Invensys took a sizable step forward today in its 2-year-old wireless initiative, announcing seven new asset performance solutions that will allow manufacturers to leverage Invensys' wireless expertise for monitoring, securing, and tracking assets — including people — throughout the plant and enterprise.
The announcement comes from Invensys' Performance Services group, the systems integration arm of the automation giant, which has spent the past 12 months building up its wireless practice.
"We've defined seven solutions to date, but more importantly, we've built a consulting practice and a delivery methodology supporting the implementations," said Cory Welch, practice director, enterprise network and security services, at Invensys Process Systems, in an interview with Managing Automation.
For a manufacturer looking to implement any of the wireless-enabled applications — which range from plant floor condition monitoring and mobile workforce enablement to asset tracking and physical security — Invensys will conduct an assessment, design an implementation, and work with technology partners to deliver the solution. Officials declined to discuss the partner companies with which it would work.
In addition to working with a "portfolio of technology providers," the company has gathered feedback from customers as to which business applications could be improved with wireless technology, officials said. The resulting solutions include:
- Mobile workforce, for field-based employees who need secure roaming access to real-time control systems, enterprise applications, documents, and other information via wireless handheld devices.
- Field Data Logging, which lets workers upload device and equipment status and diagnostic data to maintenance systems from the field.
- Condition Monitoring, which delivers incremental measurements (on tank levels, temperatures, pH, vibration, etc.) from remote sensors via a wireless connection. This real-time data can support an effective model-based predictive maintenance strategy. Officials noted that such a solution can integrate with Invensys' InFusion Condition Manager, Avantis EAM, and third-party computerized maintenance management programs.
- Asset Tracking uses RFID technology to provide accurate identification and location of fixed and rolling assets with optional visualization on a handheld device.
- Physical Security allows for the implementation of any combination of mobile video, fixed surveillance cameras (with or without access controls), intrusion detectors, and proximity sensors to extend the reach of physical security throughout a single building, plant, entire complex, or even a series of complexes.
- Personnel Safety enables manufacturers to identify the physical location of personnel in real time, notify first responders of safety shower activation, provide "man-down" notification for emergency services, and trigger remote evacuation alarming.
- Communications covers secure integration of multiple wireless technologies (including both VoIP and high-speed backhaul communications) to connect people, facilities, and systems.
The systems integration role that Invensys is assuming for these wireless applications differs drastically from the more "productized" approach that some of its competitors are offering, noted Harry Forbes, an analyst with ARC Advisory Group. Invensys has aligned itself with technology vendors that offer sensor networks, WiFi, voice communications, long-range radio, and AutoID, to name a few, and that kind of partnering is significant, Forbes said.
"We've seen these pitches from all of the major vendors, and what distinguishes [Invensys] is that it is more of a systems integration approach and an agnostic approach to a particular technology or products," Forbes said in an interview with
Managing Automation. "You'll find other companies productizing solutions from two or three suppliers," while Invensys has decided to work with more than a dozen different suppliers, customizing each deployment based on the customer's needs, he said.
Invensys is currently deploying wireless-based solutions for the seven business applications at customer sites around the world, including a large chemical complex on the U.S. Gulf Coast, petroleum refineries in the United States and Europe, and several large U.S. power plants, Invensys officials said.
The Performance Services group is a worldwide organization. And though Welch declined to reveal how large the wireless practice is, he did say there would be more applications beyond these initial seven. "It's a continuous evolution," Welch noted.