Water & Wastewater Asia July/August 2022

HOTSEAT
LOOKING FOR
and finding
process data
Together with the Digital Data Chain Consortium,
VEGA aims to further advance the digital twin
of its instruments.
Transparent data exchange between
manufacturers and users is an almost
limitless topic, also in the process industry.
To make progress in this area, many individual
solutions, including some proprietary ones,
have to be brought together under one roof.
The Digital Data Chain Consortium (DDCC),
with VEGA as a founding member, aims to
make documents and data accessible to all
by means of a digital type label.
What looks like a complete system out
on the factory floor rarely turns out to be
a unified whole when viewed up close.
In every production system there are
mechanical, electrical, electronic and
software components from many different
manufacturers. A complex multiplicity that
makes itself felt particularly when things are
not running smoothly.
For example, when a sensor needs to be
re-parameterised, a valve sealed or a fuse
replaced. How efficiently a machine or even
an entire system can be repaired or serviced
depends largely on how quickly the necessary
data is available. Do the relevant documents
first have to be laboriously searched for in
a folder buried under stacks of papers, is
the manual locked away in a dusty cabinet
somewhere, or is there a PC database where
information on the component in question is
stored – hopefully up-to-date – and readily
retrievable?
UNAMBIGUOUS AND IMMEDIATE
According to the DDCC, a data solution
that promises greater productivity looks
quite different. The consortium’s goal is to
make all system components identifiable.
“It’s all about having secure and
accessible data in the cloud instead of
in individual databases,” said Florian
Burgent, product manager at VEGA,
summing up the urgent task. In his
opinion, significant savings are possible if
this is realised. “The situation today is that
companies often have to integrate legacy
data into existing applications. Searching
for and collecting data can be timeconsuming,
as it may be scattered around
the country or event around the world,
or stored on the computers of different
manufacturers.”
ONE GOAL, ALL COMPANIES
As a manufacturer of level and pressure
instrumentation and the founding member
of the DDCC, VEGA developed the new
DIN SPEC 91406 standard together
with process automation companies.
The proposed standards aim to make
equipment management easier by using
“distinct and unambiguous” digital type
labels.
Users can benefit just as much as
manufacturers, who can thus perform
faster updates with less printed
material. The new labelling, which is
only recognisable as a QR code on the
housing of the device, has everything
needed – namely all manufacturer
information relating to the product.
When required, the data can be called
up with any mobile device at any time. In
practical terms, traceability thus extends
from production to ordering and delivery,
and from installation to the end of the
service life of the device.
The traditional barriers between
manufacturers – such as time, place,
format and the type of device used to
retrieve the data – are thus overcome. All
data can flow freely between the partners
involved in the supply chain.
If the consortium has its way, the
traditional nameplate will soon be done
away with. After the changeover, every
employee in a company will have the
same up-to-date information at their
disposal at all times and thus be able to
make correct, well-founded decisions.
This method of data access includes
other options. For instance, order
management can be optimised, and the
stocking of spare parts better planned.
And last but not least, the required
compliance document would always be
available in good time.
WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | JULY/AUGUST 2022 49