How manufacturing systems will evolve

Someday the entire world will be modeled in software. How that modeling will be achieved is changing. It's like this: if everyone creates their own models, then the world is without order. On the other hand, to have some "master proprietor" decide who gets what model when is slow and cumbersome.

Instead, it's like chaos theory. Agents, armed with a source-code infrastructure, will be sent out into the world to assist those in need of value-adding models. Thus, a midway point is reached between all custom development and all packaged software.

It won't just be open source Linux, though. A kind of proprietary open source is evolving whereby intermediaries or users themselves routinely extend platforms or applications into new areas. The potential result is an enormous unleashing of creativity.

One example of this emerging paradigm is seen in the ISV-driven distribution model for Microsoft Business Solutions, covered on page 10 of this issue.

Another example comes from OSIsoft, which, at its recent user conference, seemed a perfect storm for creativity centered on the notion of real-time information management applied to industrial operations. OSIsoft's RtPM (real-time performance management) platform combines data historian, integration, portal, and analytic technologies to allow decision-making within the ruling time interval of the modeled process itself—i.e., in real time.

Says Gregg Le Blanc, who wears a multitude of hats at OSIsoft, "With more and more source code available, users can do almost anything and still have a path forward. We look for classes of applications developed and abstract that back into the platform, enabling long-term support of the applications."

ATOFINA Chemicals, Axis, Ala., makes extensive use of RtPM. Michelle Barlow, manufacturing systems manager, says six people within the corporate IT group work with OSIsoft solutions, with about 30 percent of their time spent deriving new uses from the platform.

"This solution delivers a high return-on-investment, and we have a program that identifies, documents, and publicizes its uses," says Barlow. "We began with local uses of the data historian, and then used it within areas to improve throughput or quality. Now we want to have an infrastructure that allows its use across the company."

The notion of having to identify, document, and publicize uses is an important one, says Le Blanc, because it raises significant cultural issues.

"You need a culture where people aren't afraid to share information; where they're rewarded when they do share information. The amazing thing is just how varied companies can be in this regard. People need to learn that sharing their information isn't a threat to their position, but rather an opportunity for the group to derive value from it."

With more than 10,000 installs on the server side, OSIsoft recently released a brochure that includes summary descriptions of more than 100 type uses—from alarm management to weather data input—to which RtPM has been applied. The software industry itself is learning to identify, document, and publicize the uses derived from proprietary open source, for the benefit of all.