Digitalization Tech Talks

In the 29th episode of the Digitalization Tech Talks podcast, we discuss how industrial operations will transform in the future because of not only new technology, but also in large part due to people and how their roles and interactions evolve. Key topics covered include:The role of developing technology on the plant floor.  This will include artificial intelligence (AI) and generative...

In the 28th episode of the Digitalization Tech Talks podcast, we talk about how important it is for process plants to have a strong reference architecture. Standalone services and applications are no longer enough to make you competitive, so it’s become increasingly critical to create a foundational structure that ties them all together. A reference architecture serves as the backbone of your data...

Sustainability… It is as prevalent a topic in the process industries as it is anywhere in the world today.  In this episode of Digitalization Tech Talks we discuss the topic of energy sustainability and explore how process analytics can be used as part of a digitalization strategy to assist manufacturers in their transition to net zero.  This is possible using process analytical measurem...

In the 26th episode of our Digitalization Tech Talks podcast, we focus on the latest trends in the process industries related to digital technologies. This episode was inspired by our recent involvement in the 2023 ARC Industry Forum. Each year, this dynamic event brings together experts, practitioners and thought leaders from across the industrial sector to exchange ideas on the newest trends, te...

Developed by the User Association of Automation Technology in Process Industries (NAMUR), MTP, or module type package, provides a framework for standardized equipment data models and description language to streamline interoperability. In practical terms, MTP enables integration of DCS and PLC-based systems more easily. The objectives of MTP are to reduce the time and cost to integrate distributed...

The introduction of digital technologies is helping the process industries do things better, faster and more efficiently. It’s also creating new challenges for companies as they strive to become digital enterprises by fully incorporating these technologies into all aspects of their operations. For example, if a deployed solution doesn’t work as intended right out of the gate, any benefits derived...

Companies in the process industries have a constant focus on improving the safety and situational awareness of operators in the field. At the same time, using multiple systems increases the risk of disconnected, incompatible, or outdated information. By implementing connected worker solutions, field workers can gain easy access to the information they need to efficiently execute their job responsi...

The concept of the “golden batch” has been around for a long time. With artificial intelligence, however, it is now possible to more easily identify the characteristics of that coveted golden batch so that it can be more easily reproduced repeatedly and at the highest quality. Methods have even been developed that enable detection of negative trends on running batches so that they can be saved rat...

Process modeling, mostly in the form of process simulation, has been a key tool in the process industries for many decades.  Traditionally this has been for offline applications such as front-end engineering design and control system design.  But the usage of process modeling has expanded as it is now possible to implement online plant models that contain deep process knowledge; the mode...

Supply chain challenges have become a global issue and many companies now consider supply chain issues to be their top short- and long-term concern.  This is an area where digitalization can be applied to assist in mitigating some of the risks and concerns.  This episode of Digitalization Tech Talks focuses on the application of industrial identification and locating technologies as a me...

In this episode we will talk about how companies of all sizes are able to take advantage of digital transformation to implement technologies that will enable them to do things faster, better, and more efficiently. We will do so by looking at a specific company that leveraged an existing, well-proven methodology to create a strong and highly relevant digital strategy – this strategy was focused on...

Having good alarm management in a process automation system is critical to safe and productive process control.  Unfortunately, many current installations have significant room for improvement as current implementations often include standing alarms, chattering alarms, redundant alarms, and alarm floods that can overwhelm the operators during abnormal situations, potentially leading to produc...

Remote monitoring is an increasingly hot topic across the process industries. This rapidly growing digital technology is providing tremendous value by making access to information more manageable and less costly. This development is driven by cloud computing, intelligent gateways and cell phone connectivity that have become so mainstream and cost-effective that they’re now worth considering for ev...

We are surrounded by data. Vast quantities are spread over a multitude of software applications, databases, and paper files throughout the enterprise and at site. Much of it is difficult to understand, often inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, inconsistent, and/or poorly synchronized, which creates challenges that can lead to the wrong decisions being made. In this 16th episode of...

In this 15th episode of the Digitalization Tech talks hosted by Jonas Norinder and Don Mack, we’ll take a deep dive into the burgeoning field of cell & gene therapy, which promises individualized therapeutics that will essentially be manufactured to the specifications of a single patient. We’ll also discuss how digitalization techniques can be applied to accelerate time to market and connect t...

A digital transformation and ultimately becoming a digital enterprise can only be accomplished with a solid foundation in place.  This foundation is the data coming from the sensors in the field.  Joining hosts Jonas Norinder and Don Mack in this episode is Ronald Nijssen, a Technical Consultant with Siemens. Ronald covers topics including what is included under the umbrella of “dig...

In this 13th episode of the Digitalization Tech talks hosted by Don Mack and Jonas Norinder, we will be talking about cybersecurity as it relates to digitalization. One of the key topics of digitalization involves collecting data and analyzing it, sometimes in an off-premise cloud setting. So, you want to make sure that this environment is safe! Joining us in this episode is our guest, Chuck...

In this 12th episode of the Digitalization Tech Talks podcast series your hosts, Don Mack and Jonas Norinder are joined by Doug Ortiz, Siemens’ US DCS and Simulation Product Manager. We discuss Operator Training Simulators (OTS), which are becoming much more prevalent in the process industries. While they are primarily being used for operator training, they serve additional high value purposes, su...

In this 11th episode of our Digitalization Tech Talks podcast your host, Jonas Norinder is joined by Don Mack. We discuss another key digitalization use case for the process industries. Improving operations performance through control performance analysis. We cover some background on the use case, including what has been done in the past, and then discuss what benefits digitalization has to offer....

In this 10th episode of our Digitalization Tech Talks podcast your two hosts, Don Mack and Jonas Norinder are very excited to be joined by Andrew Nachenberg from MxD as well as Iiro Esko from Siemens. We discuss the latest addition to the MxD (Manufacturing x Digital) Industry 4.0 showcase, the process industries test bed, which includes the mobile worker concept. Would you like to learn more abou...

Control valves have always been a hot topic in process plants because they can cause unplanned, costly shutdowns if not maintained properly. But when do you know when it’s maintenance time? Traditional approaches have been to do it at regular intervals, use the experience of the maintenance crew or opt for a time-based maintenance approach. Today, however, diagnostics and analytics data is much mo...

Generally, this podcast is about the newest technologies for digitalization within the process industries, but when an organization is interested in these technologies, how do you take the first step? Joining us once again is one of our digitalization consultants, Jonas Norinder, and we will be diving into our methodology for helping customers prioritize and implement their digital transformation....

With the digital technologies available today enabling mobile operations, the future of the process industries worker is already here. Through smart devices, technicians can access off-site instrumentation experts for maintenance support, and process control operators can access DCS HMI screens even when they are not in the control room. We'll be diving into this topic with Iiro Esko, Siemens chem...

On our podcast we are always talking about the latest in digitalization in the sense of new technologies and new digital solutions that are starting to be used in the process industries. Well in this episode we are looking at something more familiar, process control systems, and more specifically, how they are adapting and changing with the growing capabilities and trends of digitalization. Joinin...

As the digital transformation in manufacturing progresses, an increasing amount of data is becoming available. Artificial intelligence gives plant personnel the opportunity to analyze and convert this data into useful information from which actionable decisions can be made. In this episode we are diving into Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. In this episode, Don Mack and Clayton French...