Achieve business outcomes that matter
Measure, manage, and operationalize your sustainability goals – including decarbonization, energy resources management, and reduced WAGES.
Achieve operations visibility and AI-based optimization, linking plant-floor actions to your enterprise sustainability initiatives.
A system of record to automate accurate GHG data collection, provide valuable insights, and identify ways to reduce carbon emissions
One modular solution to connect, see, control, and optimize DERs from a technical and an economic standpoint
Reduced operational costs and risks using Digital Twins, machine learning and predictive models
Increased network reliability
Advanced analytics to predict future asset and process performance for reduced variability and improved operations
Optimized asset performance to reduce risk and improve safety, reliability, compliance, and efficiency
Optimize assets and processes – from plant-level operations to the enterprise – with self-service process analytics software.
Minimized potential impact of anomalies
Comprehensive visibility of asset health for rapid situational adjustments with quality information
Streamlined mechanical integrity solution to reduce risk, maintain compliance and optimize resources
Develop, implement, maintain, and optimize asset strategies to effectively balance cost and risk
Operational visibility and analysis to reduce asset failures, control costs and increase availability
Performance Intelligence with APM Reliability is your partner in meeting your plant and fleet performance goals.
Predictive analytics software, helps prevent equipment downtime by detecting, diagnosing, forecasting & preventing emerging failures.
The AI-powered product automatically explores the space of operation of gas turbines, builds a machine learning model, and continuously finds the optimal flame temperatures and fuel splits to minimize emissions
BoilerOpt works within existing plant technology to improve boiler productivity and air-fuel ratios in a closed-loop system
Pre-built templates for equipment health monitoring, asset strategies, and process workflows
Operator rounds efficiency and operational impact
Secure and scalable data connectivity, analytics, and application services
Services and solutions to reduce vulnerability and identify, detect, prevent and protect
Turnkey solutions to reduce vulnerability and identify, detect, prevent and protect assets and systems
A globally recognized benchmark for procurement of OT secure products.
Strengthened device security across the development lifecycle
Informed decision making with data and insights from across the enterprise
Native cloud service for a data historian.
Safe and secure management and orchestration of the distribution grid
Network-level optimization with high-performing distribution power applications
Overcome foreseeable load variations
Minimized disruption of service even in extreme weather conditions
Effective management and orchestration to unlock the power of renewables and DERs
Increased output and energy production at times of highest demand
A common network view to ensure electrical integrity, network validity and infrastructure management
Accurately model your asset network, support traceability, help assure data completeness, & support integrity management
End-to-end network connectivity modeling and data workflow management
Software designed to help grid operators orchestrate the grid
Increased efficiency and reduced costs
Secure-by-design connectivity and certification management, and faster operator response
Faster operator response and increased efficiency
Centralized visualization and configuration, digitized processes and intelligence
Full visualization and control seamlessly across devices, including phones, tablets and desktops
Best practices and proven deployment learnings
In-depth understanding of how GE Digital software can help your operations
Holistic performance management for today’s connected enterprise
Management of fast-moving processes as well as slower moving, labor-intensive jobs
Cost savings with improved manufacturing overall equipment effectiveness
Batch automation, regardless of the underlying equipment
Data analysis for quick identification of defects and better optimization of processes
Unified manufacturing data from disparate systems to better meet changing consumer demands
Procedures managed in an electronic format for consistency and predictability
Optimized production with better planning
Improved throughput with greater efficiency and lower costs
Materials to help you better understand GE Digital software and its robust functionality
Integrated solutions for improved efficiency and sustainability while supporting business growth
Energy management for the zero carbon grid
Reliable mobilization of network assets to ensure maximum transmission of energy from multiple sources
Integrated solutions suite for energy market management
Decentralized data collection, data volume handling, and remote management
Getting the most benefit out of digitization and industrial IoT
Services that deliver best-in-class results
Rapid digital transformation wins based on industry-proven value cases and ROI
Best practices for your industrial processes to help build and maintain operational resilience
GE Digital’s expert service and support teams create value and deliver on business objectives
Expert service and support teams to maximize the benefits from your IIoT software
Improved efficiencies, optimized production and quality and reduced unplanned downtime
Increased reliability and availability, minimized costs, and reduced operational risks
Increased value from your equipment, process data, and business models
The cornerstone of your journey to operational excellence
Operational excellence including improved reliability, reduced costs and managed risk
GridOS, the first grid software portfolio designed for grid orchestration
Reduced operational costs and risks using predictive models
Enhanced overall situational awareness
Field-connected operations and management
One modular solution that enables grid operators to connect, see, control, and optimize DERs from a technical and an economic standpoint
Operational efficiency and reduction in build costs while meeting regulatory regulations
Reduced operational and new build costs and improved field inspection productivity
A holistic picture of the grid, reducing cost and complexity from traditional inspection approaches
Optimized operations to best meet changing consumer needs
Reduced variability and improved operations.
In-depth understanding of our software and its functionality
A clear a path to operational transformation
Maintain consistent quality and reduce cost per ton
Optimized costs and improved reliability while reducing risk to keep your teams and communities safe
Streamlined end-to-end operations driving high-volume, high-quality production
GE Digital software is the backbone of modern plant operations
Improved reliability, increased availability, and reduced O&M costs
AI/ML to make your gas turbine's fuel and air controls smarter
Increase energy production at times of highest demand without costly maintenance adders or adversely impacting the maintenance interval
Inclusive outsourcing services that deliver best-in-class results
Achieve digital transformation
Expert service teams to maximize the benefits from your IIoT software
Reduced costs, lower risk, and faster response times
Analytics to predict future asset and process performance for reduced variability & improved operations
A common network view to ensure integrity, network validity and infrastructure management
Mission critical software to better operate, optimize and analyze your work to deliver results
Locate the best partners to meet your needs
Digital transformation acceleration
Technical and domain expertise that complements GE Digital’s industry leading applications
Assistance to accelerate your digital transformation and put your industrial data to work
Deep domain knowledge and technical expertise
Product training, industry education, and rigorous certification programs
More efficient and secure electric grid, greater sustainability and waste reduction
Solutions for today, scale for tomorrow
Increased reliability and reduced reactive maintenance leading to higher efficiency and reduced costs
Using Digital Twin blueprints, GE's Industrial Managed Services team monitors 7,000+ global assets
Understanding of the latest thought leadership that can be applied to your operations
Understand how our software and services help our customers solve today's toughest challenges
Experienced team dedicated to customer success
Success stories and product updates from the world of Electrification Software
Analyst and third-party expert opinions of Electrification Software and our software and services
White papers, product overviews, and other content to help you put your industrial data to work
Experience in leading edge software development and business working with best-in-class leaders
Understand how Electrification software and services helps our customers solve today's toughest challenges
Blog
This year’s “Key Technology Trends” report was strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which shifted market demand more abruptly than any single event that we have ever witnessed. This drastically impacted the need for companies to respond fast and become agile, creating both business resilience and opportunities to thrive in this reconnecting world, otherwise known as the new normal. As economies reopened, manufacturers and processors had to deal with the new reality, running their operations remotely with employees working from home. Digital transformation accelerated the ability for physical and organizational boundaries to be broken to engage a real-time workforce, connect teams, and drive collaboration. These companies are under pressure to manage their supply chains to maintain their integrity and flexibility to respond to market demand shifts, doing this from remote locations with the tools to monitor uptime with real-time visibility and control. There are new methodologies required for the new normal, driven by the need to protect against failures, ensure product fulfillment, protect personnel, and all while leveraging enhanced security architectures.
In last year’s Key Technology Trends report, we focused on trends which include deploying the next generation of Industrial IoT edge solutions; the increasing use of cyber-physical systems; accelerating the development of open process automation systems and standards; digital transformation shifting focus from basic digitization to full digitalization; and applying systems engineering practices to industrial cybersecurity; all of which are poised to either enter the mainstream or – if already there - to continue to gain acceptance. All relate to the overall digital transformation of industry, infrastructure, and today’s increasingly smart cities and municipalities. For this year, in no order, here are some of the key technologies that ARC Advisory Group believes will increase in importance over the next twelve months or so. While far from a complete list, the technologies discussed in this report will almost certainly make an impact on industry, infrastructure, and municipalities in 2021, building upon the demands created for companies to thrive in the post-pandemic new normal.
The convergence of information technology and operations technology (IT/OT convergence) is progressing rapidly as industrial organizations realize it is key for successful digital transformation.
Connectivity and/or convergence between OT and IT is essential for businesses to compete. Manufacturers and other industrial organizations today face the increasing demand for tighter integration and more information. In response, they have started to leverage Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0 technology and approaches including 5G networking, cloud and edge computing, additive manufacturing, advanced analytics, digital twins, AR/VR, AI, ML, and other emerging technologies.
Increasingly IT/OT convergence includes IT/OT cybersecurity, which helps fill existing security gaps and ensure consistent security levels across the enterprise. Increasingly, convergence also includes the integration of power and automation, which involves converging information about electrical assets (such as in motor control centers) and the production process to help improve sustainability across the entire lifecycle of a manufacturing plant. Convergence between power and automation also provides an integrated, digitalized approach that increases interoperability and flexibility, reduces CAPEX and OPEX expenditures, increases production efficiencies, decreases unscheduled downtime, and improves overall profitability.
Rather than a trend, ARC Advisory Group believes that this convergence between IT and OT, IT cybersecurity and OT cybersecurity, and power and automation will become permanent, representing a true technology fusion. In 2021, look for the introduction of innovative solutions where these technologies will move beyond convergence and be fused into a single offering.
One of the objectives of a company’s digital transformation journey is to ensure resilient operations to improve its capabilities to overcome today’s heightened business risks. These include increasing cybersecurity threats, new regulatory compliance mandates, and more strenuous plant and personnel safety requirements.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturers faced numerous challenges such as market and commodity uncertainty; rapid fluctuations in demand; supply chain disruptions; and the need to become more agile, efficient, and sustainable. However, the current pandemic magnified those challenges, leading manufacturers to focus on operational resilience as a key corporate objective.
To achieve operational resilience, companies must often break down physical and organizational boundaries to more fully engage its workforce, connect teams, and enhance real-time collaboration. Operational resilience also requires supply chains to be managed in real time to maintain their integrity, agility, and flexibility, enabling the supply chains to respond to market demand and shifts in material availability. Companies are deploying new methodologies to protect against unscheduled downtime and asset failures, ensure product fulfillment, protect personnel, and enhance security architectures.
In 2021 and beyond, manufacturers will look to further increase their operational resilience to reduce supply chain vulnerability, lower safety risks, improve remote operational performance, and optimize production throughout the plant lifecycle.
In recent years, remote operations management was already becoming mainstream in selected sectors such as offshore oil and gas production and offshore wind farms. However, with social distancing mandates (and – in many instances – basic common sense) the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many more companies to shift to running their operations remotely. As a result, many previously on-site employees now work from locations outside of the plant, such as their own homes. This requires a connected workforce with appropriate, cyber-secure tools that provide real-time visibility and control to help meet the challenges of fully remote access to operations.
Ideally, the enabling technology for a connected and remote workforce should facilitate collaboration and reduce paperwork, provide secure access to information to appropriate individuals from anywhere, and support interactions with remote experts. Automation and IT suppliers alike have stepped up to help meet these needs with innovative solutions.
In addition to improving efficiency and providing a safer working environment for employees, these solutions also help companies capture and manage knowledge and incorporate and deploy new workflow processes. Augmented reality (AR), for example, allows the remote user to see any asset in the plant with relevant information digitally overlaid. AR devices (in the form of tablets, smartphones, smart glasses, or “wearable” computers) sense what the remote worker is looking at and display the data needed for the operation at hand.
Rather than a short-term trend, in 2021 and beyond, technology suppliers will continue to enhance their solutions for remote operations and industrial organizations are likely to continue practicing remote operations to varying degrees even after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have passed.
Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, industry urgently requires new modes of operation. Thanks to advances in digitalization, emerging open process automation standards, and IT/OT convergence; manufacturers have an opportunity to move from “automated” to “autonomous” operations for selected unit operations. This frees humans to perform more value-adding tasks and can improve the reliability and predictability of the operating plant. Today, human operators decide what to do when something unpredictable happens. Tomorrow, the autonomous systems may be making those decisions, with the humans serving as observers and overseers.
Autonomous systems supported by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and both historical and real-time data, can also help capture the knowledge of today’s highly experienced operators and technicians, helping mitigate (to a certain extent) the impact of impending retirements of the aging workforce on plant operations and business sustainability.. In 2021 and beyond, manufacturers will continue to make inroads toward moving operations from automated to autonomous.
Edge computing platforms and applications continue to grow rapidly, but these often require support from corporate IT personnel with specialized skills to install, program, operate, and support them. This has led to the development of edge automation platforms designed to provide the full capabilities and benefits of computing at the edge. These capabilities include gathering, analyzing, processing, and storing data locally in real-time at or close to the point that the data is gathered. The key difference is that personnel without specific IT skills will be able support these new edge automation platforms.
Edge automation platforms are critically important because edge computing platforms used in industrial processing and manufacturing applications are typically under the authority of the OT group, the same people who install, program, operate, and service automation equipment, such as PLCs, PACs, DCS, sensors, and other instrumentation. This creates tremendous savings in time and personnel costs. Furthermore, the edge automation platform is designed to run continuously without the need for specialized onsite or remote IT support. Look for new edge automation platforms to be introduced in 2021.
Other potentially transformative technology trends and approaches that ARC Advisory Group is following right now include, among others, smart vision systems and video analytics; additive manufacturing becoming more mainstream in production environments; the growing deployment of 5G networks in industry, infrastructure, and smart cities; the containerization of apps; and lifecycle management/optimization for connected assets. ARC Advisory Group will continue to research and evaluate these latest technologies and approaches and looks forward to witnessing their impact on the digital transformation of industry, infrastructure, and smart cities, which post-pandemic is more critical than ever for any organization to adopt to not only survive in the new normal, but to thrive long-term in a world where the only certainty is change.
ARC Advisory Group
Craig Resnick covers the PLC, PAC, HMI, OIT and Industrial PC markets as well as the Packaging, Plastics and Rubber Industries for ARC. He is the primary analyst for many of ARC’s Automation Supplier and Financial Service clients.
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