DeltaV Edge 2.0 Empowers Life Sciences with Easy Batch Data Access

Emerson Automation Experts

For manufacturers in the Life Sciences industry, data is critical in releasing medicines and therapeutics and in their time to market.

Edge computing plays an increasingly important role in the collaboration required between organizations to accelerate the development and manufacturing processes. It enables a safe space outside the control and asset management systems to provide data in a secure way when and where it’s needed, including up to cloud-based applications.

Emerson’s Nikki Bishop and Franz Valmonte join me to discuss innovations in DeltaV Edge 2.0 to help pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers reduce time to market and release times for the medicines and therapeutics they deliver to the world.

Give the podcast a listen and visit the DeltaV Edge and Life Sciences sections on Emerson.com to learn more about how you can apply these solutions to improve overall performance.

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Transcript

Jim: Hi, everyone. I’m Jim Cahill with another Emerson Automation Experts podcast. As technologies advance and enable automation architectures to continue to evolve to help drive greater manufacturing and production performance, the importance of edge computing devices continues to grow.

I’m joined today by Nikki Bishop and Franz Valmonte to discuss advances in the Edge in the DeltaV automation platform for manufacturers in the life sciences. Welcome, Nikki and Franz.

Franz: Hey, Jim.

Nikki: Hey, Jim, thanks for having us.

Jim: Well, thank you for joining us today. So Franz, let me start with you. Let’s start with the big news. What’s new in DeltaV Edge 2.0?

Franz: Well, the biggest update, Jim, is that Edge 2.0 now includes batch events and recipe execution data from DeltaV. So now we’re at a point where we have most of the critical data from DeltaV because, in addition to batch, you also collect the configuration hierarchy and all the properties, the process values, the alarms and events, as well as SIS [safety instrumented system] module data. So now, with batch included, we’re enabling far more use cases for Edge users who typically operate at the enterprise or cloud level.

So, for example, if you have a data analyst or a quality engineer, they’re looking to extract data. They can easily get the details that they need about batch operations, like exactly when a specific batch step was executed or maybe if a deviation occurred, so something like that.

Jim: Wow, that sounds very comprehensive in the type of data that we’re collecting. And Nikki, why is batch data so important in life sciences manufacturing?

Nikki: Well, in any business, time is money, but in life sciences, time is life. And so time to market means getting life-saving therapies to patients faster. And that might sound like trying to link that over to what we do with Edge data, but the faster you can get that data and the less latency you have in the process, the faster you can get those therapies to patients who need them.

So data drives the world right now, and that couldn’t be truer also in life sciences. So unlocking that data with Edge is huge. I think we should have had more fanfare and celebration around Edge 2.0 with the batch data because it unlocks so much more than just data. It’s literally getting life-saving therapies to patients faster.

Jim: Yeah, and I can see how it just opens up the collaboration, the speed of the data, getting a lot of intelligent people looking at it to make better decisions faster. That all sounds really good. So Franz, how does DeltaV Edge make accessing batch data easier for both OT and IT teams?

Franz: I would say there are three keywords here. We provide secure, centralized, and simplified access to contextualize operational data from DeltaV. And that’s in almost real time. And we’re able to stream the data coming from DeltaV through a secure one-way communication. It’s very secure. There’s no way to write back to DeltaV. It does not impact plant operations, and it checks all the cybersecurity boxes.

And the great thing about Edge is that it automatically mirrors the existing DeltaV hierarchy. That means that the data arrives already contextualized. No need to rebuild the hierarchy elsewhere. And the data can also be fed easily to applications, dashboards, your cloud systems, really anywhere where it’s needed. Essentially, your stakeholders at the enterprise level or on the cloud level could gain secure, easy access to the data like batch while maintaining compliance with stringent cybersecurity standards.

Jim: Well, so not only comprehensive, but the way it’s contextualized and everything useful right away. That’s great. So I guess from a regulatory compliance perspective, Nikki, how does this help?

Nikki: I mean, regulatory compliance are huge in life sciences. It’s something that you have to adhere to. There is a process to it. You have to make sure that you can go through auditing. It’s not something that you can fast-track, but what you can fast-track is extracting the data that you need to make those decisions and reach those checkpoints.

Whereas in the past, it’s been, and it still is today, very much a manual effort managing and sorting through batch data to understand what happened, how did this batch go? If there are any deviations, how do you explore those? What Franz just described with simple, contextualized, secure data for life sciences. Again, that’s time, it’s time-saving, it’s ensuring that you actually can reach those regulatory requirements and reach compliance so that you can release that batch out to become medication and treatments for your patients. It is really a game changer when we talk about that contextualized data being readily available in a secure fashion.

Jim: Yeah, that seems like it would really aid regulatory compliance efforts. I guess now that we understand a little bit more what DeltaV Edge is about, Franz, can you give an example of how a life sciences company could use DeltaV Edge 2.0 to improve operations?

Franz: Sure, Jim. I would say, let’s say you have a quality engineer who needs to investigate a batch deviation, like an unexpected temperature alarm. Instead of waiting for manual reports, they can now immediately pull the batch event details, such as they know exactly when the alarm was triggered, the related batch step, and all the associated process values. That essentially speeds up the entire investigation, and that lets them resolve all the issues faster and keep their operations running smoothly.

Jim: Yeah, it seems like if you can make course corrections as you’re going, it could save on a wasted batch and other things. So that’s pretty powerful there. Nikki, how does real-time batch data access improve decision-making?

Nikki: I mean, you said the scary word there, like, running a batch or losing a batch. That’s absolutely what we try to avoid. And so having access to that data so that you can work through deviations before they become an issue for your batch is huge because if you wait until something happens, there’s a good chance you’re going to have to scrap the batch and start over. And that could be months and months of effort that’s gone into that. And so having access to that data to monitor and be proactive. It’s moving from being reactive to being proactive. And now that that data is available in a secure, simple, contextualized way to get to it, it means you can actually monitor those in real time now and not just wait for that adverse situation to happen.

Jim: That seems like just being able to deal with it immediately is such an important thing that it can help with. Now, I guess as we turn to kind of looking at the enterprise side of the fence, how does DeltaV Edge simplify integration with enterprise applications and analytics platforms, Franz?

Franz: Right now, Jim, we’re using the most common industrial interfaces. We’re using OPC UA, which we’re all familiar with as well as REST API, which a lot of these analytical tools that you’d want to use, like Power BI, Tableau, Excel, you name it are able to connect to. And that’s just the beginning. We’re going to be adding more protocols and data access mechanism. But essentially, we’re providing easy way to have access to the data. It’s pretty straightforward for an enterprise user to integrate their DeltaV data into their cloud platforms, their business intelligence tools, and their AI and ML models. They already have the data, they have an easy way to access it, and they don’t have to worry about how it would impact their operations because it’s read-only.

Jim: I think, and having that AI models be able to help grind through really large data sources to offer suggestions and that kind of thing seems really powerful there. So, Nikki, is it just for engineers, or does it benefit other teams too?

Nikki: Absolutely not just for engineers. When you think about DeltaV…and I was a controls engineer for many years, so I know the power of the data that lives within DeltaV. We’ve now unlocked that data for the rest of the enterprise. Whether it’s a data scientist, a quality engineer, Ph.D. student doing research and pulling out insights, having that data available in an easy, secure fashion lets your experts be the expert. They can be the expert in analytics, at deriving insights. They can be the experts at looking across the enterprise data to understand some of the maybe golden batch modeling, but they don’t have to worry about figuring out how to find the data or, to Franz’s point earlier, to manually contextualize. That’s done. We give them the tools that they need in an easy way to get to it and let the experts be the experts, whether they’re quality or regulatory or controls or analytics engineers. It’s really an exciting advancement for us.

Jim: And I’m sure the OT guys are excited that they’re not getting themselves into the control side of it, trying to pull this data out. They’re more in a safer area to work with that, so they can really do the things they need to do. So how does this support digital transformation initiatives in the life sciences, Nikki?

Nikki: As we move towards that agile, adaptive plant I think, and we’ve all looked through the models of going from 1 to 5 and those levels. This is a critical enabler for that. You mentioned IT and OT teams. I think any of us who’ve been in this space for any time period know how hard it can be just to get your IT and OT teams to talk to one another.

Edge is that bridge. It not only bridges the culture of an IT team and the culture of an OT team, but it gives them that safe space to collaborate, and that’s critical for digital transformation. AI and agentic AI and all the things that are popping up are only as good as the data that serves them. And so you have to have the IT-OT coordination, Edge data, and have that available in a contextualized way to really move the needle. And we’re there now. We’re there now.

We just got to get the parties talking to one another, using the data, and like I said, let the experts be the experts, and we could start moving. I think we’ve worked through a lot of that over the last 5 to 10 years of what does that safe space look like? How do you get IT and OT to agree on that? And Edge is a key enabler in that.

Jim: Tt’s kind of putting them on a nice, neutral area in there where they can actually collaborate without going into each other’s turfs deeply or anything like that. So that’s a great thing. So I’ve heard so far the comprehensive nature, the fact that it’s contextualized, the fact that a lot of different audiences or roles can get at it and look at different ways to help advance there, and just the way it helps provide collaboration. So I guess, looking ahead, Franz, what’s next for DeltaV Edge?

Franz: Well, Jim, I’m pretty excited to share that we are going to be launching our first Emerson-developed Edge app. The app is called the Edge Explorer, and we’re going to be launching it this month. Essentially, it’s going to be the main data interface for accessing DeltaV data on Edge. Essentially, for the first release, our users could navigate their DeltaV configuration hierarchy, just like in DeltaV Explorer. That’s where the name came from.

But in addition to that, they can also analyze their process trends, monitor their alarms and events. And we’re caching a lot of time series data on Edge. Edge Explorer is a way for them to easily export all of that into CSV. If they want to do further data manipulation, scripting, and what have you it’s a lot easier. But in future releases for this app, we’ll also include batch review capabilities, as well as process correlation, which is pretty important for a lot of our life science customers. It’s going to grow into a powerful tool over time.

And in the second app that we’re going to be releasing, and a lot of our customers are pretty excited about this, is DeltaV Live on Edge. And this is coming in July. This will bring all the DeltaV Live displays access beyond the control room. You could have a secure, read-only web access from any device without requiring any of your typical configuration, conversion that you’re doing with a third-party web display. This is more straightforward. You get exactly the graphics on Level 4, or on the cloud, wherever you want it.

And beyond these, AI is also a key part of our long-term strategy. We want to empower our users to query, analyze, and gain insights from their DeltaV configuration and process data using natural language. It’s like a chat assistant that understands a DeltaV model.

Jim: Well, that’s really powerful. You’re taking what before you had to go into the system for, all the Explorer information, being able to export that, the Live, being able to see what the operator sees in a safe, read-only environment. That’s really cool. And then, of course, AI-powered assistance. I’m amazed every day at how it can grind through huge amounts of data and distill it down, and offer some recommendations here and there. Just powerful technology.

I guess, Nikki, if a customer is interested, what’s the best way to get started with DeltaV Edge 2.0?

Nikki: The best way is to reach out to your Emerson sales representative, and they can connect you with more. And if you don’t know who your Emerson sales representative is, I’ll offer myself and Franz, who can also make sure that you get connected to the right people. Yeah. We are ready. We’re ready with this technology and look forward to people getting involved.

Jim: Yeah. And I’ll put some links to the Contact Us section of the website where they can go. And, of course, links, right, to your LinkedIn so they can reach out directly to you there or send you an email or whatever. So I guess in closing, for you both, any final thoughts that you’d like to leave with our listeners?

Franz: I can start. So just want to say that if you’ve been waiting for a reliable way to collect and use your batch data from DeltaV, Edge 2.0 delivers exactly that. We’ve built Edge to be the stable, scalable, and easy-to-implement solution. Yeah, just want to say that now’s the perfect time to take advantage of it.

Nikki: I agree with that, Franz. And I’ll also say DeltaV was purpose-built for life sciences many years ago. And we’ve taken that same mindset when we look at the data that we’re pulling, the batch data that we’re pulling into Edge. And so if you’re in life sciences and you’re on this digital transformation path that we all are, and you’re thinking, “Data’s a little bit scary, I’m not sure where it sits or how it sits or how it serves my life sciences group,” Emerson’s developed solutions that are purpose-built for life sciences. It’s a great time to move forward with Edge and unlock that data so that, again, your experts can be your experts, and we can take care of making that data available to them.

Jim: Yeah, where data is life sciences, probably more than any other industry, data is everything in what you’re manufacturing. But even if you came across this podcast, not in life sciences, that’s a lot of benefit to be able to get all that information that was previously down inside the control system that was closely guarded because you can’t just let anyone down into it. To have the Edge and this solution sounds tremendous.

And I guess finally, so where can our listeners go to learn more?

Franz: So yeah, Jim, our listeners can visit Emerson.com/DeltaVEdge. That’s our product page if they want to learn more.

Jim: That’s great. And I’ll add a link in the transcript to that. Well, Nikki, Franz, I want to thank you both so much for spending some time with us today and sharing your expertise with our listeners. Thank you so much.

Franz: Thanks again, Jim, for having us. It’s really been a great pleasure.

Nikki: Yeah, great to be here.

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