Over the years, industrial automation has visibly transformed the operational landscape of the manufacturing sector in India. And the movement is only gaining pace. Some studies estimate that the top industrial organizations and manufacturers may see over 25% of their capital spending going toward industrial automation initiatives. The initiatives are becoming smarter, more integrated, and sophisticated beyond expectations.
Back in the early days, the implementation of automated conveyor belts and robotic arms was the benchmark for automating industrial systems. Fast forward to the present, there are autonomous production plants that manufacture products as small as a screw to even a car with minimal human supervision. Manufacturers today leverage an array of industrial automation technologies ranging from intelligent IoT sensors to AI-powered robotic equipment to reshape the way factories operate. It is expected that the global market for industrial automation technologies will be worth over USD 395.09
billion by 2029.
The journey of industrial automation is not without challenges
On one side, industrial automation is fast penetrating every sector that has inherent manufacturing or production processes. On the other, the growing number of digital applications involved is opening the door to several challenges too. Many of these are driven by or linked to integration complexities.
Very often, manufacturing enterprises focus on introducing newer systems into the mix to solve their business growth problems. These point systems usually do deliver value in the areas they are designed for. However, in today’s connected ecosystem, they need to seamlessly fit into a wider technological landscape. Without that, the manufacturer could suffer from disjointed or fragmented processes, broken workflows, and gaps in quality and efficiency. The mounting integration challenges in the world of industrial automation are usually behind these problems. Key process control systems like SCADA, PLC, DCS, etc often face integration issues with new-generation automation systems and their software stack. This can lead to escalating problems when put into daily operations. If unchecked, the fragmentation can
result in compromised production quality or frequent disruptions in the production cycle which can lead to heavy losses due to failure to meet market demands. Major integration challenges that leaders must consider when pushing for industrial automation
Let us take a closer look at some of the top challenges that manufacturers or production companies must be aware of when going ahead with deeper levels of industrial automation:
Data Silo(s)
The introduction of new automation systems in different stages of the production process can help get the job done in its localized ecosystem. However, when it comes to integrating with other key business systems, there is a major bottleneck. Over time, automation data created across systems will exist in silos. It will be unable to gel with
other systems or be usable for wider initiatives. These could even be control signal data and hence relevant business processes controlled by automated systems may become inoperable without control or configuration data from other dependent systems. With poor integration, it becomes impossible to cross-reference SCADA or PLC data with
disconnected machines and person-centric processes or workflows in the manufacturing cycle.
Security Challenges
As digitization penetrates every layer of the manufacturing process, the threat landscape also expands. Manufacturers are not immune to cyber-attacks or unauthorized digital intrusions. In fact, given the economic footprint of the sector, it is likely that threat agents will focus more on disrupting manufacturing companies. These
disruptions will hinder these companies from meeting their production goals. However, the influx of industrial automation systems in the manufacturing life cycle can result in the creation of new vulnerabilities. This is especially so in the IT OT network where operational and software systems converge to run the production unit. Lack of data
standardization or common security frameworks could result in certain systems failing to prevent attacks while some can. Any letdown can result in the entire factory being compromised on its digital security.
Roadblocks for analytics
With the amount of data generated by automation systems in the manufacturing cycle, enterprises can derive valuable insights through analytics on this data. However, without proper integration delivered reliably, there will be a serious impact on data integrity. There are several processes where interdependent systems collaborate to produce data needed to supply insights through analytics. Poor integration can lead to missing pieces in the data puzzle and irrespective of how powerful the analytics solution is, there will still be discrepancies in the insights generated.
Innovation bottleneck
Over time, siloed industrial automation systems with poor interoperability due to a lack of seamless integration will lead to a stagnation in the technology architecture. Evolution will become muted or constrained, and innovation will become much harder. This will prevent the deployment of new intelligent applications as they will not be able to leverage accurate data or control signals to effectively implement new innovative features or characteristics in the production cycle.
Navigating the integration challenge in industrial automation
Manufacturers must explore growth opportunities and business expansion potential with industrial automation. Solving the integration puzzle becomes a priority in this journey and is where collaborating with an experienced technology partner like CSI can make a real difference. Our tailored integration solution, makes it easier for manufacturers to experience a risk-free transition into a unified data-driven business with a common data platform aggregating all data sources.
With inbuilt connectivity suite, every critical workflow in the company can be automated with real-time data supply from across the business digital landscape on demand. From SCADA/PLC/HMI/DCS/Drives configuration to 3rd party communication protocol management, Our platform offers a singular view of the company without any data gaps or siloes.
Our engineers can help realize maximum ROI from automation initiatives with proven guidance, implementation support, and choice of the best tools in the industry.
Get in touch with us to know more.