Forces driving innovation in Industrial Automation

We are compelled to thinking about where the automation industry used to be and the forces that will be shaping it in the future.

Past Innovations

In the last few years there has been Industrial automation and control system technological shifts that significantly impacted manufacturing productivity and efficiency:

• Numerical Control
• PID Control
• Distributed Control System (DCS)
• PLC Control systems
• SCADA systems
• Industrial Networks (i.e. Ethernet, controlnet, DeviceNet, Modbus, Profibus;)

During each innovation, there has always been resistance by suppliers to embrace new technology. Wide adoption of Microsoft Windows to replace proprietary operating systems had a significant impact on the industry. Traditional industrial automation vendors resisted the use of Microsoft Windows for a wide range of reasons. It was the early adopter Wonderware that used Windows to create the modern HMI. Wonderware was founded in 1987 for Windows-based Human Machine Interfaces (HMI). Idea was that operators monitoring factory operations would be more productive if they use a machine that was fun and easy to use. Automation users found Wonderware to be significantly more effective than any other offering on the market. Over a period of time almost all principal automation product manufacturers switch to Microsoft platform.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The impact of Internet of Things (IoT) technology on industrial automation control system is going to be significant in the days to come. Technology is driving for high-performance low-cost processors, low-cost sensors, analytic software, vision camera systems, cloud platform and high performing distributed architecture. This development is going to lead to lower cost and higher performance industrial automation systems.

Based on the past technology adoption pattern it will take time for traditional industrial automation suppliers to incorporate these technologies into their products. IoT technology is going to enable innovation in industrial automation control products, to be developed and commercialized by innovative companies.

The growth of more powerful IoT technology at lower costs is explained by Moore’s Law. The law predicted the number of transistors in a given integrated circuit size doubles approximately every two years thereby increasing processing power and speed.

Forcing Factor - Operational Technology (OT) & Information Technology (IT) Integration

Tighter integration of OT & IT is recognized for improving manufacturing efficiency, enhanced quality, and better flexibility. It is refreshing to see innovative industrial automation suppliers are already providing building blocks to accomplish the vision of the connected enterprise. Industrial Automation is becoming part of the business information loop.

OPC UA technology provides an efficient and secure infrastructure for communications from sensor to business enterprise computing for all industrial automation systems in manufacturing, SCADA, and process control. 

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