Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
Rockwell Automation held its 20th annual TechED (formerly RSTechED) for a record number 2,200 end users, system integrators, distributors, partners and machine builders interested in how IIoT and The Connected Enterprise related solutions can help to, for example, optimize production data, increase yields, reduce energy costs, build secure networks, and ultimately increase revenue and profits. TechED featured over 170 discussion sessions, training classes, and hands-on labs categorized by control, information, networks and security, process, safety, systems, technology and services, and visualization, as well as application and case studies.
The event was kicked off by Rockwell Automation President and CEO Blake Moret, who clearly spelled out a five step journey that its customers can use to begin the journey to “The Connected Enterprise”. This addresses one of the biggest questions that customers have, which is how does a company get started on deploying IIoT. The steps Blake identified were to first identify a desired business outcome, then to get an outside perspective, followed by assembling a team, then implementing a pilot program and finally scaling for expansion. Following Blake was Rockwell Automation Senior Vice President Frank Kulaszewicz, who runs the Architecture and Software business, discussing the IIoT drivers that are delivering major productivity and profit benefits to manufacturing, including increasing operational productivity, asset reliability and maintenance, and risk management. Information solution capabilities ranged from remote and on-premise cloud to edge devices, leveraging Rockwell Automation’s integrated architecture to connect to the IIoT infrastructure, and its EtherNet IP enabled network to connect to smart assets. The benefits of IIoT and The Connected Enterprise to its customers include a faster time to market for manufactured products, improved asset utilization, lower total cost of ownership, and more effective enterprise risk management.
Embedded in IIoT and The Connected Enterprise story are scalable execution systems and analytics software, along with solutions for mobility and collaboration, as well as connected services. This was demonstrated by members of Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk TeamONE, who were using newly released tools for instant device analytics and plant-floor collaboration. The tools included the company’s new FactoryTalk TeamONE Standard Edition app and a new FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices appliance, both designed to leverage the connections across industrial operations already established by the smart devices used by plant or distributed workers. These new tools were designed to be off-the-shelf offerings, require minimal configuration, and focused on helping to solve common maintenance problems faster to reduce unplanned downtime, improve reaction time for maintenance teams and further assist decision makers with health and diagnostics analytics for industrial devices and systems.
The new Standard Edition of the FactoryTalk TeamONE app is focused on helping manufacturers to reduce mean time to repair. This new edition adds an alarm module, enabling teams to collaborate with live alarm details. This gives users the ability to view all active alarms as well as view, share and post new details, which provides increased team collaboration by adding context with alarm information. Alarms requiring immediate action can be shared with specific team members or posted to the entire team for group management and resolution. As a smart node, the FactoryTalk TeamONE app requires no server, device to cloud gateways, or IT setup for manufacturers to deploy, which expands as they go through their digital transformation. The app is currently available on the Apple App Store and Google Play store. The new Standard Edition is a paid yearly subscription and expands the features available in the free edition of the app.
The FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices Appliance is a hardened appliance that helps to avoid downtime and improve productivity by proactively identifying device health. By providing a connection to power and a local control system network, the application detects automation devices on the network without disrupting operations, providing specific calls-to-action, instant device displays and a machine-learning-based chat bot, which are all available from within the appliance. The appliance learns what is important to users by continuously analyzing the devices on the network and delivering recommendations to help maintenance and engineering teams reduce unplanned downtime and more quickly repair systems. The Devices Appliance can detect and perform a basic analysis on any EtherNet IP device, and has detailed analytics for over 2,000 Allen-Bradley devices. The first year’s subscription is included for each appliance.
These IIoT and The Connected Enterprise offerings are some of the first subscription offerings from Rockwell Automation. To further streamline the adoption process, the company is using a new e-commerce portal to manage the new offerings. All subscriptions and management can take place within a single, self-service portal. These new products are targeted at producers going through a digital transformation, who seek modern tools that do not take too long or too much investment to deploy.
With all the sessions, training and hands-on labs going on over the five days of TechED, it is always insightful to attend the real-world application and case studies to see real-world example of how IIoT and The Connected Enterprise solutions are being deployed and what the initial results are. Results included ARC Resources, an oil and gas producer optimizing artificial lift and gas flow measurement on aging assets by deploying a connected production solution. Arkansas Steel deploying a FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI solution that automated the aggregation and reporting of data, increasing yield by at least 3 percent. Enbridge Energy gathering and managing data from pump sites across North America by deploying a scalable historian system to automatically interpret and integrate tags from hundreds of field controllers. First Solar deploying the FactoryTalk Gateway Cloud, connecting the plant and enterprise information to eliminate back-up servers, cutting IT costs by millions of dollars. Land O’Lakes layering a virtualized FactoryTalk information software solution to avoid potential downtime for cheese production. RedViking battery-free automated guide vehicles leveraging FactoryTalk to offer on-board power, measurable data on OEE, MTBF and MTTR, and the ability to connect AGVs into enterprise information systems. StoraEnso deploying advanced sequencing, alarming and reporting so operators are able to control nuisances and deviations through the modular sequencing capabilities, reducing alarms to boost uptime. And LEWA Bioprocess ensuring regulatory compliance and consistency by transitioning to an integrated control and information solution.
More IIoT and The Connected Enterprise success stories included Givaudan using ThinManager to roll out over 100 HMIs, cutting install time from days to minutes, nearly eliminating HMI failures and downtime, and adding the capability to shadow operators while troubleshooting. Great Lakes Brewing implementing modern alarming techniques that cut startup time and give maintenance actionable information on failures. Jack Daniels transitioning to a scalable, secure plantwide CPwE architecture to cut downtime, improve diagnostics, and connect enterprise and process networks. Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency improving regulatory compliance and system reliability, leveraging FactoryTalk analytics software to realize a 5-year ROI, simplify regulatory reporting, and solving pressure control issues, saving millions of dollars. Midwest Farmers Cooperative automating a new ag terminal with an EtherNet IP backbone, enabling detailed process monitoring and visualization, compliance reporting, preventative maintenance, secure remote access for support, and an information infrastructure that ties into enterprise systems and can expand into other sites, applications, and mobile devices. SPH Sine Pharmaceutical Laboratories standardizing and tracking their microbe building and solid preparation processes to reduce human error, meet new regulatory requirement and boost productivity to prepare for Made in China 2025. And Sonoco upgrading to a quality system based on FactoryTalk Historian SE software that acquires and aggregates real-time and static test data for its quality data scientists to compare test results and eliminate manual, paper-based archives and reporting.
In summary, TechED, in addition to the company's Automation Fair, provides Rockwell Automation with a great opportunity to communicate and demonstrate its IIoT and Connected Enterprise vision, continuing to educate its customers about where and how to further embrace IIoT and advanced analytics capabilities in the context of their own applications and challenges to make the most of the automation and control system assets they have while helping to create a plan for the future.
The event was kicked off by Rockwell Automation President and CEO Blake Moret, who clearly spelled out a five step journey that its customers can use to begin the journey to “The Connected Enterprise”. This addresses one of the biggest questions that customers have, which is how does a company get started on deploying IIoT. The steps Blake identified were to first identify a desired business outcome, then to get an outside perspective, followed by assembling a team, then implementing a pilot program and finally scaling for expansion. Following Blake was Rockwell Automation Senior Vice President Frank Kulaszewicz, who runs the Architecture and Software business, discussing the IIoT drivers that are delivering major productivity and profit benefits to manufacturing, including increasing operational productivity, asset reliability and maintenance, and risk management. Information solution capabilities ranged from remote and on-premise cloud to edge devices, leveraging Rockwell Automation’s integrated architecture to connect to the IIoT infrastructure, and its EtherNet IP enabled network to connect to smart assets. The benefits of IIoT and The Connected Enterprise to its customers include a faster time to market for manufactured products, improved asset utilization, lower total cost of ownership, and more effective enterprise risk management. Embedded in IIoT and The Connected Enterprise story are scalable execution systems and analytics software, along with solutions for mobility and collaboration, as well as connected services. This was demonstrated by members of Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk TeamONE, who were using newly released tools for instant device analytics and plant-floor collaboration. The tools included the company’s new FactoryTalk TeamONE Standard Edition app and a new FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices appliance, both designed to leverage the connections across industrial operations already established by the smart devices used by plant or distributed workers. These new tools were designed to be off-the-shelf offerings, require minimal configuration, and focused on helping to solve common maintenance problems faster to reduce unplanned downtime, improve reaction time for maintenance teams and further assist decision makers with health and diagnostics analytics for industrial devices and systems.
The new Standard Edition of the FactoryTalk TeamONE app is focused on helping manufacturers to reduce mean time to repair. This new edition adds an alarm module, enabling teams to collaborate with live alarm details. This gives users the ability to view all active alarms as well as view, share and post new details, which provides increased team collaboration by adding context with alarm information. Alarms requiring immediate action can be shared with specific team members or posted to the entire team for group management and resolution. As a smart node, the FactoryTalk TeamONE app requires no server, device to cloud gateways, or IT setup for manufacturers to deploy, which expands as they go through their digital transformation. The app is currently available on the Apple App Store and Google Play store. The new Standard Edition is a paid yearly subscription and expands the features available in the free edition of the app.
The FactoryTalk Analytics for Devices Appliance is a hardened appliance that helps to avoid downtime and improve productivity by proactively identifying device health. By providing a connection to power and a local control system network, the application detects automation devices on the network without disrupting operations, providing specific calls-to-action, instant device displays and a machine-learning-based chat bot, which are all available from within the appliance. The appliance learns what is important to users by continuously analyzing the devices on the network and delivering recommendations to help maintenance and engineering teams reduce unplanned downtime and more quickly repair systems. The Devices Appliance can detect and perform a basic analysis on any EtherNet IP device, and has detailed analytics for over 2,000 Allen-Bradley devices. The first year’s subscription is included for each appliance.
These IIoT and The Connected Enterprise offerings are some of the first subscription offerings from Rockwell Automation. To further streamline the adoption process, the company is using a new e-commerce portal to manage the new offerings. All subscriptions and management can take place within a single, self-service portal. These new products are targeted at producers going through a digital transformation, who seek modern tools that do not take too long or too much investment to deploy.
With all the sessions, training and hands-on labs going on over the five days of TechED, it is always insightful to attend the real-world application and case studies to see real-world example of how IIoT and The Connected Enterprise solutions are being deployed and what the initial results are. Results included ARC Resources, an oil and gas producer optimizing artificial lift and gas flow measurement on aging assets by deploying a connected production solution. Arkansas Steel deploying a FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI solution that automated the aggregation and reporting of data, increasing yield by at least 3 percent. Enbridge Energy gathering and managing data from pump sites across North America by deploying a scalable historian system to automatically interpret and integrate tags from hundreds of field controllers. First Solar deploying the FactoryTalk Gateway Cloud, connecting the plant and enterprise information to eliminate back-up servers, cutting IT costs by millions of dollars. Land O’Lakes layering a virtualized FactoryTalk information software solution to avoid potential downtime for cheese production. RedViking battery-free automated guide vehicles leveraging FactoryTalk to offer on-board power, measurable data on OEE, MTBF and MTTR, and the ability to connect AGVs into enterprise information systems. StoraEnso deploying advanced sequencing, alarming and reporting so operators are able to control nuisances and deviations through the modular sequencing capabilities, reducing alarms to boost uptime. And LEWA Bioprocess ensuring regulatory compliance and consistency by transitioning to an integrated control and information solution.
More IIoT and The Connected Enterprise success stories included Givaudan using ThinManager to roll out over 100 HMIs, cutting install time from days to minutes, nearly eliminating HMI failures and downtime, and adding the capability to shadow operators while troubleshooting. Great Lakes Brewing implementing modern alarming techniques that cut startup time and give maintenance actionable information on failures. Jack Daniels transitioning to a scalable, secure plantwide CPwE architecture to cut downtime, improve diagnostics, and connect enterprise and process networks. Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency improving regulatory compliance and system reliability, leveraging FactoryTalk analytics software to realize a 5-year ROI, simplify regulatory reporting, and solving pressure control issues, saving millions of dollars. Midwest Farmers Cooperative automating a new ag terminal with an EtherNet IP backbone, enabling detailed process monitoring and visualization, compliance reporting, preventative maintenance, secure remote access for support, and an information infrastructure that ties into enterprise systems and can expand into other sites, applications, and mobile devices. SPH Sine Pharmaceutical Laboratories standardizing and tracking their microbe building and solid preparation processes to reduce human error, meet new regulatory requirement and boost productivity to prepare for Made in China 2025. And Sonoco upgrading to a quality system based on FactoryTalk Historian SE software that acquires and aggregates real-time and static test data for its quality data scientists to compare test results and eliminate manual, paper-based archives and reporting.
In summary, TechED, in addition to the company's Automation Fair, provides Rockwell Automation with a great opportunity to communicate and demonstrate its IIoT and Connected Enterprise vision, continuing to educate its customers about where and how to further embrace IIoT and advanced analytics capabilities in the context of their own applications and challenges to make the most of the automation and control system assets they have while helping to create a plan for the future.