• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to footer

Technologies.org

Technology Trends: Follow the Money

  • Sponsored Post
    • Make a Contribution
  • Technology Events 2022-2023
  • Technology Domains
  • Technology Markets
  • Venture Capital
  • Contact
    • About

Cybernization of American Manufacturing: The Path Forward for Global Leadership

September 26, 2019 By Technologies.org Leave a Comment

The following is an opinion-editorial provided by Howard Grimes, associate vice president for institutional initiatives at The University of Texas at San Antonio, and Peter Koudal, senior research scientist of GE Research at General Electric Company.

By investing in digital and smart manufacturing, the U.S. can lead the world in manufacturing productivity, energy efficiency and innovation. But we must do so in a cyber secure manner. The challenge is enormous and the complexity of cybersecurity grows bigger every day with the explosion of digital linkages between manufacturers, suppliers, customers and employees along with the digitization of products and services. Digitization directly leads to increased energy efficiency, productivity, overall equipment efficiency and cost savings throughout the supply chain. Digital communication is critical for this smart manufacturing ecosystem, but our current legacy internet infrastructure – ARPANET, the precursor to the internet is 50 years old this year – was never designed with security in mind. Consequently, digitization of automation and manufacturing supply chains expands existing cyber-attack surfaces and creates new ones every minute of every day. We need to rethink the economics of cybersecurity and how we build cyber systems for the future of manufacturing.

According to Cisco Systems, the number of nodes in the Internet is expected to reach 50 billion by 2020, including humans, machines, devices, companies and government agents. Because each new node potentially exposes all network participants to cyber risks, essentially, the risk of the network correlates with the number of nodes in the network. This is what we posit is the other side of the coin to Metcalfe’s law, which states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system. Indeed, these attack surfaces across the network are of great interest to adversarial nation states and other threat agents as vehicles to damage our economy; destroy our energy, communications and logistics infrastructure; disrupt our manufacturing supply chains; and harm our soldiers and citizens. The 2019 President’s Budget includes $15 billion for cybersecurity, representing an increase of more than 4% in a single year. According to William Evanina, Director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, “The U.S. loses $400B a year due to IP, trade secrets, and other data thefts.”

We must fundamentally change our approach to cybersecurity and develop a new business model that enables a secure digital transformation to propel America to the forefront of manufacturing competitiveness. The new cyber secure paradigm must leverage emerging digital and economic tools to drive security and trust in cyber space. New digital technologies, such as pervasive cloud computing, peer-to-peer computing, advanced mobile networks (e.g. 5G networks), distributed networking and storage, secure distributed ledgers, crypto contracts, quantum key distribution, and trusted identity keys and digital passports are increasingly available for industrial applications at cost points significantly lower than those of legacy technologies. Enabling new microeconomic models with dramatically lower transaction costs will drive positive alignment of the actions of humans and machines with cybersecurity and business goals. These technologies enable the design of new cyber-secure architecture and systems that lead to newfound innovation in manufacturing supply chains while dramatically lowering system and transaction costs.

In this new world of cyber-secure manufacturing innovation, all participants in cyber systems (humans, machine tools, robots, network operators, companies, government agencies, etc.) can become economic participants in designing, implementing and operating a more secure cyber world.

The U.S. Department of Energy has recognized both the economic reality of current cybersecurity models and the growing cyber threat in this new world of digital manufacturing. They have asked nothing less than to rally to a common vision to create a cybersecurity approach and architecture that will unleash American manufacturing innovation for decades. A new cyber architecture must be industry-driven and result in a suite of methods, standards and tools that are rooted in the concept that everything in the manufacturing supply chain has a unique authentic identity, addresses the comprehensive landscape of complex vulnerabilities, and that can be economically implemented in a wide array of specific machines and environments. We must design systems of systems where cybersecurity is no longer a dreaded cost of doing business but a productive investment to drive growth and profitability in digital manufacturing. Achieving this new vision of digital manufacturing also requires a cyber-savvy work force. It is well known in the cybersecurity world that amateurs attack systems while professionals attack people. The “human in the loop” needs to become a cyber asset instead of a cyber risk. This new cyber architecture can create new job opportunities for tens of thousands of people. Not only are new jobs created but they are in exciting and vibrant innovative work environments as opposed to the iron foundry that one of us worked in as a young adult.

Related

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: Cybernization, digitization

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Infinitum Electric Raises $80M in Series D Funding Led by Riverstone Holdings to Scale Production of Sustainable Motors
  • Introducing IonQ Forte, Improving Quantum Performance with a Software-Configurable Dynamic Laser System
  • Cloudflare Unveils New SQL Database Offering
  • Cloudflare announces Workers for Platforms
  • Intel is rolling out new processors designed for data centers
  • EU moves to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels
  • A New Hydrogen-Powered Behemoth
  • BAE Systems to Bring Next-Generation Electric Drive System to Heavy-Duty Industrial Vehicle Market
  • MEMS Speakers Are Replacing Balanced Armature Speakers
  • Trends in data and analytics

Media Partners

  • VPNW
  • S3H
  • OPINT
  • Press Media Release
  • OSINT
  • Digital Market
  • Briefly

Media Partners

  • Technology Conferences
  • Event Sharing Network
  • Defense Conferences
  • Cybersecurity Events
  • Event Calendar
  • Calendarial
  • Opinion
  • Venture Capital

Copyright © 2015 Technologies.org

Technologies, Market Analysis & Market Research Reports

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT