How ready is your company to connect people, processes and technologies for bigger profits?
John Watts, Regional Marketing Director – Asia Pacific, Rockwell Automation SEA Pte Ltd

John Watts, Regional Marketing Director, Asia Pacific is responsible for all regional marketing functions including commercial marketing, commercial engineering and product business management. John also has responsibility for sales operations and sales competency.

John has 18 years of experience in automation and process control sales and marketing. Apart from his time at Rockwell Automation, John has held sales and sales management positions with Yokogawa.

He joined Rockwell Automation in 2006 as Manager, Process Solutions, Asia Pacific. From 2010 he held the position of Director, Integrated Architecture for Asia Pacific. In this role he had responsibility for business management and marketing of Integrated Architecture products including PLC / PAC controllers, motion control, software, operator interface and condition monitoring.

He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Melbourne Business School and a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Melbourne. John is based in Singapore.

Savvy manufacturers are leading the charge in managing how information is shared seamlessly and securely across their enterprises. In quest of better decisions, increased collaboration, faster time to market, lower total cost of ownership, maximised asset utilisation and minimised enterprise-risk management, industrial operators are progressively connecting their manufacturing operations with the entire value chain – uncovering the benefits of the Connected Enterprise.

A New Path to Enhanced Productivity

The rapid convergence of plant-floor operations technology (OT) and business-level information technology (IT) is delivering insight. The Internet of Things (IoT) is enabling data from production-line and remote-device sensors, actuators, controllers and switches to be distributed real time to enterprise teams and supply-chain partners.

By connecting people and processes via technology, executives and their continuous-improvement teams acquire new visibility into the various practices for quicker response to internal measures, external business activities, and market changes – for boosted productivity and global competitiveness.

A secure, standards-based Industrial EtherNet/IP network, serving as a common unifying intelligent infrastructure that supports electronic data exchange, empowers manufacturers to become Connected Enterprises, where contextualised data can be shared where and when it is needed.

Unfortunately, in a study of plant operators conducted by IndustryWeek magazine, the top publication read by U.S. manufacturers, found surprisingly low levels of integration, both on the plant floor and throughout the enterprise.

With only 14 per cent of executives stating that 100 per cent of their plant-floor data is completely interwoven with enterprise systems, there is a major opportunity for industrial operators to ramp their commitment towards smart manufacturing. A future-ready network that consolidates information for immediate enterprise-wide understanding, planning, decision making, and management can increase output and sustainability, whilst reducing risk.

Making Sure that Information and Profits are Secure

Attacks on enterprise networks can come from anywhere, anything, and anyone, including legacy OT devices or systems that may pose unexpected risks. As these ageing systems become increasingly less efficient, state-of-the-art OT and IT implementations result in fewer product defects, raised profitability and heightened customer satisfaction.

Introducing a Five-stage Connected Enterprise Maturity Model

To help manufacturers comprehend how to start their journey towards becoming a Connected Enterprise, Rockwell Automation pioneered a five-stage Connected Enterprise Maturity Model, detailing how to implement a more intelligent OT/IT network. Any company can join at any stage, at any time, depending on the phase of development most appropriate for its needs. The model incorporates measures and best practices necessary to ensure change in both technologies and organisational behaviour to pave the way toward harnessing the company’s most valued asset, its data. Thereafter, the spotlight is on securely integrating the technologies, processes and people for maximum operational performance.

Stage 1: Assessment

The Assessment Stage evaluates all facets of an organisation’s existing OT/IT network, including infrastructure, controls and devices, networks, security policies, as well as the people and practices that manage this framework.

A thorough assessment identifies and records inefficiencies with the existing OT/IT network: creating a “wish list” for designing the new network; laying the foundation for more advanced technologies; and addressing network-security issues.

Stage 2: Secure and Upgraded Network and Controls

After inefficiencies in the current OT/IT network and operations are identified, upgrades can be launched with a long-term view that anticipates infrastructure expansion, as well as new hardware, devices, and software installations. At the same time that a robust network backbone is developed to deliver secure and versatile connectivity from plant-floor operations to enterprise-business systems, a comprehensive security policy must also be formulated.

During this stage, a plan is confirmed for how OT and IT engineers will collaborate. Cross-functional teams often assess new technology alternatives, establish vendor options and roadmaps, and conceive the design of a scalable, integrated and secure OT/IT network. Beginning in a controlled, virtual environment, companies can outline business processes and workflows to manage the future intelligent system that is suitable for those in the plant, as well as enterprise management.

Stage 3: Defined and Organised Working Data Capital (WDC)

In Stage 3, the OT/IT upgrade teams define and organise the unlimited information at hand related to machine output, energy consumption and materials usage for improving business procedures. Ultimately, this WDC must be contextualised, so it can be harnessed and leveraged for tangible gains.

With an effective OT/IT network in place, smart data from OT devices can be viewed across the enterprise to allow performance-critical decision making. At the same time, documentation can be compiled and disseminated to customers, certification teams and regulatory-compliance officers.

Stage 4: Analytics

At this point, the attention shifts from the IT/OT backbone to continuous improvement. At an operations level, WDC analytics can identify audiences with the greatest needs for real-time actionable data, authorised parties who can use the information, and protocols that need to be in place to empower collaboration, agility and consistency.

Analytics also assist executives to optimise their global plant operations and achieve significant long-term savings via universal capital avoidance. With prioritised and persistent efforts, executives can monitor, measure, advance and reward cultural change at the plant, supply-chain lead times, customer service, productivity, efficiency and quality.

Stage 5: Collaboration

Stage 5 of the Maturity Model creates an environment that proactively anticipates activities throughout the enterprise and the entire supply-and-demand chain.

Internally, emerging predictive capabilities facilitate more efficient production planning and management, organised order execution, enhanced quality, and streamlined plant-to-plant performance.

At the same time, the company develops responsiveness to external events – customer and supplier activities, economic and market trends, socio-political events, etc. – to reduce losses and leverage new-found opportunities. Being able to respond promptly and accurately to emerging supply-chain and market conditions drives operational excellence and noticeable cost savings.

Rockwell Automation has fully progressed through the Maturity Model, with measured growth and innovation breakthroughs. It has encouraged its suppliers, downstream OEMs and customers to collaborate as partners for mutual asset utilisation and optimised effectiveness.

Conclusion

Every manufacturer will enter and progress through the varying stages of the Connected Enterprise Maturity Model at a pace determined by its own needs, infrastructure, readiness, and resources. With unprecedented collaboration across the entire business and supply chain, the Connected Enterprise can transform an idea to a competitive advantage, with continuous improvements and efficiencies across design, production, network security, asset management and logistics.

Rockwell Automation is rigorously connecting the assets it creates, thereby gaining powerful insights into its supply-and-demand chain, business processes, operations, maintenance and much more. The company is leveraging the proliferation of smarter field devices, big data and analytics, virtualisation and mobility so that its customers are more productive and the world is more sustainable.