Process Automation and Safety Technologies

We have entered a period of intense innovation in industrial automation especially in Process Automation and Safety technolgoies.  In the areas of high value-added manufacturing there is growing global competition.  Countries with developed economies want to maintain and grow their existing competitive advantages and support their exporting industries.  Countries with developing economies want to improve their competitiveness as well.

This competition is, in part, taking the form of national initiatives to improve manufacturing competitiveness.  These initiatives are found in Germany, the US, Japan, Korea, and China.  In the US the Industrial Internet Consortium has formed. Platform Industrie 4.0 is the German initiative; the “4.0” referring to a 4th industrial revolution (following steam, mass production, and IT).  This can be thought of as a set of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital, and biological worlds, and impacting all disciplines, economies and industries.  Please visit market analysis page for recent ARC research related to Process Automation and Safety.

The Open Process Automation (OPA) Forum:  ARC is an active member

The Open Group’s Open Process Automation Forum is noteworthy for several reasons.  First, because of its genesis within ExxonMobil, a leading international oil company with a long reputation for operational excellence.  Second, because the products of this program will be technologically quite different from the process automation systems used today.  Third, because the value chain envisioned for this program is also quite different from the way the process automation market works today.

TSN, OPC UA, and Future Industrial Automation

Time Sensitive Networking, or TSN, carries huge implications for industrial automation, for existing industrial Ethernet protocols, as well as for OPC UA and for all types of industrial middleware.  TSN is an effort to bring much higher and more adjustable quality of service to standardized networks.  TSN is needed for “network convergence”; when a single physical network replaces multiple dedicated-function networks.  In such cases, network traffic needs to be managed so that the applications using the single converged network continue to experience their normal quality of service.  Where are the biggest cases for network convergence today?  The largest unit volume opportunity is for converged networks in automotive on-car applications for future smart and autonomous cars and in industrial automation.

Industrial Software Defined Networks

Technologies of software-defined networking (SDN) that have recently been applied in actual industrial control systems are quite promising in that they may deliver substantial improvements in the properties of networks of both new and existing industrial control systems and IIoT infrastructure.  These networks promise greater security, performance, and even ease of device mobility.  ARC plans to have several end users report on their experiences.

ARC Analysts are experts in delivering Global market intelligence and advice for topics such as: Operational Excellence (OpX), Distributed Control Systems (DCS), Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs), Human Machine Interface (HMI), Advanced Process Control (APC), Process Optimization, Production Management, Historians, Cyber Security, Field Devices, Fieldbuses, and Process SafetyARC's industry leading experts closely monitor process automation and safety solutions from all major suppliers around the world including: ABB, Endress+Hauser, Emerson Process Management, Flowserve, GE, HIMA, Invensys, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Yamatake, and Yokogawa.

Related Technology Selection Guides for Process Automation and Safety

Watch Videos Related to Process Automation and Safety

Engage with ARC Advisory Group

Representative Automation Clients
Representative End User Clients
Representative Software Clients