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What is the Remote Access Workgroup?
The Covid-19 crisis has pushed manufacturers to actively develop plans for “lights out” factories and supply chains. A recent survey conducted by PMMI shows that 92% of respondents working at CPGs cannot use their existing remote access capabilities due to cybersecurity concerns. The study further noted that 36% of respondents listed that there is no practical guide to help start as their top barrier to adding new remote access service.
OMAC (The Organization for Machine Automation and Control) believes a collaborative review is needed to create a comprehensive best-practices handbook for remote monitoring services that will help manufacturing companies allow secure remote access to machines and automation systems on the plant floor.
This Workgroup focuses on timing, safety, and security procedures when allowing inbound connections that link to specific machines and automation systems. This work is essential because inbound connections are more complex and hold more risk than the more common outbound connections.
Workgroup Agenda:
All workgroup members will meet virtually for 45 minutes every 14 days starting this September. The agenda for each meeting will be agreed upon by the group; it will be specific and targeted towards the common goal of establishing an industry standard of broad acceptance.
| 9 Sep | Introduction, Agenda Review |
| 23 Sep | Current State and Stakeholders of Remote Access |
| 7 Oct | Collaboration with IT |
| 21 Oct | Classification of Activities |
| 4 Nov | Validation of Assets being Connected |
| 18 Nov | Methodologies to engage beyond one-to-one |
| 2 Dec | Security and Safety, Documentation and Change Management |
| 16 Dec | Review of Draft Report |
| 13 Jan | Final Report Approval |
How will it work?
- In order to be extremely efficient and reduce the burden on the members the Workgroup, there will be a core group of experts that will organize the information collected and create summary material to be sent to the members for review and editing.
Companies that attend:
This workgroup will be comprised of an ecosystem of End Users from major manufacturing companies, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), System Integrators and Vendors of Automation Equipment.
- End Users
- OEMs
- System Integrators
- Automation Vendors
already participating...
End-Users:
- Cargill
- Dole Vegetables
- Frito Lay – Pepsico
- Kroger
- Nestle
- P&G
- Sonoco
OEMs:
- Durr USA
- ITW Hartness
- Nordson Corporation
- Mettler Toledo
- Milacron
- ProMach
- Trola Industries
- Omnicon
SIs & Vendors:
- Avanceon
- Beckhoff
- CIPA GmbH
- EtherCAT Technology Group
- Grantek
- Martin CSI
- Omnicon
- Outlier Automation
- Rovisys
- Trola Industries
- SAGE
- SICK
- Siemens
What's in it for you?
You will be publicly recognized as a contributor and therefore a leader in remote access technology
You have the opportunity to make your point of view heard and reflected in the industry standard
You will be first to have access to workgroup results
Recognizing ei3’s 20-year history in providing secure remote access to its clients, OMAC has selected ei3 to head up the workgroup.
Mark Fondl, ei3 V.P. of Product Management – Remote Access and President of ICT Global
Mark will be representing ei3 as the workgroup team leader. He has more than 40 years of experience in industrial automation and networking and is also the founder of Network Vision, which developed the IntraVUE Software – acquired by Panduit in 2015.
Interested?
To join the workgroup, you’ll need to join OMAC.
If you are already an OMAC member, you can join the workgroup by reaching out to Mark Fondl at mark.fondl@ei3.com.
To join OMAC, simply fill out the membership application at this link: https://omac.org/membership/become-a-corporate-member/ and an OMAC representative will contact you.
We are excited about the future of remote access and are excited to welcome you all online in September!
