Blogs

By Jose M. Rivera

As I have done for many years, dating back to my days at Schneider Electric, I attended the ARC Forum in Orlando, Florida, in February along with over 800 attendees. This event attracts many end users who are very open to sharing their views through presentations, panel participation and direct interaction in the multiple provided networking opportunities.

ARC works to remain relevant in a changing market. The targeted audience has evolved from their traditional process automation group to much broader automation (discrete and all what goes in it these days like AI, cybersecurity, digital twin, etc.) and, in recent years, also smart cities. Over the years I have seen an increased participation by the IT players and a new wave for young talent. The theme for 2020 was Driving Digital Transformation in Industry and Cities.

Besides my goal to represent CSIA at this event and reach out to partners and prospects, I always dig for my “golden nuggets.” The following are my 2020 finds:

• Digital transformation was not only the theme, it was on everybody’s minds. The forum provides end users with the opportunity to share their experiences, compare notes and learn from one another, in many ways like the sharing that takes place between SIs at the CSIA Executive Conference.
  1. Two senior executives from Dow, Melanie Kalmar, Chief Information Officer and Chief Digital Officer, and Peter Holicki, Senior Vice President of Operations, Manufacturing and Engineering, shared their journeys to break down the IT and OT silos in their company.
  2. Peggy Gulick, Director Digital Transformation, Global Manufacturing at AGCO, an American agricultural equipment manufacturer, provided an update on their digital transformation journey I had seen 3 years ago. I was impressed back then, and my admiration has grown witnessing the focus and perseverance of this group. One interesting thing I learned this time: When they tried to deploy smart glasses to their employees in plants outside the U.S., they learned they had to make some changes to comply with country/regional legislations.
  3. A gentleman from a large U.S. pharmaceutical company shared in a roundtable I was part of that their company is still transitioning from paper to tablets. I served this industry in the past, and I couldn’t help but remember that the FDA 21 CFR Part 11 (criteria for the acceptance by the FDA of electronic records, electronic signatures and handwritten signatures executed to electronic documents) was introduced in March of 1997. This was a reminder that change is never easy, and, in our industry, it isn’t fast either. In the case of a plant of this manufacturer it was the pushback by operators that prevented the adoption of the more modern approach.

• Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF)

1. The ARC Forum has provided end users with the opportunity to meet and learn about progress made so far. Intel, an OPAF member, had a controller on display in their exhibit room controlling a small tank system.
2. OPAF would like to grow the involvement by non-members, and they were welcoming end users to serve in new roles, e.g., to review their standards. It seems to me that they are realizing that not all companies can dedicate the resources to participate in their regular call and meeting schedule. This is particularly true for smaller companies like SIs.
3. CSIA has collaborated with OPAF in the past. We created a task force in 2017 to provide input to the first OPAF business guide. In 2019 we provided input into their certification guide. It is very likely that in 2020 a regrouped task force will meet with Don Bartusiak in Houston.

• Return on Investment (ROI)
  1. CSIA members may remember the presentations made by Dr. Peter Martin from Schneider Electric at the 2015 and 2016 CSIA Executive Conferences. A key point that he drove was the need to keep track of the monetary value created by the deployment of automation. This financial data is needed to justify later investments in automation (ROI). He recommended working with the financial organization to ensure a shared approach.
  2. In the days of IIoT/Industrie 4.0/digital transformation, we frequently hear: Who is going to pay for all of this! During the Q&A session for the first panel somebody asked if their companies had been able to generate a positive ROI from investments in asset condition monitoring (or asset performance management). The representative from ExxonMobil stated that their company believed in its potential and continues to invest in it, but that to date they hadn’t been able to generate a positive ROI. Two other end users (Dow and Audi/VW) confirmed this statement for their companies. This came as a big shock to me, and during the event I managed to talk to the person who posed the question to make sure I had heard correctly.
  3. For many in the industry, asset condition monitoring was one of the few “proven” business models. I’m now wondering if our financial tracking needs some transformation to adjust to a new reality… If asset condition monitoring prevents unscheduled downtime or worse, catastrophic failure, are we accurately tracking the value of something that didn’t happen but would have had grave consequences?

• A changing landscape:
  1. After a period of dramatic consolidation in the petroleum and chemical sector, a wave of breakups has taken place bringing new names to the front. These reformulations were not new, it was nevertheless at this event that I was reminded of the following:
     1. Split of Dow Chemical into Dow (material science), DuPont (specialty chem), Corteva (agribusiness)
     2. Split of Bayer after the acquisition of Monsanto into Bayer and Covestro (material science)
     3. UTC – United Technologies 2018 announcement to spin off its Carrier (HVAC division, potential acquisition by Johnson Controls) and Otis (elevators, 2018). Also 2019 announcement to merge and create Raytheon Technologies Corp. (aerospace: Pratt and Whitney, Rockwell-Collins).

In summary: I have always been able to extract my golden nuggets from the ARC Forum and can recommend it to anybody who wants to be in touch with the industrial automation end users.

Jose Rivera is CEO of Control System Integrators Association in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.