Thursday, August 25, 2016

Why and How to Use Production Process Management (PPM) in Smart Manufacturing


By Michael McClellan, Darren Riley, Tim Sanford, MESA Smart Manufacturing Working Group Members

Business processes in today’s typical manufacturing environment is, at best, full of information gaps.  Within the major enterprise level systems such as ERP or PLM most processes are based or focused on departmental issues which means the processes are not cross-functional. 

Production Process Management (PPM) is the missing link that supports Smart Manufacturing. PPM is a specialized version of Business Process Management (BPM) that describes the concept of applying process design and management tools to the areas of manufacturing plant and supply chain activities within and across the extended enterprise.

Friday, August 5, 2016

A Checklist for Cybersecurity in Industrial Internet of Things

By Mike Hannah, MESA Smart Manufacturing Working Group Member 

Over the last year or so there has been much written about the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Manufacturing initiatives like Industry 4.0, that promise huge potential benefits for manufactures.  In particular, we hear about how organizations are recognizing that information created by connecting intelligent things (IoT) and industrial control systems (ICS) to the enterprise business systems is achieving greater visibility into their operations, all helping to make significant operational improvements.  To achieve this however requires seamless and secure flow of information from the machines and equipment, to the lines, to the people, to the plants, and to the enterprise levels.  

This network convergence, or connected enterprise, comes with some challenges. User’s face an unclear demarcation of network ownership, and cultural difference exist between OT and IT professional who are deploying both enterprise and industrial assets.  And probably the most important aspect is that it exposes the connected industrial assets to additional security threats that they typically didn’t  have to think about before.  

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

MESA's Contributions to Industrial Cybersecurity

By Eric Cosman, Co-Chair MESA's Cybersecurity Working Group 

The subject of industrial cybersecurity has been a topic of considerable interest for well over a decade, particularly with respect to the potential implications for the protection of critical infrastructure. Standards exist at the industry, national and international level, but these are often of little practical use to the typical asset owner without additional professional guidance. Several groups and organizations have stepped forward to provide such guidance, often directed at a specific industry sector. To a considerable degree, these guides and similar documents then restate or reinterpret the same or similar principles, without adding much in the way of new or fresh insight.