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 Vol. 67
Number 9

SEPTEMBER 2020

ANSWERS
19 | Shuttle system gets smart to meet
e-commerce demands
22 | Feedforward: Not as popular as
expected, again
24 | Assessing cybersecurity today to improve
tomorrow’s manufacturing operations
27 | Internet of vulnerable things: New
19 industrial attack vectors
28 | Four tips on cybersecurity risk
COVER: TwinCAT 3 automation software from Beckhoff Automation
allowed Swisslog to easily import multiple IEC 61131-3 function blocks
for the CycloneCarrier and other systems. Courtesy: Swisslog assessments
30 | How COVID-19 is affecting manufacturing
cybersecurity
33 | Three ways to avoid
motion-related safety pitfalls
p.22
34 | Safety-certified and
diverse-redundant encoders
INSIGHTS for motion control
p.33
Technology Updates 36 | Ensure software updates protect
motion control
6 | Bridging the artificial intelligence skills gap
38 | Three tips for designing a trouble-free
11 | Robotics help a post-pandemic world pneumatics system
14 | Engineer’s perspective: future applications
39 | Engineering Leaders
NEWS Under 40 winners
17 | Motor repair answers at Virtual
Training Day; More online training;
Control and automation program- INSIDE MACHINES
ming languages: View from the field; P1 | Automation at the Industrial IoT edge
Headlines online
P4 | Analyzing energy consumption using
16 | Think Again: Cybersecurity tips flow sensors

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input #4 at www.controleng.com/information
 SEPTEMBER 2020

INNOVATIONS
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52 | Unmanaged Ethernet switch, End-of-arm-tool
robot, Temperature controller series, Remote access
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See more New Products for Engineers at
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BACK TO BASICS Control Engineering eBook

54 | Safety: Learning to think the right way series: IIoT Cloud Fall Edition
Learn how the
NEWSLETTER: Machine Control Industrial Internet
of Things (IIoT)
• Which IEC 61131-3 Programming Language is and the cloud are
best? Part 2 changing manu-
facturing. This
• Cost-effective position control boosts stepper
helpful eBook includes articles on
motor performance introducing analytics into industrial
• Researchers giving robots human-like perception environments, data flow, IIoT sen-
of their physical environments sors and more.
Learn more and register to
• Lidar advances could improve safety, security for
download:
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• Robotic software improves robot health
Keep up with emerging trends: subscribe. Oil & Gas Engineering
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August issue
CFE EDU: Courses on motors, drives; more on the way Oil & Gas Engi-
neering helps
Register for the course, maximize uptime
“Introduction to Motors and increase pro-
and Drives,” to learn ductivity through
the use of indus-
how motor sizing
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impacts efficiency and and new innova-
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improve efficiency, and more. See other motor courses in tion and monitoring strategies,
and maintain and improve safety
Virtual Training Day. Watch for Virtual Training Week in for workers and the work environ-
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controleng.com provides new, relevant automation, controls, and instrumentation content daily, access to
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www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 5

INSIGHTS
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Antti Karjaluoto, Arto Peltomaa, Risto Lehtinen, Dimecc Ltd., an Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) member

Bridging the AI skills gap

for machine manufacturers
More knowledge is needed for use of artificial intelligence (AI) for machine learning (ML)
applications. See four ways to improve artificial intelligence, machine learning education.

A
rtificial intelligence (AI) talent is diffi-
cult to find; few industrial companies
have enough in-house AI talent. AI will
transform many jobs, and companies
should give every employee the knowl-
edge they need to adapt to new AI-enhanced roles. AI
resources help implement new business models and
better services. User acceptance is required.
During the last decade, AI design, development
and implementation has expanded in many sectors.
Organizations are struggling with AI business poten-
tial understanding and with finding AI talent.
A growing number of countries have recognized
the opportunities provided by artificial intelligence
and have prepared a national artificial intelligence
strategy. In 2017, Finland was among the first coun-
tries to launch an artificial intelligence program. The
ging behind in AI and ML use compared to many
other industries. Adopting new technologies, espe-
cially in process industries, requires pedantic plan-
ning, which is time consuming. Companies have
long histories in optimizing production, and as the
life span of investments can last for decades, changes
cannot be made rapidly. In addition, the safety and
environmental regulations require strict governance.
Drawing from the sector estimates of the PwC AI
impact index, PwC [formerly known as Pricewater-
houseCoopers, a professional services firm] estimates
that by 2023, individual industry sectors may increase
operating margins (how much of each euro of reve-
nues is left over after both costs of goods sold and
operating expenses are considered) by 60 to 100%.
The difference in the industry specific “AI boost
curve” shapes reflect the impact of two factors: 1) the

M More
INSIGHTS
KEYWORDS: Artificial
intelligence, machine
learning
An AI skills gap exists for
ML applications.
For Industry 4.0, more
AI and ML knowledge is
needed.
Education needs to change
to help AI and ML.
CONSIDER THIS
Attracting the next
generation to manufacturing
requires advancing policies
and procedures on AI for ML.
ONLINE
From the digital edition, click
on the headline for more
details, including footnotes.
www.controleng.com/
magazine
IIC Journal of Innovation
at www.iiconsortium.org
has more articles and past
editions.
www.controleng.com/
webcasts
objective of the program was to make Fin-
land a leader in the application of artificial
intelligence.
The Finnish Artificial Intelligence Pro-
gramme identified a small portion of compa-
nies as forerunners in AI implementation; a
majority of companies are at the early stages of
using data and AI in operations.
How to address the AI skills gap
A way to address the AI skills gap is to
increase resources for digital, math and techni-
cal education in general. In addition, the cur-
rent education system in Finland does not yet
pay enough attention to applying AI in differ-
ent fields. Academic and training programs are
unable to keep up with the rapid pace of inno-
vation with AI. AI education should start early
and take place for every education stage. Aca-
demia, companies and public sector officials
must work together and ensure comprehen-
sive AI curriculums will be available. Mas-
sive open online courses (MOOCs) show the
way and are a good example of a modern way
to educate masses with basic AI knowledge.
However, deeper understanding often requires
tailored education modules.
The manufacturing sector is currently lag-
speed the industries are capable of adopting different
AI applications and 2) the AI solution development to
address the industry-specific business issues.
AI manufacturing benefits, barriers
In manufacturing, short-term benefits are expect-
ed to mostly come from process automation and pro-
ductivity-based solutions. In the mid-term, more
complex processes can be automated as intelligent
automation offers considerable potential, and pre-
dictive maintenance and optimization applications
further boost performance.
Productivity gains from AI and ML are not only
dependent on the introduction of the technology
itself. There also is a need to change the organization
of work and increase employees’ knowledge.
Research shows the biggest barrier to AI and
machine learning adoption is the skills gap. Most of
the time, surveys refer to the technical skills needed
to develop AI and ML solutions. However, the biggest
skill gap in AI and ML spans the organization.
The Finnish Artificial Intelligence Programme end
report pointed out that based on its survey, Finland
has high quality education for those aiming to be AI
professionals (information technology, mathematics),
but there is a gap in the AI applier field. In these fields,
the effects of AI would be seen fastest. The working
group stated that to achieve the ambitious AI targets,

6 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

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input #5 at www.controleng.com/information
INSIGHTS
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
the most important things are to ensure
versatile education will be avail-
able, investments are made in
new education methods and
programs are creat-
ed to attract talent to
Finland.
Continuous edu-
cation of employees
is a challenge, and different
operations and mechanisms
can address the concerns. A
critical factor is to increase
management awareness
and knowledge regard-
ing the AI opportunities,
to secure enough input for
Figure: The cyclic new flexible education methods.
nature of artificial
intelligence and AI employee competence requirements
machine learning Employee competence requirements are affected
(AI/ML) projects, by the changes in the work demand in the job mar-
as presented in kets. The need for new talent is increasing at a rapid
Dimecc’s Machine pace in tasks where AI will be developed and applied.
Learning Academy. This demand cannot be addressed by the usual educa-
Courtesy: Dimecc tion path. New operations and mechanisms are need-
Ltd. ed to help improve existing employee skills efficiently.
Much of the employee competencies are based
on the on-the-job learning, so companies have more
responsibility for competence development. Compa-
nies actively seek ways to re-educate employees inter-
nally or in co-operation with other companies.
There are numerous approaches exist to educate,
but little workplace learning in Industry 4.0 contexts
exist. Organizations need an adequate performance
appraisal strategy and adequate workforce train-
ing with self-regulated, reflective, collaborative and
blended learning to lower risk of excluding work-
ers from Industry 4.0 environments. Organizations
without adequate training risk impacts on produc-
tion efficiency, product diversity and quality.
Companies need to equip existing professionals
with the AI skills to apply their knowledge in the AI-
driven world. This is supported by a 2018 study of
Future Workplace and The Learning House, which
highlights that training the workforce for AI and ML
skills could be the efficient way to fill the skills gap.
Letmathe & Schinner (2017) state the success of
workers will depend on flexibility and problem-solv-
ing competencies as well as willingness to engage in
lifelong learning; otherwise workers will be unable
to keep up with the required changes in their work-
places and work procedures. This challenge also
might explain why many companies are reluctant to
invest in cyber-physical systems (CPS), which often
includes AI. Competence management on the orga-
nizational level, as well as the reform of public edu-
cation, are important factors for introducing CPS.
8 • September 2020 control engineering
Case study: Machine learning classes
Free and general-level online training on AI and
ML is available from major technology providers
(such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon and Google) or
from MOOCs organized by prominent universities.
An example is “Elements of AI,” a 6-module
online course created in co-operation by the Finnish
technology company Reaktor Ltd. and the University
of Helsinki. Typically, the aim of this type of train-
ing is “to demystify AI” to encourage a broad group
of people to learn what AI is, what is it good for and
what are its limitations.
Machine Learning Academy (MLA) from Dimecc
Ltd. in co-operation with Futurice Ltd., is a focused
and industry-tailored approach for closing or at least
narrowing the AI competence gap. The first course
focused on the Finnish machine manufacturing
industry in fall 2018. The second course closed at the
end of April 2019. This initiative was also highlighted
in the final report of Finland’s National AI Programme
as an innovative example of AI-related education.
MLA’s primary target audience consists of research
and development (R&D) supervisors and engineers
as well as business and product owners who are
managing and/or participating in AI/ML develop-
ment projects. To succeed in these tasks, they need to
understand how to specify, plan, evaluate and manage
development or insourcing of sub-entities that contain
elements of AI and ML. For example, for R&D engi-
neers, it is important to understand how introduction
of these new technologies will change the capabilities,
boundaries, schedules and interfaces of their product
development processes. After the course, participants
will have an understanding of the fundamentals of AI
and ML as well as an ability to recognize and man-
age development tasks that aim to benefit from use of
these new methodologies.
MLA consists of seven full-day training mod-
ules with supporting pre-reading materials, hands-
on exercises and homework. The training starts with
high-level topics, such as reviewing typical business
drivers and examples of ML applications.
In the more technical modules, ML methodolo-
gies are covered (supervised learning, unsupervised
learning and deep learning), followed by data under-
standing and ethics of AI. The sixth module helps the
participants understand how real-life AI/ML projects
are executed. The last module reviews course projects.
Throughout the course various types of busi-
ness and technical canvases are introduced and used
as learning tools. Their main purpose is to help the
participants understand where they need to focus
and which stakeholders they need to engage with
during the different phases of data science projects.
For example, the “Business Objective and Context”
canvas used in the first module directs its users to
work together with business owners and those who
fund the project when answering questions such as:
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INSIGHTS
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
“What is the business objective [of this project]?”
and “How does it fit with our business strategy?”
Cross-disciplinary project team expertise is often
used in a typical data science project.
Given MLA’s primary target group, it is not sur-
prising in their feedback the participants appreciated
getting more understanding on how ML projects can
drive and shape actual business impacts. Also, topics
related to preparing and running practical ML proj-
ects were valued, such as data preparation (collecting,
cleaning, pre-processing, filtering, analyzing, etc.) and
comparison of different ML methods. According to
one participant, “Often we do a lot of work just to see
that we are stuck with insufficient data.”
‘
AI training should encourage concrete
’
pilots and use cases.
Students plan and specify a ML project
During the MLA course, the participants are
expected to plan and specify a real machine learn-
ing project. The course modules are arranged in such
a way that their content follows the flow of a typical
ML project (see Figure). The course arrangements also
provide the participants with several opportunities to
discuss their projects with lecturers and the other stu-
dents and share and compare their approaches.
To complete the project assignment, the partic-
ipants also need to get contributions from various
internal stakeholders, such as business and process
owners, technology developers and product managers.
As topics related to the course project are introduced
and addressed throughout the course, the participants
are encouraged to engage with these stakeholders and
get their commitment to the new approach. The aim is
by the end of the course, each participant has a project
specification which key stakeholders are already famil-
iar with and which is detailed enough for starting an
in-house development project or sourcing it from an
external supplier. Each participant presents a course
project in the last module.
Although first MLA course participants came
mainly from R&D, project topics covered a variety of
internal functions: finance (smart cash forecasting,
customer risk analysis), sales (pricing and tool, auto-
mated offer generation), manufacturing (intelligent
scheduling, process control for quality optimization),
customer care (predictive and preventive mainte-
nance) and human resources (improved competence
development through job market analysis).
AI field project for machine learning
A concrete example was Ponsse Plc’s field project,
which focused on after-sales services, especially field
maintenance of the harvesting equipment where ML
10 • September 2020 control engineering
was used to recognize the needed oil change inter-
val. Hydraulic oil and filters are currently changed at
fixed intervals, approximately every 1,800 hours, and
optimized change interval would mean remarkable
savings.
MLA lasts about three calendar months, and the
planned total effort for participants, including the
project work, is 100 working hours. Feedback and
experience from the first two MLA courses suggest
this is enough to achieve the planned learning targets,
depending on the participants’ ability to study on top
of their daily duties. Also, the course project seems
to be a good way to make the learning more concrete
and get commitment from various stakeholders.
The skills gap in ML adoption and training has
implications for the manufacturing and machine
building industries. Although the skills gap is like-
ly to remain for the foreseeable future, there is clear
need for tailored AI/ML training programs to help
companies develop employees and encourage them
to start experimenting with AI.
Four ways to improve AI/ML learning
Recommendations to help companies, academia
and governments companies with AI and ML training:
1. Develop a customized curriculum for your
industry. Instead of trying to compete generally in
AI with leading tech companies such as Google, we
recommend becoming a leading AI company in your
industry sector where developing unique AI capa-
bilities will allow you to gain a competitive advan-
tage. How AI affects your company’s strategy will be
industry, company and situation-specific.
2. Focus on educating the whole company per-
sonnel. Rather than establishing separate AI units
within the organization, we recommend that AI com-
petencies and understanding should be increased at all
levels – from the management level to the shop floor.
The same principle applies on the society level.
3. AI training should encourage concrete pilots
and use cases. Build AI training curriculums that
encourage concrete pilots and use cases. This helps
to turn AI concepts into practical value.
4. Reform existing public education. Explore
opportunities to establish an AI education vouch-
er or an education account which would stimulate
functioning adult education markets. Increase the
amount of web-based training courses and open uni-
versity courses for all. Integrate AI education also
with vocational school curriculums. ce
Antti Karjaluoto is disruptive renewal officer; Arto
Peltomaa is program manager; and Risto Lehtinen is
head of co-creation at Dimecc Ltd., a member of Indus-
trial Internet Consortium, a CFE Media and Technol-
ogy content partner. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content
manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Tech-
nology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.
www.controleng.com
INSIGHTS
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Jeff Burnstein, Association for Advancing Automation (A3)
Robotics help a
post-pandemic world
Despite death and economic destruction from COVID-19, robots are effective tools to create
social distancing, reduce touches, disinfect the workplace, safeguard hospital staff and keep
companies running when workers are unavailable.
T
he COVID-19 pandemic has resulted
in the deaths of hundreds of thousands
of people, the unemployment of tens of
millions and nearly every industry has
been disrupted. This includes the robot-
ics industry, but the long-term future still looks
bright as companies change their tactics.
First-half new orders in North America were down
18% according to the Robotic Industries Association
(RIA) and a noticeable downturn is expected globally.
However, optimism about the robotics industry in
a post-pandemic world is at an all-time high, in part
because of what the pandemic has revealed about the
way work has always been done in factories, ware-
houses, food processing plants and other key sectors
of the economy.
Large numbers of people working in close prox-
imity to meet production levels, items ordered online
being touched dozens of times before they reach
their destination, technicians required to go to a
facility to diagnose problems – these “normal” ways
of conducting business have revealed potential health
risks for people that require new solutions.
Robotics help with social distancing
Robots are now seen as effective tools to create
social distancing. They reduce touches on items and
packages, disinfect the workplace, safeguard hospi-
tal staff and keep companies up and running when
large segments of the workforce are required to stay
home. Remote diagnostic tools can often help make
sure robots perform at a high level without techni-
cal staff being required to visit a work site.
As a result, studies indicate more companies in
every industry are considering expanding their use
of robotics and automation. A recent study of 1,000
American manufacturing companies by Thomas
showed one in four plan to expand use of indus-
trial automation in the wake of COVID-19. A study
from Robotic Industries Association found similar
trends. Other studies have shown an even higher
percentage of companies expect to accelerate their
use of automation as the pandemic continues.
www.controleng.com
Additionally, the Thomas study showed 64% of
the companies plan to bring some of their manu-
facturing production and sourcing back to North
America, creating new opportunities for increased
adoption of robotics and automation.
The e-commerce boom also has expanded the
use of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), robot-
ic forklifts, and related technologies not captured
in robotics statistics. The same is true of collab-
orative robots, a rapidly-growing segment of the
market that is likely underreported in publicly
available numbers about the size and growth of the
robotics market.
‘
Robots have proven they can help companies
become more competitive, creating more
business, and opening up better, safer and
’
higher-paying jobs.
In retail, we’re now seeing robots counting
inventory, cleaning floors, delivering groceries and
fast food – many of these service tasks aren’t count-
ed in robot totals yet, either.
While new robot tasks continue to emerge, well-
established tasks such as welding and painting cars,
assembling consumer electronics products and
packaging consumer products will continue grow-
ing. There also are still tasks robots could be doing
such as picking and packing that aren’t being done
at scale yet.
Improved enabling technologies such as
machine vision, machine learning, cloud comput-
ing and other automation are opening new oppor-
tunities for robots.
Skilled worker gap: Help wanted
One of the barriers to an even more rapid adop-
tion of robotics is the shortage of skilled workers
needed to take advantage of these new opportuni-
control engineering September 2020 • 11
INSIGHTS
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
ties. According to a National Association
of Manufacturing (NAM) and Deloitte
report, the United States will have to fill
3.5 million science, technology, engi-
neering, and math (STEM) jobs by 2025,
with more than 2 million going unfilled
because of the lack of highly skilled
candidates.
Will the accelerated use of robots
mean massive job losses, as some stud-
ies claim? I think the answer is no. If you
look at the pre-pandemic period over
the past decade with U.S. robot use at its
highest level ever, unemployment had
fallen from near 10% to around 3.5%.
This is similar to global trends, where
the International Federation of Robotics
(IFR) reports that in countries with the
greatest adoption of robots, unemploy-
ment is lower than in countries with low
adoption of robots. Why?
Robots add efficiencies,
save jobs
The real threat to jobs is when com-
panies can no longer compete – that’s
when all the jobs at risk. Robots have
Unlock Even
More Potential
Field-unlockable software enables
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proven they can help companies become
more competitive, creating more busi-
ness, and opening up better, safer and
higher-paying jobs.
The future I envision is people and
automation working together rather than
automation replacing people. Robots will
augment people and perform jobs peo-
ple don’t want to do or aren’t as good at.
This will allow people will do jobs they
are better at and want to do.
To benefit from more robots in life,
we need to ensure they are making the
world better. This will allow us to do
more meaningful work and make us safer
while lowering the cost of goods and ser-
vices, and helping us live longer and
healthier lives. Based on current innova-
tions, I expect us to accomplish all these
goals in the future. ce
Jeff Burnstein is president, Association
for Advancing Automation (A3), a CFE
Media and Technology content partner,
Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manag-
er, Control Engineering, CFE Media and
Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.
input #7 at www.controleng.com/information
M More
INSIGHTS
KEYWORDS: Robotics, manufacturing
efficiency, robots protect jobs
Robotics help with social distancing.
Skilled worker gap: Help wanted with
robotics, automation.
Robots add efficiencies, save jobs.
CONSIDER THIS
Are robots advancing your company or
your competitors?
ONLINE
If reading from the digital edition, click on
the headline for more resources, including
www.controleng.com/robotics.
www.a3automate.org
www.robotics.org
Information on how to get started with
robots or to expand current usage is
available online at RIA Robotics Week
conference, Sept. 8-11 (if you miss it live,
view it archived later).
Automate 2021, North America’s largest
robotics and automation trade show, with
about 500 company exhibits, is planned for
Detroit, May 17-20, 2021.
Association for Advancing Automation
helps apply robots, machine vision, AI,
motion control and motors and related
automation technologies.
 webcasts
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webcasts cover the latest
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INSIGHTS
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Narayanan Ramanathan, L&T Technology Services

Engineer’s perspective of the

future of engineering applications
What’s next for industrialization as the industry begins to prepare for Industry 5.0?

E
ngineers play a critical role in integrat-
ing legacy systems into the digital land-
scape of today’s businesses. The new-age
enterprises thrive on technologies such
as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine
learning (ML), Big Data and analytics, and robotic
process automation (RPA). To optimize these tech-
nologies, organizations need to either overhaul their
operations completely or make use of the existing
setup and intelligently transform them to meet busi-
ness needs. This makes strategizing a very important
gamut of the digital transformation exercise.
A complete overhaul is not only cost-intensive
but also risks compromising business continuity.
As a result, organizations generally opt for the latter
option and gradually transition legacy systems while
keeping a close look at the lifecycle.
Progress of industrialization
a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.1%
between 2018 and 2023.
Keeping pace with evolution
There is an increase in investment, especially in
the industrial, logistic and commercial infrastruc-
ture. While Industry 4.0 is the undercurrent of this
expected rise in demand for engineering, 91% of
businesses are struggling to achieve the digital trans-
formation essential to survive and thrive in this era.
One of the main contemporary challenges being
faced by organizations in their digital transformation
pursuit is the integration of legacy systems. However,
it is important to find opportunities in every chal-
lenge, and legacy systems are no exceptions.
Legacy systems to smart systems
Engineering applications are vital because legacy
systems don’t possess the required capabilities for a

M INSIGHTSMore Industrialization has seen various

KEYWORDS: Engineering
future, digital
transformation
Digital transformation
provides manufacturing
benefits.
Legacy systems can give
way to smart systems.
Human-machine
synergies help with size,
scale and scope of digital
transformation.
CONSIDER THIS
How’s your digital
transformation going? Do
you see increasing synergy
between humans and
machines?
ONLINE
If reading from the digital
edition, click on the headline
for more resources.
www.controleng.com/
magazine
www.controleng.com/
webcasts
remarkable and future-defining chang-
es over the past few centuries. Going from
swift mechanization to electrification to
seamless use of information technology
(IT), the first three phases of industrializa-
tion ensured rapid evolution of businesses.
With the advent of the fourth industrial rev-
olution, more commonly known as Industry
4.0, operations started getting digitized and
organizations across the spectrum felt the
need for digital transformation.
Industry 5.0 is on the horizon. The suc-
cess of digital transformation, coupled with
the advancements in the Internet of Things
(IoT) and high-speed, low-latency connec-
tivity will define the future of work.
With digitization taking center stage,
engineering solutions have grown in impe-
tus and scope. The prospects for engineer-
ing services look especially promising as
the global market for Industry 4.0 sees an
upsurge. The projected value of the market
is $21.7 billion by 2023, up from $7.7 bil-
lion in 2018. Rapid advancements of engi-
neering applications and solutions will drive
the market to grow almost threefold and at
smart process. The use of sensors is critical to vital-
izing legacy systems and integrating them into the
digital ecosystem. Given the significance of data and
real-time analysis, these sensors help in channelizing
important information on performance, productivity
and the legacy machines’ health.
In a smart paradigm that depends on immediate
communication across multiple devices, sensors pro-
vide visibility to all relevant stakeholders at any given
time. Real-time insights derived from the data trans-
mitted by the sensors also enable spontaneous and
informed decision making. Finally, thanks to these
engineering applications, predictive maintenance of
the legacy systems is made possible on the basis of
health diagnoses.
Collaboration with agile machines
Matured technologies have laid the foundation
for digital transformation of operations, and emer-
gent technologies are expediting the process with
the aim of digitizing operations at scale. Progress at
a breakneck pace is driven by intelligent machines.
These machines will rely less on human interven-
tions and will be free from the shortcomings of
their predecessors. At the bottom of this endeavor
lies the ambition of a collaborative, agile future of
work will thrive on human-machine synergy, and

14 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com


new-age, future-facing engineering applications will
be key enablers.
Making legacy systems future ready depends on
key decisions. First and foremost, a thorough under-
standing of the needs will dictate the most appro-
priate digital strategy. As the business plan will rely
on the digital strategy, it is important to align it with
short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Once the
strategy is in place, the right engineering applications
will determine the success of the overall digital trans-
formation experience.
Size digital transformation to fit
Digital transformation initiatives across indus-
tries have shown that one size doesn’t fit all, and
instead, the approach has to be horses-for-courses.
For instance, enterprise resource planning (ERP) sys-
tems can help integrate machines and processes, but
they are not the best bet when it comes to long-term,
future-proof changes.
Organizations embarking on digital transforma-
tion often end up biting more than they can chew by
entrusting IT teams with the responsibility of writ-
ing, testing and deploying in-house integration solu-
tions. While such decisions are brave, the cost, time
and risk they entail make them not worth making.
This hastiness is detrimental as it can completely
derail the initiative before it is initiated.
In the end, the most important aspect of digital
transformation is ensuring timely changes in small
installments. Data plays a crucial role in bring-
ing every element of the process up to pace, and it
is therefore paramount for organizations to create a
robust and holistic database, accumulating data from
every single end point.
In a digital landscape strewn with smart devic-
es, every bit of data collected by engineering appli-
cations from various ERP, customer relationship
www.controleng.com
Manufacturing
analytics transition
organization from
barriers to benefits
and from lack of
expertise to real-time
actionable insights,
among other ben-
efits. Courtesy: L&T
Technology Services
Ltd.
‘ The most important aspect of digital
transformation is to ensure timely changes
’
in small installments.
management (CRM), product lifecycle manage-
ment (PLM), and supply chain management (SCM)
systems is critical. The idea should lead to making
incremental changes without putting massive pres-
sure on either IT or operations technology (OT).
Agile automation, human involvement
For the process to be agile, humans too have a
crucial role to play. Radical changes are bound to
attract resistance and cynicism, especially when
machines tend to become more autonomous. How-
ever, it is important that company leaderships take
the onus of making the human workforce aware of
the purpose of digitization and how it can bene-
fit everyone. In essence, digital transformation is as
much about business progress as it is about easing
human lives. The cultural change has to be the bed-
rock for initiatives such as size, scale and scope.
Digital transformation will make machines smart-
er and vitalize human skills by using them in more
critical and perspective-driven jobs. Human-machine
synergy is pivotal to the scoping of tasks and thereby
increasing overall productivity across enterprises.
The future has arrived. Are we ready for digital
transformation? ce
Narayanan Ramanathan is global head of digital
engineering, L&T Technology Services Ltd., a Con-
trol Engineering content partner. Edited by Mark T.
Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE
Media and Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.
control engineering September 2020 • 15
INSIGHTS
THINK AGAIN: CYBERSECURITY ®

3010 Highland Parkway, Suite 325, Downers Grove,

IL 60515. 630-571-4070, Fax 630-214-4504

Cybersecurity tips Content Specialists/Editorial

Mark T. Hoske, Content Manager
630-571-4070, x2227, MHoske@CFEMedia.com
Cybersecurity advice about process, technologies, people (inter- Jack Smith, Content Manager
630-571-4070, x2230, JSmith@CFEMedia.com
nal) and external threat resulted from the Control Engineering Kevin Parker, Senior Contributing Editor, IIoT, OGE
630-571-4070, x2228, KParker@CFEMedia.com
2020 Cybersecurity Research Report. Emily Guenther, Director of Interactive Media

T
630-571-4070, x2229, eguenther@CFEMedia.com
Amanda Pelliccione, Director of Research
hose answering the 2020 Con- cybersecurity at the beginning of the 978-302-3463, APelliccione@CFEMedia.com
trol Engineering cybersecuri- project. Chris Vavra, Associate Editor
ty survey provided advice to Think about cybersecurity early in the CVavra@CFEMedia.com

peers based on knowledge and design process. It is much harder to imple-

Contributing Content Specialists
experiences. A summary fol- ment later. Suzanne Gill, Control Engineering Europe
lows. Data was collected Feb. suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk
7 through March 5. Answers Tips on technology Ekaterina Kosareva, Control Engineering Russia
ekaterina.kosareva@fsmedia.ru
are lightly edited for grammar; ALWAYS UPDATE. Agata Abramczyk, Control Engineering Poland
tips covering multiple catego- Be proactive and start agata.abramczyk@trademedia.pl
ries generally fall in the group implementing new appliance/ Lukáš Smelík, Control Engineering Czech Republic
lukas.smelik@trademedia.cz
matching the first tip. A cate- software to protect your/the
Aileen Jin, Control Engineering China
gorical tally of 48 cybersecurity customers assets. aileenjin@cechina.cn
tips showed: 20 cybersecurity Mark T. Hoske, Do not allow any mobile or
related to processes; 17 cyber- Content Manager external device to have read/ Editorial Advisory Board
www.controleng.com/EAB
security related to technolo- write privileges. Some remote Doug Bell, president, InterConnecting Automation,
gies; 9 cybersecurity related observation might be allowed. www.interconnectingautomation.com
to people (internal) and 2 cybersecurity Do timeout detection and recovery (TDR) David Bishop, president and a founder
related to external threats. A sampling for all hardware connections to detect the Matrix Technologies, www.matrixti.com
Daniel E. Capano, senior project manager, Gannett Fleming
follows. See twice the advice online. impedance change caused by any connec- Engineers and Architects, www.gannettfleming.com
tion. On detection connect to sandbox Frank Lamb, founder and owner
Cybersecurity tips: process and attempt to back trace source of intru- Automation Consulting LLC, www.automationllc.com

Always be active and vigilant to stay sion. Sandbox runs simulation program, Joe Martin, president and founder
Martin Control Systems, www.martincsi.com
ahead of the threats. but has no actual access to control system. Rick Pierro, president and co-founder
Be prepared for the unthinkable. Secure you equipment now; don’t wait Superior Controls, www.superiorcontrols.com

Being aware of deficiencies in your for an attack. Mark Voigtmann, partner, automation practice lead
Faegre Baker Daniels, www.FaegreBD.com
cyber defenses only brings to light Use a random password generator.
opportunities you have to improve. Don’t CFE Media and Technology
be afraid of audits. They should only Cybersecurity tips: people Contributor Guidelines Overview
help provide knowledge, understanding Cybersecurity is real and has to be Content For Engineers. That’s what CFE Media
and management support allowing for treated seriously. stands for, and what CFE Media is all about –
engineers sharing with their peers. We welcome
change for the better to happen. Don’t let IT fool senior management content submissions for all interested parties in
engineering. We will use those materials online, on
Closely follow the updates and trends. into thinking they can secure the process our website, in print and in newsletters to keep
Be aware of vulnerability and incidents. control domain! engineers informed about the products, solutions
and industry trends.
Follow security basic industry best User education is the biggest threat www.controleng.com/contribute explains how
practices. to security. No matter how advanced or to submit press releases, products, images and
graphics, bylined feature articles, case studies, white
Have the proper governance and expensive something is, we need users to papers, and other media.
resources in place, for both engineering be educated. * Content should focus on helping engineers solve
and operational technology (OT). problems. Articles that are commercial or are critical
of other products or organizations will be rejected.
Make sure a project incorporates the Cybersecurity tips: External (Technology discussions and comparative tables may
be accepted if non-promotional and if contributor
It is helpful to look beyond national

M More
corroborates information with sources cited.)
borders and English language dominat- * If the content meets criteria noted in guidelines,

INSIGHTS
See more tips and bar graph of
cybersecurity products and services with
this online article: Click the head in the digital
edition: www.controleng.com/magazine.
See also a prior article online based on
this research: Cybersecurity requires asset
updates at www.controleng.com/research
ed sources.
Kindly don’t allow external devices to
be plugged to your controls without con-
sidering the consequences.
Think again about opportunities for
cybersecurity improvements as a process
rather than event and see three articles
on cybersecurity in this issue. ce
expect to see it first on our Websites. Content for our
e-newsletters comes from content already available on
our Websites. All content for print also will be online.
All content that appears in our print magazines will
appear as space permits, and we will indicate in print
if more content from that article is available online.
* Deadlines for feature articles intended for the print
magazines are at least two months in advance of the
publication date. Again, it is best to discuss all feature
articles with the appropriate content manager prior to
submission.
Learn more at: www.controleng.com/contribute

16 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

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INSIGHTS
NEWS
Motor repair answers: Virtual Training
Trends on motors and drives were
covered in the CFE Media & Technology
Virtual Training Day on Aug. 19, provid-
ing online training; the instructor for one
of the courses answered additional ques-
tions about motor repairs. Four courses
offer potential for four approved learn-
ing units:
• What to know when repairing
electric motors
• How to specify motors for more
efficient HVAC systems
• Introduction to motors and drives
• How to design hospital, health care
facility HVAC systems.
Motor repair application,
motor designs, motor
detective stories
Thomas Bishop, PE, senior tech-
nical support specialist, EASA, gave
45 minutes of instruction on motor
repairs followed by more than 15
minutes of questions and answers.
The information will be available at
www.controleng.com/online-courses
until Nov. 30, 2020. Answers to unan-
swered questions follow.
Are there certain applications
that have particular motor
repair concerns?
Applications with higher than nor-
mal mechanical stress or in harsh envi-
ronments may require additional repair
steps. For applications with higher
stress, such as a rock crusher, mechani-
cal components such as the shaft need
closer inspection to check for bend-
ing or cracks. Harsh environments
such as outdoors near the ocean with
its salt water can lead to extensive cor-
rosion damage. Applying overcoating
with epoxy materials would probably
be called for to reduce the effects of
corrosion.
Do more recent motor
designs extend motor life
over earlier generations?
How?
The short answer is “no.” As ener-
gy efficiency of motors has increased,
www.controleng.com
Digital edition? Click on headlines for more details.
See news daily at www.controleng.com
a popular misconception is that motor
design life has also increased. Howev-
er, the factors that affect motor ther-
mal life, such as winding temperature,
for the most part haven’t changed; and
the bearings and mechanical systems are
still the same.
Can you share a useful
“detective story” about
motor repairs?
An end user had a motor in a cen-
trifugal pump application and when
it required service center repairs, it
was found the shaft had a crack in it.
The pump application would not have
caused a mechanical shock that could
explain the cracked shaft, and the next
suspicion was the shaft material had an
Thomas Bishop, PE, is senior technical inherent flaw in it. A root cause analy-
support specialist, EASA. He offered sis (RCA) was performed and what was
information about motor repairs in a found was the motor had been used in
Aug. 19 one-hour course available for a severe mechanical shock application,
viewing until end of November 2020. a shredder subject to overload, and that
Courtesy: CFE Media and Technology the crack occurred in that prior appli-
and EASA cation. ce
IIoT platform built on battery-free sensors
M
any analysts have predicted an explosion in the number of Indus-
trial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices that will come online over the
next decade. Sensors play a big role in those forecasts. Unfortu-
nately, sensors come with their own drawbacks, many of which are due to
‘
the limited energy supply and finite life-
time of their batteries.
A sensor to monitor
Everactive, a startup company founded
rotating machinery, like
by MIT graduates, has developed indus-
trial sensors that run around the clock, motors and pumps, runs
require minimal maintenance, and can last
on second-generation
over 20 years. The company created the
’
sensors not by redesigning its batteries, battery-free chips.
but by eliminating them altogether.
Everactive builds finished products on top of its chips that customers
can quickly deploy in large numbers. Its first product monitors steam traps,
which release condensate out of steam systems. Such systems are used in
a variety of industries, and Everactive’s customers include companies in
sectors like oil and gas, paper, and food production. Everactive has also
developed a sensor to monitor rotating machinery, like motors and pumps,
that runs on the second generation of its battery-free chips.
- Zach Winn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
control engineering September 2020 • 17
INSIGHTS Digital edition? Click on headlines for more details.
NEWS See news daily at www.controleng.com

Control and automation programming

languages: A view from the field
I read the article on “Which pro-
gramming language is best.” Control
Engineering, July 2020 had Which IEC
61131-3 programming language is best?
Part 1, and August 2020 has Which IEC
61131-3 programming language is best?
Part 2.
I would like to give you some info
I realized working as an electrician
and control engineer. During program
design, the engineer only sees it once. In
the field, the electrician or controls engi-
neer sees it thousands of times.
Online training for continuing education
credits: Virtual Training Week
Company standards for
programming
Each company I worked for (U.S. Steel
and Ford Motor Co.) have standard forms
of programming which should be fol-
lowed so the those in the trades are famil-
iar with the scheme. Also, it’s easier to
program control loops in ladder logic, but
very hard to troubleshoot this program.
Not all control engineers or those
in the trades are created equal so some
pickup on things differently. I like
sequential function charts (SFCs) and
function block diagram (FBD) program-
ming but it was not used in some facil-
ities because those in the trades didn’t
understand it. When you see it for the
first time when the equipment is down
you are confused, and on-the-job train-
ing (OJT) is very expensive.
Programmer should
communicate with operations
The programmer should contact the
control engineers and those in the trades
at the facility where the equipment is
going to see what they are comfortable
with. I know that isn’t always possible.
Writing logic and troubleshooting it are
very different. In the field you have to get
into the programmer’s head to under-
stand the programming technique used,

F
ive days of online training are planned for Oct. 5 to 9 for 30 continu- which can be difficult at times. Just a few
ing education credits from CFE Meda and Technology, owner of Con- thoughts on the article. Thanks. ce
trol Engineering, Plant Engineering, Consulting-Specifying Engineer and
other recognized industry educational resources. John Damasiewicz is a retired controls
Five consecutive days of training include industry experts, videos, engineer with Ford Motor Co. Edited by
research and panel discussions and question and answer opportunities. Top- Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control
ics are digital transformation, motors and drives, predictive maintenance, Engineering, CFE Media and Technology,
critical power, and innovative automation. A best practices session will start mhoske@cfemedia.com.
at 10 a.m., research or roundtable panel will be at noon, and an application
will be at 2 p.m., central time. Daily details follow.
Oct. 5, Monday: Disruptive Digital Transformation: Why and How Headlines
Attendees will hear from industry experts, leading manufacturers and online
research analysts to learn how to scale a digital transformation strategy.
Top 5 Control Engineering articles
Oct. 6, Tuesday: Motors and Drives Training August 10-16, 2020
Featured articles included edge computing
Hear from experts in the industry to learn about best practices for motors, and IIoT, automation helping the COVID-
drives, and applications related to energy management. 19 pandemic response, system integration,
Oct. 7, Wednesday: Preventive and Predictive Maintenance and message queuing telemetry transport
(MQTT).
Thought leaders in manufacturing and construction will discuss how software
can reduce mistakes and increase productivity. How a COVID-19 testing trailer was built
for a university
Oct. 8, Thursday: Critical Power: Electrical Safety and Standby Power MIT engineers and medical staff built a
60-foot trailer for COVID-19 testing that can
Experts in the electrical engineering field cover best practices for designing test up to 1,500 people a day and is now
electrical rooms and standby power requirements. operating as the main test site for asymp-
Oct. 9, Friday: Innovative Automation: Control Systems, Drives and Motors tomatic members of the MIT community.

Leading manufacturers, distributors, and those involved in applying inno- Global AI market projected to have
vative motors, drives and control systems cover advancements in product strong growth
design and features. The AI is expected to show strong growth in
all world regions in spite of the COVID-19
Learn more and register at www.controleng.com/online-courses. pandemic according to ARC Advisory Group
research.

18 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

ANSWERS
COVER STORY: ADVANCED CONTROL
James Figy, Beckhoff Automation

Shuttle system gets smart

to meet e-commerce demands
Control system case study: Using EtherCAT and PC control, Swisslog’s shuttle
system delivers a data-driven distribution center solution that cuts hardware
costs 25% in warehouses.

W
ith growing e-commerce
demands and tight labor market
pressures, today’s smart ware-
houses and distribution centers
require increasingly data-driven
technologies, including for automated motion con-
trol. For intralogistics specialist Swisslog, addressing
this challenge requires machines with greater intel-
ligence, such as the company’s CycloneCarrier shut-
tle system.
“E-commerce is the fastest growing segment of
the U.S. economy,” said Tom Rentschler, head of
marketing for Swisslog Warehouse and Distribu-
tion Solutions – Americas. “Intralogistics opera-
tions need much more flexible, scalable, adaptable
and user-friendly solutions. These technologies can
augment, rather than replace, human beings, help-
ing workers increase throughput in the distribution
center while no longer requiring them to walk 15
miles each day to pick items.” A dynamic double-deck lift transfers cartons and totes pulled by
Swisslog uses many logistics solutions includ- CycloneCarrier shuttles to pick stations or palletizing robots.
ing warehouse management system (WMS) soft- Courtesy: Swisslog
ware, robot-based item picking, case palletizing,
mobile robots that move shelves to picking stations
and many others. Swisslog also provides tradition- log item locations in the constantly rotating inven-
al warehousing systems, such as palletizers, pallet tory. “It must react quickly if, for example, an order
cranes and pallet conveying technologies. changes or there is a change in the SKU sequencing
requirements,” Douglas said.
Intralogistics motion controls Swisslog recognized the need for a controls plat-
applications, PC-based control form that could handle increased quantities of data
The compact shuttle vehicles for cartons and and communicate horizontally and vertically, even
totes travel at speeds up to 4 m/s across the shelv- up to the cloud, if needed. This realization coin-
ing, which can reach up to 150 m long and 25 m cided with the development of their WMS and the
high. The vehicles’ load-handling arms extend to need for greater connectivity across the company’s
either side and can adjust the space between arms systems. As a result, Swisslog began to transition
to safely handle items of varying widths. The shut- its portfolio to PC-based control technology, stan-
tles unload items onto transfer conveyors that serve dardizing on hardware and software solutions from
as buffers to dynamic single- or double-deck verti- a new automation vendor.
cal lifts. Depending on the shelving size and num- “We made this strategic decision because the
ber of shuttles, the system can achieve a throughput vendor had, at the time, the most complete and
of tens of thousands of items per hour. Each shut- cost-effective portfolio available,” Douglas said.
tle must frequently communicate with the WMS to “Swisslog’s intention is that it will transition every

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 19

ANSWERS
COVER STORY: ADVANCED CONTROL
The shuttle vehicles’ load-handling
arms extend and adjust to handle
cartons and totes of varying widths.
Courtesy: Swisslog
product offering to include PC-based control in
the near future, including the more traditional pal-
let cranes and conveyors. So far, we have installed
more than 1,000 machines worldwide that are
equipped with the new controls.”
Automation, shuttle system,
machine controller
Among the automation technologies, the shuttle
system relies on embedded PCs for controller hard-
ware. The specific DIN rail-mounted machine con-
troller measures only 124 x 100 x 92 mm. With just
a single-core processor, the mid-range controller
handles all machine logic and data acquisition pro-
cesses with fast cycle times, according to Douglas.
“The controller provides us with the processing
power needed to reliably handle all machine func-
tions. Form factor was also a concern, but the com-
pact embedded PC fits inside the shuttles without
issue,” he said. “The controller hardware offers the
universality and extendibility that we need to con-
tinue developing the shuttle system.”
As the universal runtime and engineering envi-
ronment for machine programming, flexible auto-
mation software provides similar benefits, in part
through the extreme portability of code to new
projects. While the automation software’s inte-
gration into Microsoft Visual Studio enables pro-
gramming in computer science languages, it is also
ideal for all IEC 61131-3 programming languages,
including object-oriented extensions.
20 • September 2020 control engineering
Motion control programming
languages, industrial Ethernet
Swisslog engineers appreciated this capability
because, prior to standardizing on the new auto-
mation vendor, they wrote most of their code using
IEC 61131-3 languages such as structured text (ST)
and function block diagram (FBD).
Douglas said, “Because the function blocks
were so foundational, we didn’t want to lose devel-
opment work when moving to other projects, and
the new vendor made code reuse possible and
uncomplicated.”
For networking, the shuttle system uses the
EtherCAT industrial Ethernet
system, which provides flexibili-
ty in topologies and supports up
to 65,535 devices on a single net-
work. EtherCAT helps with cross-
vendor communication, allowing
Swisslog to connect to third-par-
ty Profinet or EtherNet/IP devices
as needed. However, the company
strongly prefers to select devic-
es such as barcode scanners that
specifically support EtherCAT.
For hardware, the shuttle system
uses compact yet expandable I/O
modules, which connect directly to the controller
via a shared backplane and can be widely distribut-
ed across applications via EtherCAT Couplers and
junction terminals.
Programmable safety terminals are integrated in
the same segment as non-safety I/O in the shuttles.
The “black channel” approach of [functional] Safe-
ty over EtherCAT (FSoE) provides TÜV-certified
communication over the EtherCAT network.
“Using integrated safety components allows us
to reliably and safely control each CycloneCarri-
er according to the latest safety standards without
the need to stop the entire system. Because of these
benefits, we use programmable safety on every proj-
ect,” Douglas said. “Of course, safety is a require-
ment for every application by default, but having it
integrated to this extent really answers our overall
design requirements.”
Control cycle times, motion
control costs, e-commerce
By leveraging automation technologies from a
new vendor, Swisslog created a flexible, scalable and
adaptable shuttle system for distribution centers. A
recent project for a major U.S. retailer, for exam-
ple, involved 65 shuttles working round-the-clock
to process 650,000 SKUs per day. Implementing the
shuttle system boosted throughput for the company
while saving workers significant physical exertion.
“The adoption of goods-to-person technol-
ogy with reliable automation technology is really
www.controleng.com
COVER image, right: TwinCAT 3 automation
software from Beckhoff Automation allowed
Swisslog to easily import multiple IEC 61131-
3 function blocks for the CycloneCarrier and
other systems. Courtesy: Swisslog
A CX5120 Embedded PC onboard each
CycloneCarrier shuttle provides robust machine
control and communication to higher-level sys-
tems. Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation
Each CycloneCarrier has multiple EtherCAT
I/O modules from Beckhoff Automation, which
enable fast and reliable communication to
Swisslog’s SynQ WMS software. Courtesy:
Beckhoff Automation
important to our customers, since they can no lon-
ger scale up their labor force seasonally, for exam-
ple,” Rentschler said.
By consolidating machine control and commu-
nication on one embedded PC and using compact
EtherCAT I/O, Swisslog also experienced signifi-
cant savings. “Overall hardware costs are rough-
ly 25% lower by using the new vendor’s solutions
compared to what would be required to accomplish
the same tasks with another vendor’s components,”
Douglas said.
The shuttle system achieved these capabilities
through high-speed EtherCAT communication and
the processing power of PC-based control. With
the embedded PCs and automation software, the
Swisslog machines achieve cycle times in microsec-
www.controleng.com
‘ Flexible automation software provides
benefits, such as extensibility, in part through
’
the portability of code to new projects.
onds, rather than the milliseconds they
needed with previous solutions. The
smart machines also can acquire criti-
M More
ANSWERS
cal data beyond performance data, such KEYWORDS: industrial PC,
as temperature irregularities in facilities advanced process control,
EtherCAT
that handle perishable products, and
Swisslog’s shuttle system
display this information via dashboards cuts hardware costs 25% in
built into the company’s WMS. warehouses using EtherCAT
While traditional palletizing equip- and PC-based control systems.
ment usually remains in the same loca- Consolidating machine control
tion, unchanged for a decade or more, and communication on a single
new e-commerce solutions need to offer embedded PC and using
compact EtherCAT I/O helped
greater flexibility to meet changing the company realize significant
consumer or corporate requirements. savings.
The modular controls platform Swiss-
ONLINE
log implemented enables customiza-
Read more stories from the
tion to shelf and shuttle setups, whether author at www.controleng.com.
to modify slightly or disassemble and
rebuild the system in a different config- CONSIDER THIS
uration, in an different warehouse. How is your company handling
logistics and operations and
“Through our standard platform what are they doing to make it
based on PC-based control, we could better?
use a CycloneCarrier shuttle in a small
system targeted to a specific application and then
use the same machine in a much bigger facility
doing a completely different job,” Douglas said.
“To accomplish these feats, all of that flexibility
must be built into the automation system from the
beginning.” ce
James Figy, senior content specialist, Beckhoff Auto-
mation LLC. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate editor,
Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology,
cvavra@cfemedia.com.
control engineering September 2020 • 21
ANSWERS
COVER TOPIC: ADVANCED CONTROL
Allan Kern, APC Performance LLC

Feedforward: Not as
popular as expected, again
Feedforward and feedback: Multivariable control, like single-loop control,
can be accomplished primarily with feedback control and selective
(not wholesale) use of feedforward.

A
ll control engineers learn about feed-
forward early in their education and
careers. It is not complicated and has
the potential to reject process distur-
bances seamlessly, such that there is
no impact on the controlled variable. Not even the
best-tuned feedback controllers can do that.
In feedforward control, a process disturbance is
measured and translated into a change in control-
ler output, which is implemented in phase with the
disturbance, so the output rejects the disturbance,
and the controlled variable continues on unaffected,
essentially oblivious to this behind-the-scenes help.
Without feedforward, the same process distur-
bance would upset the controlled variable, result-
ing in a process deviation (error) from setpoint,
and requiring feedback control action to reject
the disturbance over time, usually using
cost because feedforward inputs and models (out-
put translations) have to be provided. It adds risk
because performance becomes dependent on the
reliability of the additional inputs and models, with
models in particular having proven to be generally
problematic and unreliable.
Feedforward adds maintenance of the inputs
and the models, and performance issues become
more difficult to troubleshoot and diagnose, com-
pared to a PID loop by itself. Meanwhile, PID feed-
back control performance, without feedforward, is
almost always considered satisfactory despite inher-
ent transient error.
The balance of these trade-offs over time has
meant feedforward has been adopted sparingly and
with great discrimination by industry. To quali-
fy for feedforward, the inputs must be reliable, the
models must be reliable and it must add significant

M More
ANSWERS
KEYWORDS: Feedforward,
feedback, multivariable control
Less than 5% of all installed
control loops throughout industry
take advantage of feedforward
capability.
Feedforward, for all its virtue,
adds cost, risk and maintenance
to a control loop.
Model-based multivariable
control (MPC) can be thought
of as feedforward control on
steroids – it employs feedforward
models for every matrix location.
CONSIDER THIS
What are your control loops
doing right now?
ONLINE
If reading from the digital
edition, click on the headline for
more resources.
www.controleng.com/magazine
the well-known proportional-integral-
derivative (PID) algorithm. This is
the inherent limitation of feedback: It
requires process error to work; feedfor-
ward has the potential to prevent error
in the first place.
Feedforward is a powerful tool and
a fundamental process control concept
that almost every process controller in
the process industry supports. However,
less than 5% of all installed control loops
take advantage of feedforward capabili-
ty. Why is such a powerful and available
tool used so sparingly?
Process industry values reliabil-
ity: Feedforward adds risk
The experience of feedforward in
industry over the past 50 to 75 years tells
us that industrial process operation plac-
es very high value on reliability. Feedfor-
ward, for all its virtue, adds cost, risk and
maintenance to a control loop. It adds
value. In the whole process industry, one applica-
tion routinely meets these criteria: The textbook
case of three-element boiler drum level control. In
this application, the input is a routine steam flow
measurement; the model is eminently robust (it
has a fixed gain of 1.0 and instantaneous dynamics,
so there is no potential for either gain or dynam-
ic error); and the added value is high, especially as
it mitigates the difficult boiler drum “shrink and
swell” effects in this critical loop.
With feedforward control, the potential risk
exists, if the feedforward model dynamics are not
correct, to double the disturbance, rather than to
cancel it – or worse if the model gain is also not
accurate. People often use a reduced feedforward
gain to hedge this concern, however, there is no
substitute for accurate and reliable model dynamics.
History repeats itself:
Model-based multivariable control
The experience of model-based multivariable
control (MPC) since the 1980s has emphasized
these historical lessons of single-loop feedforward.

22 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

 Figure 1: In classic 3-element drum level control, steam flow serves as feedforward to the level control, so that feed-
water flow immediately compensates for changes in steam demand. This is a common/popular use of feedforward in
industry, especially due to its simple feedforward model, which has a gain of 1.0 and instantaneous dynamics. Graphics
courtesy: APC Performance LLC

‘With feedforward control,

the potential risk exists, if the

feedforward model dynamics

are not correct, to double the

disturbance, rather than to

’
cancel it – or worse....

MPC can be thought of as feedforward control on

steroids – it employs feedforward models for every
matrix location. Where process industry experi-
ence traditionally uses less than 5% feedforward
models, MPC uses 100%.
Like single-loop feedforward before it, expec-
tations were initially high that MPC would solve
process control performance reliability once and
for all. Instead, it took support and maintenance
to levels not previously dreamed of. The process
industry continues to struggle with this today,
finding MPC support and maintenance levels
nearly unsustainable, but unwilling to give up on
the promise of closed loop multivariable control.
Fortunately, the process industry is realizing that
multivariable control, just like single-loop control,
can be reliably accomplished primarily with feed-
back control and selective (not wholesale) use of
feedforward. ce
Figure 2: Fired heater temperature control, with feedforward based
on inlet flow and temperature, is a good example of feedforward in
principle, but it is rarely used due to the difficulty of knowing the
feedforward models (first-order plus deadtime (FOPDT)) reliably, and
introducing additional transmitters into a critical control loop. Peo-
ple generally would rather accept the additional transient tempera-
ture error when inlet conditions change, than accept the additional
risk and maintenance of the feedforwards.
Allan Kern, P.E., is owner, APC Performance LLC.
Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Con-
trol Engineering, CFE Media and Technology,
mhoske@cfemedia.com.

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 23

ANSWERS
CYBERSECURITY
Alexandre Peixoto and Rick Gorskie, Emerson

Assessing cybersecurity
today to improve tomorrow’s
manufacturing operations
Simple strategies to achieve the most value from cyber risk assessments.
Three strategies for operations technology (OT) teams to avoid while
performing assessments are highlighted.

M
ost process plant automation sys-
tems are engineered over a long
period to ensure operations are
repeatable, reliable, available and
safe. However, increased connec-
tivity to business systems has increased exposure of
control systems to the internet. Organizations must
now consider the cybersecurity implications so
industrial automation and control systems remain
secure and stable.
A good starting point is a cybersecurity risk
assessment to evaluate gaps in currently imple-
mented strategies and technologies, and to provide
Figure 1: Cyberse- a roadmap for identifying, prioritizing, and elimi-
curity is an ongo- nating vulnerabilities.
ing process, with There are three common missteps operations
constant updates technology (OT) teams should be aware of when
required based on performing or requesting assessments:
new solutions and
improvements. All
graphics courtesy:
Emerson
• Assuming their own team already knows
and understands all the risks
• Pursuing “magic pill” solutions, and then not
acting due to the considerable number
of issues
• A lack of prioritization and limited funding.
Organizations that arm themselves against these
potential roadblocks can reap the full benefits of a
risk assessment. They can drive toward more cyber-
secure operations and providing the business jus-
tification most security-oriented projects lack and
asset owners struggle with.
1. Identifying unknown
cybersecurity risks, solutions
Cybersecurity is an evolving arms race that
may seem overwhelming to an OT team, or even
some cyber-experienced information technology
(IT) teams. Learning that anti-virus software and
a firewall is no longer sufficient protection can be
intimidating.
A cyber risk assessment removes the need for an
OT team to determine every potential cyber vulner-
ability in the plant. The assessment can help teams
identify, document, prioritize and build a road-
map around the highest threat vulnerabilities. This
roadmap provides a guide for creating solutions to
quickly provide sufficient security.
Once the assessment is complete, resources cre-
ated and shared by expert partners can expand
knowledge of cybersecurity tactics and techniques
directly related to the leading vulnerabilities. Auto-
mation providers (as well as other technology pro-
viders) typically offer a wide variety of security
manuals, secure architecture guidelines, cybersecu-

24 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

‘Document, share and regularly
update cybersecurity policies
and procedures; training
’
should follow.
rity webinars, and continuing education to help
OT teams learn, develop, and improve
the strategies used to secure critical
systems.
In addition, teams must not assume
their operators know all there is to know
about cybersecurity. Policies and proce-
dures should be documented, shared, and regu-
larly updated (Figure 1). Personnel need to
be trained to operate under new guidelines
established after an assessment. New policies
will often upset tried-and-true methods oper-
ators have become accustomed to. Instead of
relying on users’ inherent cybersecurity knowl-
edge, the cybersecurity team should teach them
how to perform actions under the new guidelines.
Once the new guidelines have been put in place,
the cybersecurity team should evaluate their imple-
mentation for success and relevance. The best way
to create secure systems and procedures is by peri-
odically review implementations and ensure proper
and appropriate practices are in place.
2. Technology alone cannot
fix cybersecurity
For every known cybersecurity risk, there is at
least one company with the latest and greatest solu-
tion, an all-in-one piece of astounding technol-
ogy. However, when one cuts through the hype, it
becomes clear they have varying levels of effective-
ness. What’s more: few of these devices or software
solutions are designed with control system technol-
ogy in mind.
Even the best all-in-one solution is not a sub-
stitute for a cyber assessment. Regardless of the
assessment’s results, a holistic approach supported
by a roadmap will always be the best path forward.
Technology solutions alone will never remove the
need for understanding what’s important to each
organization, along with a flexible strategy reflect-
ing operational and business needs.
Though a hot new product might provide a
quick fix to an existing or emergent vulnerability,
if it interrupts one of the control system core func-
tions, it is unlikely to deliver value over the lifecycle
of the automation system, and the organization may
face more serious difficulties.
Automation vendors can provide selected
cybersecurity solutions certified to work with
www.controleng.com
Figure 2: A comprehensive risk assessment will provide a roadmap
wfor continual assessment and improvement.
their systems, and these are the solu-
tions most suited for eliminating vul-
nerabilities discovered in a cyber
M More
ANSWERS
risk assessment. Automation vendors KEYWORDS: cybersecurity,
develop and test layered cybersecu- control system, operations
technology
rity solutions using third-party secu-
rity technologies and accompanying A cybersecurity risk
assessment can help
architectures to ascertain which work organizations determine where
best with their products. In addition, they need to invest additional
these approved products are constantly measures.
retested and reevaluated to ensure con- Companies should have a well-
tinuing successful operation. As a secu- funded cybersecurity team that
is disciplined and follows best
rity posture is reassessed, automation practices consistently.
vendors suppliers are also realigning Increased connectivity to
their products to meet new needs. business systems has raised
Some third-party solutions are inte- cybersecurity protection needs
grated into industrial control systems for control systems.
(ICSs) so they become part of the auto- ONLINE
mation solution, which allows automa- Read more about cybersecurity
tion vendors to provide full support in prevention at
an OT-centric context. In some cases, www.controleng.com.
the third-party provider becomes a CONSIDER THIS
strategic partner for the control system What cybersecurity challenges
supplier so the reference architecture does your company face and
does not impact the core values of the how are they being addressed?
automation system (Figure 2).
Automation system support teams are already
well-versed in the security technologies surround-
ing the control system. This means OT teams
can rely on the automation vendor’s single sup-
port network to keep any potential downtime to
a minimum.
control engineering September 2020 • 25
ANSWERS
CYBERSECURITY
Figure 3: A properly implemented cybersecurity strategy will serve
multiple purposes and become an integral part of the organization’s
operations.
3. Overwhelmed and underfunded
cybersecurity departments
The simplest example of inaction is a small
department handling information technology (IT)
and OT on a limited budget. It is easy for such a
team to become overwhelmed because there are
so many vulnerabilities that need to be addressed,
and there’s never enough time, resources or over-
all funding.
Even large, well-funded organizations need to
start with individual solutions and build toward a
comprehensive defense-in-depth strategy. Not every
problem needs to be fixed at once. A good cyberse-
curity risk assessment will create a prioritized road-
map to build the defense layers that will close gaps
over time and at a reasonable cost.
Another important strategy is reliance on a
trusted partner to perform or help with assess-
ments. Partner organizations have strategies
and tools to help make the case for cybersecuri-
ty enhancements to management, justifying the
investment by examining information regarding the
cost of cybersecurity breaches.
How to begin with a
cyber risk assessment
Taking concrete steps in response to a cyber
risk assessment is not as daunting as it may seem.
While it is true new cybersecurity risks may
appear in the future, these risks are not as well
known or as likely to be exploited as old risks
that are covered by security patches, hotfixes and
upgrades.
An organization is more likely to be target-
ed using an old exploit they never patched than
by a new, freshly discovered vulnerability simply
26 • September 2020 control engineering
‘ A defense-in-depth strategy
starts with a good context defi-
nition so each protection layer
can be properly designed and
’
and prioritized.
because more attackers will have tools to attack
older vulnerabilities in their arsenal. These are the
vulnerabilities most likely to be discovered with an
assessment and deterred by basic defense layers.
A defense-in-depth strategy starts with a good
context definition so each protection layer can be
properly designed and then prioritized against
available resources. A cyber risk assessment helps
build a good context definition appropriate for the
organization’s unique needs.
Being proactive with a cyber risk assessment
also can help OT teams ensure any security mea-
sures don’t impact operations. If OT waits too long
to identify and pursue solutions suited to opera-
tions, IT may step in and provide its own solu-
tions without understanding the operations’ team
unique needs.
When risks are assessed and solutions are
deployed appropriately, cybersecurity becomes a
bridge between IT and OT that mutually benefits
both groups. This is particularly valuable at a time
when organizations are forced to operate leaner
and remotely to ensure operations and business
continuity.
Invest in a cyber assessment
to secure automation systems
Increased connectivity to business systems has
raised cybersecurity protection needs for control
systems. Starting with a cybersecurity assessment
to identify where your organization is in its jour-
ney prepares personnel to write policies and pro-
cedures to better secure automation systems. The
time invested in defining your specific context will
help you establish defense layers to meet the today’s
needs (Figure 3).
A comprehensive cyber risk assessment also
will help build the roadmap that – as evidenced
by recent events – is essential to preparing for the
unexpected needs of the future. ce
Alexandre Peixoto, DeltaV product marketing man-
ager; Rick Gorskie, global sales manager for cyber-
security, Emerson. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate
editor, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Tech-
nology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.
www.controleng.com
ANSWERS
CYBERSECURITY
Michael Rothschild, Tenable
Internet of vulnerable things:
New industrial attack vectors
The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought innovation and advanced
technology, but it has also made these systems increasingly vulnerable.
Industrial-grade cybersecurity is recommended.
T
he Fourth Industrial Revolution has
brought innovation and advanced tech-
nology, but it has also made these sys-
tems increasingly vulnerable.
Before Industry 4.0, operating indus-
trial devices required manual interference. In the
example of critical infrastructure such as an oil
pipeline, pumping stations with sensors were sprin-
kled across thousands of miles, keeping a read on
operational health, including pressure and temper-
ature monitoring. Previously, a staff member would
be required to physically visit the sites to check data
and make any critical adjustments.
With information technology (IT) and opera-
tions technology (OT) environments converging and
the interconnection of Industrial Internet of Things
(IIoT) and supervisory control and data acquisi-
tion (SCADA) systems, these sensors transmit data
for real-time analysis and remote changes. This has
brought efficiency and efficacy, with some cyber risks.
This transmission of data exposes these con-
verged IT and OT environments to a multitude
of attack vectors from all directions. Even those
choosing to “air gap” – or virtually separate IT
and OT environments – still face cyber risks. It is
imperative organizations understand the modern
attack vectors threatening the industrial sector –
especially those with critical infrastructure – and
move to secure these environments.
External threats manifest in OT
Now that IT infrastructure, such as servers,
routers, PCs and switches are connected through
IIoT to OT infrastructure, such as programma-
ble logic controllers (PLCs), distributed control
systems (DCSs) and human-machine interfaces
(HMIs), the attack surface has expanded. An attack-
er can now enter from IT and traverse to OT, often
wreaking havoc in industrial environments includ-
ing expensive and dangerous impacts to critical
infrastructure.
Once an attacker is inside an OT environment,
www.controleng.com
exploitation is easier because OT device commands
are unencrypted. Even though industrial controllers
are built for rugged environments, they don’t pro-
vide built-in security. The results can be disastrous if
an attacker gains control of an industrial controller.
Examples include creating dangerous pressure levels
in oil or gas lines, power outages or damaged products
from a production line. Downtime in the aftermath of
an attack can result in hefty costs. Organizations need
to be aware of blind spots and ensure their security
teams have holistic visibility into assets and devices in
converged environments.
Analyzing insider threats
An organization’s own employees,
subcontractors or partners also can cause
M More
ANSWERS
an attack – whether intentionally or not. KEYWORDS: Industrial
cybersecurity, securing industrial
Many employees are granted elevated environments
credentials to access sensitive assets and Industry 4.0 and IIoT have brought
devices. With this level of authorization, newfound efficiency and efficacy to
a disgruntled employee can make cata- industrial environments, but also an
strophic changes to interconnected devic- expanded attack surface.
es. And this can have a domino effect as With IT and OT convergence,
damages can quickly spread across inter- attacks can expose an environment
in more ways than ever before.
net-connected devices.
Industrial organizations require
Although organizations should trust industrial-grade security, purpose-
their employees and partners, it’s impor- built to secure modern, converged
tant to account for worst case scenarios, as environments.
well as accidents. In moments of oversight, CONSIDER THIS
employees can make small mishaps that Are your cybersecurity efforts
lead to large consequences. It is essential staying ahead of others in your
that security teams monitor any changes industry? Is most vulnerable least
and anomalies in these environments, and desirable?
then act to remediate when needed. ONLINE
If reading from the digital edition,
Three ways to secure click on the headline for more
industrial environments resources including a large graphic
on the 7 most unsafe gaps for
Securing the attack vectors created industrial cybersecurity from Tenable.
by IIoT and digital transformation is www.controleng.com/magazine
possible. Modern, converged industri- www.controleng.com/
al environments require purpose-built networking-and-security/
Continued on page 32 cybersecurity
control engineering September 2020 • 27
ANSWERS
CYBERSECURITY
Erez Ravina and Atanu Niyogi, L&T Technology Services
Four tips on cybersecurity
risk assessments
It’s hard to know how much cybersecurity spending is enough to lower risk to
an acceptable level. What is enough, and what else is needed? A cybersecurity
risk assessment (CRA) can help. Four tips are highlighted.
A
cybersecurity risk assessment (CRA)
is a process in which an organiza-
tion identifies, analyzes and evalu-
ates the risks it may be exposed to in
case of a cyberattack or data breach.
Manufacturers and process facilities risk cyberse-
curity damages in revenue and reputation; cyber-
security risk assessments should be part of any
organization’s risk management process.
Cybersecurity and related concerns contin-
ue to plague the business continuity objectives
of enterprises. It can be considered mirroring
that of safety requirements of organizations. Like
safety, it’s hard to know how much cybersecurity
spending is enough to lower risk to an acceptable
level. How many upgrades, how many changes in
architecture and how much training is enough?
To address such apprehensions, a cybersecuri-
ty risk assessment can be a big help. While there
are numerous frameworks for a CRA, these steps
can help those starting out.
‘
To lower risk of human error,
companies need to train and educate
’
personnel on cyberattacks.
1. Do not panic.
While businesses may not be aware, there is a
high possibility of them being affected by a latent
cyberattack even without their knowledge.
However, the last thing to do under such a cir-
cumstance is to panic. Adequate CRA systems will
help one take the right decisions including on pri-
28 • September 2020 control engineering
oritizing the efforts to focus on and thereby making
use of the required resources.
2. Making judicious use
of resources:
Upon identifying the areas of prioritiza-
tion, the next step is to optimally use resources.
Towards this, one needs to formulate goals based
on nature of business and its unique require-
ments. An ideal cybersecurity risk assessment
framework calls for classifying the potential risks
into levels as follows:
• Basic level – This should include consid-
erations for most basic and easy to prevent
security risks
• Intermediate level – This involves imple-
menting risk preventions from most com-
mon attacks
• Advanced level – It includes protection
from all threats pointed in the organizations’
threat model
Continuous risk management – This takes
care of continuously monitor the threat land-
scape and prevent as and when new risks are
discovered.
Apart from the above, other complementing
steps include:
• Get rid of all low-hanging fruits – This
ensures the best return on investment (ROI)
as it is simpler to address without much
requirement of resources. Low hangings
fruits include items like security patches and
update, malware protection, and authentica-
tion methods of publicly accessible resources
and internal services, among others.
www.controleng.com
 • Risks should be analyzed and normalized to
reflect the “real” exposure to the organiza-
tion and the overall industry. “Real,” which
can be the default value of any vulnerability
‘ Cybersecurity risk assessment helps
companies make informed decisions on
(CVE) you may have discovered, is usually where to spend money to balance risk

either higher or lower.
• Investing in detection: It is imperative com-
panies know the effectiveness and end results
of the security measures deployed. The
events and attacks that earlier seemed irrele-
vant may now need reassessment.
• Build a respond and recovery procedure to
cyberattacks and data breaches: Prepare a
comprehensive yet compact list of actions
that staff can remember and act on when
urgently required. A 500-page policy com-
pliance document will not help in case of
emergency.
’
vs. the spend on protection.
4. Seek cybersecurity help
when necessary
While users can do it on their own, it’s better
partnering with a company that has the expertise
with cybersecurity risk assessments. It’s also good
if the cybersecurity advisor has knowledge and
work experience within appropriate market seg-
ments because it provides advantages such as:
• Help in selecting the right cybersecurity
framework

• Training employees on IT/cybersecurity • Provide guidance in regulatory standards

awareness programs: Hackers get the best
ROI on phishing and social engineering
attacks. To prevent the possibility of human-
led error, companies need to train and edu-
cate their personnel on cyberattacks.
3. Getting it right, every time:
Continuous cycle
Typically, a cybersecurity risk assessment
report has a very short lifespan, and it may even
be obsolete by the time it is prepared. That said,
the report is still valid and probably the only way
to ensure the best methods adopted to protect an
organization from cyberattacks.
To make this process operative and valuable
it needs to be done in segments that are autono-
mous as much as possible. A common mistake is
when organizations only have an annual compre-
hensive end-to-end cybersecurity risk assessment
that covers the entire business.
The best approach is to form a continu-
ous cycle of cybersecurity risk assessment that
includes a vulnerability assessment and securi-
ty penetration testing of publicly or externally
exposed resources and internal ones. As men-
tioned previously, its aim is to identify the vari-
ous information assets that could be affected by
a cyber-attack, assign the appropriate risk lev-
els, and apply security measures and controls to
minimize and contain the results of a successful
cyberattack.
• Inform of the benchmark score expected
• A bonus is if the partnering company aids
in implementing the process and con-
trols resulting from the cybersecurity risk
assessment.
It’s never too late or too early to
conduct a cybersecurity risk assess-
ment or to change your methodology of
approach to the problem.
The bitter truth is companies will end
up spending a lot on cybersecurity – or
if asking an expert, too little compared
to the potential risk the company may
be facing. A cybersecurity risk assess-
ment helps companies make informed
decisions on where to spend money. You
will need to make smart decisions bal-
ancing risk vs. the spend on protection
from cyber threats. Deciding how much
to spend is more an art than science. ce
Erez Ravina is senior security architect at
L&T Technology Services, Israel. Atanu
Niyogi is practice head - cybersecurity
at L&T Technology Services. L&T Tech-
nology Services is a CFE Media content
partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate
editor, Control Engineering, CFE Media
and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.
M More
ANSWERS
KEYWORDS: cybersecurity,
cybersecurity risk assessment,
CRA
A cybersecurity risk
assessment (CRA) helps
companies determine where they
need to focus their efforts and
improve company safety.
Using resources judiciously
and getting help from experts
can help reduce and uncertainty
during the CRA process.
ONLINE
Learn more about cybersecurity
at www.controleng.com/
networking-and-security/
cybersecurity/
CONSIDER THIS
What are the biggest challenges
or obstacles you’ve faced after
performing a cybersecurity risk
assessment?

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 29

 ANSWERS
COVID-19 AND CYBERSECURITY
John Livingston, Verve Industrial Protection
How COVID-19 is affecting
manufacturing cybersecurity
Forward-looking organizations realize they need the same level of
aggressiveness to protect assets as they have done for COVID-19 risk reduction.
A three-pronged strategy on securing essential infrastructure is highlighted.
C
OVID-19 created the greatest disrup-
tion to manufacturing since World War
II, and its implications on control sys-
tem cybersecurity will be as dramat-
ic. Forward-looking organizations now
realize they need the same level of aggressiveness to
protect their assets as they have used to lower risk
from COVID-19. A three-pronged strategy helps
close the cybersecurity gap to ensure essential infra-
structure continues to operate in the new normal.
COVID-19 is one of those “exogenous shocks”
that accelerates the pace of change overnight.
For the past 15 to 20 years, control systems have
evolved to greater connectivity and use of com-
mercial off-the-shelf components, more recent-
ly referred to by brands such as “Industry 4.0” and
“IIoT.” The change of pace, however, is evolutionary
rather than revolutionary. These initiatives require
organizational change, technical proof of concepts,
capital investments, upgrades to control systems,
etc. All of this takes time.
‘
Remote access into industrial facilities
has grown more in the past six months than
’
in the past six years.
Then COVID-19 happened. Suddenly, within
the course of four to six weeks, organizations found
remote management of facilities became a necessity.
To maintain safe operations, on-site staff has
been reduced to essential employees, delaying or
remotely conducting cybersecurity tasks. Remote
access into industrial facilities has grown more in
the past six months than in the past six years as
travel and onsite access was restricted. While orga-
nizations had discussed the benefits of remote
access and monitoring for years, the COVID-19 cri-
sis forced their hands, whether ready or not.
30 • September 2020 control engineering
It will be difficult, if not impossible, to put the
genie back in the bottle. Because the economic
disruption has lasted longer than anticipated, new
business processes become more ingrained, lead-
ers become invested in new approaches, test cases
and proofs of concept now exist and the status
quo shifts. What was seen as a short-term fix has
become a permanent change.
COVID-19 also is driving a long-term shift in
strategy of where production will happen. Long,
complex, global supply chains are giving way
incrementally towards onshoring critical com-
ponents. As the economy recovers, industrial
organizations must invest in new capacity to man-
ufacture domestically. These facilities will likely
push the boundaries of “connected industry” or
“Industry 4.0” using the model of the pandemic
operations as a guide.
ICS/OT cybersecurity: Promise, peril
Some may argue COVID-19 was a necessary
catalyst to achieve the promise of a more effi-
cient industrial base with digital manufacturing,
with McKinsey and others estimate the $1 trillion
opportunity of digital and connected manufactur-
ing. However, this pandemic also highlights the
industrial control system and operations technol-
ogy (ICS/OT) security perils shifting to digitali-
zation without the proper infrastructure in place.
Control systems are normally “insecure by design.”
They are not designed, as modern information
technology (IT) systems are, with an assumption
that they will connect with the outside world and
the cyber threats that exist. They often do not
receive the same rigor of security management
as IT systems such as regular patching, system
hardening, configuration management, backup
requirements or anti-malware.
As more commercial off-the-shelf components
are introduced into control systems, the vulnera-
bilities present in these systems now extend into
www.controleng.com
industrial facilities. A planned shift to greater
connectivity would have balanced the promise of
these initiatives while making necessary changes
to protect companies against cybersecurity risks.
COVID-19 also forced many organizations to
shift to remote management with limited onsite
staff. In the immediate term, the explosion of
remote access opened these systems to threats
from targeted attacks and collateral damage from
ransomware.
Reducing onsite staff also limits the bandwidth
to manage these devices securely. To the extent
that control systems are managed for security, it
often is done by onsite personnel who manually
patch or update anti-virus or conduct backups.
These security maintenance tasks often are de-pri-
oritized in a world of limited onsite resources.
In many cases, industrial cybersecurity was
approached as building very high walls between IT
and OT systems to limit the possibility of access-
ing these “insecure by design” systems. Now, due to
COVID-19, a gate was created and more organiza-
tions have been allowed through that gate. At the
same time, it reduced the protection of the assets
within the gate, which is not a great security recipe.

Use a three-pronged approach to
protect critical infrastructure assets
To secure these connected systems, it is not
enough to just monitor the network access; we
must manage the endpoints inside the walls as
well. As connectivity expands and remote access
increases, endpoints are now more accessible than
ever and, unfortunately, the onsite capacity to
manage and secure these assets has declined. To
ensure the security of critical infrastructure, a new
approach to OT systems management is needed,
mirroring IT systems that have been exposed for
years. A three-pronged approach to control system
endpoint management is a good starting point.
1. Develop real-time visibility into the risks
and security status of all operational assets.
While it’s true you can’t protect what you can’t
see, securing an asset requires a different mindset.
Users need to go beyond knowledge of its exis-
tence to determine whether the asset is at risk and
if the security deployed is active and up to date.
This includes knowing all of the underlying soft-
ware and firmware of the device, the criticality of
that device to the process, the patch levels and vul-
nerabilities present, the status of key security con-
trols such as anti-virus or whitelisting, backups,
the configuration security, whether the device is
protected by a well-configured firewall, etc. Suc-
cessful organizations take this 360-degree view of
their asset risk to manage endpoints.
2. Think global: Scale security analysis glob-
ally. ICSs cannot be protected by leaving securi-
Gain asset visibility and improve vulnerability prioritization and reme-
diation with a 360-degree risk assessment. Courtesy: Verve Industrial
ty to site-level resources when fewer
resources will be onsite. By the same
token, prioritization requires controls
M More
ANSWERS
system knowledge to understand poten- KEYWORDS: cybersecurity,
COVID-19 and manufacturing,
tial risks to operations. A centralized operations technology (OT)
database is necessary across all sites COVID-19 has changed how
and assets need to enable cross-vendor companies operate and there is
analysis of risks and potential remedia- a greater emphasis on remote
tion strategies. This insight enables risk operations.
remediation playbooks to be distribut- Increased remote work also
ed for deployment, producing efficien- means greater cybersecurity risks.
cy and consistency in risk prioritization Managing cybersecurity onsite,
scaling security analysis and
and remediation planning. effective management are ways to
reduce cybersecurity risks.
3. Manage security onsite. Effec-
ONLINE
tive industrial security requires man-
Read this article at
agement, not just monitoring, and that www.controleng.com for more
engages the knowledgeable experts stories about cybersecurity.
onsite. As stated above, many of the
CONSIDER THIS
risks to control systems are due to a
What challenges is your company
lack of security systems management. facing from a cybersecurity
Too often, organizations stop at moni- standpoint, and how are they being
toring because the alternatives for end- addressed?
point management are either inefficient
(manual) or risky (IT systems management auto-
mation tools).
Organizations now have a third option: OT sys-
tems management tools built for control systems
offer the same automation capabilities, but within
the control of the local control engineers. These

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 31

ANSWERS
COVID-19 AND CYBERSECURITY
tools automate processes such as patching, con-
figuration and software management, user and
account management, and backups, but are local-
ly-controlled so they are deployed at the appropri-
ate time and within the proper testing sequence to
ensure reliable operations.
COVID-19’s disruption created shockwaves
through life and presented an existential threat to
many individual businesses. Critical infrastructure
faces unfamiliar territory and new risks brought on
Continued from page 27
Vulnerable things:
attack vectors
solutions to secure complex, distributed and
dynamic industrial architectures. Organizations
should be able to:
1. Achieve holistic visibility for converged
environments – Capture visibility across IT and
OT environments, including in-depth knowl-
edge of each asset and its health. Support this
with strong asset inventory that provides deep
situational analysis on every device, includ-
ing information such as patch levels, firmware
down to the ladder logic and backplane. This
makes it possible to prevent blind spots, mon-
itor the environment in one place and even
schedule key maintenance.
Figure excerpt shows two of “7 most unsafe gaps for industrial
cybersecurity.” See five more unsafe gaps with this Tenable article at
www.controleng.com. Courtesy: Tenable
32 • September 2020 control engineering
by a sudden shift to remote work and greater cyber-
security threats. Organizations must accelerate their
OT systems management efforts to keep pace. The
three-pronged approach can help protect critical
infrastructure. ce
John Livingston is CEO of Verve Industrial Pro-
tection. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate editor,
Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology,
cvavra@cfemedia.com.
‘ Organizations need to be
aware of blind spots and
ensure their security teams
have holistic visibility into
assets and devices in
’
converged environments.
2. Create risk-based vulnerability manage-
ment – With deep knowledge on each and
every asset, identify the vulnerabilities and set
a triaged risk score based on the type of vul-
nerability and criticality of the asset. This helps
ensure the most severe and dangerous vulner-
abilities get dealt with first.
3. Ensure employee security awareness –
Ensure regular cybersecurity trainings are
completed by employees to educate on best
practices as well as inform of warning signs
(avoiding impacts from the use of phishing
emails, suspicious links or unknown files or
devices, such as a USB).
It’s crucial organizations continue strengthening
the security posture of the industrial environments
modern society relies on. With the proper solutions
in place, organizations can help prevent breaches,
downtime and damages while focusing on contin-
ued innovation. ce
Michael Rothschild is senior director of OT solu-
tions at Tenable. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content
manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and
Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.
www.controleng.com
ANSWERS
MACHINE SAFETY
Todd Mason-Darnell and Pamela Horbacovsky, Omron Automation Americas
Three ways to avoid
motion-related safety pitfalls
Machine builders can help end users avoid motion-related safety incidents by
performing risk assessments and ensuring proper equipment is installed.
B
y proactively designing safety into motion
products, machine builders and engi-
neers can ensure regulatory compliance.
They also can protect future operators and
strengthen relationships with end users.
Any automated motion inside a machine, such
as a motor or servo, could potentially cause a seri-
ous accident. Following three strategies can help
reduce the risk of serious injury to users.
1. Have risk assessments performed
at all phases of development
Risk assessments are essential for understanding a
machine’s safety needs. Perform a risk assessment as
necessary, with at least one at each of the following
phases: the conceptual phase, the design phase, and
upon the machine’s completion. It’s much easier and
cheaper to design safety measures into a machine than
it is to retrofit them in. End users will take note of this.
It’s a best practice to have risk assessments per-
formed by an independent expert. This reduces the
likelihood that anything could be left up to discretion
or interpretation. An independent risk assessment
provider can reduce the temptation to cut corners or
judge risks to be less serious than they are.
2. Have a stop time measurement
performed or calculated
Some safety devices, like light curtains, are
designed to stop hazardous motion if a person
crosses a certain threshold. However, it always takes
time for machine motion to cease. To prevent inju-
ry, the safety device must be positioned far enough
away that the person won’t reach the hazard source
until the machine stops moving.
Stop time measurements, which ensure the mount-
ing of safety devices at the minimum allowable dis-
tance to protect operators, should be done annually.
If equipment limitations or application complexity get
in the way of measurement, stop time should be calcu-
lated by adding up original equipment manufacturer
(OEM)-provided info for each equipment piece along
with an additional 10-15% to account for equipment
variances and performance degradation.
www.controleng.com
As the only controller to support two
safety networks simultaneously,
Omron’s NX-SL5 makes it easy to
connect servos via FailSafe over Eth-
ernet (FSoE) and enable safety con-
trol with fast cycle times for motion
applications. Courtesy: Omron Auto-
mation Americas
3. Install safety control
effectors into the power line,
not the control circuit
There’s often a temptation to install a motor or
servo’s safety control into its control circuit rather
than into the power line. Unfortunately, if the safety
system is activated, it will only shut off the logic to
the motion device, not the power. If the control cir-
cuit were to fail, the motor or servo could still run
and possibly endanger people nearby.
The reason people sometimes use the control
circuit is it’s cheaper and easier. Safety
devices are often rated by the amount of
power that can go through them. It takes
more power to install these devices on the
M More
ANSWERS
power line as opposed to the control line. KEYWORDS: machine safety,
motion control
But it’s never a good idea to save money Machine builders and engineers
by sacrificing safety. can ensure regulatory compliance
Machine builders can help end users by adding safety features to motion
avoid penalties by regulatory agencies as devices.
well as serious accidents caused by their Risk assessments should
machines by following these three recom- be performed at all phases of
development for a motion control
mendation. This, in turn, will improve the product.
machine builders’ reputation and solidify Installing safety control effectors
a trusted relationship with customers. ce into the power line is another good
method to ensure safety.
Todd Mason-Darnell, Ph.D., marketing ONLINE
manager-services & safety; Pamela Hor- Read this article online at
bacovsky, FS engineer (TÜV Rheinland) www.controleng.com for additional
and product manager – safety, Omron stories about machine safety.
Automation Americas. Edited by Chris CONSIDER THIS
Vavra, associate editor, Control Engi- What additional methods does your
neering, CFE Media and Technology, company use to ensure machine
cvavra@cfemedia.com. safety?
control engineering September 2020 • 33
ANSWERS
MACHINE SAFETY
Klaus Matzker, Posital-Fraba
Safety-certified and
diverse-redundant encoders
for motion control
For motion control systems, a key to improving operational safety is ensuring
the sensors the system relies on to maintain control are trustworthy.
S
afety should always be an important design
objective. This is especially true for machin-
ery such as lifts and elevators, industrial
robots or construction machinery where
equipment malfunction or loss of control
could result in serious injuries or damage. In some
jurisdictions, formal safety analyses to reduce the
risk of serious accidents are legally required.
For motion control systems, a key to improving
operational safety is ensuring the sensors the sys-
tem relies on to maintain control are trustworthy.
Sensors such as encoders, inclinometers, and others
must provide dependable feedback on the motion/
position of the mechanical components being con-
trolled. In the event of a sensor malfunction, these
devices must provide the control system with a clear
message the feedback loop has failed and actions
should be taken to limit or halt operations.
A widely-used method of ensuring motion con-
trol systems are reliable and fail-safe is to incor-
porate a degree of redundancy into the
M More
ANSWERS
feedback loops. If the control system
receives similar signals from two differ-
KEYWORDS: machine safety, ent sensors set up to measure the same
machine encoders, motion mechanical property, it is reasonable to
control assume that both are functioning prop-
Safety should be a major facet erly. Discrepancies between the readings
of any heavy machinery design.
would indicate a fault.
Safety-certified encoders can
help streamline the development
of safety-critical systems. Safety-certified encoders
Magnetic and optical encoders Encoders are available from several
also can help improve safety. sensor manufacturers that feature built-
ONLINE in redundancy in the form of two sep-
See additional stories about
arate rotation measurement modules
motion control and machine installed in one housing, sharing one
safety at www.controleng.com. shaft. A special verification chip moni-
CONSIDER THIS tors outputs from these two modules to
How could motion sensors help
check for consistent measurements. If
your machine safety and motion a discrepancy is detected, this chip will
control challenges? block the transmission questionable
34 • September 2020 control engineering
data to the controller, indicating a fault. With this
fail-safe feature, these encoders can be certified to
Performance Level PL d, Cat. 3 (according to the
safety standard ISO 13849) or SIL 3 (according to
IEC 61508). Certification is carried out by special
licensed agencies.
Safety-certified encoders can be used to stream-
line the development of safety-critical systems since
they are guaranteed to provide the control system
with either verified position data or a clear indi-
cation it has developed a fault. However, there are
drawbacks. This approach can be inflexible when
handling failure situations: since these sensors sim-
ply switch off, they provide no guidance on how to
transition the machinery to a safe state.
Certified devices also can be more expensive than
ordinary encoders because of the cost of certification
by an independent lab. Moreover, they are only avail-
able in a limited number of mechanical configura-
tions, so the machine builder may be obliged to use
adaptors to make them fit into a design.
Selecting diverse-
redundant encoders
Diverse-redundant sensors provide a less expen-
sive, more flexible alternative to certified encod-
ers for safety-related motion control systems. Like
their certified counterparts, these devices have two
measurement modules built into a shared housing
(redundancy). However, in this case, signals from
both measurement systems are transmitted to the
controller (such as a programmable logic control-
ler or industrial computer) via a CANopen net-
work. The supervising controller is responsible for
comparing the output of the two semi-independent
measurement systems to verify both are function-
ing correctly.
To reduce the danger of common cause faults,
these devices are built with magnetic and optical
measurement technologies. These measurement
www.controleng.com
Figure 1: The optical
and magnetic sensor
elements are abso-
lute encoders that
measure the posi-
tion value in single
and in multi-turn
mode – battery- and
maintenance-free.

systems are mounted

in tandem on a shared
shaft and installed in
common housing. Res-
olution is 16 bits per
revolution.
The list of avail-
able options includes

‘
robust housings designed for protection levels up
to IP67, different connector types, and many flange Diverse-redundant encoders have two inde-
and shaft variants (hollow or solid shaft). This
range of choice make it possible to select a config- pendent measurement channels to help build
uration that can be integrated into new or existing
machines. Communications are handled through machines that can be certified to Performance
the CANopen interface.

Safety-ready encoders are suitable for harsh
environments and a wide range of operating tem-
peratures. Magnetic encoder technology is robust
and the optical components have been specially
protected against condensation by the addition of
an extra membrane. The optical and magnetic sen-
sor elements are absolute encoders that measure the
position value in single and in multi-turn mode –
battery- and maintenance-free.
These devices can be less expensive and more
versatile than specialty safety-certified encoders,
while often being effective in terms of improving
functional safety. To assist in safety certification of a
motion control system mean time to dangerous fail-
ure (MTTFd) data is provided by the manufacturer.
The wide range of applications for safety encod-
ers include heavy construction equipment, mobile
machines, crane technology, elevators and complex
stage technology for complex productions.
Selecting safety encoders
For one-off or low volume products developed
under tight time constraints, the convenience of
working with SIL or PL-certified encoders (reduced
development times, less safety knowledge required)
might outweigh the extra cost and limited availabil-
ity of these devices.
For many projects, diverse-redundant encod-
ers can provide an effective and cost-efficient solu-
tion. The two independent measurement channels
provide a sound basis for building machines that
’
Level PL d, Cat. 3, according to ISO 13849.
Figure 2: Safety encoders safety
can be used in applications such
as heavy construction equipment,
mobile machines, crane technology,
elevators and complex stage tech-
nology for complex productions.
Graphic and image courtesy: Posital
Fraba
can be certified to Performance Level PL d, Cat. 3,
according to ISO 13849. Diverse-redundant encod-
ers also offer flexibility in handling malfunction
conditions. In some cases, the control system might
be able to use other system knowledge to make a
reasonable assessment as to which redundant mea-
surement module is malfunctioning and if the sur-
viving module can provide useful position data.
In this case, the designer might be able to imple-
ment a restricted operating mode to extend the
availability of the machine until the defective device
can be replaced. ce
Klaus Matzker, product manager, Posital-
Fraba. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate editor, Con-
trol Engineering, CFE Media and Technology,
cvavra@cfemedia.com.

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 35

ANSWERS
MOTION CONTROL SAFETY
Dr. Rolf Zöllner, TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH
Ensure software updates
protect motion control
Product safety and operational safety of elevators require that software updates
are under control. Standards help lower motion-control application risks.
T
he number of modern lifts [elevators] that
are monitored and controlled by software
systems is on the rise, making firmware
and parameter configuration crucial for
safe lift operation until the next periodic
inspection. Lift owners and operators must verify that
completed software updates do not adversely affect
product safety and operational safety. Advice follows
for managing safety and motion control software.
Lift systems in Germany are classified as instal-
lations subject to monitoring under Germa-
ny’s Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health
(Betriebssicherheitsverordnung, BetrSichV), which
implements 2009/104/EC Use of Work Equipment
Directive and, as such, are subject to periodic tech-
nical inspections (PTIs).
In the past, PTIs mostly focused on pure-
ly mechanical or mechatronic components. Take
speed governors, for example. They are mechanical-
ly tripped when the lift car exceeds a certain speed
Transparency is important to ensure hardware and software in critical
motion control applications, such as elevators, to lower risk for all
involved. Images courtesy: TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH
36 • September 2020 control engineering
and will ensure controlled deceleration of the lift
car by means of the safety gear.
To confirm safety components function reliably
and fulfil all relevant requirements, manufactur-
ers commission notified bodies to verify functions
before placing the products on the market. Notified
bodies examine criteria such as materials, design,
construction, manufacturing and load limits. Parts
that have passed type examination may be used as
safety components by lift manufacturers according
to EN 81-20 safety rules for construction and instal-
lation of passenger and goods-passenger lifts.
Safety test of hardware, software
Hardware and software systems are increasingly
used to control, monitor or replace purely mechan-
ical safety functions. To do this, purely operation-
al functions establish independent “protective
circuits,” generally comprising hardware such as
sensors, control systems and actuators, includ-
ing software for processing and evaluating digital
data. However, the fact that parts have hardware
and software components does not change tested
approval procedures: Hardware and software must
be assessed within the scope of type examination.
In regular lift operation, a shaft coding system
controls and monitors the lift’s position while it is
ascending or descending. The software installed in
modern shaft information systems also can control
acceleration, speed and braking processes. The data
can be used for identifying safety-related malfunc-
tions, initiate suitable countermeasures and bring
the lift into a safe state. This requires the hardware
and software system to identify critical operating
conditions and trigger the appropriate function,
yet not “overreact” in any way; safety gear must not
engage during regular lift operation.
IEC 61508-3 relevant for software
The technical and procedural requirements for
safety-relevant electrical, electronic and program-
mable electronic systems (known as E/E/EP sys-
tems) are defined in the IEC 61508 international
series of standards on safety-related systems. Part 3
www.controleng.com
of this series of standards specifies aspects for safe-
ty-relevant software including requirements for the
safety lifecycle, tools used and quality of documen-
tation, and is relevant for software.
The software installed in a lift also must be con-
figured exactly to the lift’s specific operation envi-
ronment and to the shaft information system’s
hardware. Parameters such as lift weight, tripping
speeds and shaft coding must be correctly reflected
and processed by the software. Steps must be taken
to ensure the software cannot be manipulated by
unauthorized third parties. This requirement is not
limited to smart systems connected to the internet
or other networks; this applies to all lifts.
Software updates, changes, networks
Even software changes by authorized parties,
such as changes in parameter configuration, may
prove challenging in inspections unless they are
directly and immediately identifiable on the basis
of a performance test or clear software information.
Information about the software version installed in
a system is often provided on a sticker.
It may not be easy to verify whether the informa-
tion is still up to date or whether the software has
been updated in the meantime and, if so, by whom.
Inspectors may be unable to ascertain the conse-
quences for safety functions with complete reliabil-
ity or verify if the control system of the lift still uses
the same software as in the type examination. This is
documented as a non-conformity in a PTI.
To make matters more complex, lifts are turning
increasingly “smart.” Digitalization, interconnec-
tivity and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
are opening up new opportunities in servicing and
maintenance. Centralized evaluation of lift data, for
example, enables precise predictions of user behav-
ior, wear or malfunctions and may help increase the
availability of lift systems and also optimize mainte-
nance practices for predictive maintenance.
On the other hand, these opportunities also raise
new issues in areas such as data integrity and cyber-
security, which are not covered by the IEC 61508
standard. What if, for example, updates are sent
over the air? Can we exclude faults and manipu-
lations during data transmission with certainty?
Have precautions been taken to prevent accidental
changes being made to the software by service tech-
nicians or external servicing staff, or to ward off
hacker attacks? These issues are addressed by other
standards, such as the IEC 62443 series for security
capabilities of control system components, and the
ISO 27001 on managing information security.
If applied correctly, these safety standards ensure
unambiguous verification during periodic technical
inspection. Critical aspects in this context are the
submission of the relevant information, codes and
reports by manufacturers and thorough and trace-
able documentation of the system’s configuration.
The methods requested in IEC 61508 include a suit-
www.controleng.com
Don’t fall for inferior
practices when test-
ing hardware and
software for criti-
cal motion control
applications, such
as lifts [elevators].
Standards can help.
able safety lifecycle in software development, opera-
tion of configuration and release management and
the creation of a safety manual.
In practice, identification of the current software
version is realized by methods such as a QR code, pro-
vided either on a sticker or as an annotation in the lift
documentation. Inspectors scan this code using their
tablets or smart phone and log into the system with
their protected password. They can then access the
documentation of the equipment, includ-
ing all safety-relevant information about
the software release (CRC value) used for
the lift control system. M More
ANSWERS
KEYWORDS: Motion control safety,
Functional safety, IT security elevator safety, lift safety
The IEC 61508 standard is pointing the Hardware and software systems
way on how to prevent systematic errors are increasingly used to control,
and error entries in software and software monitor or replace purely mechanical
safety functions of motion control.
updates. Quality-assurance systems and
Critical motion control applications
management systems in the field of func- are turning increasingly “smart”
tional safety make valuable contributions. incorporating hardware, software,
However, as the interconnectivity of lift and connecting to other systems.
systems increases, so do the cybersecuri- Various standards help reduce
ty requirements. The IEC 62443 standard risk for critical motion control
provides a relevant normative basis. applications, such as lifts.
In the inspection of safety-related CONSIDER THIS
functions, both standards need to be What standards are you using
applied together, with functional safety to help with motion control safety
always taking the lead. This allows man- designs, tests and inspections?
ufacturers, operators, maintenance ser- ONLINE
vice providers and testing organizations If reading from the digital edition,
to effectively prove lift systems meet safe click on the headline for more
requirements. ce resources, photos.
www.controleng.com/magazine
Dr. Rolf Zöllner is head of business devel- www.controleng.com/international
opment in handling technology, TÜV SÜD www.tuvsud.com/en/
industries/real-estate/
Industrie Service GmbH; Edited by Mark lifts-cranes-and-conveyors
T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engi- www.tuvsud.com/en/
neering, CFE Media and Technology, industries/manufacturing/
mhoske@cfemedia.com. machinery-and-robotics
control engineering September 2020 • 37
ANSWERS
PNEUMATIC SYSTEM EVALUATION
Darren O’Driscoll, Festo

Three tips for pneumatics

Consider speed, force and size, external and internal factors, and safety.

I
f designing pneumatic sys-
tems were about incorporat-
ing size and flow to control
an actuator’s speed and force,
then every new or retrofitted
pneumatic system would be perfect
every time. Controlling pneumat-
ic systems is more complex, with
external, internal, and safety factors
affecting performance. Three tips
can help guide the pneumatic sys-
tem design process for users.
TIP #1: Understand
external factors one can control
Control engineers always should consider two
external focus areas during the design process. The
first external area of design consideration involves
the industry in which the machine will be used.
Most industries have standards the designer must
adhere to. The food industry requires conformance
to various food safety guidelines. The automobile
industry has performance standards. The mining,
battery, medical, and lab automation markets all dif-
fer. Research industry standards and norms where the
machine will operate and design accordingly.
The second external area the control engi-
neer has no control over, but must account for, is
The Festo MPA-C valve terminals
are rated IP69K for a washdown
environment. Courtesy: Festo
aration systems – that meets the
performance specifications of the
components in the system. Refer to
ISO 8573-1 Compressed Air –Part 1:
Contaminants and Purity Classes as
an important design standard. Once
the desired air purity for the compo-
nents is determined in terms of con-
centration of dirt, water, and oil in
the air. There are software programs
that can identify the specific air preparation filters
required to reach those levels.
Tubing is just as important in design consider-
ation. For example, harsh chemicals or corrosive
compounds in the environment can cause tubing
to crack and leak. Specify the best material for the
environment. Long runs of tubing reduces air flow.
The goal is to create the shortest, straightest runs
from air preparation unit to valve. If it is impossible
to shorten a run, increase tube diameter to compen-
sate. Kinks and bends reduces the internal cross-
sectional dimension and reduces flow. Increase
diameter as appropriate to achieve desired flow.
End users depend on the control engineer to con-

M More
ANSWERS
KEYWORDS: machine
pneumatics, machine safety
Pneumatic design has external
and internal design factors the
user must consider.
External considerations can’t
be controlled, but internal ones
can. In both cases, the user and
designer must adjust to their
surroundings.
Perform a risk assessment and
design for safety.
ONLINE
Read more about pneumatic
systems at www.controleng.com.
See more on
compressed air purity at
www.iso.org/standard/46418.html.
CONSIDER THIS
What methods do you use for
ensuring pneumatic systems
work properly?
the physical environment. Heat, cold,
humidity, dryness, dustiness, corrosive
atmosphere, harsh chemical washdown,
inside versus outside location and food
contact are among the environmental
factors that may impact performance.
Understand the factors that contribute
to the physical environment of the new
or retrofit pneumatic system and do so
recognizing these conditions may vary
depending on the time of year.
TIP #2: Design for internal
factors the designer can control
Considerations of the pneumatic sys-
tem under the engineer’s control include
air quality, tubing material, routing, size,
component accessibility and availability.
Compressed air contains moisture,
dirt particles, and oil. Any one or combi-
nation of these contaminants can degrade
pneumatic system performance. Building
in air filtration – referred to as air prep-
sider components that will have to be serviced or
replaced. 1) Ensure components are easy to access and
replace. 2) Specify standard off-the-shelf components,
components that can be quickly delivered from the
supplier. This will minimized downtime. 3) Consider
applying smart sensors to warn of future failure and
reduce unplanned shutdown risk.
TIP #3: Perform a risk assessment
and design for safety
Research industry and environmental standards
for the machine and perform a thorough risk anal-
ysis to determine the required performance level
and specify components that meet the require-
ments. Enlist help from safety specialists working for
the components’ supplier to assist in safety component
specification. When a new machine or retrofit process
begins, consider external, internal and safety factors
when designing a trouble-free pneumatic system. ce
Darren O’Driscoll is a Festo product market manager.
Edited by Chris Vavra, associate editor, Control Engineer-
ing, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

38 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

 C LASS OF 2020
Younger workforce leads
the way for manufacturing
Amanda Pelliccione, Project Manager
2020 has certainly been a challeng-
ing year, to say the least. The global
impact of COVID-19 on health and safe-
ty, the economy, education, manufactur-
ing and distribution – among many other
affected areas – is devastating, humbling
even. It is among these uncertain times
that Control Engineering and Plant Engi-
neering are incredibly honored to intro-
duce 34 manufacturing professionals
under the age of 40 who have and continue to make signifi-
cant contributions to their industries.
The Class of 2020 Engineering Leaders Under 40 is a
unique group of young individuals who jump at the chance
to solve a problem, however big or small. They are each
dedicated to their profession, driven by passions to learn,
tinker, design and make a positive impact on their commu-
nity and beyond. Asa Burke at Porex, for example, worked
Mohamed Abuali, 38
Managing Partner
IoTco LLC
Cincinnati, Ohio
BS Systems Engineering,
University of Arizona
MS Industrial Engineering, Ameri-
can University, Cairo, Egypt
PhD Industrial Engineering,
University of Cincinnati
In his 18 years of working in manufacturing, Mohamed has
learned extensively about plant connectivity, data acquisi-
tion, manufacturing execution, planning, predictive analytics
and artificial intelligence. His resume includes big company
names, such as IBM, Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Toyota,
and Mohamed has co-founded two companies, FORCAM
and IoTco, to serve manufacturers with the latest technolo-
gies and training for the Internet of Things (IoT)/manufac-
turing execution systems (MES), connectivity solutions and
a training academy to drive manufacturing productivity.
FUN FACT: Mohamed was 15 years old when he attend-
ed his first day of undergraduate school at the University of
Arizona.
www.controleng.com
day and night to develop for mass pro-
duction a porous, liquid/aerosol barri-
er for the pipette tips used in automated
testing equipment, which has been instru-
mental with COVID-19. Then there’s
Camila Jarrin, who works at Elite Spice
to prevent common food-borne illnesses
such as salmonella and E. coli.
Read about the contributions from
each of the Engineering Leaders Under
40, Class of 2020, in the following section and online at
www.controleng.com, and CFE Media and Technology
aims to honor these individuals at the annual Engineering
Awards in Manufacturing dinner in spring 2021, in down-
town Chicago (in-person event is tentative at this time).
• For information on how to nominate for 2021, visit:
www.controleng.com/EngineeringLeaders.
Jayashri Aja, 28
Customer Success
Manager
Rockwell Automation
Eagleville, Pa.
BS Industrial Engineering,
Pennsylvania State University
J
ayashri is a passionate lead-
er for female representation
and cultural diversity in automation and manufacturing.
She has lobbied in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Women
in Manufacturing, for which she is a local chapter chair, for
programs meant to provide opportunities for women to pur-
sue STEM careers. Jayashri was co-lead for Rockwell Auto-
mation Women in The Field, a prestigious position held for
2 years. She has mentored dozens of Rockwell Automation
employees helping them craft their unique leadership styles
and career paths.
FUN FACT: As an ASA 101-certified sailor, Jayashri loves
being able to pilot a vessel that relies entirely on renewable
energy sources and physics.
control engineering September 2020 • 39
Oladeji Andrew, 23 Eric Angulo, 28
Manufacturing Technology Project Manager/
Project Engineer Automation Engineer
Niagara Bottling LLC Plus Groups
Diamond Bar, Calif. Cincinnati, Ohio
BS General Engineering, Harvey BS Chemical Engineering,
Mudd College Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

W E
hile working on a
research project spon-
sored by Sandia Nation-
al Laboratories, Oladeji made an original contribution in
developing a centrifuge curing method to fabricate epoxy
composites with nanoparticles less than 200 nm in diameter.
Oladeji’s work with plastic materials fabrication has contin-
ued into his career at Niagara Bottling, where he specializes
in line management systems (LMS) integration, testing and
implementation. As a Lead Project Engineer, he is respon-
sible for an LMS-commissioning project at a 4-line plant in
Houston, as well as supporting many of the company’s 35
plants across the country.
FUN FACT: An avid baseball fan, Oladeji launched a daily
baseball podcast, Baseball Connection, and played Division
III baseball in college.
ric has successfully deliv-
ered solutions for multi-
national clients through
design, programming, construction oversight and startup
implementation spanning a variety of industries and sys-
tem platforms. His expertise ranges from designing and pro-
gramming complete facilities process automation system to
first in its industry OEM skid-based systems. Eric is client-
focused, detail-oriented and always working to provide his
customers, internal and external, the best overall solution
regardless of platform or product.
FUN FACT: Eric volunteers locally throughout the year to
assist his community with tasks such as delivering Christmas
presents to underprivileged children and distributing face
masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tiffany Barnes, 35 Ameet Bathiya, 31

Technical Solutions Plant Engineer
Consultant Protech Powder Coatings Inc.
Honeywell Strongsville, Ohio
Houston, Texas BS Mechanical Engineering, Mod-
BS Mechanical Engineering, ern College of Engineering, India
California State University at MS Mechanical Engineering,
Long Beach Cleveland State University

T A
iffany has quickly become a
key contributor to the glob-
al Technical Solution Consultant organization, which
provides Honeywell Sales and Operations organizations with
comprehensive and holistic technical and business exper-
tise for automation customers. She regularly interfaces one-
on-one with customers and has most recently focused her
expertise on the Life Sciences industry (Specialty Chemical
and Pharmaceutical processes) and batch processing solu-
tions. Tiffany often researches the regulatory needs of her
customers, speaks with regulators and other experts, and
actively seeks ways to incorporate solutions to these needs
into our products.
meet has played a vital role
in maintenance strategy
at Protech Powder Coatings by managing the company’s
preventive maintenance program and reducing annual main-
tenance costs by 25% in 2018 and by an additional 5% in 2019.
The program has reduced downtime, reduced energy costs,
increased production efficiencies from 67 to 75%, and reduced
material movement by 50%. Ameet has been working closely
with the Ohio EPA to obtain air permits and water discharge
permits to reduce pollutants released into the environment.
He also has implemented new safety devices and designed an
NFPA-compliant warehousing racking system to accommodate
more than 3,000 skids for storage.

FUN FACT: Prior to joining Honeywell, Tiffany applied her FUN FACT: Ameet’s interest in engineering stems from his
passions for science and problem solving as an engineer for father, and he began with touring local manufacturing com-
the Walt Disney Company. panies in the 6th grade.

40 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

 ® ®

Mostafa Bayati, 32 Ron Brash, 31

Senior Controls Engineer Director of Cyber Security
Siemens Insights
Saint-Laurent, Québec, Canada Verve Industrial Protection
MS Mechatronics & Automation, Florissant, Mo.
University of Saskatchewan BS Technology, Security &

M
Network Administration, British
ostafa recently finished Columbia Institute of Technology
a project as SCADA lead MS Computer Science, Concordia
in a major Canadian air- University
port and is currently prepar-

ing to start a new challenge at Siemens as a Senior Controls
Engineer. As a young engineer, he has extensive knowledge
and experience in all aspects of control systems including
design, programming, commissioning and troubleshooting.
He is a lifelong learner and always stays current with the lat-
est technologies. Mostafa has published three textbooks and
several articles in international journals.
FUN FACT: Mostafa enjoys mentoring prospective engi-
neers and helping them to understand career opportunities
in automation and electrical engineering.
R
on is an experienced technology consultant and seasoned
cybersecurity specialist with deep expertise in critical sys-
tems, network security, deep packet inspection, IoT/cloud
dashboard, data analytics and secure embedded software
development. He leads Verve’s research on vulnerabilities,
cyber risk and firmware in OT/critical infrastructure. Ron’s
insights and analysis help inform the company’s technology
and product direction, and provide valuable guidance in client
engagements. His experience in the industrial industry has led
to his recent nomination as Vice President of the International
Society of Automation (ISA) Montreal, a nonprofit group set-
ting the standard for automation globally.

FUN FACT: Prior to pursuing a career in industrial cyberse-

curity, Ron was a professional wakeboarder.

Asa Burke, 27 Joe Carson, 33

Product Development Owner
Engineering Manager Pacific Blue Engineering
Porex Signal Hill, Calif.
Fairburn, Ga. BS Mechanical Engineering,
BS Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University

I
Georgia Institute of Technology
n 2015, after working in the
automation industry for 5

A
sa has quickly risen with-
in Porex as top engineer-
ing talent, and in the 3 years since being hired, he has
been promoted three times and is now responsible for half
of the New Product Development department, managing the
hourly technicians and the salaried engineers on his team. In
2020, upon the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he urgent-
ly developed for mass production a porous, liquid/aerosol
barrier for the pipette tips used in automated testing equip-
ment. It was a fast-paced project that required a lot of late
nights, but he pushed through and was able to satisfy the
customer’s very strict requirements.
FUN FACT: Asa competes in volleyball tournaments around
the Southeast and volunteers his time to build houses in
impoverished communities.
years, Joe founded Pacific
Blue Engineering, a control sys-
tem integration company that provides turn-key automa-
tion solutions to Fortune 500 companies in seven industries.
Prior to 2015, Joe worked for Rockwell Automation running
the safety services business in the Pacific Southwest region.
He has earned TÜV Rheinland Functional Safety Engineer
certification and developed a company initiative to part-
ner with a local STEM student program to promote careers
in the math, science and automation industry for future
generations.
FUN FACT: Joe started his company without the help of a
partner or financial investor, building from the ground up in
just a few short years.

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 41

Eric Chapman, 36
Engineering Director
Continuous Engineering
Solutions Inc. (Contensol)
Knoxville, Tenn.
BS Nuclear Engineering,
University of Tennessee
E
ric started his career work-
ing for the U.S. Navy’s
nuclear energy department building training programs
for battle-time field repairs of critical systems on submarines
and carrier ships. He also worked with Westinghouse on
critical Fukushima Nuclear Plant Safety Systems to upgrade
the fleets during meltdowns after lessons learned from Japan.
Later, Eric founded Contensol and aims to change the valve
and hardware industry with his inventions and patents. His
valve patent revolutionized valves for slurry applications and
elastomer valve automation. Eric’s contributions to powder
metallurgy with process patents completely change the way
fasteners are used and how they function.
FUN FACT: Eric has obtained five U.S. patents and founded
three industrial manufacturing companies in just 5 years.
Vince DiMascio, 28
Manufacturing Engineer
The Raymond Corporation
Greene, N.Y.
BS Mechanical Engineering,
Binghamton University
S O
ince joining The Raymond
Corporation 6 years ago
at the Greene, New York,
location, Vince has grown into a subject matter expert in
the capital projects process. Vince is an experienced project
manager who is able to deliver any size capital project and
has taken on a key leadership role not only within Greene’s
capital projects team but also within the larger manufactur-
ing engineering department. Vince is a technical mentor to
multiple engineers, and through helping them to develop
their skills at a more rapid rate, he’s helping set up the busi-
ness for long-term success.
FUN FACT: Vince often enjoys long hikes – recently tackled
Angels Landing and The Narrows at Zion National Park –
and is an avid, year-round fisherman.
42 • September 2020 control engineering
Brendon Cordon, 31
Mechanical Engineer
Hine Automation
St. Petersburg, Fla.
BS Industrial Technology, Iowa
State University
A
t Hine Automation, Bren-
don has been recognized
several times through a
program that encourages team
members to identify when they feel a colleague has gone out
of their way to assist them in their daily tasks. He was once
recognized from the purchasing department for finding
replacement parts that normally had a very long lead time.
The company was scheduled to ship a product quickly and
had it not been for Brendon’s diligence, research and deter-
mination to find replacement parts solving the issue, the
shipment would not have made it on time. Brendon focuses
on integrations and system testing. Brendon also holds a Six
Sigma Lean Professional Certificate.
FUN FACT: Brendon designs and builds various projects in
his personal time with his own 3D printer, which includes an
expanded monitor stand and a custom keyboard.
Philip Fenimore, 25
Lead Automation Engineer
Panacea Technologies Inc.
East Greenbush, N.Y.
BS Electrical & Computer Engi-
neering, University of Rochester
ne of Philip’s first tasks at
Panacea involved video
graphic data recorders,
which he saw an opportunity to standardize the way clients
deploy, test and configure the data loggers and created an
entire process workflow from intake to deployment centered
around technology deployment. He created project tracking
tools from scratch and analyzed standard operating proce-
dures to look for ways to streamline deployment and usage
while maintaining clear work instructions for error proof
usage. Philip did this while training a team to execute proj-
ects on the technology, and he created an effective technol-
ogy team in the New York office.
FUN FACT: Philip is classically trained in piano and has
been actively playing for more than 10 years.
www.controleng.com
 ® ®

Will Healy III, 38 Justin Hudgens, 39

Industry Strategy Manager Engineering Manager
Balluff Worldwide Automationnth
Florence, Ky. LaVergne, Tenn.
BS Mechanical Engineering, BS Engineering Technology, Elec-
Purdue University tro-Mechanical Systems, Middle
Tennessee State University

W J
ill brings together the
unique combination of
engineering expertise
and marketing know-how. In his current role he develops
strategies to help customers and raise brand awareness. By
motivating cross-functional and global teams, Will active-
ly works to improve the customer experience. Additionally,
Will takes a hands-on approach to inspiring youth to explore
manufacturing careers and speaks regularly with enthusi-
asm on the topics of smart manufacturing and STEM. He
is an active member of multiple organizations, board mem-
ber of the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Partnership in
Cincinnati and works toward helping students gain the skills
needed for employment.
ustin provides techni-
cal leadership and proj-
ect management, and
guides and mentors Level I Controls Engineers at Automa-
tion NTH. Justin has been involved with all facets of controls
system integration including design, panel build, program-
ming, commissioning and debug, applications, project man-
agement and employee management. Under his leadership,
entry-level engineers quickly flourish personally and pro-
fessionally. Justin has worked on small to large automation
projects in a variety of market segments including life sci-
ences and automotive. Justin also plays an important role in
customer relationships, which are built on a foundation of
trust and confidence.

FUN FACT: Will is a proud father of three with a love/hate FUN FACT: Justin’s love of good food has earned him the
relationship with running – he’s participated in multiple half nickname “Lunch Box,” and he can always be counted on for
marathons and 5K races, plus one full marathon in 2012. grilling, smoking or other outdoor cooking opportunities.

Preston Hullen, 30 Davis Jacob, 24

Mechanical Design HSE, Quality, OPEX
Engineer Manager
Quality Transformer & Electronics Voith Paper
Milpitas, Calif. Springfield, Ore.
BS Mechanical Engineering, BS Chemical Engineering,
San Jose State University Oregon State University

P I
reston started at Qual-
ity Transformer & Elec-
tronics while pursuing his
bachelor’s degree at San Jose State University. He immedi-
ately contributed to design and documentation capabili-
ties, increasing AutoCAD offerings and using his skills to
improve product construction and provide thermal simula-
tions on electrical designs. He has spearheaded internal proj-
ects to develop new manufacturing systems and techniques
involving robotics and automation technologies. Preston has
also taken the lead on drawing up plans for construction and
layout of multiple buildings on a new manufacturing site, in
addition to other significant contributions.
FUN FACT: One of Preston’s latest hobbies includes flying
drones to obtain aerial footage of the company’s current and
upcoming manufacturing facilities.
n the short amount of time
that Davis has worked with
Voith Paper, he has shown
advanced abilities in project management, effective commu-
nication, analytical analysis and process improvement. He
effectively completed many projects and process improve-
ments affecting and improving all levels of the organization,
one of which included a solution to torque measurement and
torque tracking. Davis also has taken the initiative to evalu-
ate the needs and potential solutions, followed by purchasing
and implemented a more accurate, reliable and safer torque-
ing solution.
FUN FACT: In his spare time, Davis can be found at the
beach, camping with family and friends, or playing soccer or
ultimate Frisbee.

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 43

Camila Jarrin, 26 Kevin Lord Josue, 25
Sterilization Engineer Field Services Engineer
Elite Spice Control Station Inc.
Jessup, Md. Manchester, Conn.
AS Arts & Science, Pasco- BS Electrical & Computer
Hernando Community College Engineering Technology, Pennsyl-
BS Chemical Engineering, vania State University

K
University of South Florida
evin joined Control Sta-

H
aving only been working
at Elite Spice for 3 years,
Camila has created and managed the thermal treatment
process for low moisture food products to be later used in
seasoning blends manufactured at the Jessup facility. She also
manages the internal documentation, regulatory guidelines
and inventory of all irradiated material for the entire compa-
ny. Camila works on ongoing validation work conducted at
Elite Spice on spices and other seasoning ingredients to pre-
vent food-borne illnesses such as salmonella and E. coli via
treatment processes.
tion in 2018 as an Associ-
ate Field Services Engineer.
In under a year, he was promoted to Field Services Engineer,
having contributed to numerous successful process diagnos-
tic and optimization initiatives. Since then, he has led proj-
ects at sites, including basic materials, food and beverage,
oil and gas and power and utilities. Kevin has contributed to
numerous internal and external publications. In 2019 he pro-
vided the core content for a technical report published by the
Electric Power Research Institute entitled: “Improving Unit
Startups to Reduce Cost and Improve Heat Rate.”

FUN FACT: Born in Ecuador, Camila emigrated to the U.S.
with her family at the age of 9. She was the first person in
her immediate family to obtain a bachelor’s degree and looks
forward to voting in her first election, as she became an
American citizen in 2019.
FUN FACT: Kevin possesses an ability to apply his engineer-
ing skills and artfully blend music that’s written in differ-
ent keys and characterized by distinct melodies, a hobby that
began in high school.

Brian Mathews, 36 Justin Modglin, 26

Engineering Manager Project Engineer
Scientific Dust Collectors Cresline Plastic Pipe Co. Inc.
Alsip, Ill. Henderson, Ky.
BS Engineering, Dordt College BS Mechanical Engineering,

B
University of Evansville
rian recently undertook

a special project at Scien-
tific Dust Collectors that
will advance product efficiency
and improve how the product is
viewed in the industry. On his own initiative, Brian read and
applied a related ASHRAE standard to design and build a
complicated test lab that conducts newly conceptualized tests
on dust collectors – a large effort that will have long-term
benefits for the company. Brian also has written and pub-
lished a technical book and numerous technical engineering
papers about various industry-related topics.
FUN FACT: Brian and his wife love to travel with their two
young children around the U.S. and compile special memory
books about the trips as family keepsakes.
S
ince beginning his career
at Cresline, Justin has
improved processes
throughout several facilities.
When new equipment is implemented, he looks for ways he
can take advantage of the new technology to improve exist-
ing processes. He is not afraid to try new avenues to show
his organization improvements in efficiencies, uptime, pro-
ductivity, quality and performance. Justin is responsible
for projects at six manufacturing facilities. Projects range
from design and replacement of equipment, to entire sys-
tems replacement. He also manages quality control for all six
locations.
FUN FACT: For his college senior project, Justin built a
rocket for a NASA-hosted student launch competition.

44 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

 ® ®

Krista Novstrup, 38 Nojan Nowakhtar, 34

Manager of Analytics Controls & Energy
Engineering Engineer
Seeq Corp. Matern Professional
Seattle, Wash. Engineering Inc.
BS Chemical Engineering, Maitland, Fla.
University of Washington BS Mechanical Engineering,
PhD Chemical Engineering, University of Central Florida

N
Purdue University
ojan is responsible for the

U
pon graduating with her
doctorate, Krista was hired by ExxonMobil where she
managed a global team responsible for developing, deploy-
ing and supporting model validation software applications for
refineries. She established long-term technology development
and deployment plans, ensuring technical quality of applica-
tions, and consulting and implementation of a 5-year technol-
ogy deployment plan. Krista joined Seeq in 2018 as a senior
leader who has published multiple articles in the oil and gas sec-
tor, presented at industry events, and won enthusiastic support
based on presentations and customer engagements.
comprehensive design of
a complete controls retrofit at One Orlando Centre, a
20-story high-rise in downtown Orlando, where he developed
a custom sequence of operation that allows operation of a cen-
tral energy plant in the most efficient configuration based on
seasonal weather changes. He also worked on the development
of a controls system upgrade at Coleman Federal Prison, which
required forming a plan to execute extensive installation and
repair work in an active prison facility along with integration
between multiple building automation platforms to comply
with multiple energy conservation measures.

FUN FACT: Krista’s deliberate, thoughtful way of solving FUN FACT: Nojan is a fan of Formula One racing, with his
analytics challenges comes in handy when playing coopera- favorite team being Scuderia Ferrari. Recently, he complet-
tive board games and has earned her the nickname of “the ed the first level of Mercedes AMG Racing Academy at Road
professor” at Seeq. Atlanta racecourse.

William Phippen, 28 Brandon Purificacion, 31

Project Engineer Deputy Program Manager and
Parmalat Canada ILS Project Manager
Belleville, Ontario, Canada General Dynamics Mission Systems
BS Mechanical Engineering, San Jose, Calif.
Queen’s University BS Industrial & Systems Engineering,
MS Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California
Royal Military College of Canada MS Engineering Management, Johns

W
Hopkins University
ill became the manager

of a remote engineer-
ing team while maintaining his responsibilities as a
process engineer for a manufacturing line, and developing
and launching two products to market. Somewhere between
the travel, his work and his home life he studied for his mas-
ter’s degree and his professional engineering designation. His
career trajectory towards the space industry was kicked off in
university where he was the captain of the space engineering
team. The team entered rover competitions and placed first
in Canada, second in North America and sixth worldwide.
FUN FACT: Will is a dedicated family man and an avid
hockey player, playing in games at least twice a week.
B
randon is currently work-
ing dual roles at GDMS as a Deputy Program Manager
and an Integrated Logistics Support Project Manag-
er. Over the past 10 years, he has worked for three of the
top six defense contracting companies in the world. Bran-
don’s efforts for workplace efficiency were acknowledged by
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, which presented him
with the Honor Roll of Inventors Award for automating and
improving the company’s timecard processing and reporting.
This process enhancement provides accurate time recording
that helps the company with future proposal bids and correct
billing to the U.S. Navy.
FUN FACT: Brandon enjoys the physical challenge of obsta-
cle course races, such as Tough Mudder and Spartan Races.

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 45

Eric Reisz, 33 Josh Ruiz, 35
Lead Engineer/Project Maintenance Manager,
Manager Instrument & Electrical
Panacea Technologies Inc. Dow Chemical
Montgomeryville, Pa. Freeport, Texas
BS Chemical Engineering, BS Electrical Engineering, Texas
Widener University A&M

E
MBA, University of Houston
ric observed that within the

life science industry is an
inability to connect third-
party pieces of equipment into a cohesive and standardized
data model. He gathered client feedback, spoke with SMEs,
and helped craft the framework for a new product that puts
disparate data systems into a single stream harnessing the
Industrial Internet of Things. At Panacea, Eric helped devel-
op standards for a skills tracking software that helps sharp-
en the engineering skills of their team and provides training
opportunities for engineers to better their skill-sets and push
their career forward.
FUN FACT: In his spare time, Eric moves away from engi-
neering and into the world of art – oil painting and playing
the drums.
J
osh has received more than
10 awards from NASA for
his projects and eight Dow Chemical awards for his
contributions. He is involved with his local chapter of the
International Society of Automation, where he is a frequent
presenter. Josh created the Instrumentation & Electrical Reli-
ability Program that has enabled Dow to increase reliability
by 10% year over year. With this program, Josh has propelled
Dow Chemical with innovation in distributed control sys-
tems and process instrumentation. Josh customized software
programs to read over 10,000 HART instruments continu-
ously from a central location, optimizing costs and reducing
unplanned events.
FUN FACT: Two years ago, Josh built a remote-control
lawnmower with a camera attached, allowing him to mow
his lawn without breaking a sweat.

Matt Shewan, 37 Raj Subramanya, 35

Technical Manager Engineering Manager
Chemtrade Logistics Hine Automation
North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada St. Petersburg, Fla.
BS Mechanical Engineering, Queens University BS Mechanical Engineering,

I
University of South Florida
n his 10 years with Chemtrade Logistics, Matt has demon-

strated technical expertise in many areas of the manufac-
turing process along with exceptional leadership skills. In
his current role, he manages an annual capital plan of $10 to
$15 million, and he provides technical/operational support
to the plant as well as technical guidance within the com-
pany on pipe and materials specifications. Matt led a group
of engineers and plant employees in major troubleshooting,
plant operations and debottlenecking improvements, includ-
ing effluent treatment, brine treatment operation and waste
chlorine neutralization operations.
FUN FACT: Matt enjoys camping, hiking, skiing, golfing
and introducing new sports to his two young boys.
• See more details in images and profiles at
www.plantengineering.com/EngineeringLeaders
B
eyond developing signifi-
cant leadership skills in
the engineering field, and
being extremely adept in gen-
eral machine design, Raj has invested a great deal of time
and energy working with maskless microlithography, atomic
layer deposition, rapid thermal processing, chemical vapor
dispositioning, and plasma enhanced vapor dispositioning.
Raj has been with Hine Automation for 5 years and serves as
a key leader on the team. His leadership style allows his team
to explore solutions and prove their knowledge through real-
world experience, while providing a safety net of help.
FUN FACT: Raj has a passion for mountain biking and
hiking; the highest he has climbed so far is 11,700 ft in
Colorado.

46 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

 ® ®

Keyi Sun, 34 Donald Van Raalte, 38

Director of Industrial AI Division Manager
and Lighthouse Academy Interstates
Foxconn Industrial Internet Sioux Center, Iowa
Milwaukee, Wis. BS Computer Science, Information
PhD Chemical Engineering, Systems & System Administration,
North Carolina State University Dordt University

K D
eyi leads the training and
development of Foxconn
Industrial Internet’s “Lights-Out Factory,” which has
been selected among the World Economic Forum Global
Lighthouse Network, a community of state-of-the-art facili-
ties that serve as world leaders in Industry 4.0 manufactur-
ing. She also founded the Fii Lighthouse Academy to provide
industrial artificial intelligence training to Foxconn employ-
ees. In addition, she established Lighthouse Academy’s “data
foundry,” which provides real-world industrial Big Data to
train engineers with practical analytics skills.
onald is the Division Man-
ager of the software develop-
ment group at Interstates. His team plays a critical role
in automating projects as clients often have custom manu-
facturing execution systems or software requirements that
he and his team build solutions for to connect the controls
layer to the enterprise resource planning layer. Donald has
played a key role in Interstates’ transition to an agile devel-
opment methodology, leveraging agile scrum and Kanban on
projects. This has led to efficiency gains and increased client
involvement throughout the projects.

FUN FACT: Keyi volunteers with One-School, where she is FUN FACT: Donald enjoys hobby software development on
part of a small team of teachers who educate underprivileged single-board computers to automate household activities like
children in rural areas. running sprinklers and security monitoring.

Sandeep Kumar Raju Zheng Yi, 29

Vysyaraju, 29 Senior Control System
I&C Project Engineering Engineer
Manager Suez North America
Samsung Austin Paramus, N.J.
Semiconductor LLC MS Electrical Engineering,
Austin, Texas Stevens Institute of Technology
BS Electronics & Instrumentation,

Z
GITAM University
heng is highly motivated
MS Electrical & Control Systems,
Oklahoma State University
and experienced in proj-
ect management, data analytics and visualization, design
and development of process automation, SCADA and con-

S
andeep has been instrumental in implementing (and
bringing the industry he works for to) the standards that
are key to success. He worked in several brown field and
green field projects related to instrumentation and controls
and has upgraded several retrofit and archive projects that
helped in saving costs and improve the efficiency of systems.
Sandeep volunteers with the International Society of Auto-
mation, helping run the divisions and participating in sev-
eral panel discussions held at symposia to share knowledge
about industry standards related to automation.
FUN FACT: Sandeep has mentored and prepared several
school teams to participate in robotics competitions.
trol system architecture. He has introduced and facilitat-
ed convergence of Suez IT and OT, and the development of
an enterprise SCADA data center. The Smart SCADA sys-
tem he designed transforms traditional operation. For plant
operators, the Smart SCADA embedded distribution sys-
tem automation program removes the burden of managing
small tasks and allows them to focus on the mission-critical
objective: consistently providing safe, quality water to the
community.
FUN FACT: Zheng loves to explore new technologies and
thrilling sports, such as skydiving, snowboarding and scuba
diving.

www.controleng.com control engineering September 2020 • 47

ANSWERS
INSIDE PROCESS
Chantal Polsonetti, ARC Advisory Group
Automation at the
Industrial IoT edge
Leverage edge technologies in good times and bad by using remote
visualization, monitoring, access and management, as well as artificial
intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and analytical applications.
I
ndustrial Internet of Things (IIoT) edge solu-
tions have risen in prominence not only to
pre-process data for consumption by cloud-
based applications, but also to overcome real
deficiencies when extending their reach to
target endpoint devices. IIoT edge solutions can
solve real problems related to both the latency of
edge-to-cloud communications and security and
operational concerns regarding sending data to and
from off-premise components of the infrastructure.
They also provide support for the automation envi-
ronment in areas such as protocol support, visual-
ization, and support for vertical architectures.
Industrial IoT edge software platforms
Emerging IIoT edge software platforms can
help manufacturers and other industrial organiza-
tions in good times and bad. Many end users are
looking for remote access solutions to reduce or
P1 • September 2020 control engineering
eliminate personnel both on-premise and in the
field as a result of their organizational responses
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the global macroeconomic situation
improves, ARC Advisory Group expects manufac-
turers will continue moving beyond basic remote
access and visualization to more robust edge com-
pute, particularly for artificial intelligence (AI),
machine learning (ML), and analytics in pursuit
of digitally transformed business improvement
strategies.
The breadth of the industrial IoT edge value
proposition extends from basic remote visual-
ization, monitoring, access, and management to
sophisticated AI, ML and analytical applications.
Many solutions either currently embody or are
evolving to deliver this breadth of capability, but
end users can start now by leveraging these solu-
tions to address the economic challenges of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Firms are leveraging edge solutions to
reduce the number of personnel in facilities
and traveling to remote sites. This trend
is expected to continue as industry
goes forward with the lessons learned
during this difficult time. Adopting
The Industrial IoT Edge: A wide
range of Industrial Internet of
Things technologies and appli-
cations help many industries
with visualization, manage-
ment and security, from
edge to cloud integration
to sensing, control and
data acquisition. Courtesy:
ARC Advisory Group
www.controleng.com
 STHE
THING
PREROSUP2PLY
POW DO:
N OT
CAN

DOESN’T GROW
ON TREES –
BUT SAVES
ENERGY COSTS
DUE TO ITS HIGH
EFFICIENCY!
Discover how much energy you can save:

www.wago.com/us/
www.wago.com/us/sustainability-pro2

input #8 at www.controleng.com/information
ANSWERS
INSIDE PROCESS
the entry-tier remote access capabilities
will further position installations for
future adoption of the more sophisticat-
ed solutions.
The expanding number of edge soft-
ware solutions also necessitates tak-
ing a strong look at buying, rather than
internally developing, an edge solution.
ARC research shows many end users
input #9 at www.controleng.com/information
who started by building their own inter-
nal solutions encountered issues with
managing, updating, scaling and overall
maintenance. Internal development also
entails significant activities in non-val-
ue-add areas, such as connectivity and
infrastructure, when easy-to-use solu-
tions are available and are often more
cost-efficient.
Cloud providers influence
edge technologies
As cloud-based enterprise applica-
tions have become the norm, and cloud
solutions themselves extend to the edge
to access their source data, the edge
solutions from the cloud providers are
becoming part of the selection process.
IT organizations involved in the selec-
tion process also bring the cloud provid-
ers into the discussion.
End users evaluating edge solutions
from the enterprise cloud players should
take several factors into account. First is
enterprise cloud-based solutions tend to
represent more of a toolset vs. solution
approach at the edge. This can require sig-
nificant investments in time and devel-
opment to tailor these more horizontal
solutions to an installation, typically by
the IT organization and data scientists.
There is also the issue of cloud lock-in
all the way to the edge, which some end
users seek to avoid. Using standard IT and
OT tools and incorporating open-source
solutions can offset this potential. ce
Chantal Polsonetti is vice president,
ARC Advisory Group; Edited by Mark T.
Hoske, content manager, Control Engi-
neering, CFE Media and Technology,
mhoske@cfemedia.com.
M More
ANSWERS
KEYWORDS: Automation, IIoT, edge
computing, cloud
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) edge
software platforms help automation.
Enabling technologies include remote
visualization, monitoring, access, and
management for artificial intelligence,
machine learning and analytical applications.
ARC Advisory Group used material from
its “Industrial IoT Edge Software Platforms”
market analysis report for this article.
CONSIDER THIS
Is your organization getting a healthy dose
of acronym innovation to power its way to
the next level of productivity?
ONLINE
If reading from the digital edition, click on
the headline for more resources.
www.controleng.com/magazine
ARC Advisory Group provides more on IIoT
Edge at www.arcweb.com/technologies/
industrial-iot-edge.
Get training at
www.controleng.com/online-courses
P3 • September 2020
ANSWERS
INSIDE PROCESS: FLOW SENSORS
Control Engineering Europe and Baumer UK

Analyzing energy consumption

Arla Foods achieved energy transparency during cottage cheese
production at a factory in Sweden monitoring with flow sensors.

U
sing flow and temperature sensor mea- The food manufacturer reduced the ener-
surements helps a food processor moni- gy balance when the plant was designed by using
tor energy consumption. low external temperatures of the Swedish climate
At its Falkenberg factory in Sweden, to achieve a cooling temperature of 0.5°C for the Baumer FlexFlow sen-
dairy cooperative Arla Foods produces 20,000 tons cooling circuit, which cools the produced cheese sor for flow rate and
of cottage cheese annually and is working toward from 60 to 30°C. Arla installed 15 flow sensors in temperature meets
making its products CO2-neutral by 2050. the cooling circuit and heating system and plans the requirements for
Mattias Abrahamsson, production system man- to integrate sensors into the clean-in-place (CIP) protection class IP68,
ager at Arla Falkenberg, explained: “In recent years, return line to monitor and optimize energy use. appropriate hygienic
we have placed an increasingly strong focus on Abrahamsson said about the project, “This has applications. It has
monitoring the energy consumption of our plants. proven to be a cost-efficient solution. And because maximum temperature
In certain areas, however, we simply didn’t know the sensors installed so far are reliably returning the of 150 degrees Cel-
where exactly the energy was being used.” results we need, we will now install more.” ce sius, making suitable
Arla installed calorimetric flow sensors at the for sterilization-in-pro-
neuralgic points in the cooling and heating system This Baumer UK article originally appeared on Con- cess (SIP) applications.
and used the measurement results to obtain a clear trol Engineering Europe’s website; Edited by Mark T. Courtesy: Baumer
image of energy consumption helping to find areas Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE
for reducing energy use. Media and Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com. See more, online.

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input #10 at www.controleng.com/information

INNOVATIONS
NEW PRODUCTS FOR ENGINEERS

Unmanaged Ethernet switch has LED for status, DIN mounting

Phoenix Contact’s FL Switch 1000 unmanaged Ethernet switch series is suitable for many automation
applications and features different transmission speeds and installation options. The 1000 series switch-
es are plug-and-play capable and do not need to be configured. Status LEDs on the front and side of the
switches provide basic information on the connection status at a glance. This means an interrupted con-
nection can be diagnosed quickly. A mounting accessory enables users to mount the FL Switch 1000 and
1100 series devices flat on the DIN rail. As a result, the switches also can be used in small or flat control
cabinets where space is at a premium. You are free to choose the outlet direction of the connections.
Phoenix Contact, www.phoenixcontact.com Input #200 at www.controleng.com/information

End-of-arm-tool robot lifts up to 15.4 lb,

has online configuration
Piab’s piCobot is an end-of-arm-tool (EOAT) robot and is available with a generic elec-
trical interface as well as several options for mechanical mounting plate dimensions in
accordance with the ISO 9409-1 standard, enabling it to be configured to work with
any collaborative robot and smaller industrial robots. Through an online configuration
tool, users can choose between a generic electrical interface including a standard cable
or a specified one. Users also can choose various different mechanical interfaces, con-
figuring tools that precisely meet specific requirements and/or applications. Offering plug-and-play extensions to collaborative
robots, the robot is designed to ensure safe and effective human-robot interaction. It also features proprietary and highly effi-
cient COAX vacuum technology, which comprises a vacuum pump unit and a gripper unit fitted with suction cups. The EOAT
can lift objects weighing up to 15.4 lb. Piab USA Inc., www.piab.com Input #201 at www.controleng.com/information

Remote access alarm dialer

Temperature controllers:
PC configuration, free
software
Watlow’s Legacy Series of panel-mount
temperature controllers offer simple
control without complex features mak-
Reonix’s SCADADroid R2A+ alarm dialer, a remote access
alarm dialer. It is versatile as a standalone unit, or in con-
junction with existing supervisory control and data acquisi-
tion (SCADA) solutions. No additional software is required
- all devices are accessible through a web interface and an
Android/Apple iOS smartphone app. All units can cover
an operator network of any size – Unlimited phonebook
(contact) entries, groups, shifts, email/SMS text/voice noti-
fications, and Modbus TCP/IP connections. Each unit is
unlocked and is designed for most North American LTE networks, with Ethernet
available on all models.
Reonix Inc., www.reonix.com Input #203 at www.controleng.com/information

ing these controllers ideally suited

for basic applications and usage lev-
els. Standard bus communications are
available on the controllers, allow-
ing for easy product configuration
via PC communications protocol and
free software. This saves time, simpli-
fies programming and improves setup
reliability. The controllers offer other
benefits including proportional-inte-
grative-derivative (PID) auto-tune for
fast and efficient startup, a touch-safe
package for increased operator safety,
a keypad eliminating contamination
points on the front of the controller.
Watlow Inc., www.watlow.com
Input #202 at www.controleng.com/information
External digital sensor
links for ultrasonic flow system
Siemens’ digital sensor link (DSL) is an
external digital module for the Sitrans
FST030 flow transmitter installed near the
measurement pipe. The DSL processes ana-
log signals from the sensors and immediately
digitizes the measured values into flow data,
which is sent to the transmitter via a Siemens
sensor link (SSL) cable for further processing. The external DSL module is an
alternative to the built-in internal DSL previously standard in the FST030 trans-
mitter. There are two variants of the DSL, one configured for liquid fluid flow and
the other for gas flow.
Siemens Industry Inc. www.siemens.com Input #204 at www.controleng.com/information

52 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

 See more New Products for Engineers.
www.controleng.com/NPE PE

Cybersecurity compliance management software includes deficiency list

NUDG is a program management software tool used to manage and maintain National Institute of Standards
Technology (NIST) and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) compliance. It provides one
location to document processes and procedures with an easy-to-navigate dashboard showing the implemen-
tation status for each policy. The program is loaded with the most up-to-date cybersecurity policies published
by the federal government. Each policy has a process list for an information technology (IT) leader to document their cyberse-
curity processes and procedures and delegate compliance tasks. Additionally, there also is a deficiency list to record any gaps in
compliance and remediate to prove compliance.
NUDG Systems, www.nudgsystems.com Input #205 at www.controleng.com/information

Overspeed detection Integrated servo motors: high

system is SIL rated torque density, low intertia
Istec’s SpeedSys 200 safety integrity Applied Motion Products’ MDX integrat-
level (SIL)-rated overspeed protection ed servo motors are designed for industrial
system is designed to broaden the range motion control applications and have UL recog-
of rotating machinery that is eligible nition. The MDX Integrated Servo Motors com-
for high integrity overspeed detec- bine a high torque density, low inertia servo motor with an
tion, and to suit a growing demand for on-board drive and controller. No cables are required to connect the
SIL-certified solutions. It is modular servo drive to the motor; the servo drive is integrated in the motor
and scalable to fit any application; from low impact housing. That contributes to reduction in size of control cabinets and
stand alone configurations to multiple module vot- easier installation of servo axes in machinery and equipment. Ten
ing structures for increased safety or availability. models provide 200 or 400 W continuous rated output power and up
The design also suits the technical and economical to 26.6 in-lb (3.0 N-m) peak torque. Multiple communication options
environment of large and small rotating machinery. include Ethernet, RS-485 and CANopen.
Istec, www.istec.com Applied Motion Products, www.appliedmotion.com
Input #206 at www.controleng.com/information Input #207 at www.controleng.com/information

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Input #101 at controlengineering.hotims.com
INNOVATIONS
BACK TO BASICS: SAFETY
Gregory Hale, ISSSource

SAFETY: Thinking the right way

See five stages of post-incident behavior-based discussion and five ways to improve process safety.

D
uring the course of any day at a chem-
ical process plant, workers have to
make decisions that are often small
and seemingly mundane, but in a rare
occurrence an incident breaks out and
the right response has to happen. And it has to happen
now. How can those involved make the right decision?
“We must invest in allowing our workers to make
better decisions,” said Jennifer McDonald, EHS – pro-
cess safety at W.R. Grace during a session at the 2020
Virtual AIChE Spring Meeting & 16th Global Confer-
ence on Process Safety entitled “I Just Didn’t Think” –
Improving Situational Awareness. “We must invest in
teaching employees to make safer decisions.”
McDonald, who gave one of three presentations
on the topic, pointed out the National Safety Council
(NSC) said a worker is injured on the job every seven
seconds. The lack of hazard recognition and poor
decision making are some reasons why that happens.
McDonald emphasized this with an analogy
about a person walking up the stairs. One case is
when someone walks up the stairs without an issue
and doesn’t notice a loose stair near the top. That’s
lucky. In another instance, a person walks up the
stairs and notices one stair is loose near the top.
That is a near miss. In another, a person walks up
the stairs and trips on the loose stair near the top,
breaking an ankle. That is a recordable injury. A final
scenario is a person walks up the stairs, trips on the
loose stair and falls down the stairs causing a fatality.
All those cases point to a need for corrective
behavior where the person preserves the scene, col-
lects information, determines root cause and imple-
ments correct action.
3. Understand sensory experience
4. Revealing vulnerabilities
5. Foster motivation.
Promote hazard recognition
The goal with PIBB is to engage the employee in a
conversation rooted in hazard recognition to promote
changed behavior and a safer environment. Mean-
while, promoting changed behavior works, but under-
standing the psychology behind decision also helps.
There is the conscious awareness, but the more
dominant subconscious making most of our deci-
sions without being consciously aware of it.
“Our subconscious is making more decisions
which is where 95% of judgement and decision
making comes from,” said Dave Grattan, process
safety engineer at aeSolutions, during his portion of
the session.
In any safety-critical task, it can always be bro-
ken down into three questions: What? So what? And
what now? The what is to become aware of a prob-
lem dependent on the external issue. We see with our
brains and not with our eyes. Our brain has picked up
from the stored library created over the years.
Five ways to improve process safety
So what needs to be interpreted and diagnosed,
depending on the worker, affects how they make deci-
sions as well as their psychology. They need to call on
these skills and use inductive reasoning to make better
choices to improve industrial process safety.
What can we do to become more aware of what
is occurring in front of our very eyes and not rely
on the subconscious include these five techniques :

M More
INNOVATIONS
KEYWORDS: behavior-based
discussion, safety best practices,
mind mapping
Companies need to invest in workers
making better decisions.
A post incident behavior-based (PIBB)
discussion can help companies learn
from past incidents.
ONLINE
With this article online, see “Mind
mapping and process safety.”
CONSIDER THIS
What techniques has your company
employed to improve safety?
Five stages of a PIBB talk
When a near miss occurs, the
person must investigate to find the
root cause and then implement
a corrective action. That where
McDonald said a post incident
behavior-based (PIBB) discussion
comes in. At that point, McDonald
said, engage employees involved in a
conversation rooted in hazard recog-
nition to promote changed behavior
in a neutral location. There are five
phases of PIBB discussion:
1. Invest in employees
2. Realize leadership
1. Create strong cues from the environment
2. Design for the principle of least effort
3. Develop good habits related to task execution
4. Drill skill-based intuition
5. Use framing and loss aversion.
Applying these methods can improve procedures
and training when undertaking hazardous tasks. ce
Gregory Hale is the editor and founder of Indus-
trial Safety and Security Source (ISSSource.com),
a CFE Media content partner. This article original-
ly appeared on ISSSource’s website. Edited by Chris
Vavra, associate editor, Control Engineering, CFE
Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

54 • September 2020 control engineering www.controleng.com

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www.controleng.com CONTROL ENGINEERING September 2020 • 55

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56 • September 2020 control engineering

| FB11-14USA |

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cable trays and control cabinets are significantly reduced. The compact and robust I/O modules cover a
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input #11 at www.controleng.com/information

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input #12 at www.controleng.com/information