Chemical Engineering June 2023 - 30

FIGURE 4. In an MQTT Sparkplug-based data architecture, the data broker connects multiple machines
to enable bidirectional data movement
materials as they transform into a
sellable product. It may not be required,
but it can put chemical manufacturers
ahead of the competition
by building a better relationship
between a business and its clients
during each step of the supply chain
process. An MQTT-based data broker
enables this product traceability
use case by ensuring that data
collected by PLCs at the edge from
boilers, furnaces, and other devices,
is combined with product quality
and inspection records coming from
other applications,
like enterprise
resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing
execution systems (MES).
The result is a single source of truth
for all of the chemical manufacturing
product traceability data to enable
better product quality and increase
in profit margins.
FIGURE 5. The diagram shows how data collection and movement could be managed at a chemical
manufacturing facility
is a framework that sits on top of
MQTT to add more context to the
manufacturing data. It is an opensource
software specification that
provides MQTT clients with a framework
to integrate data and provide
context by defining data models. It
provides a consistent way for equipment
manufacturers and software
providers to share contextual data,
accelerating the digital transformation
of existing operations.
Sparkplug allows IIoT deployments
to decouple the data between hardware
and software sources. With
Sparkplug, new data sources are immediately
discoverable to other system
components and these sources
can become a single source of truth.
Sparkplug is fully secured, requiring
no open ports for new devices and
requiring TLS for all data transport.
Figure 4 provides an MQTT Sparkplug-based
data
architecture
that
shows how the data broker connects
multiple machines and processes,
and applications to enable
30
seamless bidirectional data movement.
This architecture solves the
chemical manufacturing challenges
of data integration and real-time data
movement while providing efficient
and secure data transfer to support
digital transformation initiatives.
Figure 5 shows an example of how
data collection and movement is
managed in a chemical manufacturing
plant to enable a product traceability
use case. For any chemical
manufacturing firm to maximize
profit margins, it is crucial to have
adequate controls over the process,
quality, and delivery of its products.
Traceability programs can play an
integral part in this process by locating
problems (and potential issues)
with product quality at the
earliest stage possible. Chemical
manufacturers are often concerned
about ensuring product quality and
safety for the final product delivered
to customers. However, most overlook
" outbound traceability " - the
complex process of monitoring raw
Concluding remarks
When harnessed correctly, data are
the most valuable asset for many organizations,
particularly in chemical
manufacturing. In order to achieve
the most benefit from Industry 4.0
technology, data need to be transformed
to wisdom. A key initial step
toward this journey is data collection
and movement. When it comes
to bridging data efficiently from OT
systems to IT systems, IIoT and data
brokers play a key role to ensure that
the data are available for advanced
use cases. MQTT and Sparkplug
technology based solutions can help
users solve their data collection and
movement problem, allowing them
to focus on the advanced data-analytics
use cases to optimize their factory
operations.
n
Edited by Scott Jenkins
Author
Ravi Subramanyan is the director
of industry solutions manufacturing
at HiveMQ (Postplatz 397,
84028 Landshut, Germany and
Registry Court Landshut HRB 890;
Phone: +49 1746021120; Email:
ravi.subramanyan@hivemq.com).
Subramanyan is a product marketing
and management leader with
extensive
experience
delivering
high-quality products and services that have generated
revenues and cost savings of over $10 billion for companies
such as Motorola, GE, Bosch and Weir. Subramanyan
has successfully launched products, established
branding and created product advertisements
and marketing campaigns for global and regional business
teams.
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Chemical Engineering June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2023