Follow the Process.
- Set the strategy
- Inventory the business
- Set the Minimum Technical Requirements (MTR)
- Define the Proof of Concept (PoC)
- (Push for 1 function on 1 machine)
- Connect, Collect ,Store, Visualise, Analyse, Spot Patterns, Report and Solve
- Add a Second Function to that Machine
- Start looking at more machines and more functions.
All the time:
- Focus on the technology
- Be adaptive and interested in new things
- Be ready to make mistakes, learn from them and move on
From 4.0 Solutions Discord, credits to Mark O’Donovan!
Teams:
- You need an internal team of 2 to 4 people.
- Don’t rely on consultants first. Use Integrators who have built something similar to what you want and make sure they are problem orientated.
- Do the up front work first.
- Digital Strategy
- Inventory the business / Digital Transformation Maturity Assessment (DTMA)
- Model architecture / Smart Factory Architecture
- Minimum Technical Requirements (MTR)
- Define a proof of concept. Solve it.
- Solve more problems on the same machine. Roll out to more machines.
- Roll out to more plants.
Software:
- Start cheap or free and add more expensive nodes as I scale. Start with MING Stack if needed. Or Ignition/Framework.
- You can probably solve 18 months of problems without encouraging too much technical debt, and then move to more expensive ones.
- Default to on prem( especially for storage) and then move data to cloud when it is needed there to solve a problem that has been identified.
Integrators:
- Or there are quite a few small Integrators here who consult. But if you have a preferred integrator you want to build, I would bring in a consulting system architect to help get started ( the can also help with the pre-work).
- The worker should have tools with access to the data in the UNS. What that looks like is very specific to you company.
- Get the architecture in place 4 to 6 months. But it keeps growing
- [Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), take about 18 to 24 months minimum before ready to use.
Make sure your MTR and model architecture allow any component to be replaced with minimum impact to other nodes.