Market fields structure & dynamics in industrial automation

There is a research tradition in the economics of standards which addresses standards wars, antitrust concerns or positive externalities from standards. Recent research has also dealt with the process characteristics of standardisation, de facto standard-setting consortia and intellectual property concerns in the technology specification or implementation phase. Nonetheless, there are no studies which analyse capabilities, comparative industry dynamics or incentive structures sufficiently in the context of standard-setting. In my study, I address the characteristics of collaborative research and standard-setting as a new mode of deploying assets beyond motivations well-known from R&D consortia or market alliances. On the basis of a case study of a leading user organisation in the market for industrial automation technology, but also a descriptive network analysis of cross-community affiliations, I demonstrate that there must be a paradoxical relationship between cooperation and competition. More precisely, I explain how there can be a dual relationship between value creation and value capture respecting exploration and exploitation. My case study emphasises the dynamics between knowledge stocks (knowledge alignment, narrowing and deepening) produced by collaborative standard setting and innovation; it also sheds light on an evolutional relationship between the exploration of assets and use cases and each firm's exploitation activities in the market. I derive standard-setting capabilities from an empirical analysis of membership structures, policies and incumbent firm characteristics in selected, but leading, user organisations. The results are as follows: the market for industrial automation technology is characterised by collaboration on standards, high technology influences of other industries and network effects on standards. Further, system integrators play a decisive role in value creation in the customer-specific business case. Standard-setting activities appear to be loosely coupled to the products offered on the market. Core leaders in world standards in industrial automation own a variety of assets and they are affiliated to many standard-setting communities rather than exclusively committed to a few standards. Furthermore, their R&D ratios outperform those of peripheral members and experience in standard-setting processes can be assumed. Standard-setting communities specify common core concepts as the basis for the development of each member's proprietary products, complementary technologies and industrial services. From a knowledge-based perspective, the targeted disclosure of certain knowledge can be used to achieve high innovation returns through systemic products which add proprietary features to open standards. Finally, the interplay between exploitation and exploration respecting the deployment of standard-setting capabilities linked to cooperative, pre-competitive processes leads to an evolution in common technology owned and exploited by the standard-setting community as a particular kind of innovation ecosystem. --standard-setting,innovation,industry dynamics and context,industrial automation

Teknoekonominen toteutettavuusanalyysi etäylläpidon liitettävyydestä tehtaissa

Maintenance activities play a major role in factory operations, as they prevent breakdowns and extend machine life. With the advances in sensor, computing and communications technology, sensor data can be increasingly exploited for real-time supervision of machine condition. However, the acquisition of the data is challenging due to proprietary technologies and interfaces applied in Industrial Networks. Therefore, sensor data is rarely utilized in other processes than automation. As the industry is heading towards a new industrial era, also referred to as Industrial Internet or Industrie 4.0, there is growing need to improve data availability for applications that can realize its potential value. In this research, the focus is on the feasibility of remote maintenance deployment in factories. The topic is approached from the connectivity viewpoint. The research is conducted by reviewing the literature, and by interviewing numerous industry experts regarding the connectivity and data exploitation in factories. These form the basis for the value network analysis, in which Value Network Configuration (VNC) method is applied, to analyze the value distribution among different actors in alternative remote connection cases. As a result of the VNC analysis, three alternative value network configurations are formed. They provide a high-level technical architecture of the remote connection implementation and discuss the accumulated value of each actor concerning remote maintenance service. The insights gained from the VNCs and literature are then employed to propose a future technical architecture for remote maintenance connectivity in factories.Huoltotoimet ovat suuressa roolissa tehtaan toiminnassa, sillä ne ehkäisevät konerikkoja ja pidentävät koneen käyttöikää. Sensori-, laskenta- ja tietoliikenneteknologian kehittymisen johdosta sensoridataa voidaan hyödyntää yhä enemmän koneen kunnon reaaliaikaiseen valvontaan. Datan saanti on kuitenkin haastavaa teollisissa verkoissa käytettyjen sovelluskohtaisten teknologioiden ja liitäntöjen takia. Sen vuoksi sensoridataa hyödynnetään harvoin muissa prosesseissa kuin automaatiossa. Teollisuuden suunnatessa kohti uutta teollista aikakautta, joka tunnetaan myös nimillä Teollinen Internet ja Teollisuus 4.0, on datan saatavuutta parannettava sovelluskohteille, jotka voivat realisoida sen potentiaalisen arvon. Tämä tutkimus tarkastelee etäylläpidon käyttöönoton toteutettavuutta tehtaissa. Aihetta lähestytään liitettävyyden näkökulmasta. Tutkimus suoritetaan tarkastelemalla kirjallisuutta sekä haastattelemalla lukuisia teollisuuden asiantuntijoita koskien liitettävyyttä ja datan hyödyntämistä tehtaissa. Nämä muodostavat perustan arvoverkkoanalyysille, jossa sovelletaan arvoverkkokonfiguraatio-menetelmää, jolla analysoidaan arvon jakautumista eri toimijoiden kesken vaihtoehtoisissa etäyhteystapauksissa. Arvoverkkokonfiguraatioanalyysin tuloksena muodostetaan kolme vaihtoehtoista arvoverkkokonfiguraatiota. Ne tarjoavat korkean tason teknisen arkkitehtuurin etäyhteyden implementaatiosta ja tarkastelevat toimijoiden kerryttämää arvoa etäylläpitopalvelun osalta. Arvoverkkokonfiguraatioista ja kirjallisuudesta saatujen näkemysten pohjalta esitellään lisäksi tulevaisuuden tekninen arkkitehtuuri etäylläpidon liitettävyydelle tehtaissa

Teollisen Internetin käyttöönotto automaatiolaitteissa

Industrial Internet is a term that is used to describe digitalization of industry. It is a research direction in Finland, where there are already various groups studying it. Despite this, the term Industrial Internet is still relatively vague and there is a lack of concreteness around the topic. The objective of this thesis is to explore the current status of Industrial Internet and study the capabilities of automation devices from an Industrial Internet point of view. I explore Industrial Internet through a literary review where I study various use cases. The use cases of Industrial Internet are divided into two main types: platform centric and machine to machine (M2M) communication centric. The use cases provide a list of characteristics and requirements for Industrial Internet from these two perspectives. General requirements are, for example scalability and flexibility, which are achieved through various IT technologies, such as Service-Oriented-Architecture. This thesis also consists of a practical part where I configured the control logic and data collection for a test bed that simulates drop tests of active magnetic bearings. The control logic consists of a programmable logic controller and corresponding software. The data collection consists of software for collecting and analyzing measurement data and the measuring equipment. After the literary review and practical part, I propose the creation of a cloud based Industrial Internet platform around the active magnetic test bed. The purpose of the platform is to provide a direction for further research. The creation of the platform consists of two phases: first phase includes the creation of the platform so that the test bed achieves current functionality but cloud based. The second phase consists of changing the platform to meet the requirements of the literature review. The end results will be an application independent system solution for Industrial Internet.Teollinen Internet on termi, jolla kuvataan teollisuuden digitalisaatiota. Aihe on kasvavan kiinnostuksen kohde ja esim. Suomessa on useita tahoja, jotka panostavat aiheen tutkimukseen. Siltikin Teollinen Internet on käsitteenä epäselvä ja sitä vaivaa konkretian puute. Tämän työn tarkoituksena on tutustua Teollisen Internetin nykytilaan ja automaatiolaitteiden ominaisuuksiin Teollisen Internetin näkökulmasta. Teollisen Internetin esimerkit jakautuvat pääasiassa kahteen luokkaan: alustalähtöisiin ja koneiden väliseen kommunikaatioon (M2M-kommunikaatio). Esimerkit tarjoavat listan ominaisuuksia ja vaatimuksia Teolliselle Internetille kummastakin näkökulmasta. Yleisiä ominaisuuksia ovat esimerkiksi skaalattavuus ja joustavuus, jotka saavutetaan erilaisilla tietoteknisillä vaatimuksilla, esim. palvelukeskeisellä arkkitehtuurilla. Lisäksi työhön kuuluu käytännön osuus, jossa kirjoitin ohjainlogiikan ja datankeräyksen testilaitteeseen, joka simuloi aktiivimagneettilaakerien pudotuskokeita. Ohjainlogiikka koostui PLC-laitteesta ja siihen liittyvistä ohjelmistoista. Datan keräys koostui mittausdatan keräykseen ja purkamiseen vaadittavista ohjelmistoista sekä laitteistosta. Kirjallisuudesta kerättyjen vaatimusten ja käytännön kokemuksien perusteella esitän pilvipohjaisen, Teolliseen Internetiin suunnatun ohjelmistoalustan kehittämistä testilaitteen ympärille. Ohjelmistoalusta voi toimia yliopistollisen jatkotutkimuksen pohjana. Ohjelmistoalustan toteuttaminen tapahtuu kahdessa vaiheessa: ensimmäisessä vaiheessa kehitetään pilvipohjainen alusta, joka saavuttaa testilaitteiston nykyisen toiminnallisuuden. Toisessa vaiheessa ohjelmistoalusta muutetaan vastaamaan Teollisen Internetin vaatimuksia, jolla saavutetaan sovellusriippumaton järjestelmäratkaisu

Machine Tool Communication (MTComm) Method and Its Applications in a Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud

The integration of cyber-physical systems and cloud manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize existing manufacturing systems by enabling better accessibility, agility, and efficiency. To achieve this, it is necessary to establish a communication method of manufacturing services over the Internet to access and manage physical machines from cloud applications. Most of the existing industrial automation protocols utilize Ethernet based Local Area Network (LAN) and are not designed specifically for Internet enabled data transmission. Recently MTConnect has been gaining popularity as a standard for monitoring status of machine tools through RESTful web services and an XML based messaging structure, but it is only designed for data collection and interpretation and lacks remote operation capability. This dissertation presents the design, development, optimization, and applications of a service-oriented Internet-scale communication method named Machine Tool Communication (MTComm) for exchanging manufacturing services in a Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud (CPMC) to enable manufacturing with heterogeneous physically connected machine tools from geographically distributed locations over the Internet. MTComm uses an agent-adapter based architecture and a semantic ontology to provide both remote monitoring and operation capabilities through RESTful services and XML messages. MTComm was successfully used to develop and implement multi-purpose applications in in a CPMC including remote and collaborative manufacturing, active testing-based and edge-based fault diagnosis and maintenance of machine tools, cross-domain interoperability between Internet-of-things (IoT) devices and supply chain robots etc. To improve MTComm’s overall performance, efficiency, and acceptability in cyber manufacturing, the concept of MTComm’s edge-based middleware was introduced and three optimization strategies for data catching, transmission, and operation execution were developed and adopted at the edge. Finally, a hardware prototype of the middleware was implemented on a System-On-Chip based FPGA device to reduce computational and transmission latency. At every stage of its development, MTComm’s performance and feasibility were evaluated with experiments in a CPMC testbed with three different types of manufacturing machine tools. Experimental results demonstrated MTComm’s excellent feasibility for scalable cyber-physical manufacturing and superior performance over other existing approaches

Machine Tool Communication (MTComm) Method and Its Applications in a Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud

The integration of cyber-physical systems and cloud manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize existing manufacturing systems by enabling better accessibility, agility, and efficiency. To achieve this, it is necessary to establish a communication method of manufacturing services over the Internet to access and manage physical machines from cloud applications. Most of the existing industrial automation protocols utilize Ethernet based Local Area Network (LAN) and are not designed specifically for Internet enabled data transmission. Recently MTConnect has been gaining popularity as a standard for monitoring status of machine tools through RESTful web services and an XML based messaging structure, but it is only designed for data collection and interpretation and lacks remote operation capability. This dissertation presents the design, development, optimization, and applications of a service-oriented Internet-scale communication method named Machine Tool Communication (MTComm) for exchanging manufacturing services in a Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud (CPMC) to enable manufacturing with heterogeneous physically connected machine tools from geographically distributed locations over the Internet. MTComm uses an agent-adapter based architecture and a semantic ontology to provide both remote monitoring and operation capabilities through RESTful services and XML messages. MTComm was successfully used to develop and implement multi-purpose applications in in a CPMC including remote and collaborative manufacturing, active testing-based and edge-based fault diagnosis and maintenance of machine tools, cross-domain interoperability between Internet-of-things (IoT) devices and supply chain robots etc. To improve MTComm’s overall performance, efficiency, and acceptability in cyber manufacturing, the concept of MTComm’s edge-based middleware was introduced and three optimization strategies for data catching, transmission, and operation execution were developed and adopted at the edge. Finally, a hardware prototype of the middleware was implemented on a System-On-Chip based FPGA device to reduce computational and transmission latency. At every stage of its development, MTComm’s performance and feasibility were evaluated with experiments in a CPMC testbed with three different types of manufacturing machine tools. Experimental results demonstrated MTComm’s excellent feasibility for scalable cyber-physical manufacturing and superior performance over other existing approaches

Industrial internet and its role in process automation

Modern process automation undergoes a major shift in the way it addresses conventional challenges. Moreover, it is adapting to the newly arising challenges due to changing business scenarios. Nowadays, the areas of the automation that recently were rather separate start to merge and the border between them is fading. This situation only adds struggle to the already highly competitive production industry. In order to be successful, companies should adopt new approaches to the way their processes are automated, controlled, and managed. One of these approaches is the so-called Industrial Internet. It is the next step after the traditional paradigm of the process automation pyramid that leads to the new vision of interconnected processes, services, machines and people. However, general company does not usually eager to implement the new technology to its business. One of the reasons for this is that it does not see the advantages that the Industrial Internet brings. This is due to the lack of sufficient number of successful implementation examples in various industrial areas and of clear business scenarios for the use of the Industrial Internet. Aim of the presented thesis is to create a convincing Industrial Internet application scenario. For the implementation, a mineral concentration plant was chosen as one of the industrial premises that possesses the shortage of the Industrial Internet examples. Literature review section describes the process automation state of art. It lists and reviews the research and development initiatives related to the Industrial Internet. Moreover, the Industrial Internet fundamentals are given. Finally, it describes the Industrial Internet applications and the case studies. In the practical part, at first, the description of the mineral concentration plant is given. Then, the next section describes the Industrial Internet application scenario. In the following section technical guidelines for the system implementation are given. Also, in the concluding part of the thesis the future direction of research work are discussed

Engineering methods and tools for cyber–physical automation systems

Much has been published about potential benefits of the adoption of cyber–physical systems (CPSs) in manufacturing industry. However, less has been said about how such automation systems might be effectively configured and supported through their lifecycles and how application modeling, visualization, and reuse of such systems might be best achieved. It is vitally important to be able to incorporate support for engineering best practice while at the same time exploiting the potential that CPS has to offer in an automation systems setting. This paper considers the industrial context for the engineering of CPS. It reviews engineering approaches that have been proposed or adopted to date including Industry 4.0 and provides examples of engineering methods and tools that are currently available. The paper then focuses on the CPS engineering toolset being developed by the Automation Systems Group (ASG) in the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, Coventry, U.K. and explains via an industrial case study how such a component-based engineering toolset can support an integrated approach to the virtual and physical engineering of automation systems through their lifecycle via a method that enables multiple vendors' equipment to be effectively integrated and provides support for the specification, validation, and use of such systems across the supply chain, e.g., between end users and system integrators

Design and Implementation of Smart Sensors with Capabilities of Process Fault Detection and Variable Prediction

A typical sensor consists of a sensing element and a transmitter. The major functions of a transmitter are limited to data acquisition and communication. The recently developed transmitters with ‘smart’ functions have been focused on easy setup/maintenance of the transmitter itself such as self-calibration and self-configuration. Recognizing the growing computational capabilities of microcontroller units (MCUs) used in these transmitters and underutilized computational resources, this thesis investigates the feasibility of adding additional functionalities to a transmitter to make it ‘smart’ without modifying its foot-print, nor adding supplementary hardware. Hence, a smart sensor is defined as sensing elements combined with a smart transmitter. The added functionalities enhance a smart sensor with respect to performing process fault detection and variable prediction. This thesis starts with literature review to identify the state-of-the-arts in this field and also determine potential industry needs for the added functionalities. Particular attentions have been paid to an existing commercial temperature transmitter named NCS-TT105 from Microcyber Corporation. Detailed examination has been made in its internal hardware architecture, software execution environment, and additional computational resources available for accommodating additional functions. Furthermore, the schemes of the algorithms for realizing process fault detection and variable prediction have been examined from both theoretical and feasibility perspectives to incorporate onboard NCS-TT105. An important body of the thesis is to implement additional functions in the MCUs of NCS-TT105 by allocating real-time execution of different tasks with assigned priorities in the real-time operating system (RTOS). The enhanced NCS-TT105 has gone through extensive evaluation on a physical process control test facility under various normal/fault conditions. The test results are satisfactory and design specifications have been achieved. To the best knowledge of the author, this is the first time that process fault detection and variable prediction have been implemented right onboard of a commercial transmitter. The enhanced smart transmitter is capable of providing the information of incipient faults in the process and future changes of critical process variables. It is believed that this is an initial step towards the realization of distributed intelligence in process control, where important decisions regarding the process can be made at a sensor level