Metris: An All-in-One Solution for Software-defined Process Automation – ARC Advisory Group

Summary

Machine builders and equipment providers produce highly complex electro-mechanical systems, traditionally controlled and monitored by automation hardware and software. Users typically rely on commercially available solutions from reputable suppliers, tapping into years of technology expertise. But what if a machine builder develops its own automation solution? Some specialty machine builders make their own hardware, e.g., for controllers and servo amplifiers, but the growing importance of automation software offers new opportunities. If volume sales are high enough, in-house software development could pay off, while customers benefit from greater flexibility, lower engineering costs, and more efficient lifecycle management.

Andritz AG, a manufacturer of industrial machinery and equipment, began offering its own automation software years ago and has developed the solution to cover more and more functions previously handled by commercial software. This ARC View takes a closer look at how Andritz achieved its goal and what the road ahead looks like.

Designing and building a new industrial plant means working with many partners, from construction companies to equipment providers, and integrators to automation suppliers. Equipment builders focus on delivering reliable production machinery that ensures high levels of quality and equipment availability. Off-the-shelf automation hardware and software from a variety of suppliers are then integrated into a complete solution. However, as industrial companies undergo their digital transformations, the growing importance of software in automation solutions is changing the game. Taking a cue from the IT world, more and more functions in automation solutions are becoming software-defined. Andritz AG is taking advantage of this evolution.

With revenue of over $7 billion, Andritz AG is a specialist for hydropower, pulp & paper, metal working, and steel, providing complete plant solutions, systems, equipment, and services for a wide variety of industries.

Under the brand name Metris ANDRITZ Digital solutions, Andritz began developing its own software solution in 2007 with a focus on optimization of processes and production. According to the company, at the time there was nothing available in the market for process industries that focused on complete and holistic plant optimization. A decade later the company added functionality for control (PLC, DCS, SCADA), artificial intelligence (AI), asset performance & maintenance management, production management, simulation & digital twin capabilities, and integrated cybersecurity.

Today, Andritz offers Metris in two variants:

This is quite an ambitious offering from an equipment provider, so its worth taking a closer look.

As an all-in-one digitalization platform, Metris UX can best be described as an overlying supervisory layer that provides an integrated environment for non-time critical functions such as production management, simulation and optimization using artificial intelligence, plus cybersecurity and condition monitoring with smart sensors. A key feature of Metris UX is its integrated database that serves as a single source of the truth for all integrated applications.

For real-time process control, Metris X is a software-defined DCS that connects to process IO devices and instruments from any supplier via widely accepted fieldbuses and protocols, such as Profinet and OPC UA. For new installations, users can select their own IO or, in brownfield installations, simply leave existing IO in place while migrating to a new DCS.

Deployed as a plant DCS, Metris X acts as a seamlessly integrated functionality of the Metris UX platform above it where it takes advantage of a large variety of available apps. The companys app store offers more than 50 apps ranging from asset performance management and maintenance, to process analytics and optimization. The systems graphical interface lets users quickly link subsystems and functions. The hardware-independent Metris block language (MBL), based on IEC61131-3, enables staff to add or change functions easily without extensive programming expertise.

In addition to standard automation function blocks, Metris X offers high-end industry specific process libraries called APCs (advanced process control) that are implemented as function blocks. Of particular interest is the integration of machine learning in process control. According to Andritz, Metris X offers data science tools (machine learning notebooks) that create a seamlessly integrated working environment for data scientists and enable AI applications that can be configured and activated directly by automation engineers without plant engineering knowledge.

AI development environments such as Google Tensor Flow, and Python provide the integrated foundation for building AI-based methods and models that can also be applied interdependently from any existing third-party DCS. These models are useful when upgrading brownfield plants. An example of an AI-driven application is condition monitoring that is realized with a combination of smart sensors, edge computing, and cloud technologies.

Process users are turning away from closed, proprietary DCS, as evidenced by the popularity of open process automation movements. Driven by large oil & gas and chemical companies, initiatives like Open Process Automation and the NAMUR Open Architecture seek to find alternatives to traditional DCS solutions that lock plant operators into a single automation suppliers offering with a control system that may be difficult to upgrade. These initiatives address users wishes for supplier standards and open platforms that enable plug & play. In short, users should have a wide choice of apps, and it should be as easy to download new apps for your DCS as it is with your smartphone.

Unlike a traditional DCS, Metris X can run on standard industrial PCs at the edge (close to the process), while Metris UX, the digitalization platform, runs on top on standard physical or virtual servers. These Metris UK servers can be deployed either on-premise or in the cloud, or in a hybrid architecture with elements of both. Solutions for hardware redundancy are available.

Traditional DCS solutions combine hardware and software from different vendors. While this gives users the power of choice, it also requires substantial engineering effort to integrate everything.

Traditional plantwide DCS architectures consist of hardware, software, and databases from different vendors, causing a lot of configuration, integration, and communication effort. With Metris - ANDRITZ Digital solutions, the entire plant automation and digitalization is based on the Metris all-in-one database, allowing engineers to use the holistic plant data for anomaly detection, AI functionalities, analytics, performance tuning, etc.

The influence of information technologies (IT) on operations technologies (OT) cannot be underestimated. In the commercial IT world, proprietary hardware is a thing of the past as most functions previously implemented in hardware are software-defined today and run on standard hardware. Besides lowering capital costs and reducing the amount of hardware needed, hardware standardization creates competition among providers that makes them focus on important aspects like quality, ruggedness, maintainability and reliability. Most importantly, it levels the playing field and shifts the focus to software.

Software offers a lot of flexibility to integrate and simultaneously run different applications that access the same data. As with hardware, software standardization plays a big role and is an important part of the trend to open process automation. For example, information models create common ways of implementing tasks by providing a standard description of devices, equipment, and even whole processes. As they become more popular, these models will complement open process architectures nicely, helping users to reduce upfront engineering costs while lowering lifecycle costs through better maintainability.

As software-defined automation, Metris X is more cost-effective and flexible than off-the-shelf hardware-based DCSs, and the fact that it is developed in-house suggests tight integration with Andritzs own process equipment. Most importantly, Metris X is at the leading edge of the trend toward open process automation solutions that are defined entirely in software and based on open standards. Expect the rest of the industry to follow this trend in coming years.

According to Andritz, 80 percent of standard interactions with Metris X are on autopilot, and the solution provides expert guidance to less experienced operators and maintenance staff for the remaining 20 percent. This results in greater productivity and a significant reduction in downtime, allowing users to focus on sustainability by reducing waste and cutting energy and raw materials usage. Finally, as a software-based solution, Metris X is scalable from single machines to entire plants.

The growing influence of IT on OT is shifting the focus of automation systems from hardware to software, and from proprietary to openness. Driven by Open Process Automation initiatives, end users are demanding that process automation solutions of the future be software-defined. Today, such a solution is already available from Andritz AG.

As an all-in-one digitalization platform, Andritz offers Metris UX, a supervisory environment that hosts and integrates a wide variety of plant software for non-time critical functions plus cybersecurity. Metris X is a software-defined DCS that is delivered with Andritz process solutions or can be migrated onto existing IO to replace legacy DCSs as part of a plant modernization. Together, both solutions offer a software-defined, integrated environment for supervisory control that is scalable from a single machine to an entire plant. The advantages of such a solution include scalability, flexibility, and hardware independence to help users avoid vendor lock-in. In this sense, Andritz is paving the way for the software-based future of open solutions in process automation.

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Keywords: Andritz, Metris, DCS, Software-defined Automation, Open Process Automation, AI, Simulation, Cybersecurity, ARC Advisory Group.

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Metris: An All-in-One Solution for Software-defined Process Automation - ARC Advisory Group