Solutions Spotlight
This month: Supervisory control systems
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/1/2004 7:00:00 AM
Wonderware releases Industrial Application Server 2.0
Wonderware says its Industrial Application Server software, built on Invensys' ArchestrA software architecture, helps companies cut engineering costs and improve total cost of ownership using highly scalable distributed processing and cost-effective redundancy functions. Customers reportedly have seen reduced engineering times of up to 70 percent in projects.
Says Product Manager Steve Garbrecht, "Wonderware delivers one of the broadest industrial application software offerings while focusing on the lowest total cost of ownership. This makes engineers' lives more productive, whether they have a discrete, continuous process; a distributed SCADA automation application; or a plantwide integration/plant intelligence application. The ArchestrA architecture on which the Industrial Application Server was built was designed with scalability in mind."
After six months, 300 ABB System 800xA sold
ABB's IndustrialIT System 800xA has been widely embraced by customers in varied process industries since its introduction earlier this year, the company says. During the first six months of release, more than 300 systems have been sold to customers worldwide.
System 800xA offers new and existing ABB customers a better way to achieve measurable productivity and profitability improvements, extending the scope of traditional control systems to include all automation functions in a single environment. Specifically, the system has the capability to tailor information content and format it to the user's job function, facilitating faster navigation, assimilation, and decision-making.
"The automation user community has reacted very favorably to the introduction of System 800xA," says Bob Hausler, a company VP. "Both new and existing ABB customers are using it to achieve continuous productivity improvements and extend their process control and enterprise visibility well beyond the traditional."
OSIsoft announces key enhancement to PI System
OSIsoft's PI System powers the RtPM (real-time performance management) platform, which enables event-driven, scalable management of the total business-decision cycle across all boundaries, with a streamlined portal to drive intelligent collaboration. The next generation of PI includes several patches and performance enhancements. Customers with moderately to heavily loaded PI Systems are expected to see a nearly twofold performance increase in retrieving and storing data, enabling more users to get the data they need even under heavy load situations.
OSIsoft also announces RtAlerts, an online event monitoring and alert management system that proactively notifies users about important events in the plant, or those affecting processes.
I/A Series sees new process control, fieldbus capabilities
The Foxboro unit of Invensys Process Systems introduces high-availability Mesh process control network technology, field-mounted process controllers, field device integrators, and optionally redundant Foundation fieldbus H1 I/O (input/output) modules. The network process control system backbone features one-gigabit performance (between switches), which eliminates throughput constraints in intensive, fieldbus-enabled applications. Compact field-mounted control processors distribute full I/A Series integrated control capabilities right out to the process to reduce control-room space requirements. High-resolution time-stamping is available for both analog data and discrete data, synchronized to one millisecond across the system. New field device integrator I/O modules make it more cost-effective to integrate third-party devices into the I/A Series system via OPC, Modbus, ControlLogix, and other communication protocols.
Expanded connectivity, enhanced diagnostics for I/O products
Rockwell Automation has expanded its family of Allen-Bradley Flex modular I/O products to include enhanced diagnostic capabilities and new options and certifications that meet the specific needs of hazardous-location applications. Eight-point input (IE8H) and output (OE8H) HART analog modules allow communicating with "smart" field devices that support the HART protocol. Modules access the HART digital signal in parallel to the module's analog signal with no effect on the processing of the analog. New Flex I/O digital diagnostic modules allow operators to quickly identify operating conditions that may result in system failure, improving maintenance response rates and reducing downtime. In addition, the FlexEx ControlNet coax barrier module now has UL/cUL hazardous-location certification, allowing users to connect to adapters in hazardous areas via coax directly from the safe area without having to convert to fiber media and hubs.
Manufacturing portal management leads to real-time and historical plant info
PortalWorX Version 8 visualization solution from Iconics—part of the BizViz software suite—allows users to create and manage custom manufacturing and business portals that optimize essential key performance indicators. Using Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003, the system gives users the tools to create a manufacturing or business portal for historical and real-time plant and business information. In addition to standard Web parts from the SharePoint server, PortalWorX comes with ready-to-use custom "Web parts," including visualization, reporting, and data access and operations. With graphics, trends, and alarms coming from company applications, users can add in reports supplied by reporting Web parts, and access plant and enterprise databases through data bridging.
Monitoring and control for light-duty compressors
M2M Data Corp. is extending its service offering to cover a broader range of asset size for lighter-duty, high-speed units rated at 500 hp and below. Until now it has not been cost-effective to deploy comprehensive remote monitoring for medium-size and small units rated under 500 hp. M2M's iSCADA real-time compressor monitoring and control service platform continuously collects data, confirming operability and alerting operators when problems occur. From the Internet, operators look at key operating parameters—e.g., status, gas and machine temperatures; and error codes—and start-and-stop problem units without having to travel to the site. Monitored data ranges from simple on/off status to hundreds of data points. Trending from historic data reveals long-term productivity and maintenance profiles.
"With smaller compressors deployed over expanded territories, our customers are telling us it is even more critical now to remotely monitor these units to make better use of 'windshield time' and avoid increasing field operations staff," says Don Wallace, VP and COO, M2M Data.
GE has new version of information portal
GE Fanuc Automation Americas, a unit of GE Infrastructure, announces Proficy Real-Time Information Portal Version 2.1—a new version of the company's plantwide analysis, visualization, and reporting software application—which allows users to gain business insight from their plant data in real time. Proficy Real-Time Information Portal supports decision-making with a common client that spans all pertinent date sources, helping production, IT, and business users analyze trends and statistical deviations to drive quality and continuous improvement. This easy-to-use portal is part of GE Fanuc's flagship family of software, Proficy Intelligent Production Solutions.
"With a personalized 'Digital Cockpit' available through a standard Web browser, employees, customers, and suppliers can act on consistent, real-time information, resulting in better and faster decision-making," says Kevin Roach, VP, GE Fanuc Automation. "This solution also delivers data to key decision-making platforms, such as ERP, supply chain, and CRM, thereby extending the investment in these systems."
Digital valve controller features magnetic technology
Emerson Process Managementannounces the Fisher Fieldvue DVC2000 Series digital valve controller, mounted on Fisher actuators and others. The system offers a two-stage, pre-amplifier design that multiplies small changes in the pneumatic signal, and a digital tuning algorithm used to configure the instrument to suit the actuator. Magnetic technology in the position feedback system improves the system's reliability on linear and rotary valves. Simplified instrument mounting also is a feature of the "linkageless" design, as is removal of the instrument from the valve—as required for maintenance. The low-power liquid crystal display with push-buttons provides a local user configuration interface that supports multiple languages.
GE and Fanuc end joint venture begun in 1986
08/18/2009GE Fanuc to lean on "lead" users
10/01/2003
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