77% 56% 74% 52% PACKAGING WORLD SURVEY: Ethernet And Wireless In Production Facilities

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1 Ethernet Usage + Strategy Survey 2012 A joint survey by Packaging World and XYZ Company was conducted in late 2012 to obtain insight into current engineering and management applications and opinions surrounding the use of Ethernet and wireless networks across industry. Conducted in association with

2 PACKAGING WORLD SURVEY: Ethernet And Wireless In Production Facilities A joint survey by Packaging World and XYZ Company was conducted in late 2012 to obtain insight into current engineering and management applications and opinions surrounding the use of Ethernet and wireless networks across industry. Ten years ago it was difficult to find large numbers of engineers open to the idea of using Ethernet for plant floor operations. As for their opinion on wireless forget about it. If Ethernet was a stretch for most engineers due to its perception as an IT network for front office operations, the use of wireless (outside of remote, long distance process operations) was just crazy talk. But in the last few years, a noticeable shift has taken place in operations engineers attitudes about Ethernet and wireless network technologies. We first started seeing demonstrable proof of this in the Packaging World Innovation survey conducted in late In that survey, nearly half of respondents said the incorporation of Ethernet into plant floor systems was the most innovative advance to occur in automation over the past decade. With so many readers citing this development as being more innovative than any other, Ethernet s advance onto the factory floor was recognized as the clear innovation winner in readers opinions. With this new Packaging World survey, conducted with XYZ Company, we wanted to dig deeper and learn not just what engineers think about Ethernet and wireless on the plant floor, but how they are using it there and what their plans are for it. Nearly one thousand readers from a variety of industries ranging from automotive, chemicals, and electronics to food & beverage, oil & gas, and machinery/equipment OEMs responded to the survey. Here s what we learned. Where Respondents Use Ethernet Office/enterprise communications Connecting shop floor system to the enterprise At the machine level to connect devices/instrumentation Wireless in the front office 77% Wireless on the plant level 3 ANOTHER RESULT THAT SPEAKS to the overwhelming acceptance of Ethernet in the plant is the fact that Ethernet is used at the machine level to connect devices and instrumentation (74 percent) nearly as often as it is used to connect front office device communications (77 percent). Given that most initial uses of Ethernet in the plant were to connect production systems to the enterprise, a surprisingly lower number of respondents (56 percent) currently use Ethernet to connect shop floor systems to the enterprise than use the technology to connect devices at the machine level. PAGE 1

3 INDUSTRIAL ETHERNET-RELATED PURCHASES EXPECTED IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS Switches Routers Cabling/Connectors Network management software Wireless LAN accessories No plans to purchase any components or devices 6 49% % 18% CONSIDERING THAT SUCH A great deal of Ethernet technology is already deployed on plant floors across industry, the question becomes: What do users have their eyes on now when it comes to expanding or improving their networks? According to the survey, the focus remains on the blocking and tackling issues of Ethernet deployment, with switches, routers and cabling/connectors accounting for the vast majority of planned purchases. The high level of planned purchases for these core levels of the technology suggest that both network expansion and upgrade projects are in planning. DESPITE THE FACT THAT tensions between IT and production engineers still persist in many companies, largely due to systems territoriality, Ethernet may well prove to be the technology that helped bridge the gap and lead the two groups to develop a better perspective of each other. The nearly even split on Ethernet installation and maintenance responsibility between engineers (34 percent) and IT (31 percent) underscores greater levels of interaction between the two groups that was, in many cases, initiated by Ethernet. WHO HANDLES INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE OF CURRENT ETHERNET NETWORK? 31% IT department 1 Service contract with suppliers 3 Staff engineers 2 System integrators PAGE 2

4 ARE PLANT MANAGERS AND ENGINEERS OPEN TO USING ETHERNET? 71% Yes 21% Maybe 7% No HELPING PARSE THE CONCLUSIONS drawn from responses in the slide above are the results of this very direct question about openness to Ethernet. With only 7 percent of plant managers and engineers now opposed to the idea of Ethernet on the plant floor, the number of naysayers that could block adoption of this technology has shrunk considerably over the years. Ethernet Want-to-Do and Wireless Two open-ended questions on the joint Packaging World/XYZ Company survey on industrial Ethernet and wireless networks asked about: 1.) The specific use of wireless on the plant floor; and 2.) Ethernet projects respondents would most like to do. On the application of wireless question, the vast majority of respondents are using wireless networks to connect PLCs and PCs to their SCADA and HMI systems. An equally prevalent wireless application is the connection of remote I/O and sensor/meter devices. Such applications of wireless are often considered classic industrial wireless deployments, since implementation of wireless for such purposes has been used in process industry field applications for decades. Some of the more recently adopted wireless applications cited by respondents included use in: data acquisition, control of variable frequency drives, safety instrumented systems, power monitoring/conditioning, machine I/O, and motion systems. Several respondents also noted their use of wireless for on-site cameras, bar code scanners, and alarm systems. The unfulfilled industrial networking desires of respondents include: Connecting to the factory with a smart phone; Converting process control operator stations to Ethernet; Connecting work cells and machines to form a SCADA/MES system; Remote switching of power distribution networks; Increased support for Power over Ethernet by more vendors; Real-time instrument data feeds over Ethernet; Connecting dedicated safety controllers with Ethernet; Development of a complete wireless network connecting plant cameras, voice, data and control systems; Connecting servo drives with Ethernet; and Implementing IEEE 1588 precision time control. PAGE 3

5 THOUGH A NUMBER of respondents are just now beginning to use Ethernet on the plant floor, a significant number (41 percent) has been doing it for years and is thinking about additional applications for it. The fact that nearly as many respondents (22 percent) have connected everything possible on the plant floor with Ethernet as are just beginning the process (26 percent) really speaks to how widely Ethernet is accepted as a factory floor network compared to prevalent opinions just a decade ago. The number of respondents beginning to explore wireless (12 percent) may seem low, but in many factory installations high levels of electromagnetic interference can cause problems for wireless networks. New products (such as wireless/cellular hybrid technologies) are now coming to market to address these issues and will likely cause this percentage to surge in the years ahead. CURRENT STATUS OF ETHERNET ADOPTION Just beginning the process 2 Have been doing it for a few years & examining more applications for it 41% Most everything on the plant floor that can be connected with Ethernet has been 2 Looking beyond wires where possible and seriously exploring wireless 1 INDUSTRIAL ETHERNET PROTOCOLS CURRENTLY USED OR PLANNED FOR IMPLEMENTATION 7 Ethernet TCP/IP 5 EtherNet/IP 4 Modbus TCP 3% CC Link IE EtherCAT Ethernet Powerlink Foundation Fieldbus HSE 18% Profinet Sercos III None/Doesn t apply to us Other PAGE 4

6 MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF ETHERNET PRODUCT SUPPLIERS 37% Selection of products 5 Price 4 Support for specific protocols 1 Recommendations from peers 1 Name recognition 40% Previous experience with supplier 13% Thoroughness of specs on Web site 51% Local support/ service 2 Existing company arrangements with supplier WITH A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER of respondents potentially planning nearterm purchases of Ethernet equipment, the obvious question is: What matters most to Ethernet technology buyers? As with most automation-related technologies, price (55 percent) and local support/service (51 percent) are the clear winners, followed closely by support for specific protocols (46 percent) and previous experience with the supplier (40 percent). LOOKING BACK AT THE conclusions drawn from the Ethernet Installation & Maintenance graphic on page 2, it comes as no surprise that more respondents (36 percent) think there will be a convergence of IT and automation networks in the next five years. Of interest is that 21 percent of respondents expect to convert their existing fieldbus communications over to Ethernet in that same time frame. Considering that both discrete and process manufacturing operations tend to keep technologies in place until they are no longer operable, the fact that such a significant number expect to replace existing fieldbus networks, which have very long lifecycles, speaks to the increasing adoption of all things Ethernet in the worlds of manufacturing and processing. HOW ETHERNET USE ON THE PLANT FLOOR IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS Will begin launching initial projects using Ethernet 17% Plan to convert existing fieldbus communications to Ethernet wherever possible during that time 21% See a convergence between IT office Ethernet networks and industrial automation Ethernet networks 3 Not much change from current status 27% PAGE 5

7 RESPONDENTS INDUSTRIES Food & Beverage Oil & Gas System Integrator 13% Aerospace Agriculture 1% Automotive 7% Alternative Energy 1% Chemical Computers Communication Devices & Equip. Construction Electronics Instrumentation Fabricated Metals Mixing Life Sciences/ Medical Packaging OEM 3% 1 Pulp & Paper Semiconductors 3% Power Generation Water/ Wastewater Plastic & Rubber RESPONDENTS JOB DUTIES Executive management or finance (i.e. CEP, CFO, CIO, CTO, VP) Intgration or Consulting 1 Information Technology 7% Engineering 59% Operations 11% Survey Methodology To gather responses for this survey, three invitations were sent to Packaging World s subscriber list September October Respondents who identified themselves as working for automation suppliers were filtered out of the results, resulting in a net total of 917 end user readers completing the survey. PAGE 69