Managing Automation - October 2007 - (Page 26)

[ COVER STORY ] move faster than their competitors. But some quired to maintain records that allow comcompanies may not be thinking about realplete traceability for all raw goods and mantime communications as a competitive edge. ufactured products. For most manufacturers, the focus has been To meet the mandate, DePinto last year on integrating shop floor and enterprise sysinstalled Motorola’s wireless switch and actems to share data in real time, using wirecess por ts working with the Motorola less as a catalyst to gather data from the MC9000 mobile computer running tracing shop floor, not for communication. In addisoftware from Portable Technology Solutions. tion, companies that have adopted wireless This was the first time in the company’s 60technologies are plagued by issues of security and a lack of in- For most manufacturers, the focus has been teroperability. on sharing data in real time, using wireless “There is no single radio frequency architecture, and if you as a catalyst to gather data from the shop cobble things together in a hap- floor, not for communication. hazard fashion, strange things can happen,” says Hesh Kagan, director of year history that it had ever used wireless. technology marketing services at Invensys “This is an old-fashioned, family-owned Process Systems. company, and they like the way their busiFor that reason, many manufacturers have ness runs,” DePinto says. “It’s hard to change been using wireless ver y purposefully to things.” Any new technology brought in can’t date. Take Ce De Candy Inc., the maker of be disruptive to the way the business is run, Smarties candy. The manufacturer implehe says. In the past, wireless was untested mented a wireless solution a year ago, and and, therefore, too risky a proposition. the move came out of necessity. On the other hand, many large manufac“We were more or less forced to do this turers in the aerospace, automotive, chemical, in order to comply with the FDA Bioterrorism and oil and gas industries were sold on wireAct,” says Rick DePinto, Ce De Candy’s IT less a long time ago as a way to mitigate the manager based in Union, N.J. As part of the cost of installing network cabling, as well as a FDA regulation, food manufacturers are reconvenient way to gather data from field de- Carriers Offer More Than Cell Phone Service These Days ver the past several years, AT&T and Sprint Nextel, value can be found in overall architecture management. Any two of the largest voice and data carriers, have been wireless deployment must be an extension of the enterprise building out their manufacturing practices to create LAN. And that often requires the help of a partner. end-to-end networks that span both wired and wireless worlds. “The important thing to think about is having the right netThe reasons: the need to manage remote workers and diswork, the right device, and the right application,” says Igor persed equipment, the need for flexibility on the factory floor, Glubochansky, AT&T’s director of industry solutions, mobility. and the need for instantaneous communication. However, “where the make or break [typically] comes in is in “Our vision of the factory of the future is wireless,” says the ability to manage the deployment,” he says. Butch Musselman, Sprint Nextel’s vice president of industry busi- Butch Musselman Wireless carriers have traditionally not been well-posiness solutions. And it’s technologies such as WiMAX that may provide the tioned to help, as their focus in the past was on providing consumer servbreakthrough that will move manufacturers in this direction, he adds. ices, Glubochansky says. Today, however, AT&T has a mobility service WiMAX is a high-speed, high-bandwidth, low-latency wireless netthat includes consulting to analyze business processes in order to identify work, based on the IEEE 802.16 standard. It is about five times faster than where real-time communications will improve operations. The company today’s 3G wireless networks. Sprint Nextel is working with Intel, also offers wireless workshops. Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, Clearwire, and even Google to create a Similarly, Sprint Nextel’s Custom Network Solutions group has helped mobile ecosystem of chips, products, software, and high-speed Internet more than 100 manufacturers move to wireless and deliver mobile appliservices. Later this year, Sprint Nextel plans to launch its mobile WiMAX cations ranging from telemetry to SCADA and remote control. network in the Chicago and Baltimore areas, with additional markets to And even with wireless advancements coming, Musselman says, manufollow in 2008. facturers shouldn’t discount the advantages that the most basic devices WiMAX contains multiple layers of security and is capable of supporting offer. An example is Nextel’s direct-connect walkie-talkie type product streaming video, a potential benefit for manufacturing, according to that provides immediate communication in the plant or field. Musselman. “A lot of organizations have people retiring and they are losing It’s just a matter of finding the right mobility solution for each manufacskill sets,” he says. “Imagine a camera on a hard hat or the ability to retain turing need, say both AT&T and Sprint Nextel. The carriers can help. people working remotely from their homes, who, through streaming video, “We are a strategic partner to deliver the right products, services, could train new employees within the manufacturing environment.” and solutions that address manufacturers’ needs and requirements,” Aside from faster, better, more secure technology, wireless’ business Sprint Nextel’s Musselman says. O ma October 26 2007 Photo courtesy: Sprint Nextel

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - October 2007

Contents Take 1 Mailbox New Selling and Fulfillment Product Leads Plan to Transform Sterling Commerce Comtrol Closes Bizarre Chapter Involving Founder New Omron COO Outlines Four-Part Growth Agenda New Mfg. ‘Czar’ Will Have a Full Plate of Issues Lawson Embraces The Trend of Fewer Upgrades Notes Wanted: A Unified Infrastructure Needed: Greater Reliability Special Report: Innovation: Why Are So Many Coming Up Short? Transforamation: Beating the Odds in Global Supply Industries: Metals: Tracking Carbon Footprints Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - October 2007

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