Samples of Work Done over the Past Few Years
Print and Web Articles - Top
Hooking Up Industrial Systems To The Smart Grid
Today, We Are In One Of The Earliest Phases, An Instrumentation Phase Adding The Ability To Assess Power Utilization In Real-Time. The Majority Of Federal Stimulus Money Earmarked For The Smart Grid Is Being Used To Enhance Power Monitoring With Smart Meters That Can Be Read Remotely And In Real-Time...
Machine to Machine and Machine to Enterprise Communications is the Next Step to Improving Performance
Companies are working on the next levels of performance and competitive differentiation. With most processes in the plant under supervision by HMI/SCADA, the next step is in vertical integration with business systems. But there may be another area of improvement, difficult to achieve in the past, but being made easier today through new technologies. That area is Machine to Machine (M2M) communications, the integration of information from one machine to another, in real-time, for the purpose of better coordination of processes...
Smart Grid
When you say the term SmartGrid, you could be talking about any number of applications and technologies. After all, SmartGrid is simply the concept of utilizing power (the Grid) more efficiently. This means managing loads smartly to remove excess demand. It means managing Generation to create power as cost effectively as possible. It means transmitting power to where it is needed with as little loss as possible...
SNMP: SOLUTION TO INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEMS KNOWN AND UNKNOWN!
What is the most important thing on the mind of a manufacturing professional? Most discussions involve two areas - improving manufacturing performance and reducing downtime. There are many solutions available to assist with both. Simple Network Management Protocol is a major resource says Kepware's Roy Kok.
A FOCUS ON INTEGRATION with the business systems can improve real-time aspects of production management. A similar focus on better production analytics can squeeze additional performance out of the equipment you are monitoring. Both identify and resolve areas of production stress, items that affect reliability of the manufacturing equipment. These are all valuable pursuits and they will, no doubt, deliver improvements in production and profitability...
IT Device Monitoring Helps Support Automation Efficiency
In 2004, a Patent was issued for the first Industrial SNMP Driver to deliver a, "System and method for integrating process control and network management." What does that mean? Quite simply, all the IT (Information Technology) that is used as the glue in an automation system can be integrated with automation systems – the HMI and SCADA systems that perform the monitoring, control, alarming and historization of processes...
5 Issues to Keep in Mind When Purchasing Communications for the Smart Grid
There are several smart grid initiatives including home-to-grid (H2G), building-to-grid (B2G) and industry-to-grid (I2G). These all require varying levels of connectivity, either through new protocols or by leveraging legacy protocols and products.
1. Wireless communications with smart meters. Several phases lead to the new world of the smart grid. We are in one of the earliest phases, an instrumentation phase adding the ability to assess power use in real time. The majority of stimulus money earmarked for the smart grid is being used to enhance power monitoring with smart meters that can be read remotely and in real time. This requires enhanced communications. While there is no single smart grid protocol, there are ranges of protocols that can and are applied to smart grid applications...OPC UA technology enables greater interoperability
The automation industry is increasingly faced with the challenges of tighter integration, improved security and high speed interactions. These requirements are leading to the development of Smart Grid communications, outsourced services, cloud computing and similar distributed applications. With designers swimming in technology offerings, specialists can provide a competitive edge. Firms need to allow specialists to participate in their operations, and more and more frequently, these specialists are coming in the form of outsourced services.
Today's market demands greater collaboration at every level, both with-in the enterprise and among companies. Thus, technology should augment traditional Business to Busienss (B2B) communications by enabling systems to interact in real time, providing security appropriate for the cyber world we live in, and leveraging the latest standards for data exchange...
Will Your Network Be There When You Need It?
Two of the most important issues on manufacturing professionals' minds are improving manufacturing performance and reducing downtime. Fortunately, an array of solutions is available to help with both of these goals. You can focus on integrating your plant-floor data with your business systems to improve real-time aspects of production management. You also can focus on better production analytics to squeeze additional performance out of the equipment you're monitoring. Both identify and resolve areas of production stress — factors that impact your manufacturing equipment reliability. To calculate savings from these activities effectively, quantify your cost of downtime per machine, per line, per plant area, etc. Only then will you really clearly know the return on your investments (ROI)...
Remote Communications Enhanced by New Software Interoperability Standards
The petrochemical industry, along with others involving remote operations, have requirements for communications that go above and beyond those with in-plant only communications. While today's interoperability standards can address many of communication requirements effectively, improvements are needed to deliver a broader level of support. These needs are being met by the latest OPC interoperability standard, OPC-UA. But first, what are the critical to quality needs for this industry? They fall into several categories: security, data architectures and performance....
Data Sheets- Top
Kepware's KEPServerEX with new Analysis and Connectivity Plug-ins is designed specifically for Oracle customers.
Today's businesses demand higher throughput, intelligent scheduling, reduced inventories and information automation to reduce errors and enhance productivity. This can only be accomplished by connecting your manufacturing automation systems with enterprise business systems. Oracle has selected Kepware specifically for this purpose. Oracle business and operations management solutions can be connected, in real-time, with equipment and operations on the plant floor, by leveraging Kepware's suite of communication products combined with analytic and connectivity tools tailored for Oracle business solution products. These products include the Oracle MES (Manufacturing Execution System) and the Oracle MOC (Manufacturing Operation Center)...
Cisco Products Monitored with Kepware's Industrial SNMP
The automation marketplace uses HMI (Human Machine Interface) and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems to monitor and manage all automation processes. These processes are based on increasingly complex networking infrastructures using Cisco products. Kepware's Industrial SNMP, a communications solution based on automation industry standards, enables Cisco products to be monitored in real-time, integrated with the HMI and SCADA systems, processes and personnel that automation users already have in place...
Tunneling and Secure Data Transfer via OPC UA Clients and Servers
In 2009, the OPC Foundation released its next generation interoperability standard, named OPC UA (Unified Architecture). This technology delivers the latest capabilities in Automation Data Transfer and addresses the need for highly secure, cross platform communications , the transmission of Information = Data + Context, and unifies the earlier specifications of OPC into one interface for all forms of information, Data Access, Alarms and Events and Historic Data Access. KEPServerEX version 5.2 and greater delivers OPC UA server capability in addition to the existing OPC DA, OPC AE and Native interfaces it has delivered in the past. In addition, KEPServerEX 5.2 and greater delivers an Optional OPC UA Client (delivered in the form of a driver). The Combination of an OPC UA
Client and UA Server within KEPServerEX enables a host of new capabilities previously unavailable in the automation marketplace...
Wikipedia Articles - Top
Appliances in Industrial Automation
The world of automation has been rich in appliances. These appliances have been hardened to withstand temperature and vibration extremes. These appliances are also highly configurable, enabling customization to meet a wide variety of applications. The key benefits of an appliance in automation are:
1. Reduced Downtime - An failed appliance is typically replaced with a COTS "Commercial Off The Shelf" replacement and it's task is quickly and easily reloaded from a backup.
2. Highly Scalable - Appliances are typically targeted solutions for an area of a plant or process. As the requirements change, scalability is achieved through the installation of another appliance. Automation concepts are easily replicated throughout the enterprise by standardizing on appliances to perform the needed tasks, as opposed to the development of custom automation
schemes for each task...
Enterprise appliance transaction module
An Enterprise Appliance Transaction Module (EATM) is a device, typically used in the manufacturing automation marketplace, for the transfer of plant floor equipment and product status to Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and the like. Solutions that deliver manufacturing floor integration have evolved over time. Initially they took the form of custom integrated systems, designed and delivered by System Integrators. These solutions were largely based on separate Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) products that a System Integrator acquired and integrated into the custom solution...
Wikipedia Article on Enterprise Appliance Transaction Modules
Press Releases - Top
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White Papers - Top
101+ Reasons to Move Forward to iFIX!
As our valued customer, you should be taking advantage of the best and latest technologies we have to offer. Proficy HMI/SCADA – iFIX* 4.5 is our most powerful iFIX application ever, with a wealth of new features and integration opportunities that can take your production operations to the next level of quality and efficiency.
If you're a member of our GlobalCare Complete Support program, an upgrade is simply a phone call away. If not, then GE Fanuc offers many programs that can allow you to quickly and easily migrate to our latest technology at a very affordable price. Simply put, if you haven't seen your system with iFIX 4.5, you haven't seen your system at its best. Here are 101+ great reasons to move forward…
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Success Stories - Top
Arizona State University Gets Greener Through Visibility
As the old adage says, if you don't measure it, you can't control it. That is the undamental principle behind Arizona State University's energy monitoring system. ASU takes it one large step further – they show it off to the world. http://cm.asu.edu/ Energy costs are a major factor in Arizona, both in the summer and the winter. ASU is the equivalent of a small city, with a population of 69,000. In our world of Greener Thinking, Universities play an important role in educating the citizens of the future. ASU takes this responsibility very seriously.
ASU has been a long time proponent of Greener Thinking and has taken steps in many areas, from 1.3 Megawatts of Photo Voltaic Panels to generate supplemental AC Power to running their own 7 Megawatt power plant for the generation of Electric Power. In addition, the Tempe Campus runs two Chilled Water Plants to assist in the cooling of their various campus buildings. All this energy use is made visible through the use of ASU's Energy Information System and a Campus Metabolism website...
Improving Data Center Efficiency Means Talking to Everything
The mission critical environment of a data center for Fortune 50 financial companies requires the highest degree of infrastructure reliability. Thousands of computers use large quantities of electricity, creating lots of heat that as a result takes more power to extract and keep the data center cool - and operating efficiently.
Caspian Technology Concepts, headquartered in Milwaukee Wisconsin, is in the business of designing, building, monitoring and maintaining exactly this type of data center for one of their customers in the financial industry. A recent project required updating the automation system that monitors and controls a 20,000 square foot facility. This space houses over 100 server cabinets, each of which can be using upwards of 3,000 watts...
American Ingenuity is Alive and Well. Briggs and Stratton develops an OEE solution without breaking the budget
Briggs and Stratton, the world's leading manufacturer of air-cooled engines, was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, WI. Their brands include Ferris, Simplicity, Snapper, Giant Vac, and Murray and today, Briggs and Stratton owns 60 - 70% market share. As with most manufacturers, quality and efficiency in manufacturing is high on the watch list.
Briggs and Stratton has a number of manufacturing facilities with different processes for manufacturing. Some production lines have dedicated production; others change over due to seasonal or demand fluctuations. In all cases however, performance is crucial and Briggs and Stratton has chosen to use OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) as one of their standard KPIs (Key Performance Indicator)...
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