Companies are transforming operations and manufacturing using new time-series database technologies for the IIoT and the digital transformation. Traditional operational historians and time-series databases are changing and adapting to address the digital transformation. The new generation operational historian or industrial data platform is an industrial time-series database used to capture and transform time series data into operational visualization to support industrial operations analysis and decision-making and the digital transformation. The next gen historian is more than just a platform for data storage. Platforms for the today’s time-series databases should include on-premise, edge and cloud, etc.

Automation vendors continue to support standardisation efforts initiated by NAMUR, with demonstrators and reports on pilot implementations of Module Type Package (MTP) that facilitates modular production.  The impressive list*) of users, vendors, integrators and associations that participated in the common booth on MTP testifies on the perceived importance of modular production, and predicts significant rates of adoption of the standard.

Manufacturers around the globe are beginning the journey of digital transformation investment.  Some are well into the transformation.  Unfortunately, many enterprises are not sufficiently equipped from an organizational point of view.  Creating a strategic IT-OT investment plan is essential, as indicated in a previous post on this blog.  However, many will look at this as an IT-OT technology-based digital transformation investment plan, rather than holistically as an enterprise transformational plan that involves organizations and people as well as the latest digital technology.

Aera Energy described their IT journey to take advantage of their operating data by using the OSIsoft PI system to drive operational performance in oil and gas.

How have lithium batteries managed to dominate new grid-scale energy storage?