An Expanded IIoT Checklist
What does it take to have your very own Industrial Internet of Things project? PROFINET has a role to play: Things. The starting point. The “T” in the IIoT. In the industrial world these are sensors, actuators, instruments, I/O blocks, drives, vision systems, robots, Ethernet switches, scanners, label printers, RFID, switches, lights, and more. These…
Read MoreUptime with PROFINET
How much does downtime cost you in your plant? An automotive plant’s downtime could cost $10,000 per hour. Your mileage may vary, but there definitely is a cost for downtime at your plant. And you can’t be everywhere all the time to know whether your process is running as it should. You need an extra…
Read MoreThe Network is an Asset
I always think of PROFINET as facilitating Asset Management – conveying messages from assets (especially process devices) to warn of impending failure and allow proactive maintenance. Then at PI Australia’s PROFIBUS & PROFINET Global Forum and Automation Innovation Summit, one of the speakers said something simple, yet profound: “The network is an asset.” What asset…
Read MoreTop Ten Reasons to Become Certified in PROFINET
Carl and Michael are at the annual international PI meeting. So this week we feature this guest post from the instructor of the PROFINET Certified Network Engineer class, Hunter Harrington: Run the automation race and keep the pace with your very own PROFINET certification. Your Goal: Become a PROFINET certified engineer to help keep pace…
Read MoreIndustrie 4.0 Revisited
Having returned from Hannover Fair where everything was Industrie 4.0, it’s time to revisit what Industrie 4.0 is and where the Internet of Things, the Industrial Internet of Things, and PROFINET fit. In words: PROFINET provides data in the Industrial Internet of Things which is a shared subset of Industrie 4.0 and the Internet of…
Read MoreHannover 2016: News Summary
Here is a summary of Hannover Fair news: PROFIblog. The past six posts present my first-person view of the fair. PROFINEWS. You will find a more formal PROFI-centric report in the May PROFINEWS, the second through fourth articles. Phoenix Contact. For daily videos from Phoenix Contact visit here. Both the Tuesday and Thursday videos at…
Read MoreHannover 2016: Member News
Visiting PI North America members uncovered some unique products. Here they are in the order I stumbled upon them: HMS. In the OPC Foundation booth, our old friend Michael Volz showed me an HMS module that moves PROFINET data to OPC UA. Both protocols run on the same wire – a benefit made possible because…
Read MoreHannover 2016: The Forum, Part 2
The second session I attended in the Industrie 4.0 meets the Industrial Internet forum was by Armin Pühringer of Hilscher. I was attracted by the title, “From Sensor to Cloud – Device Integration and IT Infrastructure.” Knowing that Hilscher has introduced products for moving PROFINET data to the cloud and given PI’s cooperation with OPC…
Read MoreHannover 2016: The Forum
The forum, Industrie 4.0 meets the Industrial Internet, ran frequent sessions throughout the week. I attended a couple of them: the opening panel and “From sensor to cloud – device integration and IT infrastructure.” The opening forum featured an introduction by an official from the German government, Dr. Johanna Wanka, Federal Minister for Education and…
Read MoreHannover 2016: The PI Booth
The PI booth was once again the hub of PROFINET and PROFIBUS activity under the banner of “Backbone of Industrie 4.0.” Featured walls included PROFINET, process, PROFIsafe, IO-Link, and vision. The PI Lounge provided a venue for networking and refreshment. Many meetings – planned and ad hoc – took place. Some quick facts about the…
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