The platform combines Belden Horizon Data Operations, which connects equipment and collects plant information, with Edge2Web Factory Insights, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application for calculating and visualizing performance indicators.
The solution incorporates no-code configuration tools, generative AI capabilities, and deployment options for both single-site installations and organizations with multiple production plants.
The data acquisition layer uses Belden Horizon Data Operations, which provides connectivity to more than 300 industry protocols and device types, according to the company.
This technology allows for the collection of information from different plant systems, data normalization, and secure transmission to AWS IoT SiteWise.
The goal is to integrate information from equipment and systems that may use different communication technologies within a single data infrastructure.
Edge2Web Factory Insights uses the collected data to calculate and represent key performance indicators or KPIs.
The indicators mentioned include:
- OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness): overall equipment effectiveness.
- TEEP (Total Effective Equipment Performance): total effective equipment performance.
- MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): mean time between failures.
- MTTR (Mean Time To Repair): mean time to repair.
- Energy consumption: monitoring of energy used by processes or equipment.
These indicators allow for the examination of different aspects of a facility's operation, from equipment utilization to downtime and maintenance needs.
Smart Factory Insights incorporates no-code tools for creating custom indicators, visualization dashboards, and tracking charts.
Users can configure data representations and define metrics without needing to develop code for each interface element.
This capability is designed to adapt dashboards to the needs of different processes, lines, or facilities.
The solution also incorporates features based on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
Belden and Edge2Web mention the generation of summaries, alerts, and digital action procedures, called digital playbooks.
These features are designed to present operational information and facilitate its consultation by the teams responsible for production and maintenance.
The architecture, based on AWS IoT SiteWise,
utilizes AWS IoT SiteWise as part of its industrial data processing architecture.
The workflow described by the companies begins with data acquisition and normalization using Belden Horizon Data Operations.
Subsequently, the data is transmitted to AWS IoT SiteWise and can be used in Edge2Web Factory Insights for calculating and visualizing key performance indicators.
This separation allows for a clear distinction between the connectivity and data acquisition function and the analytics and results presentation layer.
Belden and Edge2Web are developing Smart Factory Insights for individual facilities and for organizations that need to monitor multiple manufacturing plants.
The architecture is designed to scale from a single-location deployment to distributed industrial operations across multiple sites.
The solution combines three components with distinct functions: Belden Horizon Data Operations to connect and normalize industrial data, AWS IoT SiteWise as part of the data infrastructure, and Edge2Web Factory Insights to calculate and visualize production indicators.
Belden and Edge2Web are targeting this combination at manufacturers who need to consult information from different control systems and plant processes.
