Driving Sustainability and Profitability: The Role of Standardized IndustrialConnectivity in Manufacturing
by Ole Borgbjerg
Senior Director of Kepware Sales, Europe at PTC
This story was originally published in our Annual and Sustainability Report 2023.
In a bid to achieve both improved profitability and sustainability, manufacturing companies are increasingly investing in carbon-neutral operations. This shift is catalyzed by a growing focus from customers, consumers, investors, employees, and government agencies scrutinizing carbon footprints when making purchase and investment decisions.
The Sustainability Opportunity
The manufacturing sector holds immense potential for sustainability improvements. In the United States, manufacturing contributes to nearly a quarter of direct carbon emissions, as reported by the EPA. Meanwhile, the industry emits a staggering 821 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per quarter according to Eurostat, solidifying its status as one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in Europe.
Technological Advancements
Embracing technological advancements, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data analytics, offers a promising path for manufacturers to enhance visibility, gain insights, and make data-driven decisions for maximizing operational efficiency. However, securely accessing operational technology (OT) data to unlock insights can be difficult.
Challenges in Accessing OT Data
Despite the promise of advanced technologies, many manufacturers encounter significant challenges in accessing OT data from their manufacturing sensors, devices, and machines. Heterogeneous, legacy manufacturing environments were not designed to securely communicate or integrate with today’s advanced technologies. This leaves manufacturers with poor data quality when trying to leverage OT data for analytics. Unlocking data and insights can be difficult due to limited data access from legacy assets, inconsistent data from proprietary protocols, inefficient data aggregation causing unnecessary traffic or load on the network, OT data availability, and cybersecurity risks.
The Solution: Standardized Industrial Connectivity:
Enterprise industrial connectivity solutions, like Kepware+, enable modern, standardized OT-IT architectures that unlock OT data at scale. Kepware+ provides seamless, secure movement of data from OT systems to IT systems. Kepware+ accesses and translates OT data, aggregates it into a single point of access for IT and OT applications, and enables real-time visibility into industrial connectivity. This approach proves especially effective in navigating the complexities of diverse data sources and legacy systems.
Case Study:
Large Automotive OEM Standardizes Industrial Connectivity to Improve Sustainability
A global leader in performance automotive braking systems standardized industrial connectivity across disparate, OT data sources. Leveraging Kepware+, the company achieved increased visibility, providing a comprehensive overview of manufacturing floor activities. This real-time insight allowed the company to build on existing infrastructure, resulting in substantial efficiency gains. In 2020 alone, the company realized savings exceeding $1.5 million USD.
Conclusion:
As manufacturing companies strive to align profitability with sustainability goals, the adoption of standardized industrial connectivity emerges as a strategic imperative. Overcoming the challenges of accessing and integrating OT data empowers manufacturers to harness the full potential of advanced technologies, fostering a more efficient, transparent, and environmentally responsible future for the industry.
