Industrial customers logically shy away from paying for “bleeding edge” technology that may be forward looking but provides no ROI today. At the same time, this approach can leave industrial plants struggling against outmoded systems. According to Vibhoosh Gupta, senior staff manager, product management, Machine Automation Solutions, Emerson, implementers of industrial IoT need to take a page from the playbook of some of the advanced consumer manufacturers like Tesla, and design products that meet current needs while evolving to accommodate future requirements. Outcome optimizing edge controllers such as the Emerson CPL410 are just such products.
Gupta says traditional controllers are static devices that are unaffected by the business outcome of the process in which they’re operating. For example, as energy costs fluctuate, a traditional controller has no way to adapt its operation in real-time. According to Gupta, customers don’t just need a platform, they need a solution that can adapt short-term outcomes to meet a long-term objective. A control system should be able to not only offer traditional real-time deterministic control but also leverage data analytics at the edge to adapt over time. That’s exactly what outcome optimizing edge controllers provide customers.
These controllers offer a generational advancement to PAC-based industrial control systems. They enable the stringent safety and security of industrial applications while enabling communication between real-time deterministic control and non-deterministic applications that leverage external data to analyze & optimize business operations. Industrial users get immediate ROI on business-outcome applications while providing the flexibility and “future vision” to accommodate changing and evolving requirements.
How are you employing computing at the edge?