Remote Management

In industrial communication and automation, remote management is revolutionizing the way industry monitors, controls and optimizes its operations. It enables the remote monitoring and management of industrial processes, equipment and facilities from virtually any location, using advanced communication technologies to bridge physical distances. 

Before the advent of remote management, maintaining industrial equipment was a labor-intensive and time-consuming endeavor. Regardless of the actual condition of the systems, technicians were only able to physically inspect and maintain machines at regular intervals.  This was accompanied by more or less long downtimes for each application, which were still cheaper compared to an unforeseen outage, but still had a huge impact on the overall efficiency of the system. There was also a risk that undetected problems could develop into significant failures. Data collection and analysis were manual and required considerable effort to monitor performance and diagnose problems. The absence of real-time monitoring meant that reactive maintenance was common, causing inefficiencies and higher operational costs due to delayed problem resolution and unplanned equipment downtime. 

Remote management of industrial systems enables machines and processes to be monitored, controlled and maintained remotely. Even if manual activities can never be completely replaced, it enables a significant reduction and paves the way for process optimization. This is achieved through the interaction of various hardware and software components. 

On the hardware side, IoT sensors, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), edge devices and industrial gateways are used. These record operating data, enable local pre-processing and forward the information to central systems via secure networks. The software includes SCADA systems, cloud-based IoT platforms, digital twins and software applications, which either process the data centrally or are deployed and executed decentrally on edge devices. They enable real-time monitoring and analysis, fault diagnostics and predictive maintenance as well as the integration of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

However, security is of paramount importance in industrial environments, which means that remote management systems must be equipped with robust security measures. Encryption, authentication mechanisms and access controls ensure that sensitive data remains protected from unauthorized access or tampering, strengthening the integrity and reliability of the system. 

The increasing networking of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT), driven by the advancements in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0, has profoundly transformed the remote management of industrial plants. This convergence allows for seamless data exchange between traditionally isolated OT systems and IT, resulting in unprecedented levels of integration and efficiency. Real-time data from sensors, machinery, and production lines can now be continuously monitored and analyzed remotely, enabling plant managers to oversee operations from virtually anywhere. 

Remote management enables companies to create sophisticated analytics, optimize processes, forecast maintenance needs, and rapidly respond to operational anomalies via cloud-based platforms and intelligent applications. This connectivity minimizes downtime by allowing preemptive maintenance and faster decision-making, ensuring consistent productivity and cost savings. Additionally, remote access to operational data enhances strategic planning and resource allocation, thereby elevating the overall efficiency and competitiveness of industrial operations. 

1. Increased Efficiency

Remote management streamlines operations by allowing for centralized monitoring and control of industrial processes. This leads to enhanced efficiency as operators can remotely access and manage equipment, reducing the need for physical presence on-site. 

2. Optimized Resource Utilization

With remote management, operators can more effectively allocate resources based on real-time data and insights. This optimization leads to improved productivity and cost savings in industrial operations. 

3. Enhanced Flexibility

Remote management systems offer greater flexibility by enabling operators to adjust settings, modify processes, and respond to changing conditions from any location with internet access. This agility facilitates quicker decision-making and adaptation to dynamic industrial environments. 

4. Improved Maintenance Practices

Remote management systems facilitate predictive maintenance strategies by enabling organizations via custom applications to continuously monitor equipment performance and identif potential issues before they escalate. This proactive approach minimizes downtime and reduces maintenance costs, ensuring optimal equipment uptime and longevity. 

With its netFIELD ecosystem, Hilscher offers a holistic infrastructure to integrate IIoT capability into the field level, generate a multitude of previously unused data, process it at the network edge or in application-specific IIoT applications from the cloud and draw value-generating conclusions from it. 

Hilscher’s netFIELD Edge devices act as intelligent data intermediaries between the automation level and the information technology. They aggregate, process and transmit additional IoT information from the production process completely autonomously - either locally or in combination with a cloud. The secure netFIELD OS operating system and freely reloadable, containerized software modules determine the intelligence of the gateways. Both the devices themselves and the software containers can be managed remotely via an internet portal. This enables the centralized and cost-efficient installation, maintenance and monitoring of customized IIoT edge solutions worldwide. Hilscher's edge gateway portfolio includes devices with different function sets and in different performance levels - for running compute-intensive applications, for direct integration into industrial networks as field devices or as an additional function integrated into an IO-Link master. 

With the netFIELD Cloud, Hilscher's centralized edge management system, users can remotely manage and monitor large fleets of edge gateways and industrial PCs and deploy containerized edge software to the devices. This is an essential function without which the management of countless devices would not be economically feasible. This is because operating the gateways, their operating system and the applications running on them requires regular maintenance, for example for software updates. Based on Hilscher's many years of OT expertise, the netFIELD Cloud can be used without any development effort and is open to any digitalization project thanks to its container technology. As an expert in industrial communication, Hilscher already offers turnkey software applications focusing on communication tasks - from platform connectors for public clouds such as AWS or Azure to local applications such as an MQTT data broker and monitoring applications.