Big Data & IoT
the calculation, contextualisation
and storage of operational Key
Performance Indicator (KPI) metrics.
This enabled the manufacturer to
access intuitive real time management
dashboards, allowing them to monitor
energy consumption in the context
of each site, line and even, operator.
This allowed them to isolate previously
unidentified spikes in consumption
and immediately take action to resolve
them. After the success of the pilot,
Wonderware Intelligence is now being
rolled out globally.
The way an ever increasing
number of companies are beginning
to understand energy data is
indicative of a broader trend towards
using operational data in innovative
ways. It is predicted that Operational
Intelligence will continue to develop
at pace as senior decision makers
become aware of what is now
possible with the latest tools and how
valuable they are to their businesses.
It will become common practice
that CEOs and the like will expect
to be able to get high level insight
into operational Key Performance
Indicators in the same way they
do for systems such as Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) and
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
The next step for the industry
will see data from various niche
manufacturing systems such
as Manufacturing Execution
Systems, Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisitions, Maintenance
Management Systems and Laboratory
Information Management Systems,
aggregated together. This can then
be manipulated and analysed using
accessible browser based, sliceand-dice enabled technologies
such as Wonderware Intelligence
and Wonderware Corporate Energy
Management. This will become
commonplace and allow those
running businesses to see energy
usage across the production process
and how that data tracks back to the
bottom line.
Additionally, Operational
Intelligence can deliver valuable
insight into other areas of the
manufacturing process, providing
further cut-through for a host of
other efficiencies outside of energy
usage. With greater access to data
on batch and quality management,
manufacturers are able to ensure
that productivity remains high, which
in turn can help reduce surplus
energy consumption.
Consistency and compliance
Wonderware solutions allow the
monitoring and controlling of quality
in real time, improving product
consistency and compliance with both
internal specification and external
regulations. Again, this allows for
performance abnormalities to be
spotted instantly, ensuring that errors
can be corrected and unscheduled
downtime and other issues such as
spoilage and wastage prevented.
What’s more, these solutions can sit
alongside other monitoring software
and offer manufacturers scalable
functionality, from entry level targeting
specific elements of performance
to full scope integrating with, and
addressing, all levels of operations.
Deriving intelligence from the
analysis of data is a must for any
organisation looking to become
successful. This is especially true
for manufacturers, who not only
face a fight for survival from external
challenges and competitors, but can
often be up against other locations
and plants within the same company
which enjoy lower cost bases. The
easy availability and analysis of data
can transform the way a company
works and enable manufacturers to
better understand their plant, and
predict and manage performance and
expenditure. With so much of this
data already available and locked in
process data historians, accessing it
is easier than you think.
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