Connectivity in industrial plants has historically relied on hardwired devices using specialist industrial protocols. These proprietary technologies don’t fit well with today’s digital goals and make it hard to extend and unify systems.
Why is digital transformation important?
To take advantage of new cloud technologies, advanced data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), existing operational technology (OT) systems need to be connected with modern IT systems.
In addition, to increase the amount of information that can be returned from these industrial processes, manufacturers are increasingly adding new IoT devices to their networks and operations. IoT sensors and controls offer simple and inexpensive ways to extend the capabilities of existing OT systems.
Why is greater digitalisation an attractive proposition?
By connecting OT and IT systems, manufacturers can leverage cloud and edge computing solutions. This enables manufacturers to centralise data management and scale their operations effectively.
This centralised data can then be used to deliver comprehensive real-time monitoring, power continuous improvement and overall equipment efficiency or environmental monitoring and net zero initiatives and make it possible to run advanced analytics such as predictive maintenance or digital twins. These solutions can help to achieve important manufacturing KPIs including improved efficiency and reduced downtime.
Why is this new connectivity challenging?
OT/IT convergence opens up serious new risks, especially in the realm of cyber security. OT systems have traditionally run locally, without requiring access to the Internet. These closed systems were deemed safe and not subject to the same cybersecurity controls as IT systems.
However, the risk of connecting OT systems with IT systems is that by suddenly exposing these previously closed systems to the corporate network, cloud providers and the Internet, they are suddenly vulnerable to cyberattack. Worse, these systems are attractive targets for cyber attackers. First, for the valuable IP that could be stolen. Second, for the disruption that can result from them being compromised.
In addition, there manufacturers often face problems of out-of-date and obsolete technologies that require upgrading or replacing before they can be connected and/or brought up to modern cyber-security standards.
What should manufacturers consider when increasing industrial connectivity?
First and most importantly, increased industrial connectivity must incorporate robust security measures, including encryption and authentication, to protect against cyber threats and ensure safe and reliable operations.
Further, integration and interoperability is another key concern. Adopting standardised communication protocols simplifies interoperability between diverse systems and reduces the need for costly custom integrations. It may be that an intermediate-level system can sit above existing OT to provide a bridge to IT systems and the cloud.
In this way, data can be integrated, unified, pre-processed and even analysed in the specialist OT layer before being stored in the cloud or being used by business systems or advanced analytics or predictive modelling tools. It can also be a simple and easy way to connect IoT devices and their data to an overarching system that can deliver integrated insights.
