Fabien VILLAREAL
AVEVA SYSTEM PLATFORM:
FRAMEWORK N° 1 FOR INDUSTRIAL
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Associate Director, WebExpected, Stealth Code Ltd
"What do the factories that produce electric vehicles have in common with the factories that produce powdered milk for infants? What do the Madrid metro, the Chinese railway network, Spain's airports and the Eiffel Tower have in common? What do Total's refineries have in common with EDF's turbines or solar farms and wind farms?"
Fabien VILLAREAL, AVEVA Portfolio, Strategic Business Development
"The answer is simple: all these factories use a single industrial framework that allows them to build a standardized industrial information system that is adapted and scalable. This is what we call the AVEVA SYSTEM PLATFORM."
"Can we summarize in a few words what this platform is about?"
"As you can see, no two factories, even within the same group, have the same technological environment: the machines are different, the automatons, the communication systems, the protocols, and sometimes simply the trades are different, organized differently in different eras with different technologies. In short, in a factory, about half of the elements are more or less standardized, and the other half are built empirically with specific additions to fit the operations field in a pragmatic and realistic way. Our tools allow us to model this complexity and to ensure the collection of this precious data and to orchestrate the piloting of the industrial production tools of the plants. PLCs and DCSs (Distributed Control Systems), which are the factory's data concentrators par excellence and the roots of intelligent equipment, are our playground. For 35 years we have been speaking their language and taking control of them, regardless of the manufacturer: SIEMENS ROCKWELL GENERAL ELECTRIC SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC, OMRON, YOKOGAWA, MITSUBISHI, ABB EMERSON, and we even have the tools to develop an exotic driver when it is not available on the market to take control of a machine.
This unique framework is the only interoperable industrial IT platform, regardless of the machine manufacturer. Our tools are agnostic and thus able to listen and to control a manufacturing line, a workshop or a simple equipment. The AVEVA System Platform Framework will simply allow to build a robust and perennial information system whatever its composition, its heterogeneity, whatever the languages or the exchange protocols between the systems. The Framework allows to address all the functionalities that can be expected from an intelligent information system to follow, execute, record, modify in real time each of the operations of their production activity: quality monitoring, performance and full traceability of all operations. The AVEVA System Platform Framework embeds its own HMI engine system allowing to distribute to the right person the right information under the right presentation by the right channel and at the right time.
The Framework natively embeds its development studio to model and normalize, duplicate the developments and application models made in order to not have to redo them. As a result, our customers can exploit and evolve their models over time to adapt to new demands and new constraints.
A major point, the Framework also contains its Automation Business Process Management tool: it is a platform for modeling workshop activities that presents manufacturing processes as a sequence of orchestrated activities (raw material reception, quality control, batch report edition, cleaning, operator intervention request, event declaration, etc.). A real design and modeling studio with a simple activity library and a WYSISWYG (what you see is what you get) workflow editor that makes it easy to link activities or complete automated work sequences.
With the Aveva System Platform Framework, it is very simple to integrate and execute business rules based on events occurring on the shop floor.
The Framework will therefore work according to the events that impact the organization of production activities and automatically implement or not the right measures to take. To complete the process in the right way. This Business Process Management platform allows to program the interactions and the cause-and-effect links between the systems. These links are therefore synchronous or asynchronous and allow the automation of all or part of the activities. The programming of the activities at the level of the platform makes it possible to carry out the operations between the systems until the execution of a command on a machine.
"You seem to go a long way in customizing industrial IT applications that I've seen from customers what makes you different from other vendors' positions or specific development?"
"That's a good question indeed, if I were to compare a software development done with Aveva System Platform to a custom development, I would say that both will initially achieve the expected result. On the other hand, in the medium and long term, the maintenance in operational condition of the specific development will become more complex and in most cases its performance will drift and degrade. This specific development in its life cycle, I can confirm, will become more expensive and expose to various major risks.
Indeed, what happens if the person who made the specific development disappears, or if you do not get along with him anymore? What if the developments are not sufficiently documented or followed up? How can you control these works and/or modifications that only he can lead? What happens if you want to take back control of the information system that he made for you? Unfortunately, I see these difficulties too often with manufacturers who have had this experience, it can become complicated. With our Framework, all our developments are made with our standardized software products and we guarantee their portability over time. It is our integrators, more than 400 in total in Europe, whom we train and certify, who develop our customers' information systems and each of their programs can be taken over by another integrator within a single development studio. Moreover, many of our clients have their own development studio and require that developments be carried out according to the standards they have defined. It is crucial for an industrial company to aim far into the future and its industrial information system is in fact its application heritage which allows it to evolve and adapt to the demands of its customers. This is a real choice of strategy which guarantees the durability and competitiveness of the industrial information system over time. The specific development in the industry, often attractive at the beginning because well in phase with the extreme specificity of the needs expressed at the beginning of the project, and often attractive at the level of the budget corresponds mainly to a will of short projection on the scale of time. A solid industry that projects a solid and perennial vision always invests a lot in its industrial information system. The major interest of this strategy is to have an open system capable of integrating and hosting any type of application useful to the information system. Each industrial company has its own strategy and implements rules to be more efficient. Each industrial company develops decision support systems to better manage its activity. We do not have the vocation to develop these expert decision support or operating systems, these skills are rather with our integrators or with specialized editors with whom we work. Our vocation is to maintain and develop this framework in middleware to structure the flow of industrial data and allow their exploitation, visualization and analysis.
II
TOWARDS A UNIFIED INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM AND AN OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT INTERFACE IN ADDITION TO THE INFORMATION SYSTEM ?
“Mr. Villareal, in the field of transactional computing, manufacturers began by investing in the standardization of their information systems with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning, Note from the editor) but not in industrial information systems. How do you explain this? And who are your solutions aimed at?”
Indeed, you are right, moreover you will notice that the first functionalities or modules that are implemented in these ERPs are related to financial and commercial management. These products are on their own playing field, we are in the "transactional" field, that is, management control and accounting entries. Industrial IT is based on the field of operations, we are in real time and no longer in a "transactional" space-time. In other words: if the machine breaks, production stops, the product may be damaged, or even unfit for use or consumption. Of course, the truck will wait a little at first, but in the end the delivery will not be made. To act on the operations playground, you need to be connected in real time to the machines in order to be able to act with a few commands on the specific complexity of the manufacturing workshop. A bottleneck or a break on a line is not part of the same register. That's why our Framework works as a functional extension of the ERP systems and therefore as a complement to them. The AVEVA System Platform has been certified for SAP and works with all ERP systems. So, we have a SYSTEM approach of SYSTEM, that's why customers choose to aggregate their different monitoring tools in our Framework. On many industrial information system projects of telemetry and control that I follow, there are very often several supervision software (SCADA) Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition, Note From the Editor). I have encountered as many as five different supervisory software packages written by small independent vendors to bring together in our Framework. We worked with these tools into a single system within our Framework. This allows us to build an information system where what already exists will continue to work, it is without a doubt the only approach in the market that operates as a "system of systems".
In other Manufacturing Order Management projects, we have supplemented MES (Manufacturing Execution System) systems already in place. These systems were difficult to evolve to meet the new expectations of the users and they were generally poor in field connectivity and devoid of any control system to correct the operations in real time.
These solutions were designed more as "off-the-shelf packages" with a TOP/DOWN approach and were based primarily on operator reporting on the shop floor and aggregate data. These are more production management functions with an operating logic that is sometimes close to that of an ERP system. Once again, these software packages are not coupled with supervision and control and do not allow for dynamic correction as soon as a drift or anomaly is noted.
To answer your last point, our solutions are aimed at manufacturers who have understood that the monitoring of activity management via ERP, which is an absolute necessity, must be completed by real-time synchronization of actions on the shop floor. Our tools are the nervous extension of the ERP and the guarantee of the execution of what must be produced in an optimal way. Our solutions are aimed at manufacturers who have understood that an industrial information system must be built with standard bricks and that this system must be guaranteed over time. All industrial information systems drift and evolve over time, those made with our bricks are no exception to the rule, what makes the difference is essentially that we continue to guarantee their portability over time as we have done for 35 years. Finally, some manufacturers who have launched an MES project have immediately measured the efficiency and relevance of linking supervision and control to make their operations react and correct in real time.
III
AVEVA REAL TIME OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTER
UNIFIED
“In terms of security, what guarantees do you propose?”
The Aveva System Platform in its entirety was already certified by the EXIDA organization for English-speaking countries https://www.exida.com/SAEL-Security/aveva-security-development-lifecycle-process
Since last year, the AVEVA system Platform is certified in France by the ANSSI. The development cycle of AVEVA software was already certified ISO 9001.
https://www.ssi.gouv.fr/administration/certification_cspn/aveva-system-platform-using-aveva-application-server-aveva-operations-management-interface-and-aveva-historian-server-client-modules-version-2020-r2/
Yes, that's right, Schneider is the majority shareholder of the AVEVA Group. The French Schneider Electric owns 42% of the automation market (programmable logic controllers and industrial computers, Note from the editor) and in the world 21% for the German SIEMENS 27% for the Americans (respectively 14% for GENERAL ELECTRIC and 13% for ROCKWELL AUTOMATION), the remaining 10% are shared by the Japanese.
At AVEVA there are about 5500 people now if we count the recent acquisition of OSISOFT. This is a recent and major acquisition in the field of Analytics. https://investir.lesechos.fr/actions/actualites/aveva-filiale-de-schneider-electric-finalise-le-rachat-d-osisoft-pour-5-mds-de-dollars-1954246.php
To put it simply, 1 out of 3 plants in the world is equipped with AVEVA software licenses, about 2,500,000 licenses.
At AVEVA there are about 5500 people now if we count the recent acquisition of OSISOFT. This is a recent and major acquisition in the field of Analytics.
"Can you give us a real-world example of the value of Analytics?"
Yes of course, for example, as you know, energy is becoming a major issue for production in industry. Today, the industrialists who are able to define and implement the right parameters according to the context will always be the best placed in the competition. There are many variables to take into account (size of the series to be produced, series scheduling, cleaning, adjustment, etc.). This multifactorial equation must not only be done, but then be brought down into the parameters of the information system for its execution and finally followed and piloted in real time phase after phase according to the defined optimals. It is therefore necessary to have collected this data beforehand and then to be able to carry out these calculations and simulations easily and finally launch the execution of the optimized process automatically.
The challenge of this industrial data lake is undeniable and the analysis tools are indispensable. In my opinion, the optimization of energy expenditure is becoming increasingly important in the field of continuous improvement. Definition/execution/monitoring/correction/recording/simulation/definition etc.
Many companies that have opted for our Framework since 2012 have natively had a function to archive their industrial data and tools to study the behavior of their equipment for a long time. Those who use OSI SOFT's advanced analytics functions go even further. They are able to define and automatically execute the best calculation and production based on an unlimited number of parameters. Depending on the scale of production, this can represent millions of Euros per operation. I invite you to watch this video proposed by AIRLIQUIDE https://resources.osisoft.com/presentations/how-air-liquide-leverages-on-pi-technologies-to-optimize-its-operations---sio-optim-program/
Or HEINEKEN which uses our solutions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VclBqvbt2g4
“Mr. Villareal, in conclusion, what is AVEVA's vision for the next few years?”
In conclusion, without going into generalities, the convergence of industrial information systems with traditional information systems (ERP, CRM) is already producing spectacular results. The future of factories, and by that I mean groups with international operations, is to plan their information system architectures today with a robust framework that can handle all types of situations and is capable of being perfectly interoperable with innovation. This is also valid for those who have to manage resources over large geographical areas, and it is necessary to build this Industrial Framework and start archiving this Industrial Data Lake now in order to exploit the pools of value that will make all the difference from one company to another. This is the major investment that all companies will have to make. These information systems that we are building with AVEVA tools will allow to articulate the best of the two worlds Information Technologies / Operations Technologies. It is now necessary to undertake these unified Control Centers to supervise and aggregate in Hypervision the operations in real time by acting on all the opportunities offered by the field of possibilities offered by the data already present in our systems, which for many are still invisible and not very usable. Being able to show what has happened until yesterday while seeing what is being done at the moment, we are discussing it, makes it possible to anticipate what needs to be done right now and almost tomorrow be even better. This is what we propose with our AVEVA software portfolio.
"Mr. VILLAREAL, thank you for this interview, how can our readers contact you if they wish to work on these topics with you?"
Thanks to you Mr. Bourreau, my linkedin profile is accessible via these links : https://www.linkedin.com/in/villareal-wonderware/;https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabien-v-46855a142/ ; Just write me a message, I always answer.
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