Fierce Electronics presented this year’s finalist for Industrial Internet of Things in the Best in Sensors Awards to Rockwell Automation for its FactoryTalk Edge Gateway software.
”The goal of our program is to honor and promote wide recognition of the industry’s most transformative technologies and teams, ” said Charlene Soucy, Senior Director of Sensors Converge.
The award was presented Sept. 24 with 12 others in different technology categories at the 2021 Sensors Converge Conference & Expo in San Jose, California,
Many industrial facilities comprise hundreds or even thousands of pieces of equipment produced by dozens of manufacturers. But while modern sensors bring unprecedented access to real-time performance data for individual equipment, it’s almost impossible to use all that data to connect the dots and look at the system as a whole. That’s because data systems are separated into silos by manufacturer or equipment type. This separation makes it challenging for plant managers to gain the best insights to make informed, cost-saving decisions.
FactoryTalk Edge Gateway provides a solution for industry. This software package simplifies and automates data collection by organizing equipment data across devices, machines, and automation assets, all while supporting high data integrity. Using the FactoryTalk Edge Gateway software can yield a 70% reduction in data preparation effort for data scientists and data analysts.
“With FactoryTalk Edge Gateway, we are dramatically reducing the time and effort required to build, maintain and enrich this critical [operational technology] context. This provides our customers with the opportunity to realize double-digit operational improvements through analytics,” said Rockwell Automation’s Arvind Rao, director of product management for information systems.
Rather than working in the cloud, the FactoryTalk Edge Gateway software contextualizes, configures, and connects data at the edge of IIoT systems—that is, at the point before data is sent to the cloud. It then packages data from the entire industrial system into a common information model that can be used by shop floor managers, automation engineers, or business managers.
As a data integration tool, FactoryTalk Edge Gateway works with several IIoT, cloud, and big data applications such as Azure IoT Hub, ThingWorx, and FactoryTalk Innovation Suite. The software also utilizes OPC-DA, the automation industry standard for interoperability, to access KEPServer Enterprise data for third-party connectivity.
Any industry, factory, or facility that uses automation or IIoT principles can benefit from FactoryTalk Edge Gateway. For example, the software can help prevent quality issues or perform root cause analysis in the food and beverage, automotive, and tire industries. It can also be used to establish a single source of truth for measuring machine, operational, or quality performance.
Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation is the largest company in the world that’s dedicated to industrial automation and information. With over 23,000 problem-solving employees located in over 100 countries, Rockwell Automation’s product brands are globally recognized for their excellence. The company’s success is rooted in its mission to connect people’s imaginations with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable.
Check out the complete list of finalists in the Best of Sensors 2021 Awards.