Business Resilience Drives Industrial Automation Systems

Business Resilience Drives Industrial Automation Systems

Written by Alfonso Rodriguez, Vice President, Process Automation Middle East at Schneider Electric

As the existing installed base of industrial automation assets grows older, and as marketplace conditions increase in complexity, more manufacturing organisations are finding it difficult to remain competitive.  Many of these businesses need to modernise their machinery and systems. When modernising a plant, the degree of change required will depend on customer demands, the strategic vision of the corporate leadership, and both physical and financial considerations.

As industrial systems age, spare parts become increasingly spare. If a plant experiences a major breakdown with no spare parts availability, the parts will need to be custom built at extremely high price. Production delays could last weeks and even months, effectively putting an end to operations. A plant shutdown for a single day could cost the company millions. To avoid costly shutdowns and ensure business resilience, companies must re-engineer core operations from the ground up.

Where should plant owners start? The first step is a thorough analysis of the entire operation and review of operational sequencing, recipe management, control systems and networks. With this information, the engineering