Category Archives: Automation

Almost every person has become accustomed to self-service in some form since Covid-19 hit, especially for accessing healthcare. But how good is this care when humans are taken out of the equation? When done right, AI and automation solutions can maintain if not, improve patient/member engagement by delivering a more proactive care approach, improving direct communication between them and their payer or provider, and much more. For healthcare organizations, the ability to create faster, smarter, and more connected communications processes and workflows often leads to cost savings and operational efficiencies.

Here are several examples of what this looks like:

The goal is to ensure patients and members are always active partners in their healthcare decisions with increased levels of engagement, using self-service to provide the answers and information they need. Remember, though, that you dont have to completely remove the human touch. You can simply make it available for those who need it. There should always be the option to escalate a self-service interaction; however, the more things you can provide in self-service (well), the better experience for the patient/member and provider.

The Competition is On

Consumerism in healthcare is nothing new, but competition in healthcare is. Were now seeing healthcare organizations actively competing to win customer loyalty, and the way to do that is through experiences. For this reason, its crucial that organizations continue prioritizing self-service even after the pandemic wanes. New studies show that more healthcare customers are scheduling appointments digitally and prioritize speed and convenience over quality of care. A strong focus on effective self-service will:

All while maintaining if not, improving cost savings, security, compliance, scalability, and innovation.

There are a few things healthcare organizations need to do automated self-service well: a cloud-based communication platform built on composable infrastructure, reliable EHR data, and a way to segment this data to create experiences that matter. The good news is that you dont have to abandon your entire communications infrastructure to move forward.

Photo: Andranik Hakobyan, Getty Images

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Improving automation in healthcare CX: insights and examples - MedCity News

Most UK companies are looking to increase the automation of their cybersecurity over the coming year despite a lack of trust in automations outcomes.

Indeed, a study from ThreatQuotient found out that 98% of companies are planning to automate their security systems to be able to mitigate the growing cyber threats all the while encouraging a hybrid work environment. Most security professionals stated to have automated to some extent and another 40% noted they have automated between 51 and 100% of their processes.

This drive for automation is explained by the need to improve or maintain security standards and improve efficiency and productivity. With 92% of organisations having experienced IT security automation issues, it is vital to take the necessary measures to avoid security problems.

However, technology is one of the challenges preventing companies from adopting IT security automation, followed closely by a lack of skills, a lack of trust in the outcomes, and budget issues. 31% of enterprises do not want to have automation for more complex tasks. Thus, for security automation to be adopted more openly, there need to be well-defined manual processes in place.

50% of organisations are starting to implement automated threat intelligence processing, and 98% are expected to automate more of their security estate in the next year.

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UK companies to increase their IT security automation processes - Software Testing News

05 November 2021

The Barcelona-based facility enables visitors from across the EMEA region to collaborate with OMRON to develop general and application-specific industrial automation solutions, including robotics, vision, quality control, flexible manufacturing and AI, increasing the chance of project success and boosting confidence in the marketplace.

De-risking project investment

Harnessing OMRONs 88 years of applied knowledge and experience, the newly updated and expanded Automation Centre allows customers to experience all the benefits of a connected, intelligent factory including reduced waste, increased throughput and greater production flexibility before making an investment.

By facilitating collaboration at the earliest stage of a project between OMRONs specialist engineers, its supply chain partners and the customer, the Automation Centre generates a unique pool of intelligence, which can be harnessed to turn preliminary ideas into robust yet simplified automation solutions. Besides unlocking innovation, this proof-of-concept initiative enables any potential issues to be identified and addressed during the design phase before they become real-world problems. Helping manufacturers to avoid taking decisions which could stifle innovation or prove unnecessarily costly or time-consuming, the Automation Centre de-risks project investment, reassuring customers that their solution will be fit for purpose from day one.

Inspiring innovation

Antoni Farrs, General Manager of the OMRON Automation Centre Barcelona, comments: We aim to inspire manufacturers, system integrators and machine builders to adapt their business to meet the changing needs of customers and society. Our goal is to help them realise the possibilities of innovative manufacturing and address current challenges; for example, by creating new solutions to respond to and recover from the global pandemic.

As well as facilitating the factories of the future, OMRONs Automation Centre also has a key part to play in inspiring the next generation of jobs. According to one report, 85% of the roles that will exist in 2030 have not yet been invented; by showing the art of the possible and giving organisations the confidence to embrace the latest technological innovations, the Centre will ultimately generate new and exciting roles for the workforce of tomorrow, taking employees away from the production line towards more value-added and creative tasks.

Live technology demonstrations

Spanning over 800m2 of floor space and located just 20 minutes from Spains Barcelona International Airport, the Automation Centre showcases the full capabilities of OMRONs innovative-Automation! concept of integrated, interactive and intelligent solutions. This includes a comprehensive portfolio of control, motion, vision, safety and robotics technologies, as well as full global engineering and servicing capabilities. Able to be conducted on site or virtually, demonstrations include:

1. 360 control for flexible production how all-in-one control comprising robotics, motion, safety, machine vision and AI boosts manufacturing flexibility, enabling scalable and modular autonomous and collaborative production.

2. AI sensory inspection using intelligent AI algorithms to automate tasks previously only possible by humans, thanks to sensing and control technology that flexibly responds to state changes of parts.

3. Efficient bin picking combining 3D vision and collaborative integrated robotics to realise bin picking applications.

4. Safe, automated machine care using collaborative robots to safely automate the supply and removal of parts, without fencing or remodelling of machine tools.

5. Human-machine collaboration on a cell production line robots and humans working together in harmony to enable autonomous process improvement and defect-free production.

6. Vibration suppression technology improving and accelerating high-speed liquid product handling with technology that suppresses multiple resonance frequencies.

7. High-speed and high-precision alignment with visual feedback ensuring optimal operation without machine adjustments despite belt and chain stretching, chuck misalignment and workpiece deformation.

About the facility

Automation Centre Barcelona

Address: Josep Pl, 2 - Ed. B2, planta 10, 08019 Barcelona, Spain

Floor area: 831m2

Key functions

- Meeting customers to share ideas and discuss innovative solutions

- Development of general and customer-specific solutions and projects

- Proof of Concept for robotics and vision applications

- innovative-Automation! Technical Support to technical staff across EMEA

To arrange a visit, please contact your local OMRON office.

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OMRON's redesigned Automation Centre set to fast-track the factory of the future - Design Products & Applications

Canapa is excited to introduce the JuanaOne, the latest addition to its industry-leading family of pre-roll machines.

The JuanaOne is engineered as a work center where a single person can weigh, fill and compact up to 500 joints per hour in less than 5 square feet of floor space.

Using the same mechanical design as its sister, the JuanaRoll, the JuanaOne includes a bulk canister, a weight cell to ensure accurate weight measurement and a unique compaction system to ensure consistent, compacted joints.

This automated pre-roll solution is perfect for LPs that want to avoid volumetric filling and convert to accurate weighing as well as those that need more productivity, have limited space or require multiple changeovers.

The JuanaOne pre-roll machine is built using 304 stainless steel, making it easy to clean, and its user-friendly HMI and on-screen production statistics allow real-time reporting at the touch of a button.

Visit http://www.juana1.com to learn more about the JuanaOne pre-roll machine and request more information.

See our complete cannabis packaging machine lineup at http://www.canapasolutions.com.

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Introducing the JuanaOneTM Pre-roll Work Center - Automation World

Shares of Rockwell Automation Inc. ROK, -0.84% surged 3.5% into record territory in premarket trading Tuesday, after the industrial automation company reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations but sales that missed amid continuing COVID effects and supply chain shortages, and provided an upbeat full-year earnings outlook. Net income for the quarter to Sept. 30 fell to $78.56 million, or 67 cents a share, from $262.7 million, or $2.25 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to $2.33 from $1.93, above the FactSet consensus of $2.16. Sales grew 15.1% to $1.81 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $1.90 billion. Intelligent devices sales rose 16.7% to $857.1 million, software and control sales grew 18.8% to $494.1 million and lifecycle services sales rose 8.8% to $456.6 million. For fiscal 2022, the company expects adjusted EPS of $10.50 to $11.10, above the FactSet consensus of $10.26, and sales growth of 16% to 19%, while the FactSet sales consensus of $7.79 billion implies 11.4% growth. The stock has run up 27.5% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.37% has gained 22.8%.

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Rockwell Automation stock jumps toward a record after profit beat expectations and outlook topped forecasts - MarketWatch

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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While the B2B segment has grown phenomenally over the last decade, only a couple of years ago it wasseen as ahit-and-missexercise. Having practical tools to identify the target audience, then creating strategies on their requirements, customizing every offering, and aiming to hit the target- all of this has been made possible only by the martech stacks that are at play in every plan.

Today, the most significant chunk of this stack isformarketersneeds to bebusiness automation. A decade ago,CRM platforms like Salesforce were adequate, but not anymore. Even though the very concept of the CRM platform is evolving, one thing is sure. A plain CRM is no longer a workable solution or even a process support tool. Today,statistically,over 50 % of B2B brands have dedicated marketing automation platforms. This automation has to be more targeted on the dollars spent to manage the cost better andadd more value to theinternal and external customer experience. Infused with Artificial intelligence, it is a force to reckon with. An intelligent self-tracking mechanism is also the need of the hour to enable scalability and even more efficiency.

Automation has become such an intrinsic part of b2B planning processes that in 2019,over 29% ofallcompanies spent on marketing technology.Here are some quick statistics from theHubSpotmarketing statistics report-92% of marketing agencies invest heavily in marketing automation integration. (MarketingProfs, 2019).Of these, 23% are automating their content delivery. (HubSpot, 2020),and68% of businesses use automation in some way. (HubSpot, 2020). As ABM takes deeper roots, more than 90%ofallB2B marketers now have an ABM program and 68% use automation. (Salesforce, 2020) (Source:https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)

Despite these encouraging figures, I sense that not all B2B marketing organizations are using the full potential of automation technologies in their martech stack- either because they are not yet prepared for it or because they have not realized the power it has. In fact, till 2020, a survey done in the UK has reported that a mere 2% of adopters of marketing automation are using it to its full potential! Why is this happening?

In my view, and being in the industry with enough conversations that we hear every day, a lack of skills is abigreason for this unfortunate situation. There are plenty of consultants to guide the marketers but minimal resources to work it on the ground.

One more fundamentalreason is that in many cases, the cost of a marketing automationtech stack often far exceeds the value in real terms that can be quantified- to justify the RoI. When its total usage has not been reached, the total value will not be derived from applications. This is anothergenuine issue why automation has not taken over the martech space as much as it could have or should have.

Another reason for this could also be the lack of a holistic strategy to leverage the full benefits that marketing automation provides. Using tools in silos, applying automation piecemeal, or not having the entire processvalidated by the strategy makers, can cause a lack of value addition on applications. This is something organizations need to understand and act upon.

For the B2B marketers of tomorrow, the way out is obvious. The CMO needs toidentifya holistic strategy by first identifying clear goals and objectives, the metrics to measure value addition, and the clear focus on the target audience. With a focus on goals, the strategy falls in place, and the role of technology stacks- and automation- is clear after that.

This is the only way to utilize the power of automation inB2B marketing strategy and successfully generate the best possible benefits it can offer.

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How Automation Can Change The Face Of Your Martech Stack - Todayuknews - Todayuknews

The global fluid sensor market is anticipated to witness a noteworthy growth during the forecast period, owing to the increasing emphasis on industrial automation. The flow sensor sub-segment is expected to be most lucrative. The Asia Pacific region is anticipated to dominate the in the global industry.

New York, USA, Nov. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Research Dive, the global fluid sensors market is expected to generate a revenue of $17,354.9 million by 2028, growing rapidly at a CAGR of 8.1% during the forecast period (2021-2028). The inclusive report provides a brief overview of the current scenario of the market including significant aspects of the market such as growth factors, challenges, restraints, and various opportunities during the forecast period. The report also provides all the market figures making it easier and helpful for the new participants to understand the market.

For More Detail Insights, Download Free Sample Copy of the Report at: https://www.researchdive.com/download-sample/5178

Dynamics of the Market

Drivers: Growing emphasis on industrial automation among people is expected to drive the growth of the market during the forecast period. In addition, enhancements in measuring technologies like capacitance sensing, optical sensing, vibrating fork, etc. are further expected to bolster the growth of the market by 2028.

Segments of the Market

The report has divided the market into different segments based on type, technology, end-user, and region.

Type: Flow Sensor Sub-segment to be Most Profitable

The flow sensor sub-segment is expected to generate a revenue of $10,615.8 million during the forecast period. Flow sensors significantly reduce the use of manual measurement methods and is extensively used in various industries like oil & gas, automotive, chemical, power generation, and many more. These factors are expected to drive the growth of the sub-segment during the forecast period.

Story continues

The Fluid Sensors Market Trends to Experience a Surge Due to the Revival of the Oil and Gas Industry Globally

Technology: Non-Contact Sensor Sub-segment to be Most Beneficial

The non-contact sensor sub-segment is expected to generate a revenue of $10,216.5 million during the forecast period. Extensive application of non-contact fluid sensors in order to decipher fluid volume, temperature, and velocity is expected to accelerate the growth of the sub-segment in the analysis period.

End-user: Power Generation Sub-segment to be Most Lucrative

The power generation sub-segment is expected to generate a revenue of $4,149.2 million during the forecast period. Subsequent need for electricity around the globe due to the rapid surge in population is expected to drive the growth of the sub-segment during the forecast period.

Connect with Our Analyst to Contextualize Our Insights for Your Business: https://www.researchdive.com/connect-to-analyst/5178

Region: Asia Pacific Region Anticipated to Dominate in the Global Market

The Asia Pacific region is expected to generate a revenue of $6,126.3 million during the forecast period. Rapid economic development and rising rate of industrial production in this region are anticipated to accelerate the growth of the Asia Pacific market during the forecast period. In addition, continuous development of industrial infrastructure in the public and private has contributed in the increasing utilization of fluid sensors in the water & wastewater, oil and gas, chemical, automotive, food & beverage, automotive, and other sectors in the region.

COVID-19 Impact on the Market

The outbreak of coronavirus has adversely impacted the global fluid sensors market, owing to the redundant lockdowns prevalent in various countries across the globe. These lockdowns led to the closure of numerous industries and factories, disrupting their production, supply chain and distribution. This led to a consequent reduction in the demand for fluid sensors. Thus, the pandemic has had a negative impact on the global fluid sensors market.

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Key Players of the Global Fluid Sensors Market

Emersion Electric Company

Schneider Electric

SICK AG

ABB

Honeywell

Siemens

Rockwell Automation

NXP semiconductors

Texas Instruments

Robert Bosch GmbH

These players are working on developing strategies such as product development, merger and acquisition, partnerships and collaborations to sustain the market growth.

Inquire and Get Quick Access to Top Companies Development Strategies Summary Report

For instance, in December 2020, CTS Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of sensors, actuators, and electronic components, acquired Sensor Scientific, Inc., a privately held temperature sensing company, so as to expand CTSs temperature sensing product portfolio.

The report also summarizes many important aspects including financial performance of the key players, SWOT analysis, product portfolio, and latest strategic developments.

Porters Five Forces Analysis for the Global Fluid Sensors Market:

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: There are moderate number of suppliers in the fluid sensors market. Across the world there are different organizations working in the field of fluid sensors to get a competitive edge in the market.Thus, the bargaining power suppliers is moderate.

Bargaining Power of Buyers: The buyers in market have moderate bargaining power, therefore the suppliers in the fluid sensors market focus on providing superior quality services in a cost-effective manner.Thus, the bargaining power of the buyers is moderate.

Threat of New Entrants: The companies that entering in the fluid sensors market emphasize on innovation for reducing the cost of production. The capital requirement in fluid sensors market is high. Thus, the threat of the new entrants is low.

Threat of Substitutes: The fluid sensors process is essential and currently there is no alternative of fluid sensors measures.Thus, the threat of substitutes is low.

Competitive Rivalry in the Market: There is a highly competitive rivalry between companies in the fluid Sensors market. Including Siemens, Schneider Electric, ABB, and Honeywell.Therefore, competitive rivalry in the market is high.

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Increasing Importance on Industrial Automation among People to Propel the Growth of the Global Fluid Sensors Market By 2028, Says Research Dive -...

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Food Automation MarketPerspective 2021

The report offers a total organization profiling of driving players contending in the worldwide Food Automation market with a high spotlight on the offer, net edge, net benefit, deals, item portfolio, new applications, ongoing turns of events, and a few different variables. It includes in-depth industry growth assessments, as well as information on current developments, economic status, and company profiles. The exploration article centers around the subjective viewpoints depending on the variables to hypothetically establishment the development-related expectations. Assessment of the main driving variables and their impact on the development scales and examples empowers precise assessment of the planned changes.

Request a Sample Report to Gain Comprehensive Insights at:https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/922

The Food Automation report gives the latest information on current and future industry designs, engaging perusers to recognize the things and organizations, thus driving pay advancement and usefulness. The examination inlets essential thoughts identified with the development of the executives of the Food Automation market, other than investigating the geological regions. Its everything except an assessment of the genuine scene, CAGR, piece of the general business, size creation, and pay. Creating revenue for quality data is needed to drive the market improvement and extend the determination of new advancement and business reexamining growing in the assessed season of 2021 to 2027.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) :

Is Food Automation Market Booming In Near Future?

Yes, Market Will Boom In Near Future

Which are the prominent Food Automation market players across the globe? Can I Add a Specific Company?

Yes, Companies Covered as part of this study includeABB Ltd, Emerson Electric Company, Fortive Corporation, GEA Group, Rockwell Automation, Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Nord Drivesystems, Rexnord Corporation, Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG, Yaskawa Electric Corporation, and Yokogawa Electric Corporation.,

What is the Research Methodology of Food Automation Market?

How Many Number of Pages of These Report?

[130 Pages]

Can I Ask For Discount / Promo-Code?

Yes.Coherent Market Insights is celebrating its5th Anniversaryand offering aFlat 2000 USD DISCOUNT. The offer is valid for all CMI reports. Lets celebrate with us.

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/promo/buynow/922

Which Geographic Segmentation Covered In The Market Report?

Is Customization Available for This Report?

Yes, We provide the customization of this report is available as per the clients need. The report can be customized according to your requirements. We consistently update our research offerings to provide our clients with the latest trends in the market.

Contact Us:

Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights

Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com

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Food Automation Market Compressive Research, Business Growth Analysis And Technology Insights Bolivar Commercial - Bolivar Commercial

Bank of Americas onlinebanking platform suffered an outage lasting several hoursatthe beginning of October, locking customers out of their accounts and triggering 12,000 complaints. Its the kind of incident banking and payments companies live in fear of, impacting a vital service for customers and risking huge reputational damage.

Outages can befall any business in any sector, but in banking and payments these can produce calamitous fallout. As digital banking swallows traditional banking, the stakes get ever higher.

For more information about Hexawares Tensai suite for banks and financial services organisations, download the whitepaper.

The banking sector has become more precarious, with80 percent of financial institutionsbelieving business to be at riskof losing outto innovative newcomers. Among younger customers,who are more likely to use digital services,one in threewould be willing to swap banks in the next 90 days,and a similar proportion say they will not need a bank at all in the coming years.Banking CEOs aremore concernedabout the pace of technological change than other sectors. To keep abreast of technological change and remain competitive, its vital that banking firms adopt an IT-first strategy.

Investing in automation is one of the mostadvisable/essential/resourcefulactions banking and payments firms can take to future-proof their organisations. Automation can helpprevent outages,identify the reasons for outagesfasterand get an application back online as quickly as possible. Technologies like HexawaresTensaiTMforAI Ops digest data from multiple sources and automate routine tasks like monitoring, managing and testing across anorganisationshardware, networks, datacentresand software.TensaiTMfor AI Opsuses pre-emptive pattern recognition to flag anomalies and analyse events in order to rapidly remedy disruptions.

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We deploy what we like to call a neighbourhood behaviour watchusing time series-based algorithmsto find answers for questions like, were any other systems or network devices impacted around the same time orwere there other applications that could potentially be affected?, says Hexawaresexecutivevicepresident andpracticehead (Digital IT Ops), Hemant Vijh. This helps us in incident isolation and tells us how severe the issue is.

For more information about Hexawares Tensai suite for banks and financial services organisations, download the whitepaper.

TensaiTMfor AI Ops uses self-healing bots to automate the solution for up to 40 per cent of incidents. The way we look at it, the best incident is the incident that never happened, saysVijh,adding thatas soon as the system detects an anomaly that needs action, the automation engine kicks in toanalyseand resolve it before human intervention.It can estimate the revenue impact of an incident too, translating technical data into actionable business insights.

Leading companies are,more deeply,integrating AIin customer-focused applications, back-office applications and risk management, according to PwC research. Automation of core technological components creates a foundation upon which more sophisticated operations can be layered, like onboarding new clients, credit scoring and electronic know-your-customer. Hexawares TensaiTMrange ofproducts delivered automation-enabled savings for a Swiss bank,achievingamore than 400 per centreturn on investment(ROI). Banks that wish to remain competitive require a future-forward stack that marries core systems and automated analytics in an integrated architecture.

One of the greatest challenges for automation in banking and financial institutions are siloed, complex and expensive-to-maintain legacy IT systems. Technologies likeTensaiTMfor AI Opscan unify disparate data sets and create synergy between different systems pushing down transaction costs and exploiting new customer data sets. ItplacesIT leaders in the control room, with a dashboard view of all of the interacting systems and workflows, marrying the technical and business sides of the operation.

While different businesses have specific requirements in terms of workflows,Vijhsaysif you have to commission or decommission a particular server/environment, or any other similar workflow, there are multiple components that need to be stitched through.He continues:We have automated the whole chain there. For one of our customers, there was a ten-member team that was just doing this work, but now our bots are actively doing that jobmuch faster andwithout any manual effort.

Fewer than 20per centof automation deployments reach the scale they want because enterprises are unable to identify use cases. Hexaware helpsorganisationsapply a systematic approach to discover use cases where automation will add the maximum value, letting themrealisescalability upfront. Automated self-monitoring and preventive maintenance diminish the risk of disruption to vital operations and ensure applications run as smoothly as possible.

For more information about Hexawares Tensai suite for banks and financial services organisations, download the whitepaper.

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Why IT automation must be at the heart of every bank's digital transformation - New Statesman

Formally organized in 1834, Waterford Township is located geographically in the center of Oakland County, Michigan, and is home to over 72,000 residents. With 360 miles of water main and 355 miles of sanitary sewer, water management in Waterford is no small task. The Department of Public Works (DPW) operates and maintains 19 production wells, 3 storage tanks, 11 treatment plants, and 63 sewer lift stations.

To run all this, they invested years ago in integrating core applications, including geographic information systems (GIS), asset management systems (AMS), enterprise content management (ECM), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA).

That system delivered a lot of value over the years, but nothing lasts forever.

Time to upgradeIn 2017, Russell Williams, director of public works, and Frank Fisher, engineering superintendent, at Waterford DPW started on a project to upgrade their core SCADA infrastructure. The next year, they attended a conference announcing the release of Opto 22s groov EPIC and were excited by the potential of MQTT Sparkplug to eliminate some long-standing systemic limitations.

With more than 90 controllers on their network, the polling mechanism they used, combined with the limited bandwidth of their radio network, meant that data from each site would update only every 3-5 minutes. Sometimes a lift station would run briefly in between polling cycles, creating gaps in their reporting and inhibiting operators ability to accurately detect issues until alarms eventually made their way through. And for each I/O point they added to the system, this latency only grew worse.

It seemed clear that MQTTs report-by-exception behavior could significantly reduce bandwidth usage and ensure delivery of important system actions.

We have many lift stations that will spend most of their time sitting, Williams explains, [So] why transfer data all the time?

And with no dependence on a central polling program, they saw the possibility to eliminate a systemic bottleneck and potential point of failure.

From proof-of-conceptto productionTo help them execute their vision, Waterford DPW engaged Perceptive Controls, a Michigan-based system integrator specializing in industrial and process control applications for the water/wastewater, food and beverage, and oil and gas industries. But building an MQTT system for the first time came with a learning curve, according to Kevin Finkler, software engineer at Perceptive.

MQTTs publish-subscribe communication model is a definite departure from that of traditional industrial protocols in a few key ways:

After experimenting with a few popular SCADA packages, Perceptive Controls decided on Ignition by Inductive Automation because it offered very tight MQTT integration, including the ability to serve as an MQTT broker itself.

Even though understanding the MQTT communication model took Finkler some work at first, establishing communication was straightforward in the end.

It kind of happens automatically, Finkler says. You basically define a few parameters [in Ignition] to set up the broker. And each of the EPIC devices was pretty simple. You just point it at the broker and it starts sending tags.

I love that both of these sides have embraced MQTT, adds Fisher. It makes the connection seamless.

Previous Configuration: Waterford DPWs legacy infrastructure relied on a network of RTUs and RF transmitters communicating to SCADA workstations in the office.Building defense in depthSeeing an opportunity to leverage cloud computing for greater fault tolerance and scalability, Fisher decided to deploy Ignition directly on Amazon Web Services (AWS), and he and Kevin began building out the mechanisms to secure the new infrastructure.

First, Fisher configured the firewall on AWS to accept traffic only from his groov EPIC controllers and specific Ignition clients in Waterfords and Perceptives offices. Firewalls on the cell modems and EPICs were also configured to accept only trusted IPs.

He then installed a client SSL certificate on each EPIC so that Ignition could authenticate and encrypt the connection, protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks that could expose data or permit unauthorized control.

Every authorized user is required to create strong passwords to access any groov EPIC controller or Ignition client in the system. In addition, every user login is tracked and reported throughout the system as well.

Fisher and Finkler even integrated physical site security into Ignition. Each lift station is secured with an outer door under lock and key, and a physical switch on the door is connected to the local EPIC. Ignition monitors the switch state to detect when someone enters. If a user login is not registered within a specific time with access privileges for that specific room, Ignition then generates a global alarm.

Current Configuration: Waterford DPWs modernized infrastructure publishes data from groov EPIC controllers to a cloud-hosted Ignition SCADA and MQTT broker over a 4G LTE cellular network.Return on investmentAfter completing upgrades on all 63 of its sewage lift stations and six of its clean water sites, the new groov EPIC/Ignition MQTT infrastructure has reduced field updates from multi-minute cycles to sub-second event-driven publications. With that kind of speed, Waterford never misses a system action or alarm notification anymore, and with cell-enabled tablets, operators can stay connected from anywhere through Ignitions mobile-ready HMI client.

Because of MQTTs report-by-exception behavior, in combination with analog I/O deadbanding in each groov EPIC, the new infrastructure has also reduced bandwidth consumption, allowing Waterford to publish even more data than before. They have access to communications and controller diagnosticssuch as update latency, connection time stamps, message size, and firmware versionwhich simply wasnt possible in the old system.

Waterfords cloud-based infrastructure also enables greater flexibility and reliability. If there is ever an issue connecting to the data center in Ohio that hosts the new SCADA server, Fisher can have the entire system up and running in a different data center in 30 minutes. In time, he will likely set up full server redundancy.

In fact, a recent internet outage at the Department of Public Works offices provided an unexpected test of their new system, which kept on working without interruption.

We only lost the old system, says Fisher. Our internal stuff couldnt reach out, of course, but our iPads could connect through Verizon... and I was able to get back in touch. In a situation like this, the old system couldnt send out alarms because it depended on a local connection. The new system didnt even notice or care because its not running anything local.

More to comeWith huge increases in bandwidth, the low administrative overhead of MQTT Sparkplug, and EPICs providing spare data processing at the edge, Waterford can continue expanding its system for a very long time. Each new device or application they add only needs a connection to the MQTT broker to produce or consume data for/from the whole system.

We are still trying to figure out what else we can do with this, says Fisher. We have a lot of other instrumentation that we want to be able to pull data from out in the field that wasnt really feasible before not just at our lift stations and our treatment plants but throughout the organization. Where can we use [MQTT] with flowmeters? Where can we use it throughout all of our assets to give us a better overview? Were just beginning that journey.

For more information, visit http://www.perceptivecontrols.com or contact Frank Fisher at ffisher@waterfordmi.gov.

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Building Secure Wastewater Management in the Cloud - Automation World