Where IT meets OT in industrial systems
The cornerstone of the Industry 4.0 digital transformation has been around cost reduction, worker safety, rapid technology adoption, end-product customization, fast product delivery, just-in-time, high quality, and minimal waste in production. The IT/OT convergence enables the same transformation paradigm. Data that was originally transactional from the factory floor to the executive suite is now becoming real-time and empowering corrective decision-making at the same rate.
Peer-to-peer, or M2M communication, with collaborative functioning and optimization goals, is now becoming a reality. This is because machines, the single valuable component, are getting replaced by data. This, in turn, is now helping to operate machines more efficiently.
Figure 5.15 – Evolving ISA-95 architecture from a triangle to a connected web
The hierarchy of the data pyramid is now dissolving, with the top layers expanding in...
