Get more: Proficy suite moves toward unified view
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/1/2006 12:00:00 AM
The plant-management applications suite under the wing of GE Fanuc Automation, Proficy, is evolving into a tighter suite enabled by—among other things—a single view into plant applications and information.
At its user conference held in late May in Orlando, GE Fanuc highlighted a set of Proficy capabilities that will be available by Q1 2007. These include an enhanced common data model, a workflow management tool, and Proficy Console, a common user interface. The data model, which supports the ISA 95 standard for plant-to-enterprise integration, is part of the Proficy Server underpinning the tighter suite.
The console is a view into multiple applications with no client-side layer of software to administrate. Users still can get at deep application functionality, but they do so through a command-center type interface. "It's one environment that all users will be comfortable working within," says Bill Estep, a GE Fanuc VP.
The company has been developing this next generation of Proficy for close to two years, and believes it will appeal to enterprises seeking more uniformity in plant applications. "We do see the need and desire for standardization," says Tom Cruz, another GE Fanuc VP. "Enterprise licensing [of plant applications] is here."
The workflow tool offers drag-and-drop, non-programmatic linking of steps between applications and business processes. In a demo at the conference, GE Fanuc managers showed how the tool can be used to configure processes such as quality-related corrective actions and holds, and engineering changes. A "global name space" schema underlies the visual tool, allowing the drag-and-drop actions to tap into ERP or plant-level systems.
The conference gave many users a first peek at these new capabilities. David Krupp, manager of enterprise manufacturing systems for Mohawk Fine Papers, Albany, N.Y., says Mohawk uses Proficy's production and quality management applications. Krupp says he liked both the Proficy Console and the workflow editor. "What I like about the Console is that it puts all the information in the right context within one view," he says.
Julie Fraser, principal with Boston-based Industry Directions, says features such as the common data model, the console, and the workflow tool support an integrated suite, while also fitting in with the trend toward highly evolved user interfaces.
"They've definitely gone beyond just the look and feel of an integrated suite with some of these features such as the console, where everyone in a company, regardless of role, can get a clean look at the information they need in one place," says Fraser. "Adoption [of new features] doesn't happen overnight, but these capabilities and the vision GE Fanuc has should make user companies get more from their plant applications."
