Managing Automation - September 2008 - (Page 46)

[ SPECIAL REPORT ] less business at Honeywell Process Solutions. “Companies that have multiple sites now realize [wireless] is more strategic, and they are considering the implications even when making tactical choices around a small sensor network.” As a result, the discussion of how wireless will be used within the organization has risen to the executive office. “People are looking at how they can increase the velocity of information flow and how they can get real-time visibility,” says Manish Rai, director of product marketing for Motorola’s Enterprise wireless LAN business. “So mobility is becoming a key initiative.” Taking wireless to the next level often means incorporating new applications on an existing backbone. For example, e-mail can be sent wirelessly, so why not wrap more content around it in the form of visual key performance indicators (KPIs) pulled from line-of-business data? Well, it takes a lot of work to write an application that can extract data from a business or production system and put it into a composite application that can be delivered to a mobile device. But finally, it’s being done. Transpara Corp., a 3-year-old vendor that caters to the process and utilities industries, designed an operations intelligence application, called Visual KPI, that can pull manufacturing data from an MES system or aggregate data from a business intelligence application, for example, and push it to any small-screen mobile device. “Most applications are designed for the desktop and try to shoehorn [data] onto a small screen. That doesn’t work,” says Michael Saucier, Transpara’s founder and CEO. “We designed our [software] from the ground up to be mobile-friendly, yet the capabilities can extend when attached to the desktop.” One of the devices to which the application can push information happens to be the BlackBerry, and the popular PDA’s maker, Research In Motion (RIM), also uses Visual KPI internally to monitor manufacturing and supply chain data. RIM built a mobile portal that extends the availability of information outside the office so that executives can be alerted to early warning signs that something might be off related to inventory, production capacity, manufacturing cycle times, and customer delivery or returns. “We have numerous business intelligence tools in the organization that have similar capabilities, but this enables us to take the nuggets of data we need and integrate them all,” says Brad Thurston, RIM’s project manager of supply chain systems. In a more hands-on scenario, wireless can be used to feed field workers information related to operational procedures. ConocoPhillips’ plant in Oklahoma, for example, is conducting a pilot project using Honeywell’s IntelaTrac PKS, a wireless integrated hardware AIRBORNE APPLICATIONS and software system used to As wireless becomes a part of manufacturers’ network generate work orders for reinfrastructure, new types of mobile applications are taking pairs and instructions. The setadvantage of the ability to push information to anyone, anywhere. Here are examples: up is currently in wired mode. The mobile device plugs into a CAPABILITIES APPLICATION docking station to update inforMaintenance, Repair, ● Remote equipment monitoring mation. The plan, however, is Overhaul (MRO) ● Task management of operating to roll the wireless IntelaTrac procedures PKS system out at the Sweeny ● Asset tracking Real-time locating refinery, Autenrieth says. system (RTLS) ● Inventory/yard management “We’ll integrate it with ● Work-in-progress visibility OneWireless and add addition● Emergency alarm system Safety al feedback so it’s not just the ● Video surveillance operator in the field collecting ● Locate people in plants data, but they can also make it available to the reliability engi● Dashboard based on key Manufacturing operating and supply chain KPIs neer,” Autenrieth says. Intelligence (MI) Similarly, Rapid Solutions Source: Managing Automation reporting Corp. has a field mobility device that serves up operating procedures to a handheld or laptop device in bite-sized chunks of audio and video. The system, which can ride over any wireless network, manages data related to procedures, safe operating conditions, and defect management, incorporating CMMS data; historian information; and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) information. Rapid works with Apprion, an industrial wireless network management vendor with a product called ION, a network appliance that manages the communications protocols, network traf fic, and security layers of multiple wireless networking networks. ION provides a way to take the wireless applications that have been deployed as point solutions, using multiple vendor devices, and centrally manage them using a common infrastructure. This, in turn, is taking the cost and risk out of wireless. “Several years ago, people had to put in a wireless infrastructure to support a specific point solution and they had to have a substantial ROI to justify the application and the construction and management of a unique infrastructure that could really only do one thing,” says Steve Lambright, Apprion’s vice president of marketing and customer services. “The bar was incredibly high.” But now the ability to layer on an appliance that lets a company manage any existing industrial wireless infrastructure and any mobile application not only future-proofs the network wireless investment, but also allows manufacturers to start thinking strategically about the application possibilities. MOBILE MANIA As high-speed mobile networks evolve using an Internet protocol (IP) backhaul, the opportunity to merge voice, video, and data onto a mobile device will enable even more sophisticated, gamechanging applications. For example, as voice over IP (VoIP) extends out from the Ethernet network, IP-centric WiFi devices will be able to merge data and voice onto one wireless network. Last year, Motorola Ventures invested in Vocera Communications Systems, which has merged WiFi, VoIP, and speech recognition technologies, allowing mobile workers to communicate within a facility’s wireless network using wearable strategic plan ma September 46 2008

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

Managing Automation - September 2008 Contents Take 1 Letters Tech Vendors Defy Economic Slump by Plugging into Developing World Growth New E2open Chief Outlines Plan to Accelerate Growth Is This Marketing as It Used to Be or Something New? The OMAC Group Attempts to Widen Its Influence Automation Federation Names Chief, Plots Growth Notes Cover story: The Innovation Gap Special Report: Meet the Progressive Manufacturing High Achievers Progressive Manufacturer of the Year Business Model Mastery Innovation Mastery Customer Mastery Supply Network Mastery Data & Integration Mastery Education & Training Mastery Leadership Mastery Operational Excellence Mastery Special Report: Catching the Wireless Wave Part 1: No Clear Infrastructure Winner Part 2: Wireless Apps Take Wing Part 3: The Human Side of Wireless Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - September 2008

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