GE’s Intelligent Platforms User Summit Announcements

GE Introduces Software Suite that Utilizes Predix Industrial Internet Platform

At its User Summit: "Making the Industrial Internet Real", in Orlando, Florida, GE's Intelligent Platforms announced the launch of a new version of the Proficy Monitoring & Analysis Suite (PMAS), which integrates its industrial data historian, Proficy Historian with its advanced analytics software, Proficy SmartSignal. The new offering also utilizes GE's Predix platform for the Industrial Internet.

PMAS is an end-to-end solution that uses Proficy Historian to collect, organize, store, visualize and analyze data, and advanced analytics software based on Proficy SmartSignal to improve both asset health and process performance by providing earlier detection of emerging equipment failure.

Because it is integrated, PMAS helps to reduce implementation costs and time-to-benefit.  Because of its years of use in GE monitoring centers, it is a proven solution, which lowers its risk versus using an unproven solution. In addition, GE offers implementation, monitoring and maintenances services from GE equipment and software personnel so PMAS can be used by  companies regardless of level of IT and engineering expertise.

The core technologies in the PMAS 2.0 suite are:

Proficy Historian provides a distributed architecture, central management and administration, lower storage costs, and a range of industry-standard interfaces. With tens of thousands of installs globally, storing hundreds of millions of tags of information, Proficy Historian provides the backbone for PMAS.

Proficy Historian is designed to integrate to PMAS seamlessly and provide scalability from embedded technology in the control and SCADA layers, to site and enterprise scale with Distributed Historian Services, to a cloud-based Industrial Big Data solution based on Hadoop technologies. The software helps to improves performance by handling data sampling down to the micro-second and storing full-fidelity data that GE estimates is 85 percent more efficient than standard relational databases. Built-in compression algorithms help to reduce the cost of storage.

Proficy Historian helps ensure availability of data by providing collector redundancy, active redundancy, and caching capabilities. It allows users to look at data in context in multiple ways, depending upon how the user wants to analyze it. Proficy Historian also has data-management capabilities, leveraging data stores to allow users to compartmentalize data to set governance, retention, security, and quality policies with tight control. Proficy Historian also supports user-defined collector expressions, which enable data cleansing, conversion, and computation at the point of collection. The same expressions can be used during visualization and analysis without requiring tag consumption, helping to reduce costs and maximize capability.

Proficy SmartSignal: PMAS offers two types of Advanced Analytics capabilities—Asset Analytics to help improve asset health, and Process Analytics to help improve and optimize processes. All Advanced Analytics software is integrated with GE's Industrial Data Management software, providing advanced-analysis capabilities. Proficy SmartSignal helps to improve asset health by providing early detection of emerging equipment failure. This patent-protected software helps to detect and fix emerging issues before they can become large problems. Proficy SmartSignal helps to avoid catastrophic equipment failure, process upsets, and unplanned outages, with the goal to help its users processes approach zero unplanned downtime.

With Proficy SmartSignal, users reportedly can help to maximize revenue by improving reliability and availability, reducing maintenance costs by replacing reactive maintenance with less expensive proactive maintenance, reducing maintenance frequency and duration by fixing only the equipment that needs to be fixed, reducing replacement costs by ordering parts at notification of an impending problem and not later during an emergency, extending asset life by fixing problems before they get serious, and even reducing energy costs by running equipment more efficiently. Proficy SmartSignal works on whatever equipment from OEMs is in service, with a focus on equipment that is most critical to production.

The software detects a broad range of equipment problems across a wide variety of assets, load ranges, and failure modes. GE is currently using it to protect over 15,000 assets in the Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Mining, Aviation, and other industries.

Proficy CSense: GE's Process Analytics software, Proficy CSense, provides detailed insight on process performance. It reportedly helps to improve and optimize processes by providing analytical tools that use special techniques to extract knowledge from existing historical process and manufacturing plant data. CSense helps to identify causes for production problems, along with opportunities for preventing these problems in the future. This software can be used for batch and discrete processes, as well as continuous processes, and helps to increase yield and reduce variability.

Performance and Monitoring Services: Located outside of Chicago, Illinois, GE's Industrial Performance & Reliability Center (IPRC) provides monitoring services to customers who have constrained resources but need to avoid catastrophic equipment failure, process upsets, unplanned outages, and unplanned downtime. The IPRC uses PMAS software along with on premises subject-matter expertise to provide Predictive Diagnostic Advisories on emerging equipment and process problems. The IPRC currently monitors equipment globally for customers in the Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Mining, and Aviation industries totalling over 5,500 assets.

PMAS integrates the cases generated by the IPRC with onsite data in Proficy Knowledge Center (PKC). PKC provides asset-centric views for a fleet of assets. It connects the predictive-analytic cases with onsite tools that allow users to build standard diagnostic procedures in order to institutionalize the processes around diagnostics for industrial equipment failures. This standardization helps to reduce time-to diagnose, ensure consistency in execution, and provide a mechanism to institutionalize diagnostic knowledge into a stepwise procedure that can be supported by novices.

GE Delivers Real-time, Actionable Business Intelligence Capabilities with New Industrial Internet Solution Powered by Webalo

GE's Intelligent Platforms also announced that it is partnering with Webalo to mobilize business intelligence combined with operational awareness, enabled by the Industrial Internet. Proficy Scorecard, built on Webalo's scalable mobile app development platform Webalo Pro Appliance, in addition to GE's Proficy Mobile, generates real-time views of information from multiple data sources within the company to provide users with actionable "Scorecards".

Proficy Scorecard is enabled by GE's Proficy Mobile solution, which allows industrial environments to provide it users, on their desktop or on a mobile tablet computer or smart phone, with real-time information about the state of operations. With Proficy Scorecard views in hand, its users can make the connection between business intelligence and operations, helping to increase productivity and efficiency.  Mobile notification of critical data helps users more easily and rapidly monitor the high priority KPIs of the business while drilling down to the operational details, better leveraging the Industrial Internet in their business.

Using Proficy Scorecard enables combining data from Proficy with other enterprise applications that the business requires, including ERP systems or in-house custom-built applications. Employees can then use that real-time data on smartphones and tablets to operate more productively, which can have a direct effect on business efficiency.

Novotek Combines GE's Electronic Work Instructions with Google Glass

Novotek, the largest European distributor for GE's Intelligent Platforms, announced a new application that combines GE's Proficy Workflow electronic work instructions with a Google Glass wearable computing device.

A work process management solution, GE's Proficy Workflow software provides users with interactive, step-by-step task instructions and captures process, traceability and quality data across systems to help reduce errors, waste and delays. Novotek's application combined Proficy Workflow with Google Glass for applications that require that users have hands-free guidance through process steps as part of the manufacturing process.

Keywords: Advanced Analytics, Industrial Internet, Historian, Reliability Center, ARC Advisory Group.