‘IIoT Ecosystem – from sensors to digital services’ was the topic of the May technology evening. Held via zoom and open to all branches throughout the country, it attracted record attendance from an attentive audience, many of whom were students.
Dhiren Naidoo.
The evening’s presenter was Dhiren Naidoo, food and beverage industry manager at Endress+Hauser South Africa. His passion for his job and his fascination for the field of electrical engineering shone through his interesting and relevant presentation. Covering the topic he explained how interconnected systems can benefit industrial processes by using data from discrete devices to facilitate repairs and minimise downtime by pinpointing faults, which can be especially beneficial on callouts.
It was pointed out that such a system would not verify device calibration, but would provide information regarding the health of components in the system. Use of the cloud to process data from field devices can also be applied to optimise predictive maintenance without interfering with data being in use to monitor control the plant.
A lively Q&A; session followed, primarily focused on cybersecurity risks when the cloud is used to interpret device data from an operating plant and the possibility of that data being corrupted by external agencies, It became clear that more remains to be done to convince major companies that use of cloud-based systems can be made sufficiently secure, even if the information link is unidirectional. There are already examples where companies have taken the first steps. There is little doubt that huge benefits can be gained if the integrity of the information is well protected.
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