Manufacturing Analytics

Establishing Trust in the Industrial IoT - Security by Design testingrt

White Paper: LEGIC

Anthony Fitze, Carl Fenger, LEGIC Identsystems In industrial environments, mass deployment of sensors and the ability to securely collect and process data from fixed and mobile assets increases efficiency and enables better business decisions. It makes it easier to streamline processes, reduce errors, support auditing and enforce quality control. The common denominator: Trust Connecting sensors to the internet is not enough. Improving processes via the “Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)” depends on a common denominator: Trust. If users, sensors and their interactions cannot be trusted, the results can be costly and even catastrophic, especially where volatile assets and safety are involved, which is often the case. The Three Pillars of Trust in the IIoT Being able to trust in IIoT data relies on linking authenticated users with trusted sensors/objects so that their interactions are reliable, transparent and accountable. Accomplishing this relies on three principles: 1. Accountability: users must be authenticated and accountable before gaining access to sensors or infrastructure. Access permissions must be assigned based on roles, training and authorizations plus context-based criteria such as time and location. Permissions must be autonomously enforced, both online and offline, to minimize human error and support 24/7 operation. All activities must be transparent and auditable. 2. Security: equipment must be configured and accessed by authorized users onsite. As sensors at the edge are the most vulnerable component of an IIoT system, physical hardware-level security must be implemented in the form of an embedded Secure Element for hosting of cryptographic keys and user permissions. 3. Transparency: all interactions between users and devices must be trustable, auditable and transparent to authenticated users. At the same time, they must not be visible to, nor subject to  interception by unauthorized parties either at the sensor, along local area networks, air interfaces or over the public internet.   Security by Design: LEGIC Connect mobile credentialing platform for IIoT system users LEGIC Connect is a mobile credentialing platform that securely distributes mobile credentials or other data to registered iOS or Android smartphones or tablets anytime, anywhere and instantly at the touch of a button.  The system provides a globally available, AES encrypted, end-to-end mobile credentialing service that is the backbone of establishing trust and accountability in user/sensor /infrastructure interactions. The system can be easily integrated into existing infrastructure and applications, enabling service operators to manage user permissions and send/receive data securely from/to smartphones and sensors. For details see www.legic.com/connect   A secure gatekeeper at the IIoT edge With a secure, end-to-end IIoT platform based on Mobile Credentialing, Managed Encryption and Secure Element technologies, accountability, security and transparency can be achieved. This is particularly relevant for Logistics automation: It ensures secure, transparent and auditable  movement of goods within as well as between facilities by securing access and logging user/asset interactions. Building management: It links persons with a verified identity to enable trusted monitoring of building assets and interactions between users and doors, HVAC systems, security and fire systems, etc. Industrial equipment: It authenticates persons and enables secure dynamic permissioning to ensure trusted interactions with equipment and infrastructure. Protocolled usage data can be collected per user. Updating of permissions can be performed in real-time and over-the-air.   Introducing Mobile Credentialing in the IIoT The LEGIC XDK Secure Sensor development Evaluation Kit is a universal programmable sensor device & prototyping platform for developing trusted IoT applications based on Mobile Credentialing.​ It enables secure sensor configuration and readout via mobile devices which can also be configured in real-time from the cloud. With 8 MEMs sensors, built-in Secure Element for storage of cryptographic keys/whitelists and RFID/NFC/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi communications, it enables rapid prototyping of secure, touchless, sensor based IoT applications.  

Complex Selling in the Manufacturing World: It's Time to Get Digital

White Paper: Experlogic

Manufacturing is one of the world’s greatest sources of innovation. Yet manufacturing sales often rely on yesterday’s tools and processes — spreadsheets and homegrown systems or software solutions that are too narrowly designed to do the job with speed and constant accuracy. Is your sales team dependent on one of those? You Are a Data-centric, Data-driven Business. Is Your Sales Process Keeping Up? Today’s manufacturers benefit from data-backed decisions and processes that start with sales and continue through every part of the manufacturing and delivery process. Unfortunately, many manufacturers’ sales teams still struggle with spreadsheets, homegrown software, and disconnected systems that slow the sales process and increase the risk of errors when data is manually entered and reentered. As a result, deals are lost, and customer satisfaction suffers because sales, production, and delivery are all delayed.

FPM Heat Treating Best in the Midwest

White Paper: FPM

F'M Heat Treating opened its doors in January 1979 to serve the then-booming tool and die market in Chicago. Today, over 35 years later, FPM operates three facilities in two states and has become one of the Midwest’s largest commercial heat treaters. Despite its growth, and its success, FPM has maintained a “small business” attitude. The company does this by providing personal attention from its knowledgeable sales staff, highly skilled metallurgical personnel and experienced customer-service group. This longtime MTI member offers a wide range of heat- treating services to over 3,000 customers in the greater Midwest manufacturing community. More specifically, FPM meets the needs of the automotive, aerospace, construction, consumer- product, machinery and tooling industries. As mentioned, FPM operates facilities in Elk Grove Village, Ill.; Cherry Valley, Ill.; and Milwaukee, Wis. These locations perform a vast and diverse set of processes, including: annealing, normalizing, neutral hardening, tempering, age/precipitation hardening, stress relieving, tool-steel hardening, vacuum hardening, vacuum high- pressure gas quenching, austempering, marquenching, carburizing, carbonitriding, gas nitriding, ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC), braz- ing, deep freezing, straightening and blast cleaning. What truly makes FPM a unique operation, however, is the variety of processes – and equipment – available at each site.   The company has also developed a strong niche when it comes   to providing “outsourced” heat treatment to businesses that previously operated their own heat-treat department. These undertakings have involved entire operations, providing a significant source of backup/overflow heat-treating capacity. As far as equipment goes, FPM has a lot to offer its customers. For example, the company’s batch furnaces are capable of processing large gears and shafts as well as small stampings and machine parts. With a maximum load capability of 3,000 pounds, these units measure 36 x 36 x 48 inches. FPM’s continuous belt furnaces are designed for high-volume processing of fasteners and other small- dimension parts – up to 5,000 pounds per hour. The company’s vacuum furnaces feature computer-controlled processing, up to 10- bar rapid gas quenching and maximum 5,000-pound load capacity. FPM also owns the North American license to Nitrotec, a nitriding-oxidizing-protection process that provides a highly corrosion- and wear-resistant finish in one sequence. This treatment eliminates the time and handling of secondary plating operations and allows for  the  use  of  lower-priced carbon steel in place of alloyed steels. It can be used as an environmentally friendly improvement to many plating processes, and it provides excellent scuffing and seizure resistance. Yet another example that sets FPM apart is its Nadcap accreditation, which is difficult to achieve and maintain with its focus on processing details and quality documentation. Along those same lines, FPM’s metallurgical laboratories are a huge asset. Staffed by highly trained metallurgical technicians and degreed metallurgists, these labs are responsible for measuring and verifying critical characteristics  of  components,  ensuring  compliance with customer and applicable industry specifications. Equipped  to perform not only traditional sectioning and microstructural evaluations, FPM’s labs offer varying degrees of failure analysis, alloy identification and nondestructive evaluations. So, what does the future hold for FPM? Most likely another 35 years of growth and success. To get there, the company plans on expanding its Nadcap accreditation, upgrading furnace controls, installing new equipment and adding to its customer base and market area. For more information on FPM Heat Treating, visit www.fpmht.com.