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Microservices and API Reference Architecture for Manufacturing Industry
Microservices and API Reference Architecture for Manufacturing Industry
Story
Manufacturing Production Functions
Realize Products
o Design Product, Engineer Manufacture of Product, Provide Production Resources, Produce Products
Engineer Manufacture of Product
o Define Engineering Problem, Define Production Processes, Design Production System, Develop Implementation Plan
Define Production Processes
o Specify Process Requirements, Specify Materials Requirements, Specify Process and Material Flows, Specify Process Details, Estimate Production Cost
Design Production System
o Specify Production Equipment, Specify Instrumentation & Control Systems, Specify Support Systems, Develop Facility Layout, Integrate & Test System Designs
Specify Instrumentation & Control Systems
o Identify Control Requirements, Identify Instrumentation Requirements, Identify Communications Requirements, Integrate System Specifications
Develop Implementation Plan
o Identify and Evaluate Supply Sources, Decide Make/Buy for Parts, Develop Facilities Plan, Develop Manufacturing Plan,
Provide Production Resources
o Develop Capacity Plans, Create Supply Sources, Acquire Major Resources, Manage Plant Resources
Produce Products
o Plan Production, Manage Materials, Schedule Jobs, Perform Jobs,
Perform Jobs
o Direct Personnel and Machines, Control and Monitor Jobs, Coordinate Equipment Groups, Control Equipment
Protocols
Events are communicated from the production machines, smart tools, and devices via:
o Shop-floor protocols (OPC, OPC UA, MQTT)
o TCP/IP or via field bus protocols (MODBUS or ProfiNet)
Data Formats
Device and machine data are typically represented as JSON or XML
Success Patterns
Production devices and machines are typically managed by DCS/SCADA systems
o Can be integrated by industry protocols such as Profibus, OPC, and OPC-UA
Factory data collection, normalization, cleansing and stream processing support analytics (and production visibility) and actions being triggered by business rules
o E.g., execute a workflow or feedback to the production cell (in the form of setpoint adjustments or commands) to dynamically reconfigure the manufacturing process
o Likewise for the enterprise, with scope including all factories, systems, locations, etc
Manufacturing plants must be able to operate as a stand-alone unit from the enterprise
o Some capabilities must reside in both the plant and the enterprise
o Devices/machine data can be communicated up through layers (filtered/aggregated)
Architecture Diagram
Domain Map Diagram
Domain Map Outline
Domain IT Requirements
Comprehensive integration: Pervasive interoperability improves resource/equipment efficiency, predictive maintenance, and product/process quality
o Vertical (machines to cloud): From the operational technology layer to the information technology layer
o Horizontal (among supply networks)
o Throughout the product lifecycle
Data locality, privacy, and security (e.g., production data is not allowed to leave the factory)
Secure data access
Minimal technology gaps and complexity: Facilitates lean manufacturing
Event-stream processing
Real-time: No timing discrepancies between the operational technology layer (millisecond or even nanoseconds) and the information technology layer (sub-second and higher)
Low-latency event notification and reaction
Proactive monitoring and validation interconnected systems and applications
Auditing and compliance management: Reduce and control risks
Disconnected operation: In case central IT or cloud infrastructure is not available
Analysis
Main theme: Service-orientation
o Digitalization and integration of manufacturing resources as on-demand services
§ Facilitates value network integration and collaboration as well as plug-and-produce shop-floor systems
High-priority actions
o Model and composition of micro-services
o Optimize the topology of interactions between micro-services, smart devices and humans
Opportunities
o Minimize (slow, error-prone) manual tasks
§ E.g., via RPA (robotic process automation), machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI)
Benefits
API-first approach: Maximizes flexibility, customizability, scalability, reliability, manageability and changeability
Control, clarity and continuous improvement at all levels
Real-time data capture, processing and publishing improves decision-making by everyone:
o Operators on the shop floor at the point of execution
o Supervisors managing their departments
o Executives evaluating annual performance targets
Efficient and transparent business performance management
Rapid adaptability to changing business requirements
Reduced maintenance, simplified migrations and expedited troubleshooting
Appendix: References
RAMI4.0 (Reference Architectural Model Industrie 4.0)
IIRA (Industrial Internet Reference Architecture)
o https://www.iiconsortium.org/IIRA.htm
o https://www.iiconsortium.org/IIC_PUB_G1_V1.80_2017-01-31.pdf
NIST Reference Architecture for Smart Manufacturing
IBM Industry 4.0
o Based on IBM’s IoT Reference Architecture, IIRA and the Purdue model of ISA-95
o Description: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/garage/architectures/iotArchitecture/industrie_40
§ Blog at https://www.ibm.com/blogs/bluemix/2017/04/iot-industrie-40-reference-architecture/
Top Microservice and API Guiding Principles
Top Microservice and API Guiding Principles
Story
If you are setting goals and vision to your Microservices and API initiatives, below are some top guiding principles. Please copy/paste these into your PowerPoint or Word documents.
- Ensure quality of Microservices, APIs, and IT solution approahces throughout the company.
- Provide a platform for transactional and data integrity.
- Reduce risk of redundancies.
- Enable reusability.
- Promote simplicity and ease of use.
- Enable teams to deliver solutions rapidly through APIs and Microservcies
- Keep Total Cost of Ownership low.
- Compliance to corporate security guidelines and reduce vulnerabilities in a data sharing environment.
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