OMRON Corp. is using Studio workflow automation capabilities with Wind River Studio Pipelines and cloud-native testing capabilities with its Studio Virtual Lab and Studio Test Automation to improve development productivity, according to a press release. The company will also integrate tools from Wind River ecosystem partners involved in system development and incorporate them into an automation framework.
When Machine Design asked what problem this solves for manufacturers, Maneesh Goyal, senior director, Studio DevSecOps and Professional Services, Wind River, had this to say: “As the traditional physical OT (operation technologies) world—machines, electromechanical devices, manufacturing systems and other industrial equipment—increasingly converges with the more recent digital IT (informational technologies) world—servers, storage, networking, devices to run applications and process data, etc.—there will be numerous challenges.
“To converge IT and OT in a seamless way will present many more complexities, and all the while, companies will be pressed to accelerate time-to-market to stay even more competitive,” he added.
Time-sensitive, Real-Time Data Processing
With OT devices—which have not traditionally been connected—becoming IIoT-networked computing devices, they can have the ability to collect, transfer and analyze data, Goyal explained. “And, the addition of edge computing capabilities to IoT devices enables real-time data processing closer to the source.”
These devices can analyze time-sensitive manufacturing process data at the edge and return insights quickly for monitoring of conditions before the data becomes obsolete instead of having to send data over a network to a centralized location for processing.
“This is significant, as [many] of these devices are typically part of a distributed network,” he said. “With so many devices and applications now part of a connected system, developing and maintaining a connected, highly distributed network running optimally and securely is increasingly difficult.”
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Wind River Studio is a cloud-native toolset for developing, deploying, operating and servicing mission-critical intelligent systems across the edge. With Studio, teams can:
- Collaboratively develop in the cloud (can be secure public, private and hybrid clouds)
- Get rapid feedback on quality, security and performance in a CI/CD workflow (connect all workflows through a single pane of glass for agile, secure, and cyber-protected development and deployment for mission-critical applications and devices on the edge)
- Integrate applications and lifecycle management tools for end-to-end automated delivery workflows (infuse applications where, when, and how teams need them in lifecycle management from AI to cybersecurity to test and automation capabilities)
- Automate, improve and conduct shift-left testing with cloud-enabled access to physical and virtual test environments.
OMRON is working to visualize the carbon footprint of its product supply chain and create energy management solutions, with the goal of calculating and reducing greenhouse gas emissions based on data from production sites. Studio will be used to develop the software for the application utilized in this demonstration experiment. Additionally, OMRON will use Studio to develop applications to meet the needs of future manufacturing sites implementing its edge solutions.
By providing sophisticated edge platforms that bridge IT and OT, OMRON aims to achieve both economic and social value in the manufacturing industry. To increase productivity at manufacturing sites, it is necessary to shorten time-to-market while also maintaining high quality, the release states.
READ MORE: Using AI and Edge Computing for Supply Chain Engineering
What implications will this have for machine design? According to Goyal, “The manufacturing industry will continue to face greater challenges as systems become more complex/intelligent coupled with the need for more skilled human resources. Wind River can help companies continue to innovate and meet increasingly tougher timelines by offering our solutions and expertise in cloud-native development to develop, deploy and operate intelligent mission-critical systems on the edge.”
Added Jaeyoung Park, general manager, Controller Division, Product Business Division HQ, Industrial Automation Company, OMRON Corp., “In the manufacturing industry, where there is a shortage of highly skilled human resources and challenges are becoming more sophisticated and complex, solutions that integrate IT and OT will be key in solving these issues.”