Monthly Archives: March 2022

Conventional wisdom posits that the market for warehouse automation is exploding because companies with fulfillment operations cant find enough workers to stick with largely manual processes in the face of rapidly growing e-commerce volumes.

That idea has companies looking at autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and other types of warehouse automation, such as robotic, high-density goods-to-person (GTP) systems, as well as more traditional automation, to do more with less for crucial processes.

All of this thinking is true, but it glosses over a fundamental challenge operations face as they implement more automation: getting multiple systems to work together in unison and releasing work to these assets in a way that both achieves high utilization and gets orders out the door on time.

This ability to coordinate multiple systems and resourceswhats come to be known as orchestrationis where software comes in. And, its a core reason why the materials handling automation market is becoming more software focused.

Historically, the main value proposition was more on the hardware, says Rueben Scriven, senior analyst with research firm Interact Analysis, which tracks the automation market. If a company wanted a good automation solution, they would turn to a company with reputable, innovative hardware. But over time, these systems have gotten commoditized, where by and large the automated equipment you can get from various vendors is going to be similar.

For vendors, says Scriven, hardware commoditization creates a need to differentiate their solutions and create lasting ties to customers. While maintenance and services of automated equipment has been one way to do that, increasingly, its software that sets vendors apart, and helps operations achieve a better flow of goods through more highly automated DCs.

Its partly about vendors needing to differentiate and create lock-in; and viewed more optimistically, software can add a lot of value by helping operations achieve a better flow of goods, says Scriven.

Of course, anyone who uses a mobile phone or a robot vacuum knows that good hardware needs good software to be effective. That dual nature has long existed in the warehouse automation market as well, with warehouse control system (WCS) software having been applied for decades to configure and monitor automation. But market observers say that what is happening now with software is less about governing the speeds and feeds of each zone of automation and more about orchestration of the entire DC as a system, as well as knowing when and how to adjust specific resources to accommodate peaks.

Over the years, vendors with WCS have enhanced their software with more capabilities around functions like order release logic and load balancing to come up with what is known warehouse execution system (WES) software.

Today, says Howard Turner, director of supply chain systems at consulting firm St. Onge, WES software, offered by multiple types of vendors including automation vendors, is key to orchestrating multiple automated systems.

When implemented properly, WES does carry out this vital orchestration role where the software acts much like an orchestra conductor, getting multiple assets to work as one, so you can achieve the throughput and customer service you are after, Turner says.

WES is offered by various types of vendors, including major warehouse automation OEMs, systems integrators, and some warehouse management system (WMS) providers. Additionally, some vendors may offer related predictive analytics tools, and providers of robotics solutions also stress the software capabilities of their systems when it comes to monitoring performance and order fulfillment progress. That makes examination of software more important when putting in place effective warehouse automation.

When a company acquires some automation today, they are not just getting equipment. They are getting the software elements and all that comes with that in terms of orchestration and order release, and being able to look at throughput and picking efficiencies. You cant overlook the importance of the software, which is essentially the brains of the operation, says Turner.

WES is offered by a variety of vendors, including major automation vendors who also make hardware, systems integrators whove evolved full-fledged WES from WCS, and a few of the major providers of WMS, which typically remains a key system for warehouse transactions and inventory management, even when WES is deployed. But what does WES really do, and why are these functions important to deriving maximum value from automation?

Robotic piece picking solutions are driven by AI software that gives the robotic arm hardware the intelligence to know how to best grasp different items.

Coordination of multiple automated systems is WESs overall purpose. Because of all the fulfillment challenges posed by e-commerce and omni-channel trends, were pulling in more and more technologies to create efficiencies, and its really the responsibility of the software to tie all those together efficiently, says Mary Elliott, chief product and technology officer with Fortna, an automation solution supplier that offers WES. The ability to orchestrate those varied systems in an intelligent, optimized way is what the software provides.

One way WES coordinates the allocation of work across automated systems is with smart order release, which instead of the big waves of work, releases work to systems in smaller chunks with the current status and capacity of multiple zones of automation in mind. This order release function can be thought of as the starting point for orchestration, with WESs ties to lower-level control systems alerting of any unexpected events, or bottlenecks, that might be developing, with some software offering load balancing features to help adjust to the present reality on the floor.

The other main benefit from WES is real-time visibility into whats happening with your systems and processes, says Elliott. It can be really hard for someone in operations to look at different systems and try to understand what is happening and react appropriately. Again, that is where the intelligence of WES solutions comes in, and why the software is so important, because you cant get that understanding from the equipment alone. You need a layer of software intelligence that sits over that equipment and monitors behavior.

Another way WES helps get more from automated equipment, in addition to the higher-level coordination role, is to provide logic and rules for maximizing throughput of automated storage and retrieval (AS/RS) and GTP systems. This happens on an ongoing basis as work is assigned to a system, while the softwares visibility features help managers decide when its time to scale up the systems performance by doing things like opening more picker workstations, or adding robots or carriers to a system, points out Markus Schmidt, president of Swisslog Logistics Automation Americas, a provider of warehouse automation and WES. Being able to maximize the throughput within a zone of automation is largely a matter of software, he explains.

Software is critical when it comes to getting the most utilization out of an AS/RS solution, and knowing when to scale up and down, says Schmidt. For instance, some software might only require a system to bring the nearest item in an order to the pick station. Excellent software will take into consideration multiple variables including where the item is located, if the bin or shelf is full or empty, or assign priority for expiry dates among many other requirements. This allows the user to get the most utilization and throughput out of the system.

Since many WES solutions grew out of WCS, they have close ties to the control systems that directly govern the automation on the floor. Add analytics over that tie-in, and WES shapes up as an overarching dashboard for DC management.

Correctly tailored to the solution, [WES] can provide tangible benefits to operators and maintenance personnel by showing robotic battery utilization and capacity, path utilization using heat mapping to identify choke points, AS/RS capacity utilization, handling device cycle times, and other relevant machine performance metrics that can drive operational decisions related to preventative maintenance schedules and mechanical intervention, says Schmidt. Unification of WES and WMS simplifies business intelligence analysis and can speed decision-making in the front office as well with inventory management, slotting and operational staffing.

Solution providers with WES and predictive maintenance software are in an ideal position to offer dashboards to managers who dont want to scour separate user interfaces and performance monitoring visualizations to see what is going on with an operation, says Michael Conrath, chief product and technical officer for Kuecker Pulse Integration (KPI), an automation solution provider with WES and other software.

What we want to do is figure out how we can take data from multiple disparate sources and consume and view it in a unified manner thats useful to our customers, Conrath says. We may never have a generic, one-size-fits-all dashboard because of the different systems used by customers, but there is value in a more unified approach to visualizing operational trends.

Warehouse execution software manages order release, offers visibility into throughput, and provides a user interface for goods-to-person workstations.

To make that work, says Conrath, solution providers need to have expertise in using applications programming interfaces (API) to automation and robotics solutions from various vendors, rather than just offering the dashboard piece.

Besides WES functionality and dashboarding, Conrath sees modeling and simulation of warehouse processes and material flows, and predictive maintenance software, as other key aspects of what solution providers need to bring to the table to make the design of warehouse automation systems, and their operation, more effective.

A natural area of focus for materials handling automation vendors is to offer software for predictive analytics over equipment uptime. This software may be separate from a WES or WCS solution, but it all ties back to the notion that an automation solutions value increasingly comes from software.

Sebastian Titze, manager of digital transformation in North America for Beumer Group, a provider of automated materials handling solutions, says software and other digital solutions are an important focus for Beumer, since automation systems generate an enormous amount of data that can be analyzed for productivity gains.

Beumer is well known for its sorters, but as Titze explains, it also offers machine control, WCS and digital software products such as its BG Insight software that offers data analytics with visualizations and machine learning to inspect root causes of inefficiencies and alarms.

Optimized systems will rely more and more on the data, especially when more automated systems become increasingly complex to operate, says Titze.

Beumers systems generally can integrate with any WES or WCS, though its own WCS can be configured and used to optimize the sortation equipment and coordinate material flow with other systems such as inbound doors, loading and unloading equipment, conveyors or other materials handling systems.

This [orchestration role] is absolutely critical, and every machine manufacturer wants as much information about the surrounding processes as possible, so they can optimize the outcome of their specific process within the facility, Titze says.

With robotics solutions, software plays at multiple levels. Autonomous mobile robot (AMR) vendors, for example, dont just make robots, they also offer fleet manager software, performance monitoring and analytics. Some vendors are also expanding into broader orchestration with functions like pack-out lines. Of course, artificial intelligence (AI) is in many robotics solutions, so the system can continuously learn over time when it comes to issues like path optimization, or how to best grasp and manipulate items.

In the piece picking robotics market, solution providers typically partner with leading vendors of industrial robots with articulating arms, rather build their own robots, and the same typically holds true for vision sensors. The value and intellectual property of piece picking robotics vendors is typically centered on AI software and associated vision technology that permits a robot to perceive and understand what is presented to it.

Clinton Smith, chief technology officer for RIOS, a provider of AI-powered robotic piece picking solutions, explains that while RIOS designs its own end effectors (the hardware at the tip of an industrial robot that grips items), AI-based software gives the hardware the needed intelligence to know how to grasp and manipulate items. In practice, robotics piece picking solutions call for a combination of software, hardware and engineering capabilities from the provider.

I would say that hardware and software are equally importantone cant function without the other, says Smith.

RIOSs AI software uses artificial neural network technology that mimics how brains function in determining how to grasp and handle items, Smith explains. Such techniques are required given the complexity and challenge of piece-picking use cases, which can include high SKU variation, changing environmental and visual conditions, difficult visual properties involved with certain SKUs, fast cycle times, and precision and accuracy requirements.

Additionally, RIOS offers hybrid-Cloud software for real-time monitoring of cell performance, such as count statistics, while offering APIs for integration to WMS. RIOS partners with FANUC for articulating robotic arms, though it has developed its own end effectors for different classes of items.

End-effector hardware is extremely important because, in these new and challenging use-cases, where you may have changing SKUs, jumbled items and irregular geometries, it needs to replicate the capabilities of the human hand, says Smith. As a result, practically speaking, an end effector usually needs to be designed for a particular class of use cases, such as by size, geometry, weight or whether an item is hard or soft. This requires a sufficiently sophisticated software stack that can adapt not only to these different use-cases, but to the appropriate manipulation with a given end effector.

Take a step back from visual wow factor of the latest in warehouse automation and robotics, and it is really software at the WES and analytics levels that will allow users to flex multiple zones of automation to current demand patterns and rapidly changing resource availability, vendors agree.

Most WCS software cant optimize the overall DC like WES can, explains Laura Bickle, senior offering manager for WES at Honeywell Intelligrated, a major provider of warehouse automation and related software. The WCS system is focused on product throughput, but not optimizing the process end to end like a WES can, says Bickle. By utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning, WES enables the customer to make real-time, last-minute decisions based on system status to avoid congestion and maximize throughput.

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Automation: Why software is the star - Modern Materials Handling

WAHPETON, N.D. Gazing across the production floor of WCCO Beltings manufacturing facility in Wahpeton, it isnt difficult to spot examples of automation at work.

For the rubber belting producer thats been a staple in the city of 8,000 people for over 60 years, automation comes in packages both large and small, Vice President of Operations Rod Koch and Senior Manufacturing Engineer Travis Mackey noted. Theres a thousand little things, that are the byproduct of automation, Koch said Monday, March 7.

Automation is at play in all stages of production, the two pointed out. Running across the ceiling are automated hoists for lifting objects. Meanwhile, the floor of the factory features a machine that pulls rubber belts for custom cutting, another to straighten and align rolls and a third that shrink wraps finished products. All are repetitive, not-so-ergonomically-friendly tasks which used to require human labor. Now, all of these tasks are automated.

Thats not to say that WCCO Beltings production floor is devoid of human activity. Many of the firms 285 employees, 50% of whom are women, provide a hands-on touch overseeing the automated equipment.

The implementation of automation hasnt been in an effort to reduce staffing, Koch explained. Rather, its a response to the current conditions of the labor market. One of the biggest reasons we use automation here at WCCO is the fact that youve heard the saying, Im sure, that necessity is the mother of invention we lack staffing, he said.

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North Dakota manufacturers going full steam ahead on automation - The Dickinson Press

With cell therapy firms looking beyond manual production methods, Cellares claims its factory-in-a-box Cell Shuttle platform can offer the ultimate in walk-away automation on an industrial-scale.

For years, industry has looked to automated processes to make cell therapies safely and at scale. Success has been variable, but developers continue investing in automated technologies to help make their complex therapies cost-effective.

A lot of people agree that automation is the way to go, Fabian Gerlinghaus, co-founder and CEO of Cellares told delegates at Phacilitates Advanced Therapies Week in January. Quoting a survey of 150 cell therapy leaders undertaken by CRB, he said process automaton is the number one and most significant advancement that will affect decision making. (Closed manufacturing processes came a close second).

Fabian Gerlinghaus spoke at Advanced therapies Week in Miami in January

But what does automation mean in a practical sense? Gerlinghaus described the four setups currently available to cell therapy developers:

The first, he said, are truly manual processes, relying on traditional operated equipment such as biosafety cabinets and incubators.

A step up from that is where most of us are today using instruments that effectively automate unit operations for one patient at a time. These instruments are built by different vendors. They are inoperable: all of them have different consumables, different vendors, different types of failures, different software systems.

He continued: A step up from there, you have integrated approaches to automation where youre relying on a single solution that automates the entire manufacturing process for one patient at a time, but it does so end-to-end.

But what will really transfer the industry, he said, is a move to a fully integrated and high throughput approach to automation where the entire manufacturing process is automated end-to-end for multiple patients at the same time.

This is the area Cellares is attempting to play in, through its Cell Shuttle technology a modular and automated platform comprising of hardware, software, robotics and consumables capable of manufacturing cell therapies for up to 10 patients, or 10 allogeneic batches, simultaneously.

The Cell Shuttle holds 10 closed, automated and single-use GMP in a box cartridges, he explained, preloaded with the starting material from the patient. When unloaded, the result is a fully filled, finished, and formulated cell therapy product.

According to Gerlinghaus, this factory-in-a-box has the potential to treat 500 patients per year, based on a seven day manufacturing process. Furthermore, the system is 80% more efficient in terms of facility space required compared to manual or bolted-together automated approaches, and has repercussions when it comes to staffing and costs.

By fully automating the processes end-to-end, we are removing many opportunities for operator error. By fully closing the process, were removing many opportunities for contamination, and were reducing the amount of human labor that is required by about 75% [] This makes a significant contribution towards reducing costs.

How much the platform can reduce the cost of cell therapy manufacturing was not explicitly stated, but Gerlinghaus pointed to a journal article stating high throughput automation can reduces batch cost by 30% and increase throughput by 760% when compared with manual.

However, we think we can do better than that.

For more information on Cellares, check out BioProcess Insider Expression podcast with Fabian Gerlinghaus here.

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4 degrees of automation in cell therapy manufacture - BioProcess Insider - BioProcess Insider

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COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation at an astronomical rate. Globally, companies are increasingly adopting cloud services for data storage, automation tools and several other AI-powered technologies at a rapid pace.

No single industry is precluded from this rise in digitization, with many CEOs across the globe agreeing last year that digital transformation will spur an economic boom, according to a survey by Gartner. The resale luxury industry is rapidly embracing digital transformation.

An article published in McKinsey said industry watchers predict that the rise of digital trading platforms and changes in consumer behavior will cause an annual growth rate of 10% to 15% over the next decade in the resale luxury market a market already estimated between $25 billion and $30 billion in 2020. ThredUps 2021 Resale Report provides a broader context to the resale industry, with projections that the secondhand market will grow two-fold in the next five years, reaching $77 billion.

Flyp, a San Francisco-based company attempting to decentralize ecommerce, says its now using AI to provide analytics, easy access to inventory, free automation tools and business intelligence to help thousands of power sellers to grow their resale businesses. James Kawas, cofounder and CEO of Flyp, told VentureBeat that Flyp uses AI at its core, building on many layers of proprietary data that enables power sellers to automate their businesses in a fast and cost-effective manner.

McKinseys State of Fashion 2022 Report reveals that changing category landscapes, new digital frontiers and advances in sustainability continue to present new opportunities in the fashion industry, especially as the industry recovers from the revenue decline of previous years. Online business models have continued to flourish in the apparel industry, with hyper-interactive digital environments and investment in ecommerce increasingly becoming the leitmotifs of brands that are pushing on fashion frontiers, according to the report.

Power sellers top-rated resellers who maintain a large sales volume across various marketplaces continue to be dominant players in the apparel resale market. Kawas said Flyp wants to help more people become resellers, noting that with about 350,000 power sellers in the US, resellers make significant contributions to sustainability in the US by giving another life to used products, ensuring they dont go to waste.

Were exclusively focusing on power sellers in the resale industry. We built Flyp to offer different products and services for these power sellers, enabling them to find inventory and resell products so that they can grow their businesses at a fast pace. Our AI-enabled platform allows them to use a bunch of free software tools to sell across different marketplaces like eBay, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace and Poshmark all at once, said Dani Arnaout, cofounder and CTO at Flyp.

Kawas said Flyp empowers resellers with free automation tools that help them monitor, manage, and execute orders all in one platform. According to Kawas, most resellers have had to manually sell thousands of items across different marketplaces or employ the services of assistants in the past. Kawas said Flyp has a feature called Crosslister that eliminates the need to hire an assistant, enabling resellers to send automated responses to orders and manage inventory across marketplaces.

He also said Flyps unique built-in analytics capabilities pull resellers sales from different marketplaces, providing them with accurate information on their profits, what is the most profitable thing for them, what are the best categories and brands for them and many more.

Flyps team of engineers is also leveraging AI to help resellers find things to resell, according to Kawas. The team built a matching system that crawls sellers profiles on eBay and Poshmark, aggregates information on the exact products they are looking for and automatically searches for the right places to get them. The systems algorithms also match sellers to that inventory, either from consumers like people who have it in their closets but dont want to sell it directly or from businesses who have extra inventory that they can deal with.

Kawas said this AI-powered matching system has enabled Flyp to send upwards of $6 million worth of goods to sellers, allowing product owners and businesses to also earn via a commission-based model.

While there are several inventory management tools and multichannel selling platforms today, Kawas said they were not built with the resellers of used goods in mind. Most ecommerce automation tools today are designed for shops selling new items on Amazon or Shopify, neglecting the resale market a market which Kawas said is growing 11 times faster than the retail market.

No one has catered to these resellers because theyre away from sights and from the headlines. Theyre not very [well] known. We know them because we spent many years working with them, said Kawas. In reality, there has been much infrastructure built for ecommerce automation over the past 10 to 20 years. What were doing at Flyp is bringing those types of software automation tools to the secondhand market.

He added that Flyps biggest differentiator in todays ecommerce automation industry is its specific focus on the resellers of used goods. Kawas also said another differentiator is that Flyp gives anyone access to automation tools at zero cost.

Those who typically invest in ecommerce automation are big companies that make hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue monthly because ecommerce automation is expensive. Our free, easy-to-navigate AI-enabled platform allows individual, small and mid-sized businesses operated by people like stay-at-home moms and college students to run their resale businesses effectively, he added.

Kawas said there are plans to grow and add more features to the Flyp platform. The company has raised $4.5 million in total to date in oversubscribed rounds, with increasing interest for further funding from commerce enablement focused VCs, a theme that has been growing drastically since last year.

Flyp has a current headcount of 12 most of whom have worked in different areas of the resale market and the gig economy industry and expects to triple that number in the next 12 months.

We have over 14,000 power seller businesses signed up, with a huge waitlist, and we are expecting tens of thousands more to join us. Were excited to be a force for good in the resale gig economy by empowering individual resellers the most crucial drivers of the resale economy, said Kawas.

Both Forbes 30 under 30 honorees, Kawas and Arnaout cofounded Flyp in 2019.

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Flyp launches new automation tools to empower the resale industry - VentureBeat

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

Finding skilled labor has always been a big challenge for the horticulture sector. This has become an even more pressing problem during these COVID times, with the Great Resignation, also known as the roughly 33 million people in North America only that quit their jobs. This has of course impacted horticulture too, making things even more challenging for these large-scale operations, that are entirely based on top-notch efficiency. Yet, there are solutions for that.

Addressing labor shortageAutomation is a critical area of focus for the future state of agriculture due to rising labor costs and declining labor availability. Fewer people are interested in manual labor jobs so growers will continue to be challenged with figuring out a way to optimize key employees to make the most out of their time.Experienced employees are a limiting factor and rather than overcome lack of skilled labor with large quantities of extra labor, machines provide efficiencies that will bode well across multiple stages of the production process.

This is the area that Ferrari Costruzioni Meccaniche specializes in.We are focused on developing new technologies in farming that accommodate fewer people, machines that can perform in very harsh terrains, (however we think the soil preparation will remain a key aspect growers will have to manage), and new, lighter materials that reduce the weight of our frames without losing their strength,Christian Rossi, export manager at Ferrari Costruzioni Meccaniche.

The most innovative transplanter we offer is called FUTURAand it is a fully automated machine that is either tractor-pulled or self-propelled,he continues.This machine needs just one operator, and it can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.The development of the aptly named FUTURA line of transplanters was driven by the increasing cost of labor combined with difficulties to find good field workers. This machine repays itself within 1 to 3 years, on average, depending on the acreage of the farm.

Agromillora California and automationSuch solutions are particularly suitable for Agromillora California, a company that focuses on almonds, pistachios, walnuts, stone fruits, and olives. All these crops are often planted in harsh environments, so growers are constantly challenged with managing dwarfing, weaker growing plants until they can take root and become established. Cliff Beumel, President at Agromillora Nursery in California shares, we think a lot about true automation and autonomous options in the field and we always think about our orchard growing systems that we support and everything that goes into being amenable to that. We dont know when the time will come for complete conversion to these technologies, but COVID and the lack of labor will likely bring it about faster, so we are building towards a system that will be compatible. When it comes to the crops that Agromilla grows, they need every root tip they can get to ensure their plants are off to the best start possible.

For this reason, they use Ellepots grown in Air Tray Technologies systems, which perform extremely well in combination with Ferraris machines. Cliff describes that very simple shapes work well with robotics and the Ellepot is a much simpler shape for robotics to work with than more traditional container options. Additionally, because it is a stabilized media and the soil is contained and will not fall out when grabbed, this provides an added benefit.We know the time for this kind of automation is coming and we know that the Ellepot will be easier to put into an autonomous system. This is an added benefit for us in adopting the Air Tray Technologies system. The most important thing for us right now is to prepare for the inevitable time when there will be fewer people in the orchard and make sure our products are designed in a way that will be amenable to this change.

The air tray technologies is a patented system developed by Blackmore company of Belleville Michigan USA.

The bottom line is that the product works and it all has to do withgrowing Ellepots in the right tray, the Air Tray,Cliff adds, the Air Tray is a very cost-effective and efficient way to ensure optimal performance growing in Ellepots. The combination of the Air Tray and the Ellepot results in better root development through air root pruning.

Since Cliff brought Air Tray Technologies to Agromillora 2 years ago, customers have commented on how much better their plants have looked. Cliff recounts that early on there was a misconception that plant quality and rooting would be poor, however soon customers saw how much better the plants looked, from top to bottom. He recalls particular attention was given to the numerous white roots emerging from the Ellepot in every direction. He reaffirms,the Air Tray is directly responsible for us being able to produce trees that exemplify the product characteristics that customers are looking for. After converting our production to Air Tray Technologies, customer happiness and plant performance are up,Cliff says,and this has expanded into other facets of our business.

For more information:Ellepot+45 76147676www.ellepot.com

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We know the time for this kind of automation is coming" - hortidaily.com

Oracle on automation as key to operationalizing and evolving 5G

The continued evolution of 5G is very much an exercise in rapidly increasing network and service complexity. On the network side, the shift to cloud architecture, cloud-native core, edge clouds and RAN virtualization make emerging networks look quite distinct as compared to their predecessors. On the services side, the money will come from enterprises and enterprises need customized solutions with unique performance characteristics, and theyd likely prefer to consume those services in an on-demand, IT-type model. So what should operators do in this operational environment? There are three key words and they are automation, automation, automation, according to Oracles Anil Rao.

5G operations must be automation-native by design, he continued. On the convergence of cloud, virtualization, disaggregation and decentralization of the network, If you put all these things together. its fair to say that the networks that underpin 5G are going to look massively different. And its going to be immensely more complex to manage and operate on a day-to-day basis.

Discussing the evolution of services, Rao said, Yes, consumer can expect super-fast mobile broadband but thats really more of the same. Whats different are bespoke enterprise services. This is where it starts to get interesting because enterprises present a whole raft of challenges.

In terms of automating the network resource and service provisioning/delivery of enterprise services, network slicing is something of a North Star. But, Rao said, network slicing require[s] a highly-evolved, automated operations platform. The reasons are three-fold: abstraction and management; exploiting the benefits of the new technology; and sustainable operational economics.

Abstraction because its going to be humanly impossible to do by just throwing more people at it or even just using the traditional operations modelwhere expectations were mainly consumer voice and data. Exploiting the benefits, well, You wouldnt put a Ford engine in a Tesla. And, They need to do all of the abovewithout breaking the bank. Controlling opex is going to be critical to making 5G profitable and operations automation is going to make this possible.

So what does that look like in terms of a real world strategy for both operators turning up 5G for the first or more advanced 5G operators expanding, densifying and onboarding mobile edge computing infrastructure?

According to Rao, theres a focus on remote configuration of cell site routers and zero-touch provisioning of new 5G and MEC infrastructure. Were also seeing the early signs of the use of digital twin concept for digitalization of cell sites. Once you have digitally modeled the entire cell site using high-def cameras mounted on a drone, for example, you can then combine that with other information such as network inventory and telemetry data to make intelligent and automated decisions on configuration and optimization of those sites.

A big part of thisback to controlling opex at sustainable levelsis limiting site touches and attendant truck rolls to control massive managed services agreements. For MEC nodes, a key part of operator 5G monetization strategies, It definitely helps that the MEC sites, to some extent, resemble a cloud data center, and cloud players, as we know, have mastered the art of rapidly replication cloud regions with automation. CTOs are now insisting on an automate everything that can be automated-type approach.

For more from Rao, listen to this episode of the podcast Will 5G Change the World?

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How to manage 5G complexity'Automation, automation, and automation' - RCR Wireless News

Did you miss a session at the Data Summit? Watch On-Demand Here.

As organizations continue to accelerate the adoption of digital transformation across the enterprise ecosystem, leaders in the finance industry are increasingly gaining momentum in the race to a digital future. Gartner reports that business leaders expect digital technologies to dramatically transform their industry by 2026. While CFOs keep attempting to digitize finance, aligning digital strategies with business outcomes presents a new challenge.

DataRails, a New York-based AI-enabled financial planning and analysis platform for Excel users, today raised a $50 million funding in its quest to revolutionize the CFOs office. The AI-powered company claims its unique approach allows CFOs to take advantage of the full potential of new tech while minimizing disruptions to workflow.

In a press release, the company claims it leverages AI and machine learning capabilities to provide real-time financial consolidation and advanced data visualization through intuitive and simple implementation. Many finance teams often manually gather and consolidate data for staple reports like budgets, profit and loss statements (P&Ls), balance sheets and month-end reporting, but DataRails says its automation-driven platform helps finance teams to be faster and more effective.

Didi Gurfinkel, cofounder and CEO of DataRails, said over 80% of small and midsized businesses experience the pain of manual work, broken processes and scattered data while using Excel for financial planning and analysis. He continued by adding that this showed a huge need for real-time consolidation, collaboration and extraction of financial insights.

The company says it uses a cloud-based centralized database enabling real-time consolidation of disparate financial and operational data from across a company to allow teams to enjoy the flexibility and power of Excel.

Sivan Shamri Dahan, managing partner at Qumra Capital, agrees with Gurfinkel, saying that DataRails is leading the transformation of financial teams operations by empowering teams in every organization with profound business intelligence (BI) capabilities.

For the first time, all financial data is uploaded to the cloud, providing continuous agility and content sharing, said Dahan.

While Gurfinkel said DataRails has experienced tremendous growth that makes the company the superior product-market fit, DataRails is not the only company automating time-consuming manual processes for finance teams. A G2 review list shows DataRails has competition in Vena, the native Excel complete planning platform. Other competitors include Planful, BlackLine, FloQast and Prophix Software, which automates important financial and operational processes.

In alignment with DataRails vision to dominate the financial planning and analysis software market, the company will use this additional capital to expand its global customer base and further invest in R&D, as well as sales and marketing.

This funding which is the third investment round in the last 12 months is coming on the heels of a five-fold revenue growth in 2021.

The funding was led by Qumra Capital with participation from new and existing investors.

VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More

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DataRails wants to revolutionize the CFO's office with automation - VentureBeat

Late last year, ABBYY teamed up with FreightWaves to survey logistics providers about document handling and processing habits. While results showed that most companies across the supply chain are making efforts toward document digitization and process automation, it was also clear that many companies continue to run into document verification hurdles on a regular basis.

The push toward digitization is not surprising. While the logistics industry was once seen as a technological holdout, it has undergone a veritable tech revolution over the past several years. This trend will only continue to accelerate as partners within the space demand greater connectivity and consumer visibility expectations grow.

As shippers move to digitize their documents and automate their processes, they should focus on making sure both efficiency and accuracy benchmarks are met. One document processing error can sideline an entire shipment, undermining profitability and customer satisfaction.

It is important for shippers to be competitive, and the world is digitizing really quickly. It is no surprise that about half of the supply chain leaders say information verification within their processes has become a big deal, Bruce Orcutt, senior vice president of product marketing and management, at ABBYY said. You have to get the documents right, and you have to get the information within those documents correct.

The shipping industry runs on documents. While automation runs on data, the day-to-day conducting of the business the shipping and receiving of goods takes place in documents. Historically, efforts to bring the worlds of automation and documentation together have been clumsy at best.

Lately, however, organizations have focused more investment on making the integration between those two worlds more seamless so shippers can achieve higher reliability and better verification.

Even with organizations that have managed to automate a lot of their document processes, they still run into verification challenges, Orcutt said. The information on shipping documents is often complex and highly variable. Traditionally, we have to rely on experienced workers who understand those details to make a judgment call on what they mean. Judgements about complex information must be made in context.

The complicated nature of these documents has made it difficult to circumvent the human-heavy approach to document processing. This compromises speed and efficiency, especially during a national labor shortage.

Some companies including ABBYY have turned to artificial intelligence and low-code/no-code platforms in order to bridge the gap between document processing and automation.

AI adds a layer of decision-making on top of the simple data extraction, Orcutt said. Verifying the information and making sure it is correct is vitally important, but at the same time, information can be read in multiple ways and must be understood within context. Documents contain more than just data points.

In order for AI to be successful in the document processing space, the software must be able to continuously learn just like an experienced operator who is an expert at assessing these documents and making swift judgment calls. ABBYY is arming AI software with pre-trained document skills in order to make intelligent document processing a reality.

Click here to learn more about ABBYY.

The leading voices in supply chain are coming to Rogers, Arkansas, on May 9-10.

*limited term pricing available.

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Artificial intelligence makes automated document processing a reality - FreightWaves

Trend Overview

Electrical substations are the building blocks of an energy grid. They are responsible for regulating and changing voltage levels as electric power flows from generating station to consumer. Many were built decades ago when switching, adjustment, and data collection were done manually, but digital protection and control devices have become more intelligent. New Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) can collect and record diverse system information, process complex logic in microseconds, and decide whether to send control commands to switches and breakers to clear faults. The increase in information allows for better evaluation of system health, prediction of potential problems, and a quicker analysis of faults.

Automation Tasks

Substation Automation (SA) uses data fromIEDs, control and automation capabilities within the substation along with control commands from remote users to control power-system devices. Data is collected in the form of measured analog current or voltage values, or the open/closed status of contact points. This data can be used locally within the collecting device, sent to another device in a substation, or delivered to multiple databases for use by operators, engineers, planners, and administration.

Computer processes and personnel use the data from IEDs to supervise and monitor the conditions of the power system. Operators and engineers can monitor the information remotely or locally, using the device.

Traditional supervisory control and data acquisition systems rely on operators to supervise the system with commands coming from an operator console on the master computer. Automation allows these command messages to be sent to a device to operate the instrumentation and control (I&C) and power-system devices. Field personnel can also control devices using front-panel push buttons or a laptop.

As the utility grid becomes more automated and digitized, the reliance on the supporting digital network infrastructure becomes even more critical to the reliability and efficiency of the grid. Expanding grid digitization means a bigger cyber security threat. Traditional substation security approaches fall short due to lack of visibility and centralized security policy enforcement. Regulators and utilities strive to continuously increase their security posture to improve visibility and respond to new threats.

Cisco Point of View

Based on more than a decade of collaboration with the utility industry, Cisco has developed solutions to digitize, automate, and secure substations. Over the past six months, Cisco has released the next generation industrial routing and switching platform designed for grid modernization and substation automation. They align with the five 'Internet of Things' essentials for next-generation substation:

Summary

As utilities become more operationally reliant on digital power system end points, they are realizing that a disruption in accessing these end points and their data is a risk to grid reliability. Cisco can help utilities support the business and technical requirements of the modern electric grid by providing a secure, scalable, and highly available foundation including network, compute, and security.

For more, visit cisco.com/go/utilities.

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The Digitization of the Power Grid: Substation Automation Edition - Marketscreener.com