering, it was apparent that the “cloud” and its ecosystem are still very much in a developmental stage.