Over 1400 industry professionals registered to attend the annual October/November breakfast roadshow that was held in 16 centres nationally. The theme of the presentation was how the creation of a powerful automation infrastructure should form the basis of enterprise manufacturing intelligence that will integrate well with the business system. Key on the agenda was how Wonderware's ArchestrA is helping system integrators (SIs) and end-users create this 'bottom automation infrastructure layer' on which MES applications can be added as and when required for ultimate connection to the ERP layers of manufacturing enterprises. ArchestrA is also giving system SIs the opportunity to expand their range of solutions to the benefit of their clients.
"The significance of ArchestrA is starting to sink in," says Mike le Plastrier, director of Futuristix, a member of the EOH group of companies. "End-users see it as a unified, cost-effective and long-term way of controlling their wealth-creating resources while system integrators are starting to look upon ArchestrA as a way of expanding their solution offerings beyond the role of scada."
Today, ArchestrA represents 24% of Futuristix's new business and is being accepted at a faster rate than the record-breaking InTouch HMI/scada application did when it was first released.
"Most importantly," continues le Plastrier, "once the ArchestrA infrastructure is on the plant, new ArchestrA MES 'objects' such as Traceability Objects or Recipe Objects or a host of other similar objects can be added when needed. In this way, migrating into the MES environment no longer needs to follow a Big Bang approach. Extra MES functionality can be included on an incremental basis - a major requirement for manufacturing sites today."
ArchestrA and its Industrial Application Server (IAS) are the productivity and integration tools that are providing system integrators and end-users the opportunity of collaborating more effectively with enterprise IT. "There has forever been a disconnection between IT and the realtime world of MES and the shop floor," says le Plastrier, "but the advent of tools like ArchestrA and integration solutions from ERP vendors is helping to bridge the gap. All that is left to establish is the mutual understanding and respect necessary between enterprise IT personnel and their realtime counterparts." During the presentation, le Plastrier showed the release of the Enterprise Integration objects that are based on Microsoft Biztalk 2004 for integrating between ERP systems (such as SAP, Oracle) and the shop floor. This is currently being installed on a number of sites worldwide.
Presentations also focused on live demonstrations of ArchestrA in action including the drag-and-drop redistribution of server and redundancy resources, the definition and automatic re-deployment of intelligent plant objects and the growing list of improved solutions from Wonderware. Attention was also paid to Wonderware's expanding MES offering and demonstrated the new Traceability objects, Predictive Maintenance objects and Recipe objects.
"By helping traditional scada professionals to move into the MES space and beyond, ArchestrA is providing business opportunities where none existed before," said le Plastrier. "Since last year's roadshow, a number of SIs have mentioned that ArchestrA has helped them close business that would otherwise have gone elsewhere. This also means that their new customers are benefiting from an integrated rather than a fragmented approach to their scada/MES projects."
About ArchestrA
ArchestrA technology is a comprehensive plant automation and information architecture designed from the outset to extend the life of legacy systems by being developed from the ground up using the latest software technologies like Microsoft.NET. Offerings built upon this architecture empower decision-makers to achieve their business goals, without abandoning prior investments in automation systems, production processes or intellectual property. In the ArchestrA environment, software applications can be rapidly assembled rather than programmed. New applications also can be created simply through the reassembly of existing applications.
ArchestrA's Traceability objects, Predictive Maintenance objects and Recipe objects are allowing clients to migrate into the MES arena at their own pace, eliminating any need for the traditional and costly 'big bang' approach.
For more information contact Mike le Plastrier, Futuristix, 011 723 9900, mike@futuristix.co.za, www.futuristix.co.za
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