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ABB Industrial IT Development Center, IndiaIntroduction

ABB Industrial IT Development Center, Bangalore2

R&D Facts and Figures in ABB: Indian Corporate Research Center - One ofthe international research network.

Did you know that ABB:- Has embarked on a mission to create one single Industrial IT architecture for it’sentire range of technologies and products- It invented the world’s fastest control and protection system for HVDC LightTM

and SVC LightTM

- And invented a cost effective high precision robot controller that allows cuttingprecision down to 0.1mm.

These and many other innovations are enabling our customers to rationallyimprove their businesses and increase competitiveness.

With over six thousand scientists and Engineers in our divisions and CorporateResearch Centers we are working hard to invent new technologies, which willensure a continuing and successful partnership with our customers.

The fresh and innovative thinking arising from our synergies with over seventyuniversities and research institutes is an important factor in keeping ABB as aworld technology leader.

We are currently working on R&D projects in business areas and CorporateResearch Programs. Those research programs are aggregated in five technologyareas:- Automation device technologies- Advanced manufacturing and engineering technologies- Industrial IT & software applications- Power technologies- Oil and Gas technologies

In addition we work also in Nanotechnologies. A part of our R&D projects are socalled high impact, high risk projects or exploratory research in “fuzzy front-end”.

Our work is organized via research labs in business areas and Corporate Re-search Centers. Currently we have about 1000 researchers and scientists work-ing in Corporate Research Centers. We have research centers located inSweden, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, two in the US, and thelatest addition is the Indian center, which is our first Research center in Asia.

Our international position offers our researchers and scientists unique opportuni-ties to international work experiences and colleagues in a friendly researchenvironment.

ABB Industrial IT Development Center, Bangalore 3

Contents

1. About ABB 3

1.1 Putting customers at the core of the company 3

2. R&D in ABB 4

2.1 Growing ABB's intellectual capital 42.2 Making Breakthroughs happen 42.3 Delivering Value 5

3. Industrial IT 6

3.1 Industrial IT Architecture 63.2 Why IndustrialIT 73.3 IndustrialIT building blocks 93.4 Putting the pieces together 11

4. ABB Industrial IT Development Center, Bangalore 13

4.1 Supporting ABB's strategic goals 134.2 Concept and responsibilities 134.3 Destination Bangalore 154.4 Mission16

4.4.1 Industrial IT enabling and certificationof selected product lines 16

4.4.2 Product responsibility for specific, software richproducts such as 3rd party interfaces 16

4.4.3 Partnering with our BAs, developing and testing newsoftware-based concepts and products 17

4.4.4 Leverage the cost & qualityadvantage of Indian software skills 17

4.4.5 Building on established processes and tools 184.4.6 Object Oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD) 184.4.7 An iterative approach to software development 19

5. The ABB Gate Model for project delivery 22

6. Conclusion 22


Introduction1. A

bout AB

BABB’s vision to be ‘The Value Creator’ starts by being close to thecustomer. Working closely with its customers, understanding theirbusiness needs and market conditions, ABB is committed toensure their success through quality excellence in our productsand service offerings and through innovative solutions, whichcombine world class technologies, proven global expertise andstrong local insight. ABB believes that by ensuring its customers’success it will, in turn, be able to create value for all its stakehold-ers -customers, shareholders, employees and the communities inwhich it operates.

The challenge for customers in today’s fast changing, globalizedand networked world is not only how to keep pace with advancesin technology and the speed of information, but how to tap intothose advances to become more competitive. This is where ABBcreates value for them. The organization strives to combine itsexpert knowledge of their markets, their business and their busi-ness processes – what ABB calls ‘domain competence’ gainedover decades of experience across industries in over 100 countries– with world class products, solutions and services.

To deliver increased shareholder value, ABB believes that it needsto constantly challenge itself to do the right things smarter, fasterand cheaper. In doing so, it creates an exciting, competitive, fastpaced environment for its employees, where there is great opportu-nity and reward for innovation and success. Employees of ABBcreate value for themselves, both in terms of job satisfaction andfinancially by contributing to the success of the group and itsshareholders.

1. A

bout

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B


Con

tent

s2. R

& D

in AB

B2.1 Growing ABB’s Intellectual Capital

2.2 Making Breakthroughs happen

As a technology leader, ABB’s efforts and investment in researchand development lies at the heart of ABB’s intellectual capital. Byharnessing the outstanding ideas that are born out of these efforts

and the domain expertiseABB continues to lead theworld by bringing in newtechnologies for thenetworked businessenvironment.

ABB spends over eight percent of its revenues on research anddevelopment - high levels by any standard for the business it is in.This investment because we believe it is the foundation for thecompany’s future growth and profitability.

Investments in R & D makes gears the company to be competitive,develop innovative solutions and make technological breakthroughsthat change the rules of the game in industries in which it oper-ates, while creating value for its customers and ultimately itsshareholders.


2.3 Delivering Value

Breakthroughs are exciting yet challenging - more so becausethey cannot be planned. ABB nurtures an environment in whichnew ideas can be born and realised. The ABB Management playsa vital role - it guides the thinking of researchers, set ambitiousgoals, and stimulates people to innovate. It provides fundingrequired for original research (or high-risk research) that is apotential commercial success. Incidentaly 20 percent of ABB’scorporate resources are allocated to exploration, experimentationand pre-studies. At ABB, awarding researches is as important asinvestments itself. ABB believes in setting targets that stretchpeoples’ imaginations; understanding the valuable lessons to belearned from making mistakes; and recognizing people with bothfinancial and non-financial rewards when they succeed.

While the company aims to excel in all its R&D efforts, the ultimategoal is to add value to customers, which is measurable. ABB’scontinued attention to value creation through R&D is supported byseveral measurement systems. Obvious in this regard is the numberof patents and invention disclosures, which again showed a goodincrease in 1999.

Since January 1999 the ABB has looked at the correlation betweeninnovation and annual perormance in terms of revenues or return oninvestment (and many more parameters) of various business areaswithin the ABB Group.

The results were as expected - R&D played asignificant role in creating business, whileopening new avenues for ABB. Theorganisation’s systematic approach in creatingworld-leading technologies has laid thefoundation for its future growth - backed by adynamic team of goal-oriented and fast-actingprofessionals and dedicated scientists andengineers who make it all happen.

2. R

& D

in A

BB


2.3 Delivering Value

3.1 Introduction

ABB Corporate Research Center carries out its development workat centers located in, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden,Singapore and U.S.A. Recognizing the availability of softwareengineering skills in India, a new Industrial IT development centerwas established in India. The center is dedicated to the develop-ment of products and solutions that will further ABB’s businessstrategy - Industrial IT.

ABB is committed to a program for product evolution and develop-ment and market positioning under the “Industrial IT” umbrella. Thisinitiative is geared toward increasing standardization of ABBproducts and systems as the “building blocks” of complex solu-tions, while building in functionality that will allow multiple productsto interact as components, seamless with real-time automationand information systems.

Industrial IT has come to symbolize virtually every business actionABB will take going forward. It is a vision and we need to be awarethat for this vision to turn into reality a successful strategy withaggressive goals must be in place. Far more important, however, isthe long-term commitment from ABB to three critical factors that

will differentiate Industrial IT fromits imitators:

3. Industrial IT


3. In

dust

rial IT

• A robust family of compatible and reusable products that willserve as the “knowledge components” for Industrial IT solu-tions.

• A powerful and open architecture for enabling each componentas part of a real-time automation and information solution.

• Deployment of ABB’s vast domain industry expertise through acustomer-focused organization serving key client industries.

3.2 Why Industrial IT ?

In pursuing its commitment to Industrial IT, ABB did some hardthinking about what it can really offer its customers. The verdict -ABB’s most valuables “product” isn’t sold in a box any longer.Enter the era of knowledge-based solutions.

ABB motors, drives,robots, instrumentation,controls, protection andpower systems operatein more plants than anythat of any other sup-plier. While ABB isproud of its record, itsmost exciting successhas come when ABBlooked beyond acustomer’s plant or process, to integrate systems that influence amultifaceted business enterprise - spanning marketing, design,manufacturing, quality, finance, fulfillment, logistics, and similarprocesses.

In orhter words the dynamic real-time interaction of processes andsystems that guide them is what ABB has chosen to call Indus-trial IT.


3. Industrial IT3.2 Why Industrial IT ?

In its simplest form, an open control system that automaticallyconfigures and re-ranges hundreds of plant instruments to the real-time needs of a new production run could characterize Industrial IT.But it could be much more...

Imagine, for example, that each physical plant device is associatedwith a dynamic, living software entity – carrying with it not onlyconfiguration data but control software, purchase and cost informa-tion, maintenance records, mechanical drawings, and networkinginformation. Next, imagine that the same approach applied toproducts — endowing each batch, barrel, or box with a dynamicset of real-time characteristics.

Now, consider the impact if distributed plant devices inherit func-tionality from the environment in which they operated - new deviceswould be configured not by host control strategies, but as a directresult of the business setting in which they were deployed. Pro-cess transmitters and valves would inherit the range informationrequired for the current “recipe.”

Motors and drives would adjust their control set points as a func-tion of current line speeds. Robots and manufacturing cells could

be moved from onetask to another –retrieving new controlsoftware as they“recognize” the newprocess and itsrequirements.


3. In

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rial IT

3.3 Industrial IT building blocks

Just as these devices could automatically inherit characteristicsfrom their surroundings, they could also report information andinfluence operations in other parts of the enterprise. Through theintegration of diverse systems for manufacturing, sales pursuit andenterprise logistics, the vision of real-time “e-Productivity” could bestretched all the way from procurement of the most basic rawmaterials to delivery of highly-customized finished products.

This enterprise arena, spanning ABB tools for production, assetlife-cycle management and real-time collaboration defines theIndustrial IT Value Chain.

To ensure deployment of the required tools for every link in theIndustrial IT value chain, ABB has defined more than 30 functionaltechnology categories that will comprise the Industrial IT portfolio –and our ongoing development focus. Each of these categoriescorresponds to an Industrial IT Product Suite – to be filled withpre-engineered, reusable building blocks.

Components – whether hardware,software, or service-based – mustachieve three distinctions in orderto join the Industrial IT portfolio:

The products must be standardand available for use by businessunits across ABB, without additional engineering.

The products must take advantageof the Aspect ObjectsTM

Architec-ture (see below) – ABB’s dynamic platform for real-time integra-tion.


3. Industrial IT3.3 Industrial IT building blocks

Products must be tested and certified for compliance to the ABBIndustrial IT Enabled technology standard.Furthering the commitment to the use of compatible and reusabletechnologies, the Industrial IT strategy incorporates within it acommon descrpetive approach for naming products based on theirproduct suites. This will replace the stylised trademarks currentlyapplied.

A few Examples . . .

• DesignIT – Tools to assist indesign of primary equipment,process trains, plants, andsupporting systems.

• OperateIT – Tools to facilitateinteraction between automationsystems and human operators.

• ProduceIT – Tools to improvethe planning, scheduling, andmanufacturing of finishedproducts.

• ProtectIT – Tools to protectagainst faults in the operationof equipment and facilities, andensure personnel safety.

• OptimizeIT – Tools for tuning,improving, or optimizing ofproductive systems or endproducts


3. In

dust

rial IT

3.4 Putting the pieces together

• CollaborateIT – Tools to facilitate real-time, eBusinessinteraction among suppliers, manufacturers, and endcustomers.

• SupportIT – Tools to help install, commission, maintain, andextend the useful lifecycle of business assets.

• SustainIT – Tools for achieving environmental improvement,reducing energy consumption, etc.

To facilitate real-time integration of the Industrial IT building blocks,ABB has developed a powerful enterprise architecture calledAspect ObjectsTM. Based on the Microsoft Component ObjectModel (COM), this platform considers the myriad of enterpriseobjects (plant devices,machines, materials,and products) as thebuilding blocks thatmake up a completebusiness scenario.


3. Industrial IT3.4 Putting the pieces together

Although the various objects and their associated software mayreside on multiple networks or computers, each object carries withit an integral collection of characteristics or aspects such asconfiguration, efficiency, maintenance status, mechanical andelectrical drawings, etc. A click on any object icon opens up awide range of context-sensitive, real-time information.

An Industrial IT “system” is created by dynamically linking a seriesof distributed objects and their real-time characteristics, as soft-ware clients. Drawing from a vast library of dynamic enterpriseobjects, the Industrial IT architect will deploy real-time, repeatableautomation scenarios to fit a wide variety of business objectives.Just as one would browse the files in a PC directory, the user willbe able to browse and configure multiple structures of enterpriseassets, assigning each structure to the most productive andprofitable task at hand.


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re4.1 Supporting ABB’s strategic goal

4.2 Concepts & Responsibilities

ABB’s strategic shift in to more knowledge-based and servicebusiness has increased the need for using information technologyin its product portfolio to maintain its leadership in the technologyfront. Today, ABB has thousands of people engaged in softwaredevelopment for products, making them more efficient, increasingtheir uptime, communicate with other products or even monitortheir own operation. In short making smarter products. In R&D,ABB focuses not only on the software itself, but also on the waysof creating software. Our goal is to improve the quality of oursoftware products and reduce the time and cost of development.

ABB has chosen Industrial IT as the foundation for its future growthstrategy. This means that all its products and systems offeringswill have to conform to the Industrial IT architecture. A whole rangeof software andhardware interfacesneed to be devel-oped, tested andcertified beforethese products andsystems are declared Industrial IT- enabled. The ABB Industrial ITDevelopment Center will focus this development activity as its coretheme. As a part of corporate research center, it is a vision to beone of the major centers of software development in this areawithin ABB.

A core team of ABB people, highly qualified and competent insoftware development, system architecture and with the needs ofbroad experience of ABB´s products and applications will be workas a team to offer skills and expertise for software related activitiesfor the entire ABB group.


4.2 Concepts & Responsibilities 4. AB

B Industrial IT D

evelopment C

enter, Bangalore

The development center will provide Industrial IT competence andwill have the responsibility for making selected product linesIndustrial IT-compatible and to certify Industrial IT compatibility forits range of products. Imparting education on Industrial-IT-enabledproduct lines will also be part of the responsibility.

For specific products, in which softwareis an integral part (like 3rd party inter-faces), the center will have productresponsibility for development andmaintenance as well. The center willalso leverage on its domain, product andmarket knowledge to develop layeredproducts and solutions to cater to theneeds of industry (in partnership withABB’s business area organizations).

The center will also provide maintenance support for phased outsoftware products with a large installed base.

The center will build and maintain business relations and efficientprocedures for defining and subcontracting software developmentpackages to a limited number of high quality software serviceproviders located in India.

The software subcontracting business will be continuously evalu-ated with respect to key parameters such as quality, time andcost efficiency. As a partner to our BAs the center will also de-velop and test new software based concepts and products andbuild relations with leading software institutions in India.


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re4.3 Destination Bangalore

A recent survey found that almost two out of five fortune 500companies currently outsource some percentage of their softwareneeds from India. Nonetheless, the benefits of always goingoffshore can be hard to realize. The development of customsoftware is different from most other business activities, since itrequires an in-depth understanding of the products and systemsand the way software applications support them.

Also, the field of software engineering is relatively new andprocedures for quality control and project management, thoughdeveloping fast, have yet to evolve fully. Without discipline andfocussed management of offshore relationships, the overseassponsor can squander away the cost and time benefit ofoutsourcing. The Industrial IT Development Center plays a vitalrole in the area of managing the outsourced partner in India andensures full benefit from the outsourcing model for the ABBGroup.

In terms of process maturity, India offers the highest number ofsoftware companies certified as SEI CMM Level 5. Many of thesecompanies are headquartered at Bangalore. The Industrial ITDevelopment Center, working in close coordination with some ofthese companies is able to offer the best practices in this field ofactivity.

The ABB operations at Bangalore set up in 1984 is now animportant manufacturing and engineering center for ABB in India.The Industrial IT Development Center, being co-located in Banga-lore has the natural advantage of proximity to the quality infra-structure and resources of ABB.


4.4 Mission 4. AB

B Industrial IT D

evelopment C

enter, Bangalore

4.4.1 Industrial IT enabling and certification of selectedproduct lines

With this as the primary focus area of the center, the center willengage in software development activity aimed atmigrating of ABB products and systems to theIndustrial IT architecture. The center will alsosupport ABB Group in testing products conform-ance to Industrial IT standards and will certifyand declare successfully tested products asIndustrial IT enabled.

4.4.2 Product responsibility for specific, software rich prod-ucts such as 3rd party interfaces

In the open system environment, customers insist on total connec-tivity between the installed automation and control products andsystems to achieve integrated plant management.

To achieve this integration, an interface between ABB and otherthird party systems (for which there are no standard interfaces) isrequired. This is an area where the Industrial IT Software Develop-ment Center will play a key role by developing such interfaces andmaintaining a suite of interfaces across several products.

The idea is also to standardize such interfaces as far as possibleand to be able to reuse components and building blocks for such

development, there byproviding high-quality,cost-efficient softwaredevelopment for the ABBGroup.


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re4.4.3 Partnering with our BAs, developing and testing newsoftware-based concepts and products

ABB currently has a vast range of products, which areincreasingly becoming intelligent with embedded controls andsoftware based design. Industrial IT Development Center willpartner with the Business Areas todevelop whole or part of such design anddevelopment efforts in line with theconcerned BA’s priorities.

4.4.4 Leverage the cost & quality advantage of Indiansoftware skills

The cost and quality advantage that India has in the softwaredevelopment area is now a well known fact. Industrial IT Develop-ment Center, Bangalore will leverage this advantage and would itavailable to ABB group by having a single point coordinationresponsibility with software development partner companies inIndia.

This will ensure that the software development partner under-stands the development environment, tunes in to the ABB Indus-trial IT architecture as the common umbrella for all development,has faster decision and clarification channels locally and is ableto interact closely during the entire life-cycle of software develop-ment.

ABB’s overseas indentor through this center will be able toascertain the partner company’scompetence profile and accessIndian software vendor’s suitabil-ity matrix, leverage on umbrellaagreements with selected part-ners and bank on the center’sown domain experts for reviewand testing of the softwareproducts.


4.4 Mission 4. AB

B Industrial IT D

evelopment C

enter, Bangalore

4.4.5 Building on established processes and tools

The entire activity chain in the Industrial IT Development Center isbuilt around software development life cycle processes. The focuson process conformity ensures that the activities are consistent,

repeatable and predictable to a largeextent.

The process is scalable from thesimplest form of developmentassignment to the most complexsoftware projects. The softwareengineering process is customized

for ABB’s needs from Rational Unified Process and will be imple-mented in some cases with the rational tools for software engi-neering.

4.4.6 Object Oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD)

One of the areas where the center is expected to pivotal role is toleverage ABB’s domain knowledge to add value in refining theRequirement Specifications and carry-out the System Analysis anddevelopment of software architecture design by using ObjectOriented Analysis and Design methods.

Industrial IT architecture draws heavily from the object orientedapproach. If the object level architecture for the system to bedeveloped is not well conceptualized by visual modeling techniquesand patterns, it would be difficult to standardize the architecturaldesign methodologies across different outsourcing partners, and

the benefits of re-usablecomponents would be few.Therefore the center would followand develop the basic tenets ofIndustrial IT set of objects andmake them available to partners forfurther implementation.


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reThe System Analysis and architecture design starts withidentification of users and use cases. Use case models alsopresent a good benchmark for configuration management, projectplanning, monitoring and control through the iterative phases ofdevelopment.

The Use Case models arerepresented through classdiagrams; sequence and/oractivity diagrams based on UML(Unified Modeling Language)notation. This standard hasbeen adopted by the center inline with current trends in object oriented design.

4.4.7 An iterative approach to software development

The process adopted by the center is an iterative model andfollows an incremental development process, in that the softwareis not released in one big bang for testing at the end of the con-struction phase but is, instead, developed, tested and validatedthrough all the development phases. Projects vary in how much ofthis ceremony they have.

High ceremony projects have a lot of paper deliverables, formalmeetings, and formal sign-offs. Low ceremony projects might havean informal inception phase and limited iteration constructionphase. The process is important in every work that we do. Butapplicability of a component of that process is dependent on thedecision of the project team.

The development process follows four stages:inception, elaboration, construction and transi-tion. The construction phase consists of severaliterations, in which each iteration produces asubset of the requirements of the project. Duringinception, the business rationale for the projectis established and the scope is decided. This isthe stage when the project sponsor approvesand commits to go ahead.


4.4 Mission 4. AB

B Industrial IT D

evelopment C

enter, Bangalore

In elaboration phase, more detailed requirements are elicited todevelop the Use Case model and base line the requirements forchange management. A high level system analysis and design isdone to arrive at the Use Case realization of analysis and designmodels to baseline architecture and create the plan for construction.

The concentration will be on the work necessary to move theproduct from the development environment to end domain , which isthe Transition Phase. This work may include beta testing, paralleloperation with legacy systems, performance Optimization, anduser training.

The work held in abeyance during the development phase may betaken up later for development and scheduled for forthcomingreleases. However the product release at the Transition Phase isbench marked as base line version for life cycle management.


5. T

he A

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Most of the work to be done in the Industrial IT DevelopmentCenter may be categorized under Technology Developmentprojects (TD). These projects evaluate or develop technology to beused in existing or future products and systems of ABB (typicallyin the area ofR&D).

ABB has devel-oped a procedurebased on a gateapproach thatensures projectsare driven bybusiness objec-tives and are executed with full management accountability.

This approach is called the ABB Gate Model.

It structures investments into phases in order to minimize the risk.It also provides defined management checkpoints, called gates,where go/no-go decisions are made.

A gate is a defined point where major business decisions aretaken relevant to a project. Are we ready to proceed and does itmake economic and strategic sense to proceed with the projectwork? This procedure ensures active involvement of managementand that the project work is synchronized and all necessary tasksare completed before the nextstep, e.g. start development orrelease the product, is under-taken.

5 The ABB Gate Model for project delivery


6. Conclusion

5 The ABB Gate Model for project delivery

6 Conclusion

The Execution Layer describes the actual project work and dealswith the processes in the project.

The result is higher transparency in and visibility of projects withinthe organization. The system will also nurture result-orientationwithin the project management teams.

ABB is committed to Industrial IT technology development andultimately create value for the customers, employees, society andshareholders. ABB Corporate Research nurtures the Industrial ITDevelopment Center at Bangalore to deliver customer-orientedIndustrial IT products/ solutions and get higher returns on invest-ment.

The ABB Gate Model is structured in three layers. The businessdecision layer describes the gates themselves and deals with thecommercial viability of projects. The project management layerdescribes the tasks between the gates and deals with the timeschedule of projects.

ABB Industrial IT Development CenterUnit 01, 7th FloorInnovator buildingIternaltional Tech ParkWhitefieldBangalore

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R&D Fact Sheet

> 6,000 scientists and engineers> 10 Corporate Research Centers in Europe and U. S.> 1,000 in Corporate Research Centers

R&D Vision

> Create high return on investments> Develop protected leading positions in technologies and core competencies required for our future growth and profitability> Become the leading R& D organization in our industry

R&D Mission

> Dynamic and vital source for technology based innovation in ABB> Spearhead for technological breakthroughs in ABB-relevant areas> The link between ABB and outside scientific community > Monitoring the most recent developments in the science and technology world outside ABB >The attractive recruiting agent for high calibre technical

R& D Priorities

Result orientationBreakthroughs & innovationStandards & platforms Intellectual propertyExternal co- operation

abb industrial it development center, india€¦ · 2 abb industrial it development center, ......

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