Smart Manufacturing Is Cloud Computing

November 27, 2016 / G C Network / Comments Off on Smart Manufacturing Is Cloud Computing

Cloud computing: A data-centric business model

By G C Network | October 3, 2015

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology: “Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers,…

John Mayer At Dell World 2015!! (Oh, I’ll be there too.)

By G C Network | September 30, 2015

An artist who defies all boundaries, John Mayer has won seven Grammy Awards and sold more than 17 million albums worldwide. The singer, songwriter and guitarist’s skills have been widely…

Data-centric Security: The New Must Have

By G C Network | September 23, 2015

Where is your data right now? The explosion of cloud computing and consumer IT means that your data, as well as data about you, can be virtually anywhere.Having your data and the…

Personal email:Pathway to Cybersecurity Breaches

By G C Network | September 14, 2015

As a business communications tool, email is the dominant option, and many corporations have policies that allow the use of personal email on corporate computers. In a recent Adobe Systems…

IEEE Cloud Computing: Legal Clouds

By G C Network | September 11, 2015

The new issue of IEEE Cloud Computing is now available!   This special issue looks at how to balance privacy with legitimate surveillance and lawful data access. Some of the…

Cloud hosting: Look beyond cost savings and weigh pros, cons

By G C Network | September 3, 2015

Is your company struggling with the idea of using “cloud hosting” in order to save money? Truth be known, using cost savings as the primary reason for moving to cloud…

“Cloud First” Lessons Learned from ViON

By G C Network | August 25, 2015

In 2011, then United States CIO Vivek Kundra released the US Federal Cloud Computing Strategy [1]. In the executive summary he pointed to cloud computing as a key component of…

Looking for Security Peak Performance?

By G C Network | August 19, 2015

You can find it at Dell Peak Performance 2015!!! I’ll be there at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas attending as a social media correspondent with a full…

The Cybersecurity Sprint: Are we safe yet?

By G C Network | August 7, 2015

UPDATE: NBC News reports U.S. officials have disclosed a hack of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff unclassified email system, which took place on July 25. Recent unauthorized access to a U.S. government database…

Cloud Computing + Things = “Information Excellence”, Not IoT

By G C Network | July 31, 2015

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become the next “be all to end all” in information technology. Touted as how cloud computing will connect everyday things together, it is…

As cloud computing simultaneously transforms multiple industries many have wondered about how this trend will affect manufacturing. Often characterized as “staid”, this vertical is not often cited when leading edge technological change is the topic. This view, however, fails to address the revolutionary nexus of cloud computing and the manufacturing industry. Referred to as Digital Thread and Digital Twin; these cloud driven concepts are now driving this vertical’s future.
Digital Thread is a communication framework that connects traditionally siloed elements in manufacturing processes in order to provide an integrated view of an asset throughout the manufacturing lifecycle. Digital thread implementation also requires business processes that help weave data-driven decision management into the manufacturing culture.
A Digital Twin is a virtual representation of a manufacturer’s product used in product design, simulation, monitoring, optimization and servicing. They are created in the same computer-aided design (CAD) and modeling software that designers and engineers use in the early stages of product development. A digital twin is, however, retained for later stages of the product’s lifecycle, such as inspection and maintenance.
Figure 1– The smart manufacturing landscape https://www.industryweek.com/systems-integration/journey-smart-manufacturing-revolutio
When successfully combined these processes can deliver on the promise of Smart Manufacturing, which include:
·         Ability to receive published data from equipment using secure open standards, analyze and aggregate the data, and trigger process controls back to equipment, systems of record and process workflows across the enterprise and value chain connected via A2A and B2B open standards.
·         Autonomous and distributed decision support at the device, machine and factory level.
·         Ubiquitous use of mined information throughout the product value chain including end-to-end value chain visibility for each product line connecting manufacturer to customers and supplier network.
·         Enhanced information- and analytics-based decision making on large amounts of raw data gathered from the smart manufacturing equipment and processes.
·         New levels of efficiency to support new services and business models including mass customization (highly configured products) and product-as-a-service.; and
·         Provide a broad portfolio of these advanced capabilities to manufacturers of all sizes and in all industry sectors, at acceptable levels of cost and implementation complexity.
Although at first glance these goals seem overly ambitious, they are being realized today because technologies and integration standards have come together to fuel this revolution. Required building blocks include:
·         Smart machines and advanced robotics –These machines recognize product configurations and diagnostic information, and make decisions and solve problems without human intervention.
·         Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) – Devices with network and internet connectivity that are active participants in event-driven, self-healing manufacturing processes integrated with open standards that support connectivity.
·         Cloud services – On-demand information technology services that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
·         Enterprise integration platforms – Platforms that have the ability to receive data broadcast from equipment via secure open standards. These applications analyze and aggregate the data, and trigger process controls, history recording, and work flows that enable business processes across value chain systems that can then be integrated via application-to-application (A2A) and business-to-business (B2B) open standards.
Digital Thread and Digital Twin also enable the evolution in the manufacturing field often referred to as Industry 4.0. This next phase increases manufacturing efficiencies while reducing both cost and time of delivery. It brings together data, cloud computing, and cyberphysical systems in order to deliver:
·         Industrialization where machines supported human work;
·         Optimization where assembly lines increased productivity;
·         Automation, where machines largely replaced humans; and
·         Digitalization, where information technology with its broad portfolio becomes an integral part of manufacturing.
Cloud computing has extended many benefits to manufacturing because those businesses can now:
·         Rely more on standard cloud services allowing them to focus on business-critical functions.
·         Reduce capital expenditures significantly
·         Relieves manufacturer of the burden to license, deploy, and maintain baseline IT services like email, collaboration, unified communication, and human relation management
·         Enhance operational flexibility through the use of rapid IT scalability
In summary, the combination of digital thread, digital twin and cloud computing enables both smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0. If you’re company isn’t deeply leveraging all of these concepts today, you don’t know anything about manufacturing.

This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit Point B and Beyond.

Cloud Musings

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2016)

Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in

G C Network

Cloud Computing

Cybersecurity