The sayings “you can’t manage what you can’t see” and “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” hold true today. In today’s world of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), smart devices and “smart factories” (such as the Digital Oil Field and Digital Grid), companies are being flooded with multiple terabytes of data on a daily basis. Data are critical for real-time models to remotely monitor any asset or operation; however, massive quantities of data will not improve remote monitoring if the right data are not being collected.
In cases where instrumentation is not installed, doing so might not seem practical. SCADA, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, systems have a large upfront cost; require dedicated software, hardware, personnel, and training to implement; can take a long time to actually install; and then must be supported and maintained in, typically, remote locations. An alternative to a complete SCADA system is rational SCADA.
Rational SCADA allows for the rapid deployment of key field devices to securely provide data that will improve model accuracy without a significant investment of capital, resources, or programming.
For additional information about how you can use rational SCADA, read our white paper or contact us.