Toronto Electricians and Electrical Contractors

As part of my job I meet with mining executives all around the world to understand what they need to improve their operational efficiency, and without exception they know they have to digitize, but many are still unclear how to approach their digital transformation. They’ve read articles and case studies about it, they’ve heard consultants and vendors talk about it, but they still find things to be overwhelming and complicated. They wonder, “What should be our final vision?  Where should we start? And what will be the ROI?” A thoughtful article by McKinsey entitled, “ The cornerstones of large-scale technology transformation ” was recommended to me recently by our Pacific Zone IOT Director, Jack Krutak, and it captures the state of mind in the industry today: “How does your company use advanced technologies to create value? This has become the defining business challenge of our time. If you ignore it or get it wrong, then anything from your job to your entire organization could ...

I recently read an article comparing traditional SCADA and the IoT (Internet of Things). This article pointed out how they are completely different animals, and are based on completely different technologies. I have also read articles that say that SCADA was the original IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), and there is nothing new under the sun. So, which is it? Is IoT, or IIoT, really that different from traditional SCADA or is the IIoT really just a reinvention of traditional SCADA? It’s neither and it’s both! Let’s look at the electric car for a second. Taking the world by storm it seems, electric cars are influencing a whole new line up of cars. They are fresh, they are flashy, they are fast, and they still get you from point A to point B, albeit using a different form of energy. In spite of these new features however, we still call them cars. Using this example is analogous to what is occurring in the IoT/SCADA space. The new equipment, including gateways, next generation RTU...

Forward-thinking Oil & Gas executives are modifying their approach for evaluation of capital investments. Unique market conditions are being influenced by fluctuating prices and fundamental changes in the way fuels are generated, distributed and consumed. Volatile barrel prices, for example, influence decisions on feedstock, raw materials and utilities expense. These variables pose challenges when industry executives select automation systems to support business growth. To address this uncertainty and the difficulties presented when assessing the value of technology investments, more executives are turning to an underutilized metric, Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), for calculating efficiency and profitability. ROCE represents the percentage return that a company makes over its invested capital, a measure of the profitability and value-creating potential after taking into account the amount of initial capital invested. The ROCE ratio is expressed as Earnings Before Interest a...

While energy consumption regulations are increasingly being imposed worldwide, organizations continue to demonstrate that energy efficiency and the associated cost savings are beneficial for business. The International Standards Organization (ISO) has long recognized the need for improving energy efficiency in all types of commercial, institutional, and industrial facilities. To help drive this initiative, they developed the ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems, publishing the first edition in 2011. As noted by the ISO, the goal of the ISO 50001 standard is to “enable organizations to establish the systems and processes necessary to continually improve energy performance, including energy efficiency, energy use and energy consumption. Successful implementation … supports a culture of energy performance improvement that depends upon commitment from all levels of the organization, especially top management.” The guidance the standard provides can help turn energy efficienc...

Leaks Show Europe’s Attempts to Fix the Copyright Directive Are Failing The EU’s “Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive” is closer than ever to becoming law in 28 European countries, and the deep structural flaws in its most controversial clauses have never been more evident. Some background: the European Union had long planned on introducing a new copyright directive in 2018, updating the previous directive from 2001. The EU’s experts weighed a number of proposals, producing official recommendations on what should (and shouldn’t) be included in the new directive, and meeting with stakeholders to draft language suitable for adoption into the EU member states’ national laws. Two proposals were firmly rejected by the EU’s experts: Article 11, which would limit who could link to news articles and under which circumstances; and Article 13, which would force online platforms to censor their users’ text, video, audio, code, still images, etc., based on a crowdsourced databas...

  “Through intensive, in-depth interviews with infrastructure leaders at large enterprises from across the globe, the study aims to provide C-suite, data center and IT executives with the insights and peer lessons needed to evaluate and manage a rapidly-evolving hybrid IT landscape.” There is no better way to understand trends in any industry than by going directly to those leading the way in that space. With this in mind, Schneider Electric commissioned a new 451 Research study designed to shed light on hybrid IT environments at large enterprises from across the globe. This research was conducted through intensive, in-depth interviews with C-suite, data center and IT executives and offers peer lessons and perspective into innovative deployment of technologies others in the industry can use to evaluate and manage their own hybrid landscapes. Through these interviews a few key points came to light: The widespread adoption of cloud services has significantly impacted the way ...

Industry 4.0 and IIoT technologies are revolutionizing Asset Performance Management (APM). This transformation is bringing about the intersection of APM and Industry 4.0 – a development that LNS Research has coined “APM 4.0” . APM 4.0 leverages the IIoT to improve asset performance and put the asset at the forefront of the business. But what’s actually required to implement APM 4.0? LNS Research has laid out five essential elements to implementing APM 4.0 : 1. Prescriptive Analytics The use of advanced analytics to extract actionable insights from industrial big data is a critical step in APM 4.0. Using a predictive maintenance solution to provide early warnings of equipment and asset failure before these issues affect the business dramatically improves asset performance and reliability. In addition, predictive maintenance empowers operators with actionable insights, so they can identify the source of problems faster, without having to dig through huge volumes of raw data. On top of...