Managing Automation - March 2008 - (Page 30)

[ SPECIAL REPORT ] equipment. And both Honeywell and Emerthe language barrier between ERP and manson Process Management tout wireless as ufacturing execution systems, or with OPC, the latest revolution in control systems arto enable disparate devices across the plant chitecture, saying the technology will allow floor to communicate. manufacturers to go where they have never Many have also re-engineered the way their gone before. systems are programmed, using a global While each vendor has taken a slightly namespace format that calls a device by a different path toward technology transforplain English word or phrase rather than using mation, they all have been moving at top a non-descript number as its tag, for examspeed toward the information superhighway ple. That allows the device to be identified by where Allison and other IT pros already live. a variety of applications. Now, however, the vendors’ task is to create Having the ability to present information control transparency. in context provides a single window into the “What I’m hoping to get, in time, is more manufacturing environment, says Alicia of a unified look where both worlds live under one The goal is “corporate transparency unified network without a lot and the need for more companies to of conflicts between them,” get more information out of their Martinrea’s Allison says. Allison believes the netsystems.” — Rockwell’s John Nesi work infrastructure is a key ingredient for moving toward the unified ITDuBay, director of global marketing for conautomation environment. That’s why one of trol systems at ABB, which was one of the his first decisions was to rip out what he first automation vendors to roll out an open called “the blue hose network” that was the platform. ABB’s Aspect Object technology, proprietary data highway for Rockwell Auwhich is based on .NET and has been tomation controllers used in Martinrea’s facaround since the introduction of ABB’s tory. “As soon as we stepped in to take over 800xA DCS in the year 2000, offers lots of the shop floor, we standardized on Ethervalue-add in relation to integration and pronet,” Allison says. ductivity. “There’s less training, and all the inIt’s a good first step. But Ethernet is just formation is at the operator’s fingertips, as the communications protocol and the pipe. you can have a single sign-in for various apThere’s much more work to be done to creplications,” she says. ate a seamless integrated architecture that Meanwhile, the evolution of industry stanbridges the plant and the enterprise. And, Aldards like ISA-95 has ABB and others lison and others admit, there are reasons to developing modules and interfaces easing keep some things industrial-strength. enterprise connectivity. “What’s neat is that you don’t have to write custom code to do DATA MERGE AHEAD the integration job,” DuBay says. “It’s all Unifying control and enterprise systems unconfigurable.” der one management umbrella is a great All of this work is putting control platforms goal, albeit a bit utopian, some industry exon an integration path similar to IT’s. Yet, perts say. manufacturers know that IT hardware, softThe real goal, says John Nesi, Rockwell ware, and middleware technology doesn’t Automation’s vice president of market decut it in the plant, where high reliability, sevelopment, is “corporate transparency and curity, and real-time access to information the need for more companies to get more incan’t be compromised. There can be no reformation out of their systems in order to booting of the PC when it comes to controlhelp them identify quality issues, yield isling a production process and downtime can sues, and overruns on energy.” cost a company millions of dollars. For that The emphasis right now and for the forereason, automation vendors, acting responsiseeable future is on convergence — “mergbly, are wrapping industrial-strength layers ing data out of the control system and into an around the commercial-off-the-shelf technolinformation layer that ties directly into an ogy to ensure high availability. ERP system,” Nesi says. For some vendors, such as Siemens, this To do that, Rockwell Automation and most may mean creating a demilitarized zone beof its competitors are cruising along the tween special portions of the control archisame road. They are working to comply with tecture where all communication with the industry standards, such as ISA-95, for lifting outside world is done. That means even the March ma 30 2008 Photo courtesy: Rockwell

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - March 2008

Managing Automation - March 2008 Contents Take 1 Mailbox Mitsubishi, IBM, and ILS Team Up to Make Integration Easy for Automakers Former Agile Exec Takes the Reins at Arena Solutions The Next Phase for 2006’s PM Award Winner Integration Firm Boomi Redesigns for On-Demand Ex-Wonderware Chief Takes Helm at Apprion Notes Cover Story: A Rare Breed Special Report: Where are Control Architectures Heading? Transformation: Back to Reality Integration: Getting Standards Under One Roof Industries: The Quest for the Perfect Order Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - March 2008

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