Building the secure digital factory: A blueprint for transformation

This blog has been written by Darren Hogan, Director of Portfolio, at Nasstar.
Certain points of the year feel like prime time for home renovations - our neighbours certainly agreed when they decided to expand their home with a new extension just before Christmas. During that time, a team of architects, plumbers, and electricians worked together to create something special for their family. But what if an integrated appliance in their new space broke down on Christmas Day? Who would they call? The plumber, the electrician, or someone else? Ideally, they'd want the same team who built it to handle the repairs.
This example highlights an important point. The team that builds a solution should surely be the team that maintains it, ensuring issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.
It’s the same with the secure digital factory: you ideally need the team that built it to be the team that manages it.
As our systems continue to integrate and companies compete to leverage the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), familiarity with next-generation technology becomes critical. Let's look at an industry specific example: Manufacturing and Industry 4.0.
What is Industry 4.0?
Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is the evolution of manufacturing through the integration of smart technologies like IoT (Internet of Things), AI, and real-time analytics. It focuses on creating highly interconnected, data-driven factories that can respond dynamically to changes, optimise processes, and even predict failures before they happen.
Before we dive in - let's remind ourselves of the earlier incarnations of the industrial revolution and how we got here:
- Industry 1.0: The onset of mechanisation marked this era, where steam power fundamentally transformed manufacturing. Factories leveraged this innovation to enhance production rates and efficiency, starting a shift from manual labour to machine-driven processes.
- Industry 2.0: The advent of mass production defined the second industrial revolution, powered by electricity and assembly lines. This period revolutionised manufacturing, enabling economies of scale and drastically lowering production costs, thereby making goods more accessible to the public.
- Industry 3.0: Automation emerged during this phase, integrating electronics and early computational technologies into manufacturing systems. These advancements improved precision, facilitated the execution of complex processes, and significantly reduced manual labor requirements.
- Industry 4.0: Today, this era focuses on integrating artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. The result is smart factories capable of real-time data processing and predictive decision-making, optimising efficiency and reducing losses.
So, we arrive at the fourth industrial revolution with the promise of everything from self-driving vehicles and manual handling robots to predictive maintenance capabilities that can reduce loss by intervening in the event of a faulty batch of goods.
For manufacturers, embarking on this journey towards a secure digital factory is like trying to build that house extension; they understand the end goal but often lack the understanding or expertise of where to start.
How does Industry 4.0 impact the digital factory?
Industry 4.0 is the age of data. To support this, the secure digital factory forms a set of securely integrated systems and technology that allows the manufacturer to extract value from data.
The vast quantities of data generated by industrial control systems can offer huge potential for companies looking to gain insights into their manufacturing processes. With this insight, they can improve quality, uptime, and efficiency. In fact, I read recently that a single programmable logic controller can generate around 100GB of data per year!
To harness the potential of this data, it must be recorded, collected, extracted, transmitted, transformed, and accessed securely. And to do that, we must provide secure integration points, underlying systems, and infrastructure between Operational Technology (OT) and IT to provide secure boundaries that defend the company’s data.
Why is Industry 4.0 so important?
Industry 4.0 addresses several critical challenges faced by manufacturers, such as minimising downtime, improving production efficiency, and enabling more agile responses to market demands. By harnessing real-time data and predictive analytics, manufacturers can enhance decision-making, reduce waste, and improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
Without Industry 4.0, businesses may struggle with outdated processes, slower innovation, and reactive instead of proactive maintenance strategies, potentially falling behind competitors who embrace digital transformation.
The future of manufacturing with Industry 4.0 promises increased resilience, greater customisation of products, and the ability to meet sustainability goals. Conversely, manufacturers who do not adopt these advancements risk inefficiencies, higher operational costs, and vulnerability to disruptions.
The journey to Industry 4.0
Building a “secure digital factory” requires discreet technology domains to work together. This is how we embark on a journey towards autonomy and the benefits of Industry 4.0. Here are some of the steps required when embracing Industry 4.0 and digital transformation.
The first stage in achieving this is a focus on the plant line equipment. This should be able to securely send data to a data acquisition platform for monitoring and alarming purposes (typically a SCADA system). An integration then needs to be built to allow data to be sent to a cloud data ingestion platform, which in turn needs to be managed. The transport of this data is critical, so a reliable and robust software defined connectivity fabric should be deployed. It’s worth knowing that data loss in this context results in lost insights for the manufacturer.
Data pipelines then need to be built and maintained within the cloud data platform. ETL (extract, transform, load) processes need to be devised and data insights derived through a presentation layer that delivers on the outcomes the customer needs. Finally, ML models need to be trained and tuned to deliver the most value from predictions.
The process I’ve described above is incredibly high level. However, when broken down into various discreet components, the complexity of this integrated infrastructure becomes clear. It’s not enough to simply ‘embrace Industry 4.0’ and buy technology to suit.
True transformation demands a diverse range of skills and expertise to design, implement, and sustain a secure set of integrated technologies that encompass the secure digital factory effectively. And that's where an experienced technology partner can support you on this journey.
Industry 4.0 with Nasstar
At Nasstar, we understand the importance of close collaboration with ecosystem partners who specialise in managing components and applications, such as SCADA software and industrial control systems.
Through active collaboration with these partners and leveraging our expertise in infrastructure, data, and AI, we can effectively bridge the IT/OT divide, integrating diverse elements into a cohesive system that transforms raw data into actionable insights.
A quick example of this is the work we carried out with Jaguar Land Rover. In this case we designed and built a data platform that analyses vehicle data to derive actionable insights, which in turn drives competitiveness and efficiency.
But what about...
Now the 'eagle-eyed' amongst you will have spotted a glaring omission from this post. Security.
If we are exposing data from systems that may be insecure by design, never needing to consider the consequences of connecting to a remote hyperscaler across the internet, then we cannot take a single step to embrace Industry 4.0 without considering the security implications. My neighbours wouldn't leave the house with their newly built extension with the front door wide open - and neither should we.
Building a secure digital factory is one thing, but you’ll have to check out my next post to find out how you can implement an infrastructure that is "secure by design".
How Nasstar can help you understand Industry 4.0
If you're thinking about the next steps on your Industry 4.0 journey, need advice and guidance on planning, or simply don’t know where to start, now is the perfect time to assess your digital transformation strategy and partner with experts who can help unlock its full potential. Reach out to the Nasstar team to find out more.