2.1 Equipment Connectivity Playbook

A disconnected machine is a black hole in your production line. You cannot improve what you cannot measure, and manual data entry is just a digitized guess. The goal of connectivity is High-Fidelity Telemetry: capturing the machine's state, throughput, and process variables in real-time to drive automated decisions.

Protocol Strategy: The Connectivity Pyramid

Do not reinvent the wheel. Use standard manufacturing protocols. Custom drivers are technical debt that will bankrupt your maintenance team.

1. The Gold Standard: IPC-CFX (IPC-2591)

• Use for: SMT lines, modern electronics assembly, THT.
• Why: It is plug-and-play. The data structure is predefined (SDK driven). No tag mapping required.
• Rule: If buying new equipment → Then "Native IPC-CFX Support" is a mandatory requirement in the RFQ.

2. The Universal Translator: OPC-UA

• Use for: PLCs (Siemens, Beckhoff), Injection Molding (Euromap 77), CNC (Umati).
• Why: Secure, semantic, and firewall-friendly.
• Requirement: Enforce encryption (Basic256Sha256) and User Authentication. Anonymous login is forbidden.

3. The Legacy Adapters: SECS/GEM & MTConnect

• Use for: Semiconductor front-end (SECS/GEM) or older CNCs (MTConnect).
• Constraint: Requires an Edge Gateway to translate "Chatty" SECS messages into JSON/MQTT for the MES.

4. The Last Resort: Modbus / Digital I/O

• Use for: Ancient conveyers, pumps, towers lights.
• Constraint: Data is context-free (just bits). Requires heavy logic on the Edge to interpret.

Step-by-Step Onboarding Procedure

Follow this strict sequence to bring a machine online. Do not skip steps; "partial connectivity" creates corrupt data.

Step 1: Protocol Selection & Physical Connection

• Identify the controller type and available ports.
• Isolate on the Level 0-2 Control VLAN.
• Test: Can you ping the machine from the Edge Gateway? If No → Check Firewall/Subnet.

Step 2: Time Synchronization (NTP)

Data without accurate time is useless for genealogy.

• Requirement: Point the machine's clock to the local Stratum-2 NTP Server.
• Validation: Monitor "Clock Skew".
• Rule: If Skew > 500ms → Then Flag data as "Suspect" and trigger Warning.

Step 3: Data Dictionary & Tag Mapping

A raw PLC tag named DB1.DBX0.1 is meaningless to a Data Analyst. You must normalize data at the edge.

• Naming Convention: Category.Asset.Variable (e.g., Oven.Zone1.ActualTemp).
• Unit Standardization: Convert all values to SI Units (Celcius, Bar, mm/s).
• Boolean Logic: Map 1/0 to Running/Stopped or Pass/Fail explicitly.

Step 4: Identity Binding (The "Context" Step)

Telemetry is noise unless linked to a Product.

• Requirement: The machine must know what it is building.
• Method:
  1. Operator scans Barcode (Start Event).
  2. MES sends Unit_ID to Machine Register.
  3. Machine attaches Unit_ID to all process logs.
• Validation: If Unit_ID is null → Then Discard process data or log to "Unknown Bucket".

Step 5: Buffering Strategy (Store-and-Forward)

Networks blink. Servers patch. The machine must never stop recording.

• Edge Requirement: The Gateway must buffer data locally (SQLite/Disk).
• Logic:
  • If Uplink is Active → Stream Real-time.
  • If Uplink Fails → Queue messages (FIFO).
  • If Uplink Restores → Drain Queue (maintain chronological order).
  • Capacity: Minimum 24 hours of local buffer required.

Data Validation Rules

Trust, but verify. Ingesting bad data poisons your AI/ML models.

• Range Checks: If Temperature > 2000˚C (Sensor broken) → Then Replace value with NULL or Quality=Bad. Do not record physics-defying numbers.
• Stale Data: If value has not changed in 60 minutes (and machine is Running) → Then Trigger "Sensor Frozen" Alert.
• Duplicate IDs: If Serial_Number appears on two machines simultaneously → Then Trigger "Cloned Unit" Security Alert.

Pro-Tip: Don't just log "Errors." Log "State Changes." Knowing a machine was in "Starved" state (waiting for parts) is distinct from "Down" state (broken).

Final Checklist

Category	Metric / Control	Threshold / Rule
Protocol	Modernity	New machines must support IPC-CFX or OPC-UA.
Time	Accuracy	NTP Sync Active; Max Skew < 500ms.
Mapping	Semantic Meaning	100% of Tags mapped to Data Dictionary (English names).
Context	Product ID	Every process result linked to a Serial Number.
Resilience	Buffer	Edge Gateway holds ≥ 24 hours of data.
Integrity	Limits	Out-of-Range values filtered/flagged at source.
Security	Auth	OPC-UA uses Basic256Sha256 + User/Pass (No Anonymous).