Industrial Automation Magazine India

Remote operations require appropriate enabling technology

Published on : Friday 07-01-2022

Hemal Desai, VP Marketing, Endress+Hauser India

How did the industry fare in 2021 after the initial impact of Covid caused widespread disruption in 2020?
There were four major elements which changed Endress+Hauser approach, or you can say the impact of pandemic.
 
One point is the future of sales, the interface to the market and customers. In the image of the tree that Mr Klaus Endress, President of the Supervisory Board of the Endress+Hauser Group likes to use, this is the crown. We need a larger surface that can absorb the sunlight to close the gaps and achieve a greater presence. In this case we must utilise every available opportunity in the interaction between the analog and digital worlds.
 
The way in which we work together will nevertheless change – and that’s another element. When people are all physically present in a room, collaboration is different than if they are collaborating in a mixed or fully digital environment.
 
A third element is the meaning of work. Particularly in Western societies, people are searching for meaning. For a long time, we were concerned about the possibility of not finding enough qualified employees; today we are convinced there will always be enough people who want to work for Endress+Hauser – as long as we provide what they are looking for. Added to that is the way we deal with people. But most of all, what we do is exciting because we deal with fundamental global challenges. Our activities have great value, not just for the company, but also for society.
 
The fourth element is robustness of supply chains. With countries closing their borders, supply chains have been interrupted. Endress+Hauser was able to ensure the availability of materials, but many of our customers experienced difficulties. That will lead to new thoughts about how supply chains will be organised.
 
People have developed a different awareness of issues such as health, nutrition and protecting the environment. And climate change is not going away. It’s something that must and will occupy all of us as humans. Government policies create the framework, such as the European Union and its climate objectives. And we see lots of efforts by industry to reduce the carbon footprint.
 
What were the changes and new technologies businesses widely adopted in 2021?
Human development in recent decades has been accompanied by rapid changes in technology and an increasing proliferation of digitised devices and services. And the pace of change seems likely to accelerate because of ‘frontier technologies’ such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
 
Recent developments in frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics, and biotechnology, have shown tremendous potential for sustainable development. The Covid-19 pandemic has further exposed this dichotomy. Technology has been a critical tool for addressing the spread of the disease.
 
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced companies to shift to running their operations remotely, with many employees working from locations outside of the plant, such as their homes.

This requires a connected workforce with the right cyber-secure tools to provide real-time visibility and control and meet the challenges of fully remote access of operations.
 
Remote operations require appropriate enabling technology for a connected and remote workforce, facilitate collaboration and reduce paperwork, provide secured access to information from anyone, anywhere, and support interactions with remote experts.
 
Remote operation greatly benefits from technologies such as augmented reality (AR), where the remote user can see any asset in the plant with information digitally overlaid. AR devices sense what the remote worker is looking at and displays the data needed for the operation at hand using tablets, smartphones, smart glasses, or wearable computers.
 
The shift to Industry 4.0 solutions – which includes connectivity, advanced analytics, intelligent business process automation and advanced manufacturing technologies – started before and gained momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic and will accelerate rapidly post-pandemic, as companies look to build resilience and radically improve operations, production efficiency, speed to market, customer service and end-to-end supply chain transparency.
 
Endress+Hauser is venturing into the world of mixed reality: the combination of virtual elements and real surroundings are set to make the installation, operation and maintenance of measurement devices significantly easier.  
 
Hooking up a level measuring device? ‘Not a problem’, according to Eric Birgel, System Owner, GIL Innovation Lab – Endress+Hauser Level+Pressure, as he puts on his HoloLens glasses. Suddenly he no longer merely sees the device in front of him, but also its digital twin superimposed above the instrument. A virtual menu pops up above it.
 
The software developer has a major goal: together with Product Manager Tanja Haag Senior Expert Digitalisation – TPI F&E Platform Informatik – Endress+Hauser Level+Pressure, he wants to make the installation, maintenance, and repair of measurement devices easier through the help of digital services.
 
To achieve this, mixed reality combines the real environment with a computer-aided perception. Image-processing algorithms allow virtual elements to be placed in a room through mixed-reality glasses such as Microsoft’s HoloLens.
 
Mixed reality is leading the operation and maintenance of measurement devices into a new dimension by making it intuitive. ‘By means of mixed reality, abstract technical knowledge and available data can be linked and shown graphically’.
 
While Covid triggered the supply chain disruption, it now continues in various forms and for different reasons. What could be the solution? 
Endress+Hauser had to keep its eye on regional lockdowns during the pandemic. Measurement instruments were warehoused – and automatically delivered to customers once they were able to accept deliveries again.
 
In the spring of 2020, countries were at complete standstill. Because of strict lockdowns in regions heavily impacted by the virus, companies were forced to close from one day to the next, not even able to accept deliveries. Endress+Hauser was in a position to react quickly in this situation, with the European logistics hub in Frankfurt, Germany playing a key role.
 
The facility collects delivery-ready measurement instruments from various production centres and ships them to customers from a central point. For that, a completely digital and automated process is used. At the heart of this process is a software system with the flexibility to find the best logistics provider for each delivery.
 
“Our sales centres stored the postcodes for the lockdown regions in the system, which then automatically warehoused deliveries destined for the impacted regions at the hub,” explains Stefan Kern, IT & Data Analytics Manager at Endress+Hauser. 
 
As soon as lockdown restrictions were eased, the sales centres released the corresponding postcode. The system then immediately sent the instruments on their way. The selection of a freight forwarder was automatically controlled through intelligent algorithms. That’s why instruments often arrive at the customer within 24 hours.
 
“The outlook continues to be characterised by uncertainty,” emphasised Matthias Altendorf, CEO, Endress+Hauser Group. In addition to further pandemic waves and new virus variants, the supply chain continues to cause concern throughout the industry, he said. Endress+Hauser is therefore increasing inventories and strengthening its supplier network. New efficient logistics centres have been put into operation in China and Germany to run the supply chain smoothly. 
 
With new strains of the virus appearing periodically, is the WFH culture here to stay and become a permanent feature?
We are seeing new variants of Covid appearing such as Omicorn and the situation is that people have to take care and be safe. Work from home is going to stay but to certain industries and departments. Where you have to interact with the customers on a regular basis specific to B2B industry the WFH will be there for temporary face. 
 
After testing the sustainability of work for home for some period, the companies have decided to make partial or full work from home a permanent feature for certain roles/teams.
 
Since there are people staying in small towns, the lack of infrastructure is creating a lot of issues. Non-availability of high-speed internet and 24X7 electricity is a big hindrance, in this scenario it will become difficult for employees to WFH. 
 
Also working together in a commonplace helps in learning, nurturing individuals, and teams, creating a value-based culture. This will not be possible in a WFH environment. Overall, there will be development of stress in isolation. This will impact the health of the people. 
 
Overall, we can say the WFH will stay in some sectors and departments and in other areas such as small towns where infrastructure is having issues will go for offline work in offices. 
 
How is the outlook for 2022, given that a lot of lessons have been learned during the last two years?
When the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the livelihoods of millions of entrepreneurs last year, digitalisation offered small businesses around the world a promising solution. 
 
In the wake of last year’s Covid-19 shutdowns, information technology groups pivoted nearly overnight, launching technology-driven initiatives to enable remote work and distance learning. New customer experiences and new online sales channels followed close behind. 
 
Digitalisation and online platforms create additional access to the market and customers. The digital world will not replace the physical sales environment, however. People always need people. The terms ‘knowledge’ and ‘warmth’ are incredibly important: knowledge can be digitally transported, but warmth requires closeness. When the media says home working is the future, that’s wrong. Employees miss interacting with other people when they work from home.
 
The way in which we work together will nevertheless change – and that’s another element. When people are all physically present in a room, collaboration is different than if they are collaborating in a mixed or fully digital environment.
 
People have developed a different awareness of issues such as health, nutrition and protecting the environment. And climate change is not going away. It’s something that must and will occupy all of us as humans. We see lots of efforts by industry to reduce the carbon footprint.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has triggered a wave of mental health issues. Whether it’s managing addiction, depression, social isolation or just the general stress that’s resulted from Covid-19, we’re all feeling it. 
 
New concerns related health found in the people lifestyle and which have been observed which are mentioned below”
•                     More time outdoors or experiencing nature
•                     Improved sleeping pattern
•                     Starting or modifying an exercise program, and
•                     Other healthy dietary changes.
 
Climate change and sustainability are matters of serious concern. How sustainable are present business practices?
‘Climate change is on the minds of all generations’
 
The protests illustrate how much this issue is driving people. But there is also an underlying development that has been noticeable for some time now. The question of meaningful work is becoming increasingly important during interviews with job applicants. They’re seeking ‘good’ employers, and ‘good’ implies how the company is contributing to our overall well-being as a society.
 
Protection of the climate and the environment is firmly anchored in our corporate strategy. We have committed to becoming climate neutral by the year 2030. For our industry, which is very energy intense, that’s a very ambitious goal. We’re reducing CO2 emissions at our production facilities at the same time. We have scaled them back by 50 per cent since 1990, even though production has more than doubled. We did that by constantly improving efficiency. Given what we have achieved, further savings will be increasingly more difficult. Our researchers are therefore working at full speed on ground-breaking low-CO2 technologies and processes. I am confident that we will come up with innovative solutions. Our ultimate goal is to avoid CO2 emissions in the first place.
 
What are the technology trends most likely to dominate in 2022? (e.g., 5G, Cloud/Edge Computing, AI/ML, AR/VR/MR, Robotics, Predictive AI)   
The combinatorial power of technology fuels the trends, in which robotics, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), digital twins, and 3D or 4D printing (also known as additive manufacturing, or AM) combine to streamline routine tasks, improve operational efficiency, and accelerate time to market.
 
How fast are these technologies moving? By 2025, more than 50 billion devices will be connected to the IIoT, generating 79.4 zettabytes of data yearly. Annual installations of industrial robots, which have increased two times to about 450,000 since 2015, will grow to about 600,000 by 2022, even as 70 percent of manufacturers will be regularly using digital twins by 2022. Across industries, about 10 % of today’s manufacturing processes will be replaced by AM by 2030.
 
Other important technology trend is the digital twin which is becoming increasingly important across all industrial sectors. Serving as the interface between physical devices and components in the digital world, it enables the representation of complete production platforms in IT systems for simulating, controlling, and improving processes. With its information and data, the digital twin is the key to virtually connecting value chains and for digital applications across the entire life cycle.
 
Another trend is predictive maintenance where the goal is to fully integrate the Endress+Hauser field instruments as digital twins into the SAP cloud platform. Both companies want to take advantage of the services and smart apps from SAP’s Leonardo system as well as Endress+Hauser’s IIoT offering.
 
The idea is to tightly integrate master and sensor data, as well as measurement values, into customer business, logistics and production processes and develop new digital services focused on predictive maintenance and predictive quality. An open platform concept forms the basis for this approach.
 
Hemal Desai is a graduate in Instrumentation Engineering and has over 30 years of experience in process control & automation business. Currently he works for Endress+Hauser India Pvt Ltd.