Discrepancy arise as the industry has a conservative attitude towards new technology as they believe that asset investment needs to pay back over a 30+ year period, while the cycle of IT development is much faster.
Smits suggested that there should be an IT/OT alignment for the IT/OT innovations to bring benefit.
He is expected give his views on the convergence of IT and OT in terminal operations at the StocExpo 2016, which is due to take from March 15 to 17 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Smits will also outline how to align a business process with the IT needs of today’s real-time digital companies.
Smits, who is the conference speaker, said a megatrend Industry 4.0 is emerging from Germany which is characterized by a digital transformation, is about hyper connected systems, with many and cheap hardware components, usually self-learning.
The OT department has a strong operational view, while IT has a fast development cycle and demand for change and agility.
Maintenance, safety and compliance are the predominant reasons for investments in IT. They require varying amounts of information.
Smits said at a high level there are two data streams: business critical data, usually collected using proven technology and often hardwired. For operational improvement and experimental (non-critical) data new IoT technologies are a low threshold solution.
The domains may further be supported and strengthened by mobility, agile software development (apps), the mobile worker and advanced analytics, often supported by artificial intelligence.
Combining diverse data sources such as actual sensor data and input from unstructured data generate even more valuable data for managers to make decisions and enhance efficiency.
Many initiatives are currently driven by small and medium sized firms with a strong focus on a particular specific expertise.
The business benefits will be achieved by integrating these point-innovations into an end-to-end reliable data supply chain.
Smits will speak on the third day of the StocExpo conference.
