What is IT (Information Technology)?

Information technology refers to the complete system encompassing Computers, Network connectivity, and the software that helps store, manage, and process data into information. IT also supports the security of the data at rest & transit and communication techniques used by the software to transfer data across multiple systems. IT provides the necessary algorithms for processing information automatically that help businesses - make decisions based on the data available. Irrespective of whether the system is onpremise or on the cloud, IT plays a critical role in enabling organizations to function effectively & securely in a day to day manner.

What is OT (Operational Technology)?

Operational Technology

Operational Technology refers to hardware and software systems that monitor and control industrial processes, equipment, and infrastructure in real-time. OT plays a major role in industries like Manufacturing, Energy, Utilities, and transportation. The core components of OT Technology are Industrial Control Systems (ICS) , Programmable Logic Control (PLC), and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. OT does not do large scale data processing like IT. However, the role of controlling the process based on the incident that happens at that time ensures precision in a production cycle.

The Current State of IT/OT Integration

IT/OT integration

Almost all industries today use ERPs like SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, etc., as one of the core software for IT management. ERP provides complete functional needs from Production to Finance to HR and also allows customizations over it. Today’s integration stands at human driven input of data from the production shop floor to the system. The key data entered primarily consists of production counts, while other important metrics such as quality, process parameters, and granular energy data are frequently ignored. The data is not added due to the need for the human capital and in most cases the data is not even measured. The assertion of the production to Raw material and production to Energy are done at a cumulative financial outcome level. Another significant issue is the accuracy of the data entered into the IT system, which is often compromised by human error—both unintentional mistakes and intentional manipulation or data fudging.

What is IT-OT integration?

What is IT-OT Integration and Why it is important today?


“What is not Measured cannot be controlled” — William Thomson


In simple words, Acquiring the data like Production, process parameters, quality, and machine status in relation to the time directly from the Machines on the shop floor and sending them to the IT System for further processing is the integration of Information Technology and Operational Technology. The advent of the Industry 4.0 and the IT infrastructure has paved way for integrating the IT and the OT layers. As stated earlier, Managers and Decision makers are working with fudged and half baked data as we manually enter information into the IT system. The importance of digital transformation and IT/OT Integration is to ensure that every piece of data needed to analyze the production outcome is accurate, timely, and directly captured from machines, eliminating errors and delays associated with manual data entry.

Key Components of IT/OT Integration

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

IIoT is the usage of the Internet of things (IoT) in the Industrial applications. At a broad spectrum, IIoT encompasses the interconnection between the components in the Industrial environment along with the communication protocols like MQTT and OPC UA & ModBUS used to connect the OT Systems like machines, and gateways to the IoT Applications available in the IT Systems.

IIoT
Edge Computing

Edge Computing

As we start acquiring data from the machines and the other components that are available on the shop floor, not every data is needed as such for further analysis. There may be a need to transform the data from the machine level information to the system needed data like converting electric pulse (voltage) to temperature, etc.,. A cohesive analysis of multiple parameters to derive a new value that can be used to make decisions at the edge or this can be used as an option to reduce load at the server when the frequency of the polling is high.

Cloud Computing or On Premise IoT Applications

Even though there are a lot of IT Systems and software available today in manufacturing, we cannot connect the OT directly to those software. We need a central IoT server/ Application that can collect, store and transform data as needed for the IT environment. The Central IoT Application can be integrated to any legacy systems via REST APIs.

Cloud Computing
Data Analysis & AI

Data Analysis & AI

The data from the different gateways and devices are to be stored in the back end relational and the big data engines for further analysis. The business centric data analysis algorithm can be executed over these data to drive automation based on the data. At a high level the data automation can be at the level of instant for process parameter setting, internal supply chain, production rescheduling, etc., end of day/week reporting like production data, rejection, OEE, plan completion, RM availability and utilization and end of month/year reporting like turn over, energy cost, human capital utilization and more.

IT/OT Architecture

The IT/OT Integration will not be a very straight forward integration as there are multiple protocols involved based on the diversified set of machinery used in the production shop floor. As an ideal case, we need to add a few new components like IoT/ MQTT Gateway into the OT network to smoothen the communication with the IT System. This is mandatory as all PLC Protocols are not ISO Compliant to be transferred over the Ethernet or WIFI medium. Here is a high level architecture of the Information Technology and Operational Technology integration.

IT/OT Architecture

Benefits of IT-OT Alignment

Realtime data insights

Real Time Data and Insights

As we align the IT and OT very closely, the availability of the data across the factory for every stake holder will be in real time. These data availability will bring everyone to a common point, unifying everyone to the factory goals in terms of production, quality and uptime. For example, the priority of the production in association with the machine is very much open so that everyone is aware which breakdown needs to be attended with highest priority.

Improved efficiency

Improved Efficiency

The report getting generated by the end of day is not the norm anymore. With the real time data accumulation, the Industry 4.0 IoT Application will be able to generate reports instantly for a few key metrics like Machine Uptime, Process parameter deviation. Additionally, it can generate hourly reports for core KPIs like production against target, OEE , and Performance, helping shop floor supervisors and department heads access and re-plan instantly to meet the customer demands. The Asset and material tracking in real time helps ensure that the RM and the in process WIP is moved at the right time to minimize machine downtime.

Enhanced security

Enhanced Security

The data security is very important for the operation. As the manual data entry has been completely removed and completely enabled with the automated acquisition, the data can be exposed on the server application based on the strict roles and permission to the corresponding stake holder on a need to know basis. Further, as the network has been unified and controlled by IT engineers, the complete security of the network and its components, including both IT and OT systems, is enhanced through centralized monitoring, better threat detection, and streamlined management of vulnerabilities across the entire infrastructure.

Predictive maintenance

Predictive Maintenance

Scheduled maintenance helps in improving the uptime of the machine to ensure the availability of the shop floor is maximum. However, the schedules are fixed based on time. In large scale production, the maintenance has to be scheduled based on the usage and the other environmental parameters. Continuous monitoring of usage and the machine metrics will help not just failure, but also help schedule the maintenance based on the usage metrics.

Cost reduction

Cost Reduction

In Process WIP is one of the major cost for large scale manufacturing. Digital Transformation with real time data will not only provide the exact and real time information of the inventory, but also will predict the necessary downtime due to the material flow. GE Digital estimates that a major percentage of the $50B unplanned downtime loss is due to the short supply of inventory.

Innovation & Scalability

Innovation & Scalability

One of the major draw backs of the pre Industry 4.0 era is the silos of data in multiple applications. These silos of information don't allow factory managers to articulate the same under one umbrella. As we move all the relevant information under the single Smart Factory application, the possibility of deeper data analysis from a diversified perspective can bring wonders and create an innovative environment in the shop floor.

Seamless Collaboration

Seamless Collaboration

Most of the meetings held in shop floors are discussions on the data as there is no common Information across the table. People end up assessing the correctness of the data more than the decision required. As the IT OT Integration put one common data/information across everyone's dashboards, the future meetings are going to be one information and decisions enhancing the collaboration across the organizational hierarchy.

Challenges in IT and OT Integration

Overall Cultural Shift

As we integrate the IT-OT paradigm, we are doing a complete Digital Transformation inside the shop floor. As the change happens across the hierarchy, we need to involve everyone to equally participate in the change. Manufacturing professionals are deeply rooted in core engineering practices and often have limited exposure to computers and digital technologies. To successfully involve them in the digital transformation, they need targeted knowledge sharing and education that empowers them to bridge the gap between traditional manufacturing and modern digital tools.

Conceptualization and building Bottom Up

The dynamics and operational tactic vary across businesses and factories, each having its own unique approach. When you start planning for the IT OT Integration, you have to build a complete value driven strategy for the particular factory and convert the value based needs to the implementation strategy. Building such a complete knowledge about the shop floor to devise the strategy is a herculian task and you should keep the change management in the plan to dynamically change your implementation as needed.

Technical Challenges

Manufacturing today involves a diversified set of machinery to achieve their desired product. Atleast 10% of the cases has specialized machines built for specific product in large scale manufacturing. The kind of data required to be acquired from these machines varies from production, process parameters, quality outcomes, and more. All these data is directly available on the HMI of the machine, however these data acquisition interfaces are not properly defined. A few case if defined properly, they are more skewed towards the proprietary or some unique protocol which poses major challenges in the integration.

Cybersecurity Risks

Most of the data and the connectivity is going to reside inside the factory. If proper isolation is done for the factory network and business network, and the right access given between these two networks to only access the need only data, there is very little cybersecurity risk. However, the fear of information theft via the web is a major concern, creating a significant roadblock for IT/OT convergence.

Cost & ROI

Industry 4.0 is a huge shift in the manufacturing. This is much equivalent to the adoption of the electricity and electronics into the manufacturing. These large scale transformation will come with the cost and it takes a little longer to realize the RoI as the return cannot be straight in terms of increase in the production, but will add value from the different perspective of better control and decisions with the data and driving new dimensions and improved process in the shop floor.

Best Practices in Implementing IT/OT Unification


Communication with IT OT Teams

Clearly Communicate with IT and OT Teams

As the Industry 4.0 is a major shift in the technology and the practices we follow on a day to day operation, it’s crucial to clearly communicate the overall process and technology changes to all stakeholders, both before and throughout the implementation. It is very important to get everyone buy-in for the successful implementation.

Standardize Protocols

Standardize Protocols and Platforms

As stated earlier, one of the biggest challenges in the manufacturing process is the diversity of machinery, with each machine using a different protocol. Managing the diversification on a longer term will be a problem and incur recurring cost. The protocol should be standardized using some intermediate gateways. OPC UA is well suited for communicating with the PLCs and light weight MQTT protocol for the MQTT Gateway to the IOT Application Server.

Leverage Edge Computing

Leverage Edge Computing

When you plan for a large implementation involving hundreds of machinery in the shop floor, it is critical to ensure the load on the server is diversified into the edge nodes for a scalable outcome. In addition to the load distribution, edge computing also helps in data analysis in the OT environment for a better control of the process. The edge should be made powerful with AI if needed as It can work independently for this case.

Adopt scalable platform

Adopt Scalable & Extendable Platform

The Industry 4.0 requirements are evolving very fast and expected to change for the next few years. So it is very important to choose the right IoT Platform to build your Industry 4.0 application. The extendability of the Platform needs to be in the protocol layer as well as on the application development as well.

Ensure regulatory compliance

Ensure Regulatory Compliance

There are few basic compliance for the Smart factory implementation which includes Data Encryption, Access Control, Data Integrity, Audit & Reports and Incidence Response Plan. In addition to this, there are industry specific compliance like HIPAA, ISO/IEC 27001, ISA/IEC 62443, NIST , FDA, GDPR, etc.,

Review employee performance

Conduct Training & Review Employee Performance

The core manufacturing team needs to be continuously trained for adopting the new system. The training should be detailed and specific to the personnel and the screens they use. The training should also cover the core objective of the company as a whole and the role each one of them plays in the improvement. The employee performance should be reviewed on the timely manner and better to gamify the involvement and give credits to the employee for their performance.

Continuous Monitoring

Continuous Monitoring and Optimization

The Digital Transformation should be done in a phased manner. The implementation should be continuously monitored for the involvement of the stake holders and also the improvement of the overall process. The outcome should be compared in the timely fashion pre and post implementation. The user feedbacks should be incorporated to ensure maximum involvement of the stake holders for better outcome.

Heat treatment process

Case Study: Heat Treatment Process

The process parameters like Temperature, pressure, gas flows, timing of each stage, etc., of the heat treatment process is crucial for the quality metrics like hardness and ductility to be maintained at the required level. This mandates the monitoring of the process parameters on regular intervals across the complete production cycle. Even though the process parameter is plotted on the HMI screen, these data were collected manually and filled in papers and then entered into the ERP System. The production plan has been maintained in the ERP and circulated in paper and via excel to the shop floor.


As we integrated the IT and OT, we were able to automatically acquire the data from the machines and send it to the IOT central Application. Also, the plan is closely integrated with the machine, and the capacity utilization is calculated for every cycle of the batch process.


The IT OT Convergence helped the customer get the flawless data on time and at the same time remove the redundant data entry operation and enhance the knowledge and capability of their workforce.

Flexibility in Timing of Messages

The world is fast moving from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0. However, most of the manufacturers are still to adopt the Digital transformation itself. The first step is to ensure that the IT and OT gets integrated to get the seamless data across the board. As mentioned earlier, this is a big change like the previous industrial revolutions, so jump into the band wagan and get resilient.

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