IT in Manufacturing


Unlocking value from data

April 2023 IT in Manufacturing


Charles Blackbeard.

Today’s digital technologies create vast quantities of data, which is where opportunities for improvement lie. However, much of it goes unused. In fact, the average plant uses only 20% of the data it generates. The successful companies of the future will be those that can capitalise on this data quickly, efficiently, cost-effectively and across the enterprise, through an effective data analytics strategy that encompasses site, edge and the cloud.

Data, technology, and digital capability need to be brought together to build rapidly deployable analytics and AI/ML applications to increase productivity while decreasing costs and, in turn, improving sustainability and safety compliance.

IIoT and Industrial AI afford clients the opportunity to unlock the value of contextualised data. Here, a pre-built industry standards-based cognitive data model can provide actionable insights to achieve operational performance, asset integrity, energy efficiency, sustainability, and safety.

However, bringing together multiple data sources to assist customers in making better informed business decisions is easier said than done. The challenge lies in finding a way to manage and analyse huge volumes of data stored within disparate networks, that could be either on the premises or in the cloud. If successful, this will result in improved productivity and optimum utilisation of plants and assets, process improvements and cost-savings.

“As a global leader in integrated industrial automation with deep domain expertise, ABB has advanced analytics to help customers accelerate their operational and business performance,” says Charles Blackbeard, business development manager of ABB Ability Digital Solutions.

ABB Ability Genix Industrial Analytics with AI Suite is a scalable suite comprising an advanced analytics platform and pre-built easy-to-use applications, coupled with ABB’s implementation expertise. The suite connects, collects, and contextualises data from operational, IT, and engineering systems. It empowers clients to unlock value from their data, driving better business results.

Its modular nature means it can be structured to meet client needs, protecting existing investments, while supporting seamless integration. It can be deployed from edge to fleet, plant, on premise, hybrid, cloud and multi-cloud, based on the client’s roadmap. ABB also offers an impressive range of business value applications, including system anomaly detection, opportunity loss manager and machine performance analytics.


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