Universal Automation – A time for change
Author : Dave Sutton, Schneider Electric
29 February 2024
Dave Sutton, Product Marketing Manager, Schneider Electric, explains why new industrial automation open technologies are necessary for the sector to leverage digital transformation fully.
Universal Automation is an important step in unlocking the full promise of digital transformation, reducing complicated and time-consuming engineering efforts, solving modularisation challenges, and enabling adaptability. Universal Automation represents a shared standard of technology that aims to unleash innovation by enabling application portability.
Based on the IEC 61499 standard, software components can adopt a “plug and produce” approach completely independent from the hardware on which they execute. Beyond the technical capabilities, Universal Automation represents a non-profit community of automation users, technology vendors, and universities, dedicated to enabling the next generation of technology.
Decoupling the application design from runtime deployment enables engineers to focus on innovative and high-value work, without disruption to output, which is applicable to every process, from a manufacturing facility that makes one product, to a water treatment facility serving entire cities. This approach creates a collaborative ecosystem of partners, all working towards improved efficiency and sustainability.
The opening of communication across different machines, devices, and sensors in a facility helps them to work together more efficiently, and creates a backbone for future digital capabilities, regardless of where assets came from, or the original vendor.
Best-in-class
IEC 61499 enables the application-centric design presented by Universal Automation, promoting interoperability of different components, control systems, and assets, without the worry of compatibility issues. This, in turn, empowers businesses of any size or specialism always to pick the best-in-class option for the specific solution, representing a shift change for industrial organisations which have traditionally been locked in with a single vendor because of a previous relationship or proprietary software.
Fast forward to today, and businesses can pick and choose from the vast array of options and select the best-in-class solution for each specific process. Not only does this deliver immediate benefits in terms of efficiency and profitability, depending on the process being performed, but future-proofs operations against potential needs, safe in the knowledge that any asset can be integrated seamlessly, as a business scales or explores new products.
IEC 61499 supports flexibility and scalability, always allowing businesses to select the most suitable solutions for their needs, without significant disruption to existing infrastructure. Software can be incrementally improved over the entire lifecycle.
OT mirroring IT
The standard of IEC 61499 continues the trend that began at the start of digitalisation, the convergence of IT and OT. In fact, the idea behind Universal Automation is not a new one, but it has been prevalent throughout the IT world for a long time. One desktop computer from a single vendor is free to install and explore different software options without any worry that it will work on their machine, and this is what the not-for-profit organisation seeks to enable for the industrial world.
Vendors, end users, and academics will share a common automation software layer across their automation technology, regardless of brand, just as it works for the consumer IT world. Hardware-independent software applications also deliver value to industrial assets at the end of their lifecycle, with software able to be implemented even past the point of hardware obsolescence, which has been a challenge in the sector for a long time. Legacy hardware can also easily be brought up to modern standards, integrating seamlessly with newer assets in the same facility.
Leading by example
Schneider Electric has been closely involved with the Universal Automation organisation since the beginning, the mission of this independent non-profit is to empower all to make the most of energy and resources, to bridge progress and sustainability, which is only possible if the best-in-class solution can be deployed at any chosen time. Universal Automation is the dawn of a new era within automation technology, advancing businesses to realise fully the promise of digital transformation.
Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert represents the vision of Universal Automation, offering unrivalled interoperability through the IEC 61499 standard, breaking down the technology barriers that once forced dependency on proprietary systems. Find out more here.
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