GE Digital’s Plant Apps 8.0, Cyber for Smart Cities, Dominion Energy Batteries

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Plant Apps 8.0 Adds to Scalability, Ease-of-Use

GE Digital this week debuted Plant Apps 8.0, showcasing it as a faster, easier-to-use and more scalable solution for manufacturers seeking to improve operations and equipment effectiveness.

“Our goal with this unique software is to provide manufacturers with a flexible solution that delivers value no matter what form operations take,” said Joe Gerstl, Director of Product Management for GE Digital’s manufacturing offerings.

“Plant Applications 8.0 is built to be easier to use, faster to adapt, and scalable across multiple manufacturing sites and types.”

Craig Resnick of the ARC Advisory Group, said, “By giving manufacturers a comprehensive view of closed-loop processes across scheduling, execution and performance management, GE Digital’s Plant Applications 8.0 enables real-time KPIs, such as OEE, to be measured, providing the clear evidence of software ROI in a very short period of time.”

GE Digital will be demonstrating 8.0’s capabilities and features as an MES platform at its upcoming user conference in Austin, Texas, Sept. 25-26.

If you’re attending the GE Digital User Conference, be sure to catch GrayMatter customer presentations by Smucker’s, Subaru and Cascades Tissue Group.

Full agenda is here.

https://youtu.be/YctPWZ4kr_s

Designing a Secure Smart City of the Future

The Wall Street Journal explores some of the challenges that cities and private companies are trying to confront as they connect more systems and residents come to depend on them.

A few of the major obstacles outlined in the WSJ piece:

• There’s no one standard for building or securing smart city IoT networks, though some organizations like NIST have released draft standards;

• Cities often view smart technology as a way of saving money, so investing in the right combination of safeguards and tools can be tricky;

• As residents begin to depend on smart technologies, the consequences of ransomware attacks will likely become more severe.

In addition to end-to-end encryption and device authentication, a major recommendation for cities is “software-defined networks, where the number of connections each device has, and the data it transmits, are tracked to identify aberrant behavior.”

For the full story, check out WSJ.

Dominion Energy Invests in Solar Power, Battery Storage

https://youtu.be/DuwJ3B0zehM

Dominion Energy in August announced four major battery storage pilot projects to support its renewable energy infrastructure and its strategy to improve grid reliability.

Totaling 16 megawatts, the projects are the largest in Virginia.

“These pilot projects will enable Dominion Energy to better understand how best to deploy batteries to help overcome the inherent fluctuation of wind and solar generation sources,” said Mark D. Mitchell, vice president, generation construction, at Dominion.

At a cost of $33 million, the four lithium-ion battery storage projects in central Virginia will be evaluated over a five-year period that’s expected to begin at the end of 2020, according to Dominion.

Predictive Analytics in the Paper Industry and Building a Better Smart Building Strategy

Final reminder!

Coming up on September 18 and 19, GrayMatter has TWO opportunities to join our experts for an online discussion about how predictive analytics can benefit your company; and a discussion about the next evolution of smart buildings. In our predictive analytics webinar, we’re using the pulp and paper industry as an example, but the themes we’ll discuss apply to many industries.

Check out the links below for more details and to sign up.

• 2 p.m. on Sept. 18: Staying Competitive in Pulp & Paper with Predictive Analytics

• 2 p.m. on Sept. 19: Are you Running a Smart Building or Just a Connecting Building?

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]