Embarking on a Digital Transformation Journey to Industry 4.0 — Automation & Control

The Digital Transformation Journey to Industry 4.0 starts by understanding Industry 3.0

Andi Sama — CIO, Sinergi Wahana Gemilang with Cahyati S. Sangaji

In Summary
- Digital transformation is a Journey, Not a project. 
- Digital transformation in manufacturing is about Transforming Business Operations by Leveraging Data that the manufacturing operations generate daily.
- The first step in the digital transformation journey towards Industry 4.0 is "Admitting that We Have a Problem".
- Integration and Interoperability in Industry 3.0 within ISA-95 framework, IT/OT Convergence towards Industry 4.0, and Strategizing the digital transformation journey.
- Field Devices, PLC, HMI, Ladder Logic Diagram and SFC Programming Language, SCADA, DCS, MES, ERP, CMMS, Cloud, Machine Learning, MQTT, and UNS.
- Computing OEE. Automation based on Data.
- Illustrations on Automation in Industry 3.0 using PLC with a "hello world" program and two use cases: Mixer & Traffic Light Controller. Applied in LAD and SFC programming languages. Also with SCADA for visualization.

Well, it's February 2023, approaching Valentine's day, and finally, we have completed all five articles in the "Towards Industry 4.0" series. Our main intention in developing the series has been to provide a sound conceptual and technical introduction to automation in Industry 3.0 towards integration into Industry 4.0.

Operational Technologies and the IT/OT Convergence

There are two critical components for Manufacturing Systems at the factory level area, a. Automation & control technologies, and b. Material handling & identification. Aside from that, it is also supported by c. Manufacturing Support System, and d. Quality Control System.

The series discusses manufacturing operations within the context of automation & control technologies.

In most manufacturing operations (factories), OT infrastructure has been designed for 24x7 operation and generates a lot of data. The design is for the components to be operational for a long lifespan, like 20, 40, or 50 years. While the discussion of OT within the series is primarily for manufacturing operations, OT also applies to other industrial applications.

The traditional flow of data in Industry 3.0. The MES dashboard monitors the OEE.

The Industry 4.0 initiative has been driving the need for OT & IT convergence for more than a decade to modernize Operational Technology (OT) by leveraging Information Technology (IT). Industry 4.0 promotes end-to-end digitization of manufacturing and other industrial processes by monitoring and acting on real-time data as they occur.

While OT has been running for decades with various supporting technologies, recent developments open up opportunities for better OT resource management by leveraging IT.

OT includes software and hardware devices (controllers, sensors, and actuators). Some hardware devices are configurable. OT includes software such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), primarily for accounting purposes. Advanced OT has additional software like Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

MES executes Manufacturing orders (Work Orders, WO) from ERP. MES automates the manufacturing operation (scheduling), computes Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), and tracks Downtime (Downtime Tracking).

Most manufacturing operations have ERP, Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition (SCADA), and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) for factory automation. Very few have MES. Although, OEE needs to be monitored and improved somehow. Even manually computed day by day using pen & paper.

A production line in a factory consists of several different machines. One PLC controls multiple field devices (sensors and actuators) of one or several machines. It may also control and monitor machines across several production lines. From PLC to field devices, there are complex and various interfaces. Another challenge is properly integrating different PLC brands to acquire aggregated production data.

In the journey towards Industry 4.0, OT can leverage IT such as Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Blockchain technology will play an important role when moving to Industry 5.0 later.

Topics in the Towards Industry 4.0 Series

We published the first article in medium on October 17, 2022, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #1 IT/OT Convergence, A Digital Transformation Journey." Then, a few follow-on articles were published subsequently. We published the final article on February 3, 2023, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #5 PLC and Conveyor Operations, Box Sorting By Height in 3D Simulation."

The five published October 2022 — Feb 2023's articles in the "Towards Industry 4.0" series. The infographics template by (Infographics Presentation Template, 2021).

We summarize all the links, referring to all five articles in the series, as follows:

1. "Towards Industry 4.0 — #1 IT/OT Convergence, A Digital Transformation Journey" discusses what it takes to digitally transform the Industry from existing (Industry 3.0) to the future (Industry 4.0). Focus more on the automation part.

Technology (R)evolution towards Industry 4.0. Presentation template by (Infographics Presentation Template, 2021).

The traditional flow of data in Industry 3.0. The MES dashboard monitors the OEE.

A unified namespace integrates all the required data details on the factory floor.

2. Enabling the Digital Transformation Journey to Industry 4.0 starts by understanding Industry 3.0. This article, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #2 PLC Programming, 'Hello World,'" illustrates the most straightforward automation typically applied on Industry 3.0 using a Programmable Logic Controller.

The "Hello World" program uses the Ladder Logic Diagram programming language. It is implemented using an open-source Open PLC Editor software.

When the Start_PB is ON, the motor starter is energized.

PROGRAM Hello_World
  VAR
    Start_PB AT %I0.0 : BOOL := FALSE;
    Stop_PB AT %I0.1 : BOOL := FALSE;
    Motor_Starter AT %Q0.0 : BOOL := FALSE;
  END_VAR
Motor_Starter := NOT(Stop_PB) AND (Motor_Starter OR Start_PB);
END_PROGRAM
CONFIGURATION Config0
RESOURCE Res0 ON PLC
    TASK task0(INTERVAL := T#20ms,PRIORITY := 0);
    PROGRAM instance0 WITH task0 : Hello_World;
  END_RESOURCE
END_CONFIGURATION

This article presents one more "Extended Hello World" example, with code available on GitHub.

3. The third article, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #3 PLC Programming, A Mixer Use Case with Ladder Logic Diagram," extends the previously simple "Hello World" program to a use case typically found in a factory, mixing liquids.

A Mixer mixes fluids in a tank. The fluids come from two different sources in a tank. The mixed fluids are then channeled into another process.

When the START push button is ON and the L_LEVEL sensor is activated, the program starts running the two PUMPs to fill the tank.

4. "Towards Industry 4.0 — #4 PLC Programming, A Traffic Light Controller Use Case with SFC + SCADA" article discusses another use case, e.g., the Traffic Controller.

This time, the compiled program is deployed on a runtime engine (Open PLC runtime) and is accessed "remotely" by SCADA software for status monitoring (ScadaBR).

It is also developed using another programming language called Sequential Function Chart (SFC).

5. Finally, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #5PLC and Conveyor Operations, Box Sorting By Height in 3D Simulation" visualizes the 3D simulation using Factory I/O. The 3D visualization connects directly to Siemens PLC Simulator.

3D Visualization in Factory I/O for Box Sorting by Height running on Conveyors. The whole operations are controlled by a ladder diagram connected to Siemens PLC Simulator.

Looking Forward

The digital transformation toward Industry 4.0 is a journey, not a project. Digital transformation in manufacturing is about transforming the business operation by leveraging data that the manufacturing operations generate daily.

It's our pleasure if the "Towards Industry 4.0" series could serve as one of the starting points on the practical conceptual and technical foundation for IT enthusiasts and the community to enter the world of Operational Technologies. The intention is to provide sufficient conceptual and practical technical knowledge and understanding to play a role and contribute to the transition to Industry 4.0. More articles to follow.

Top management must appoint a digital transformation leader to lead the digital transformation journey toward Industry 4.0. Preferably someone with a real experience on the factory floor on the technology side (meaning, somebody from the OT side, not the IT side). E.g., one that has experience in PLC and Human Machine Interface (HMI) programming — including SCADA and MES integration, as well as exposure to other technical aspects on the factory floors such as ERP, WMS, and OLE for Process Control/Unified Architecture (OPC/UA).

References

• 4.0 Solutions, 2022, "No, 80% of Manufacturers have not Started Their Digital Transformation Journey."
• Andi Sama, Cahyati S. Sangaji, 2022a, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #5 PLC and Conveyor Operations, Box Sorting By Height in 3D Simulation."
• Andi Sama, Cahyati S. Sangaji, 2022b, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #4 PLC Programming, A Traffic Light Controller Use Case with SFC + SCADA."
• Andi Sama, Cahyati S. Sangaji, 2022c, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #3 PLC Programming, A Mixer Use Case with Ladder Logic Diagram."
• Andi Sama, Cahyati S. Sangaji, 2022d, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #2 PLC Programming, 'Hello World.'"
• Andi Sama, Cahyati S. Sangaji, 2022e, "Towards Industry 4.0 — #1 IT/OT Convergence, A Digital Transformation Journey for Automation & Control."
• Infographics Presentation Template, 2021, Slidesgo and Freepik.
• Open Source PLC Software, 2022, "The first open-source, muti-hardware Programmable Logic Controller Suite."
• RealPars, 2022, "Online Learning Platform for Automation Engineers."
• Tech Learning, 2019, "Communication Protocols for Industrial Automation."
• Walker Reynolds, 2021, "State of Industry 4.0 Keynote Address 2021," 4.0 Solutions.