How To Get Up To Speed By Investing In Ethernet Connectivity
If you plug in your ethernet patch cords and get the green blinking lights in your switch, your network is primed to perform, right? Well, it might be for a bit, but will your physical infrastructure meet your demands for bandwidth? Will it hold up in your plant environment? Do you have plans for growth? Getting your ethernet connectivity up to the speed you need requires looking at your network from every angle, and Van Meter has experts who can help. Here are three ways to get your ethernet media and connectivity up to speed to be successful now and in the future.
1. ASSESS AND INVEST IN YOUR PHYSICAL ETHERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
When we talk about controls networks being IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) ready, innovative companies start from the ground up, assess what they have and think ahead to where they want to be in the future. To start, partner with a company, like Van Meter, to walk through your facility and perform a physical network assessment. The assessment identifies the capabilities of your current ethernet infrastructure, considers the devices you will need to operate on your network and recommends a solution that will provide you with enough bandwidth now and in the future.
You can have the fastest PLC on the market (in your control panel), but if your network backbone cannot keep up, it’s like driving a Lamborghini on a dirt road. Physical network infrastructure in the plant floor environment is responsible for up to 80% network downtime, but typically less than 10% of a project budget addresses physical infrastructure.
It might be hard to see the return on investment for performing a network assessment up front, but mapping and documenting physical infrastructure allows you to fix issues, expand your network capabilities and make it ready to solve the challenges to come and sets you up to correctly to develop and implement a cyber security initiative.
2. CONSIDER MICE ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
It is important for your ethernet infrastructure to meet the needs of your devices, but it is also crucial that it can withstand your plant environment. There is a Telecommunications Industry Association standard called MICE (TIA-1005, released in 2012), which classifies environmental hazards for ethernet infrastructure based on mechanical, ingress, climatic/chemical and electromagnetic interference conditions.
Does your panel have electromagnetic interference from drives or shock and vibration from other components? Is there dust or water ingress? Is it extremely hot? Each of those factors could affect your data communication and lower performance or worse, cause unplanned downtime. The average automotive manufacturer, for example, loses $22,000 per minute when production stops, and overall, unplanned downtime costs industrial manufacturers as much as $50 billion a year. Ensuring your patch cables, ethernet switches, patch panels, etc. are fit for the environment they operate in leads to more profit through continued production.
3. PLAN FOR YOUR ETHERNET NETWORK OF THE FUTURE
If your company has big growth goals for the future, and plans to implement a cybersecurity program, legacy network infrastructures, poor documentation and temporary “Band-Aid” fixes on your network infrastructure will not be sustainable to meet these goals.
For example, if you are going to add barcode scanning or IP surveillance cameras to your existing industrial network infrastructure, and you have an older, one-gig fiber backbone, your throughput is going to be limited. Plus, how can you utilize that existing fiber backbone for other technologies without interfering with the control network data? Does your existing fiber backbone even have spare strands available that can be used? Van Meter can help you identify what you have now but can also develop a solution and timeframe for upgrading your fiber backbone to make you ready for future technologies.
As the number of devices on plant floor networks continues to grow, investing in your media and network infrastructure now will help maximize OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) but will also set you up for success in TCO (total cost of ownership) of your industrial network.
Does your ethernet infrastructure have the capacity to meet your goals? Do you have an undiagnosed issue that could lead to unplanned downtime? Reach out to your account manager with questions about how Van Meter can help you get up to speed or fill out the form below if you are interested in a network assessment in your facility.
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