GE Fanuc's upgrade to Proficy puts spotlight on MES
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/1/2005 6:00:00 AM
At its inaugural Discover Series user conference in New Orleans, automation vendor GE Fanuc announced what it is calling a "strategic upgrade" to its Proficy plant-floor software platform. The upgrade places GE Fanuc in the company of other automation vendors that are embracing open standards to facilitate operational data flow throughout the enterprise via manufacturing execution systems (MES).
"Research indicates the most difficult challenges facing manufacturers today are only beginning to be addressed," says Jeff Garwood, president and CEO, GE Fanuc. "A clear outcome of the research is that optimizing existing production operations and standardizing plant IT systems with open solutions are paramount considerations for improving performance."
Michael Blechman, president of Automated Control Concepts, a Neptune, N.J.-based GE systems integrator, says one particular standard is playing an important role.
"ISA S95 is giving MES a context," says Blechman. "It's not a fuzzy concept anymore. It spells out the things we need, the transactions, and the data flows. S95 [establishes] some parameters to design around. That's why MES is starting to get traction."
The Proficy upgrade is the outcome of GE Fanuc's strategy to deliver a standardized production management system. "The industry is ready for standardization in this area, and we intend to be the standard," says Garwood.
Proficy, which is both ISA S88- and S95-compliant, works in a multiplatform, multiproduct environment, thereby easing the notion of having to "rip and replace" production systems. The portfolio includes five layers: programmable control, supervisory control, data historian, MES, and manufacturing portal or dashboard.
Proficy also offers a common database, services, interface, and data model across all its products, including packaged integration between the various layers, and an extended library of tools and published application program interfaces for third-party applications development.
GE Fanuc expects Microsoft BizTalk-based connectors to ERP systems to be available later this year.
"Proficy is open and layered, modular, scalable, and standards-based, [so users] can enter it at any layer," says Harry Merkin, GE Fanuc's commercial marketing director. "They can seamlessly move to the integrated platform as part of a natural migration."
