The Industrial Revolution started at the turn of the 19th century when automation was little more than a concept. It’s now time for the industrial automation revolution which starts at X-Change 2014 with the most significant new releases of Wonderware’s industrial automation and industrial IT range of solutions to date as well as a redefined way of operating and managing the plant with Foxboro process automation. And what’s the goal of all this? It’s quite simple, really.
Simplicity – 200 years in the making
The industrial automation revolution is all about the simplification of systems. Over the past 200 years, the complexity of technology has increased at an exponential rate – what’s commonplace today would have been magic then. But complexity can have its down side: How do you control it? Until recently, there hasn’t really been a good answer because that answer had to integrate systems, technology, people, processes, information and workflows in a seamless yet intuitive manner that didn’t need rocket scientists to operate. Quite a tall order, but the answer exists today.
Wonderware is leading the industrial automation revolution with an innovative new approach that will enhance all aspects of industrial automation and industrial IT. From the interaction with the systems used to working in teams and sharing information, the new range of solutions from the Wonderware stable will provide simpler and better control on getting, analysing and acting on critical and real-time production information.
In addition, the Foxboro Evo process automation system helps transform the way everyone in the plant performs their job – safer, better, simpler. The Foxboro Evo Engineering Suite provides a powerful, integrated design environment to simplify and speed up engineering efforts and provides the flexibility needed to make last minute changes without jeopardising schedule or project integrity.
Industrial automation and industrial IT are complex subjects and are likely to get more complicated as the level of needed skills shrink while competition grows. The answer to complexity is simplicity, not more complexity. But simplicity of control is only possible with the right industrial information infrastructure – hence the release of System Platform 2014 and Foxboro Evo.
Launch of System Platform 2014 – why is this important?
Wonderware System Platform is not just another product. It is based on ArchestrA technology which has been referred to as the ‘operating system for industry’. It is installed in many thousands of plants worldwide and supports all the industrial automation and industrial IT applications at each of these installations. That is why System Platform’s most significant release to date is important news for its thousands of users.
In addition to System Platform 2014, there is also the release of other key products including:
* InTouch 2014 (Scada/HMI).
* Historian Server.
* Historian Client.
* Information Server.
* Application Server.
* ArchestrA Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
* Device Integration.
* Window Maker.
* Window Viewer.
And why is System Platform so popular?
Because with today’s tight economy, ferocious competition, complex production environments and skills shortage, reinventing the wheel or scrapping existing investments in production assets for every new or expansion project is inconceivable. System Platform 2014 saves on engineering effort, safeguards current and past investments and makes it easy to implement and encourage best practices to bring clarity, consistency and meaning to integrated data. With System Platform 2014, both experienced and entry-level operators are more easily able to identify, understand, react to and resolve abnormal situations.
ArchestrA System Platform addresses the five areas that plague industrial application design the most:
* Infrastructure.
* Management.
* Modularity.
* Scalability.
* Openness.
The system has been evolving for over a decade and continues doing so with each release. It enables extensive capability through thousands of features. Its three core competencies include: Engineering power and simplicity; Operational agility and Information empowerment.
Engineering power and simplicity
The unique Wonderware standards-based approach to application development ensures consistency across the entire business, significantly reducing time to value for new projects and simplifying training requirements for new and less experienced employees. This results in much higher quality applications, higher engineering productivity and greatly reduced time and cost to build and maintain.
At the centre of the ArchestrA System Platform is the Plant Model, the logical representation of the processes and physical equipment controlled and supervised within the Wonderware software application. The model provides a vital and accurate representation of operational resources that is independent from the physical legacy systems used to control these assets. This increases flexibility and decreases the risks associated with initial implementations. The model enables rapid scaling from prototype to production, as well as systematically adopting change over time.
ArchestrA object templates are used in the System Platform to define all aspects of production processes and physical assets including logic and scripts, how data will be acquired, how alarms are defined, system security and user roles as well as the ability to define and manage external interfaces. The template approach allows changes to flow across systems seamlessly – simplifying process and asset changes.
The model also gives essential context to data, greatly assisting with diagnosing and troubleshooting, as well as providing valuable documentation of the system architecture from commissioning and throughout the lifecycle of your system.
Operational agility
A superior approach to presenting information means less time to orient to the problem, greater focus on awareness and information and more useful informational displays. Advanced alarm aggregation to focus on the real problem and support for the latest approaches for enhancing the situational awareness of operators result in greater visibility to the most important situations, prevention of excursions from ‘normal’, reduction in disruptions and downtime, greater focus on opportunities to improve performance, safety and reduction in costs of operations.
Information empowerment
Featuring a long history of scalable and extensible solutions that collect, store, retrieve and deliver plant floor and process related actionable information so plant personnel at all levels can visualise and analyse their processes faster and more effectively. This results in improved process visualisation, process analysis and troubleshooting, less downtime, higher product quality, improved equipment reliability, lower production costs and higher plant profitability.
Launch of Foxboro Evo – this changes everyone
Between uncovering new, emerging business opportunities and continually managing threats to production, what is needed today is a new breed of automation control system. One with the power to handle the toughest assignments, the flexibility to change course as circumstances evolve and a design that enables everyone – operators, engineers, maintenance techs, managers and executives alike – to become more valuable contributors to plant safety and profitability.
In short, Foxboro Evo provides business engineering with intuitive ease right down to proactive asset maintenance. There’s much more to this new process automation paradigm than space allows – so come to X-Change 2014 and meet a new business partner with a long track record of success.
About X-Change 2014
Wonderware’s 22nd User Conference, will be held at the Wild Coast Sun from 6 to 9 April – almost 11 years to the day after the start of the ArchestrA revolution of 2003 at the same venue.
The conference is an opportunity for delegates to see:
* How new and simplified HMI/Scada/DCS concepts are dramatically improving the effectiveness and situational awareness of operators and process controllers.
* How easy it is for anyone (not a software specialist) to source, compile, collate and display information from any number of disparate sources and to provide the real-time intelligence needed for effective decision support across the enterprise.
* Where the Cloud, virtualisation and Thin Client technology contribute to high availability and drastically reduced hardware and maintenance costs in industrial automation and industrial IT.
* How mobile technology keeps users in touch no matter where they are or which device they choose.
* The true value of an integrated control and safety system to orchestrate and optimise every aspect of plant operations.
* How to increase the bottom-line by implementing simulation and optimisation technologies and ensuring safer and more efficient processes and people.
And there’s much, much more including new innovations and trends that are set to simplify and revolutionise the development of high performance applications. There will also be local and international speakers of note such as Mike Caliel, president and chief executive officer of the Software and Industrial Automation division of Invensys, dozens of industry-specific as well as end-user presentations and the Collaboration Expo where delegates can meet the hardware and software vendors who can make their life simpler and more productive.
Don’t miss out in this industry leading event. Register now at www.x-change.co.za
For more information contact Jaco Markwat, Wonderware Southern Africa, + 27 (0)11 607 8100, [email protected], www.wonderware.co.za
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