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The Open Group Open Process Automation™ Forum Launches First Business Guide

Guide Aids Industrial Manufacturers to Transition to Standards-based, Open, Interoperable, and Secure Architecture for Industrial Control Systems

San Francisco, CA – February 13, 2018: The Open Group Open Process Automation™ Forum has launched the Open Process Automation™ Business Guide - Value Proposition and Business Case for the Open Process Automation Standard. The publication, coming so soon after the Forum officially launched in January 2017, details the value and business case for the development of the Open Process Automation™ Standard, and was written by principal authors in the Forum from ExxonMobil, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Merck, and Schneider Electric.  Additional contributors are from Accenture, AspenTech, BASF, CMC Associates, Curtiss-Wright, DuPont, Enterprise Transformation Partners, Georgia Pacific, Koch Industries, Royal Dutch Shell, and Siemens.

Aimed at helping industrial manufacturers increase productivity and customer satisfaction, the Forum will define standards for an open, interoperable, secure process automation architecture. The Business Guide expresses the motivation and vision for this architecture as a business imperative for both users and suppliers of industrial control systems.

The Business Guide outlines an ecosystem of end users, system integrators, hardware and software suppliers, and service providers. It defines how the business models of current stakeholders will be impacted by open interoperability and answers questions about the value propositions for buyers and sellers.

In addition, it outlines a spectrum of business scenarios for the current state of industrial control system use and the future state where Open Process Automation conformant systems will be used, including in continuous process industries such as oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, food and beverage, mining and minerals, chemicals, and technology.

“This publication is a fundamental next step for us in driving the development of a framework and a ‘standard of standards’ for how process automation is achieved,” said Ed Harrington, Director of The Open Group Open Process Automation Forum. “This initiative aims to deliver real-world benefits to a range of different vertical industries in response to the demand for standards, and we are excited to have built the business framework for success of both buyers and sellers in this area.”

Don Bartusiak, Chief Engineer at ExxonMobil Research & Engineering, added, “ExxonMobil believes that industry standards based on an equitable business framework and sustained by effective conformance certification are keys to achieving our business goals for the process automation systems we need to be competitive in the era of digitalization. This three-part process –consensus-based standards, defined business framework, and conformance certification from the outset – are distinguishing characteristics of The Open Group that we will employ to produce useful and timely standards. The Open Process Automation Forum’s first major deliverable, the Business Guide, articulates the value proposition and business case for all stakeholders. Its words are the business framework. They set the tone for the constructive transformation that we member companies of the Forum are striving for.”

“As a proud member of the Open Process Automation Forum, we were pleased to take part in the creation of this Business Guide and we congratulate all our members for achieving this important landmark,” said Trevor Cusworth, Senior Client Executive, Schneider Electric. “The Business Guide is a major step forward and an indication of the great momentum building behind this critical industry initiative. Our customers are under increasing pressure to lower the costs related to their control systems while improving the profitability of their operations. Closed, proprietary control systems make it more difficult to achieve these financial objectives because they are expensive to operate, upgrade and maintain, and they are difficult to integrate with third-party offers. That’s why many of our customers support a standards-based, open process control framework. The Open Process Automation Forum is driving the development of these standards, and this new Business Guide explains exceptionally well the value open-standards control will provide to end users, suppliers and integrators alike.”

Please download the Business Guide here.

The current Open Process Automation Forum Member List can be found here.

The new Open Process Automation Forum Information Sheet is available through The Open Group Library

All industrial control system stakeholder companies – end users, system integrators, hardware and software suppliers, and service providers – are encouraged to join the Open Process Automation Forum. Learn more about the Forum here.

 

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About The Open Group Open Process Automation Forum

The Open Process Automation Forum is an international Forum of end users, system integrators, suppliers, academia, and other standards organizations working together to develop a standards-based, open, secure, and interoperable process control architecture.

Open Process Automation is a trademark of The Open Group.

About The Open Group

The Open Group is a global consortium that enables the achievement of business objectives through technology standards. Our diverse membership of more than 585 organizations includes customers, systems and solutions suppliers, tool vendors, integrators, academics, and consultants across multiple industries. Further information on The Open Group can be found at www.opengroup.org.

 

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