This year, with all of the economic challenges facing manufacturers, staying competitive is going to require cost reductions, increased productivity and efficiencies, innovation and the quick adoption of new technologies to help achieve these goals. What tools do you need to survive this challenging environment? We asked five industry experts to name the top five technologies and trends that will impact Canadian manufacturers in 2009 and beyond. Thank you to Jim Pinto, Sherman Lang, Sal Spada, Sivakali Prasad Dasari and Michel Ruel for sharing their thoughts and expertise.

It's survival of the fittest for manufacturers these days. Those who remain lean and implement leading-edge technologies and flexible processes to produce high-quality products cheaper and faster than their competitors will be successful. To help you achieve success, we've asked industry experts to name the top five technologies or trends they think will make a difference in 2007 and beyond. Thank you to Jim Pinto, Peter Luh, Peter Orban, Sal Spada and Sath Rao for contributing to our second annual Top 5 feature. Last year, wireless technologies and robotics were a common theme among contributors. This year, wireless and robotics still made the list, along with a bevy of other emerging technologies. Read on to see what the experts had to say.

Manufacturers strive to produce better products, cheaper and faster than their competitors. More companies implement automation to boost output and quality. But with the vast amount of technologies available, it can be a daunting task to identify the leading technologies that will truly make a difference on the plant floor. We asked five experts to list what they consider to be the top industrial automation technologies or trends that will make a difference in 2006 and beyond. A big thank you to Jim Pinto, Don Mahony, Rudy Poseika, Trevor Jones and Sal Spada for sharing their insights.

Jim Pinto's top five


Jim Pinto is an industry analyst, commentator, writer, technology entrepreneur, investor and futurist. You can read excerpts from his book, Pinto's Points - How to Win in the Automation Business, at www.jimpinto.com/writings/points.html.

1. The networked factory: The vision of fully automated factories has existed for some time now: customers order online, with electronic transactions that negotiate batch size, price and colour, while intelligent robots and sophisticated machines fabricate a variety of customized products on demand. The promise of remote-controlled automation is finally making headway in manufacturing. Today, this is purely a matter of networked intelligence. Ethernet is everywhere, and everything is networked. All segments of manufacturing will start to interact in ways that were previously unthinkable. It's about getting information in and out quickly, monitoring the business as it happens, and making quick, effective, agile decisions.
2. Wireless networks: Wireless connectivity is already wide-spread in office and consumer environments, and manufacturing will move quickly to take advantage of the overwhelming benefits. More production personnel, portable equipment and processes will be networked than ever before. A variety of technology choices are available - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee. In 2006, expect to see these wireless networks throughout the factory floor.
3. Robots: In the last decade, the performance of robots has increased dramatically while prices have plummeted. In North America, the price of robots relative to labour costs has fallen significantly, as low as 12:1, if quality improvements are taken into consideration. As robot intelligence increases, and as sensors, actuators and operating mechanisms become more sophisticated, manufacturing automation applications will continue to multiply.
4. Machine-to-machine communications (M2M): For complex manufacturing equipment, M2M
communications will track operating and usage patterns, providing production analysis and predictive maintenance. When breakdowns occur, the equipment itself will provide immediate feedback for rapid diagnostics and proactive service. Equipment manufacturers will be using M2M-connected products to develop super-efficient service relationships and reduce the hassles of equipment ownership.
5. Enterprise collaboration software: More people are working together in distributed, cross-organizational teams, across distances, time zones and conventional company borders. Team members are available from anywhere, at any time, through collaboration software suites. Desktop and intranet search and data mining solutions will allow companies to use more of the knowledge that previously was left untapped in information archives. Collaborating companies will grow smarter and add more value as they refine and reuse their knowledge.

Rudy Poseika's top five


Rudy Poseika is the manager of technical support for Richmond Hill, Ont.-based automation software provider CB Automation Inc., a sister company to CB Engineering.

1. Microsoft .Net technology: The implementation of .Net in the software environment should increase the reliability and security of software offerings. The technology provides the infrastructure for different applications to share data, and it has the ability to automatically update newer versions of itself. Existing applications can be re-worked to be .Net applications, but these may not be able to take advantage of all of the technology's benefits. There are also other infrastructures that can accomplish the same tasks via Java and network protocol homegrown solutions.
2. Portal: Information processing and summary viewing on the plant floor still have issues providing the big picture. Various Scada, PLCs and instrumentation can now communicate with each other, but when corporate databases become involved, and connections to suppliers and customer systems are required, it can be a difficult implementation task. Web services provide information, such as electricity prices or weather data, allowing the different systems access to more timely information. This becomes a "portal" solution for use in manufacturing environments. Portals are used for customer relationship management solutions, finance, sales automation, as well as on the plant floor. The portal viewer can reside on the present infrastructure of computers with existing Scada, hand-held devices or "tablet" devices.
3. Radio frequency identification (RFID): There has been some press about the "big brother" aspect of RFID, but the benefit in manufacturing is being recognized more and more. Placing RFID tags on pallets, cartons and individual items increases traceability and information flow in real time. There are, however, challenges to implementation. Water absorbs RF signals, while metal reflects the signals. Therefore, tag location on these
applications is key.
4. Manufacturing execution systems (MES): MES has been described as the layer of software
implementation between the plant floor and the enterprise application system. Now that the infrastructure of Scada exists, MES applications are easier to implement, and can relay data and information up and down the enterprise. MES can also be used for tracking purposes, as it can produce reports detailing the raw materials that went into an item, as well as each process it went through.
5. Wireless communications/networking: Wi-Fi and "hotspots" have become buzzwords these days, and are increasingly implemented on the plant floor. With wireless technologies, cabling can be eliminated, fork lifts and other mobile equipment can be in constant communication with other systems, and information flow is enhanced.

Don Mahony's top five


Don Mahony is a business development manager for Mississauga, Ont.-based Schneider Electric Inc., specializing in industrial control automation solutions.

1. Ethernet communications: The replacement of various proprietary communication systems with Ethernet will allow multiple manufacturers to use the same communication system. There has been movement towards this standard as more manufacturers provide connectivity using this system.
2. Advanced PLC programming tools: Users have typically defaulted to the familiar ladder logic language instead of using the power of the four standard International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) languages available in modern PLC programming packages. For example, a sequential function chart should be used as an overview for any sequential process; structured text is the most efficient way of handling calculations; function block language is an excellent way of depicting a process application; and a ladder diagram is the best approach when interlocking is required. A project is often composed of multiple applications. The key is to select the language that best suits the needs of the engineering team and the maintenance group.
3. Internet technologies: In the past, automation systems were focused primarily on the control of the process or machine. Today, there is more emphasis on obtaining data from the process or machine, which can then be turned into information for production decisions. Internet technologies, such as web servers and mail servers, can be used to make this information available to all departments on a corporate network. The latest technologies embed these servers into plant-floor controllers, drives and monitors, so the information can be accessed on a browser anywhere on the connected network.
4. Remote machine access: Machinery is becoming more complex as manufacturers strive for better throughput and less downtime. In many cases, this requires dedicated training for maintenance personnel on each machine, resulting in huge costs for major installations. Some OEMs design their machines with built-in communications back to the factory for improved maintenance and reliability. This line of communication not only allows factory technicians to troubleshoot the machine remotely, but also provides the manufacturer with information, such as wear rates, so they can provide more accurate, predictive maintenance programs to the users.
5. Simulation software: In the past, a new product's lifecycle could be expected to be measured in years. Today, it may be measured in months. This means the developmental cycle must be compressed to maximize the time the product is available. A key to minimizing the developmental time is using simulation software for product and process design. Modern control software allows both PLC and HMI applications to be exercised internally on a developmental computer to prove the logic and configuration before they are loaded into the
controllers or computers.

Trevor Jones' top four


Trevor Jones is the director of OEM business development for Thermo Electron, Laboratory Automation and Integration (formerly CRS Robotics) of Burlington, Ont., and president of the Robotic Industries Association.

1. Robotics: Flexibility is the order of the day. Robotics will help in product line switchover when demand pulls new products from the factory. Robots also lend structure to the way products are assembled, and how the factory is laid out. Those supported with computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for production planning will shorten line change-over time. More powerful controllers make robots faster and more capable of adapting to sensory input than ever before. New robotic controllers will have more dedicated application-centric software to shorten set-up time and provide more optimal in-process control.
2. Automated process feedback and data collection: Adapting processes for constant improvement is key. Robotic and other machine controllers will provide more process control data and will adapt to changing process conditions. Machine vision can be used for process control and for capturing quality data. Analysis software will spot statistical and special cause variations in the processes.
3. On-demand quality documentation: Flexible manufacturing requires on-demand information. Shop floor staff have to be updated with the latest techniques and information about how products have to be built and tested. Final inspection is essentially a "waste" in lean manufacturing theory. The right job has to be done the first time with little waste, scrap or rejects.
4. Wireless communications: I see a more intimate link between humans and machines, supported by convenient communication devices. Wires are a thing of the past. Safety protocols and technologies must be adapted and supported within the framework of wireless communications. Safety standards must address these emerging technologies aggressively.

Sal Spada's top three


Sal Spada is a senior analyst with the ARC Advisory Group. His areas of expertise include
computer numerical controllers, general motion control, servo drives and machine safety.

1. Adaptive machine controls: The manufacturing community is continuously seeking to improve quality in production as the market moves to zero tolerance in defects. Thus, there is a demand in the market for more adaptive controls. There are many forms of adaptive solutions in the market that are working in tandem with advanced algorithms embedded directly in machine controls. Spot welding is a good example of a process that lends itself to adaptive controls. The pneumatic positioning systems that have dominated the industry in the past are now being displaced by electronic servo control. The use of weld tip displacement systems that rely upon electronic motion control to position the weld tip is a trend that is taking hold. Manufacturers are able to control force and measure displacement, thereby adding another dimension of adaptive control to process. Overall, electronic servo control adds another element of flexibility to rapidly improve production processes or quickly adapt a new product to the system.
2. Intelligent software: Manufacturers want to improve the operational efficiency of their existing assets. The primary mechanism to measure and manage asset efficiency has been to use overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) analytical tools, which require visibility and connectivity to equipment on the production floor. The challenge, however, is to take this data and turn it into information that is actionable by managers and operators on the production floor. We are seeing a rapid emergence of software on the factory floor that provides intelligence and guidance on how to balance the load on a production line and fix problems that have the most impact on productivity. The key to improving production efficiency is identifying corrective actions that lead to maximizing uptime. Thus, it is knowledge-based tools that are shattering the traditional notions of managing asset efficiency. These tools employ simulation, as well as weighted analysis, to eliminate objectivity in production floor decision-making.
3. Safety systems: Business and plant managers are actively seeking an intelligent safety strategy that not only protects humans, machines and the environment, but also supports business benefits such as increased productivity, improved machine efficiency and increased uptime. Manufacturers are taking these business factors into account when considering new automation upgrades and installations. A more modern, effective safeguarding strategy is one that is integrated as a system solution using intelligent automation components. The system approach results in minimizing the risk of operator injury to a tolerable level while allowing the operator to work efficiently. Modern safety systems allow operators and maintenance personnel to gain access to machine safety zones or reduce the risk of injury by setting programmable limits on actuator speeds, forces and torques.

This year, with all of the economic challenges facing manufacturers, staying competitive is going to require cost reductions, increased productivity and efficiencies, innovation and the adoption of new technologies to help achieve these goals. We asked five industry experts to name the top five technologies and trends that will impact Canadian and worldwide manufacturers in 2010 and beyond.

Author and Topic Index

Jim Pinto
1. Industrial wireless.
2. Embedded intelligence and M2M.
3. Cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS).
4. Plant and factory security systems.
5. Robots are coming.

Eric Byres
1. Industrial security and safety integration.
2. Industrial wireless.
3. Virtualization.
4. Industrial cloud computing.
5. Host Identity Protocol (HIP) for control systems.

Marc Ostertag
1. Integrated safety.
2. Energy-efficient drive systems.
3. Predictive maintenance.
4. Remote machine monitoring and maintenance.
5. Embedded communication services.

Anders Lif
1. Usability enhancements.
2. The integration of the “top floor and shop floor.”
3. Convergence of IT and SCADA.
4. Mash-ups.
5. Shrinking workforce tech.

Sal Spada
1. Adaptive production machinery.
2. Design tools integrated with automation for mechatronic optimization.
3. Robotic safeguarding solutions.
4. Sensor networks become viable options.
5. Motion control safety functionality improves machine utilization.


Jim Pinto

• Jim Pinto is an industry analyst and commentator, writer, entrepreneur, investor and futurist. Read his predictions, as well as excerpts from his book, Pinto’s Points, at www.jimpinto.com.

1. Industrial wireless.
Wireless is an enabling technology for new applications beyond just wire replacement. The new ISA standard has finally been tested and approved; this will, hopefully, stimulate broader applications for a variety of end users. My hunch is that new applications, with changed processes and procedures, will adapt to the new wireless capabilities. This could generate revenue breakthroughs for burgeoning wireless networking technologies waiting in the wings. We’ll see more wireless products announced in this coming year, and it could spark a new phase of growth that will re-energize industrial automation.

2. Embedded intelligence and M2M.
The “pervasive Internet” is still emerging, and in spite of the economic slowdown, will burst through in the coming decade with a plethora of products and applications. Embedded intelligence and connectivity is what machine-to-machine (M2M) is all about. Large assets will include self-monitoring procedures, reporting up the hierarchy with information such as uptime and downtime, diagnostics, usage and failure patterns, and more. All this invisible information about assets, costs and liabilities will become available at an affordable price, generating new revenue growth for leaders.

3. Cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS).
This is a burgeoning new area in the commercial and office business environments, and growth will spill over into factories and process plants. All but the most critical components will be run “in the cloud” — it’s simply a matter of how local or how distant the hardware and software resources are located. The switch to cloud resources will occur because of the growing obsolescence of capitalized hardware, plus continuing support for rapidly changing software. Something’s got to give, and what will change is the mix of local, capitalized hardware and software versus cloud resources. Albeit with some lag, industrial automation will follow the growth in this fast-growing arena.

4. Plant and factory security systems.
Most of today’s automation and control systems use the same hardware (Intel), operating system (Windows) and communications (Ethernet TCP/IP) as broadly deployed personal, corporate office and administrative networks. This generates steadily increasing problems. Worms and trojans can enter through mainstream operating systems and software, plus there may be deliberate external or internal intrusion. Good network security environments include high-security routers and firewalls that block outside intrusion but do not affect required performance. Automation-systems security has become an urgent issue, perhaps even a critical one. Providers of effective security protection solutions and services will generate good growth over the next several years.

5. Robots are coming.
Robots with integrated vision and touch dramatically changes the speed and efficiency of new production and delivery systems. Robots have become so accurate they can be applied where manual operations are no longer a viable option. The biggest change in industrial robots is that they will evolve into a broader variety of structures and mechanisms. In many cases, configurations that evolve into new automation systems won’t be immediately recognizable as robots. For example, robots that automate semiconductor manufacturing already look quite different from those used in automotive plants.

Eric Byres

• Eric Byres, CTO of Byres Security, is an expert on SCADA and critical infrastructure security. He has been responsible for numerous standards, best practices and patents for industrial networks.

1. Industrial security and safety integration.
In many companies, there is a growing realization that industrial safety and industrial security are actually two sides of the same coin. Whether the cause is an unsafe act or a security breach, the impact is the same — personnel safety is in jeopardy. Adopting a common methodology for both is more cost-effective engineering. Expect to see combined safety-security consultancies to dominate the SCADA/process security markets and the emergence of new audit and analysis methods that tightly integrate safety and security on the plant floor.

2. Industrial wireless.
This has been on everyone’s lists for several years now, yet product in the field has always seemed to be another year away — so why include it again? Because with the ratification of the ISA100.11a Wireless Systems for Industrial Automation: Process Control and Related Applications standard in September and the release of a WirelessHART Device Registration Procedure document in August, it means real products for both wireless standards are going to start appearing in earnest. Once they do, then we will see wireless migrate from a curiosity to a core technology on the plant floor.

3. Virtualization.
A virtual machine (VM) is a software implementation that executes programs just like a physical machine. For example, my laptop contains several VMs that act as virtual PLC programming and network analysis laptops; they allow me to keep my personal computer, my office computer and my field laptop all independent (making application conflicts far less likely and my regular PC far more efficient) yet only carry one laptop. But the real benefits are in server applications: you can replace dozens of lightly loaded “hard” servers with one powerhouse server and then run multiple applications in their own VM. It is having a major impact on automation, and the cost savings in hardware and management can be enormous.

4. Industrial cloud computing.
While there is little chance that we will soon see the direct control of processes (no cloud PLCs), there are lots of support applications in industrial plants where cloud computing makes sense. For example, today’s long-term data historians and asset management systems can be situated on servers almost anywhere in the company intranet, so pushing the data storage and access out to secure, externally managed server in the “cloud” is not a big technical shift. The challenge is trust. As standards develop for ensuring good third party management of data and engineers realize the real cost of maintaining a secure server and trust those whose only job is maintaining that server, the shift will happen.

5. Host Identity Protocol (HIP) for control systems.
Every list needs a long-term, crystal-ball prediction, and this is mine. The trouble today with the Internet (and TCP/IP in general) is that it is too easy to impersonate any device or person on the network and send spoofed and harmful messages — just look at your spam folder. HIP is a new protocol that will allow devices to automatically prove their identity in a secure manner. Once their identity is proven, they are allowed to access other systems and services based on the rights associated to that identity.

Marc Ostertag

• Marc Ostertag is the North American president at B&R Industrial Automation.

1. Integrated safety.
Safety will further progress to an integrated part of the control solution. Besides the obvious benefits, such as reduction of wiring, project commissioning and maintenance, this will really start to change the way machines react to various safety-related events, such as breach of light curtains, etc. Machines will be able to react smarter by going into a safe state versus coming to a grinding halt. In the end, this not only increases the safety of the machine but vastly reduces downtime — and this is where the smarter safety will very quickly pay off.

2. Energy-efficient drive systems.
Energy efficiency will continue to be a major driving factor for all industries. The biggest source for energy losses is in motion-related system parts, such as servo drives. While it has become common practice to link servo drives and help share one drive’s excess energy while braking with another drive that is accelerating, the new generation of drive systems can take this further and put energy back into the power grid. Such drives with power factors close to one will greatly reduce the energy used by manufacturing lines. The savings realized per year quickly outgrow the cost of the drive system by a large margin.

3. Predictive maintenance.
More and more we will see machines that can monitor their actual state with regards to maintenance. The big driving factor here is downtime versus uptime. Every time a machine requires unscheduled maintenance, the costs are huge since most are part of manufacturing lines that are consequently shut down. If, for example, the machines that had to be shut down could have already announced their maintenance needs, all service work could be executed at the same time. This reduces lifetime costs by a huge factor. The technology is there; it requires machine builders and end users to define the execution.

4. Remote machine monitoring and maintenance.
This is not a brand-new technology, per se — it has been around for years. Most control systems will have the functionality built-in to allow for remote access in order to be able to monitor the machine and troubleshoot any potential problems. Unfortunately, in many cases the machines are not hooked up to the company-wide Intranet and even if they are, they often are not granted any outside access. What is needed is a sensible policy at the site that takes security concerns into consideration as well as trying to reap the potential benefits remote access promises.

5. Embedded communication services.
More and more, PLCs are becoming more intelligent. One good example is integrated communication services, such as OPC servers embedded in the PLC. This brings the realization of site-wide data connection and data collection to the controller level and can, in many cases, make additional PCs obsolete. It also allows for a much cleaner integration and thus helps make processes and operations more transparent.

Anders Lif

• Anders Lif is the global director of product and industry marketing with IFS, which offers a range of ERP and manufacturing software solutions.

1. Usability enhancements.
Designing business applications for improved efficiency lets IT support departments and manufacturing staffs handle greater responsibility with the same or fewer staff. Human-computer interaction has become an important science when designing IT systems for optimum usability and for driving employee efficiency as an important part of the system design. We have seen usage of systems increase after usability enhancements as well, with more than 100 percent following the redesign of an OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) software module, which allows a manufacturer to get more value from their investment.

2. The integration of the “top floor and shop floor.”
This has been discussed and developed for at least the past decade, but there are more and more examples of integrations between automation equipment and business applications that really make sense. The classic example is predictive or condition-based maintenance, but you will also start to see examples where you are able to automate administrative work processes based on data exchange between PLCs and business applications.

3. Convergence of IT and SCADA.
IT systems are getting more and more “real time.” Even if we never talk about micro seconds update in business applications, we have access to information in a much more transparent way than before — and this also drives a redesign of the user interface to deal with more information in the same screen. IT systems are looking more and more like SCADA systems as speedometers, trends and different graphical representations are used to illustrate more complex data patterns.

4. Mash-ups.
These integrations of business software and web functionality will become more and more frequent. An example is the mash-up combination of existing Internet maps, like Google Earth and Microsoft Bing, with work order systems in an EAM/CMMS application. Suddenly, users are able to see work orders plotted geographically across a map, enabling much more efficient planning for field service technicians performing after-sales service at customer sites. Mash-ups are often a cheap way of creating new functionality by combining already-existing technologies and solutions in new ways and can be expected to be more common in the coming years.

5. Shrinking workforce tech.
In Western economies, the baby boomers are about to retire, leaving a smaller generation to replace them. This leaves many companies in an interesting situation, but IT and automation can help them handle the same (or more) work with fewer people. Manufacturers will also need to capture the “tacit knowledge” of their retirees through social networks or Web 2.0; tools like forums, wiki articles, blogs and other devices are all great at involving and engaging people in debates where their tacit knowledge is released and stored for future reference. These are also becoming an interesting part of the business-applications design in upcoming years as they prove to be an efficient way to interact and collaborate within companies and over borders.

Sal Spada

• Sal Spada is a senior analyst with the ARC Advisory Group. His focus areas include motion control, material handling, machine safeguarding, robotics, servo drives, and packaging machinery and operations.

1. Adaptive production machinery.
In practice, there are innumerable process issue considerations to take into account when seeking to implement a solution. The complexity of the process is the primary reason major CNC suppliers won’t get directly involved with adaptive machining solutions. The issues with regard to tooling include tooling profile, tooling coatings, tooling variation, work piece material, work piece material variation, machine tool characteristics and surface finish quality. These process variables are not an area of expertise for the CNC suppliers, so major CNC suppliers do not want to get engaged directly with the end-use manufacturer.

2. Design tools integrated with automation for mechatronic optimization.
Mechatronic support services include comprehensive simulation tools for testing primary as well as alternative machine concepts. Such tools create a virtual machine environment to test a prototype and production machine performance. In this phase, machine builders can run tests for machine cycles, sectional speed capabilities, bottlenecks and safety. As a result, machine builders can modify or configure machines for optimum performance and high productivity. Mechatronic support services can not only eliminate the need for building multiple physical machines prior to production, but can also speed actual machine deployment.

3. Robotic safeguarding solutions.
Robotic suppliers are introducing innovative solutions that provide protection from the inside out rather than the pervasive outside-looking-in approach. These innovations are based on the concept of “work envelope limitations,” which is more akin to a designed-in safety approach, than an add-on safety approach. A designed-in safety approach provides an opportunity to improve the productivity of the work cell by constraining the movement of the robotic arm based on the location of the production worker and the perimeter fencing.

4. Sensor networks become viable options.
IO-Link is a low-cost, point-to-point wired sensor network that offers improvements in deployment, continuous operation, and diagnostics for the most widely used types of sensors. An IO-Link sensor transmits standard digital or analog output signals and provides additional serial data communications with the control unit as master to exchange parameters such as the measuring range, sensitivity, time delay and operating mode. Because the serial data transmission needs no additional wires and the output signals are compatible, it is possible to use standard cables and connectors and combine or mix IO-Link devices with standard devices.

5. Motion control safety functionality improves machine utilization.
Integrating safety functionality into servo drives and other motion control equipment is one of the most intriguing drivers in the machine safeguarding market. Embedding a safety controller and safe I/O right into a servo drive eliminates the need for a separate safety controller and I/O. Safety functions are integrated directly into the drive, eliminating the need for external power contactors and speed monitoring equipment and enabling local control. Many view this trend not as a threat the machine safeguarding market, but as a move toward incorporating increasingly more safety functions in machinery.