Smart Industrial Data Platforms 2.0

The humble historian, once the cornerstone of data management in industrial settings, is facing its twilight. While it served its purpose in recording critical parameters for regulatory compliance and safety, its limitations have become increasingly apparent. Organizations are now looking beyond historians, seeking solutions that cater to the broader spectrum of analytics needs, from reports to patterns and from insights to actions.

Specialized time series processing is needed by industrial end users from every department – operations, quality, reliability, safety, sustainability and engineering. This processing can take the form of querying for visualization, rule-based analysis, machine learning & inference and AI-based detection as well as simulation.

When AI is layered on top of a conventional database or a data lake, it struggles to access the data and there are numerous delays in processing data as it arrives into the database. Additionally, historians often filter out detailed data under the assumption that minor changes are inconsequential. This compromises data fidelity, potentially overlooking crucial early indicators. Accessing data through outdated and cumbersome database programming interfaces further complicates matters. As a result, customers just export the data from the historian, resulting in additional costs, delays, and information losses.

This is where the next-gen Industrial Data Platforms step in.

An Industrial Data Platform should first and foremost be about OT data and have the capability to process it in real time. Built for CBx (or Condition-Based Anything), Falkonry’s take on the Industrial Data Platform leverages patterns, anomalies, and calculations derived from sensor data. The outputs of these analysis methods are routed to rules and used to initiate actions. In our experience, end users care as much about automation, explainability and purpose-built data technologies as the actions and outcomes that result from their use.

In conclusion, while Industrial Data Platforms represent the best starting point in exploiting industrial data, in order to deliver tangible value to the industrial user, they must include the components we've discussed. Falkonry has the recipe for a truly effective industrial data platform. If you're interested in trying it out, sign up here.

Upcoming Events

Falkonry Webinar: Practical Approach To AI For Condition-Based Actions [Virtual | 30 Apr]. We are excited to delve deeper into the practical side of smart alerts, and their role in turning AI insights into precise condition-based actions. Join us for this exclusive webinar to explore the practical application of AI insights in manufacturing! Hear directly from our AI experts Kevin Clark and Raj Talla on what it takes to make data-driven actions a daily practice.

AISTech 2024 [Columbus Ohio | 6-9 May] Join Falkonry at North America's largest annual iron and steel technology conference as we present not one, but three new technical papers. Swing by our booth (no. 1375) and learn from Ashis Khan how Falkonry's expertise in steel is helping producers compete more effectively in today's global market.

Advanced Machinery Technology Symposium [Philadelphia | 30 Apr] Learn about the latest technologies enhancing manufacturing operations amidst captivating keynote addresses, insightful panel discussions, and engaging technical paper presentations covering a wide array of topics, including Falkonry's presentation on condition-based testing. [Learn More]

In Other News

Falkonry patents Time series GPT. Falkonry has won allowance for its time series deep learning patent application, focusing on utilizing convolutional variational autoencoder-generated encodings for classification and anomaly detection. This approach enhances the efficiency of downstream data processing, particularly for classification and anomaly detection. It also uses multiple time scales to remove noise while taking into account distribution, sequence and context.

Interesting Reads

Are microfactories the future of manufacturing? We're already seeing a trend among our customers and prospects toward smaller manufacturing facilities that use AI to gain a competitive advantage. Such factories offer new levels of flexibility and scalability that larger, conventional factories struggle to achieve. However, applying the right technology is crucial.

What CEOs talked about in Q1 2024. It’s no surprise that the topics of AI and Sustainability gained noticeable traction in Q1. However, according to the report, AI discussions continue to move away from ChatGPT toward actual applications of AI rather than impressive chatbots, which is an encouraging sign. Click to learn more.