If there is a single word that can characterise the 20th century, it would have to be technology. Flying went from Kitty Hawk to the International Space Station, telecommunications abandoned fabric-covered copper in favour of fibre-optic cables and satellites while computers continue to grow in power and speed at an exponential rate to transform every aspect of life.
But all these things have at least two fundamental things in common - mining and manufacturing. And when one talks about turning raw materials into finished goods many companies also have one thing in common - Wonderware. The Wonderware company was founded two decades ago and has become synonymous with innovative and, more to the point, industrial automation software solutions ever since. In 1990, the South African company Futuristix Advanced Control Systems was founded to act as sole distributor for the growing range of Wonderware scada software solutions in southern Africa. In December 2006, Futuristix, by then a member of the EOH group of companies, became Wonderware Southern Africa and continues to be the leading supplier of industrial automation and manufacturing execution system (MES) solutions in the region.
Futuristix's and now Wonderware SA's success is due to a single overriding factor: the dogged determination to see its customers succeed. "If you do that," says Wonderware SA MD, Justin Tweedie, "then everything else pretty much falls into place. The key components of helping people achieve their business goals include information, needed and customisable software products that move with the times and that can cope with change and the training to get the most out of these applications."
Information
Wonderware SA's information channels include 30 yearly breakfast presentations split into two national road shows, a User Group Conference (X-Change) which has become an annual landmark for South African as well as international industrial automation and MES professionals, an annual System Integrator Conference, a monthly e-newsletter, a bi-monthly printed newsletter, two comprehensive websites (wonderware.co.za and oee.co.za) and published articles in the media.
Products
Wonderware's range of products include SCADA, SPC (statistical process control), the world's most popular realtime historian, downtime analysis and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), production event tracking, batch management, reporting tools, web portals and many more. But perhaps the most important contribution the company made to the production industries was the release of the ArchestrA infrastructure in 2003.
ArchestrA offered manufacturers a completely new business model. The architecture enabled the re-use of engineering from project to project for shorter automation and information project development time. ArchestrA also reduced the total cost of ownership of automation applications because it facilitated easy upgrades, thereby extending project lifecycles. By enabling the integration of existing production systems and new applications ArchestrA would extend the useful life of production lines as well as that of entire plants. But maybe more important than all this, was ArchestrA's ability to facilitate information exchange between business systems and operational processes through the use of incremental and cost-effective MES functionality.
But ArchestrA users can speak for themselves:
SCAW Metals
"The wealth of information at our fingertips has resulted in being able to resolve issues with suppliers - online and in realtime. While anyone can make a mistake, it is useful to have instant access to historical reality that shows the exact status of processes at the time required." - Martin Volkwyn, group project manager, SCAW Metals, on the unification of three SCAW plants into a single 'virtual' plant using ArchestrA technology to address MES issues incrementally.
SAB Rosslyn brewery
"The implementation was done entirely in-house, took about two months and proved that the SAB standards can easily be propagated to other breweries. We had to reconfigure some of the objects since we use a different DAS server to Prospecton, but these modified objects are now available to anyone who can use them. We also found that integration with legacy systems and system maintenance have now become much easier.
"With regard to operational benefits, that part of the plant under ArchestrA's control is now more reliable and is experiencing less downtime due to improved fault visibility. This and the fact that we did the implementation in-house resulted in direct business benefits." - Vinesh Baran manufacturing systems specialist, SAB Rosslyn.
Nestlé Infant Formula factory, Harrismith
"The changeover from milk powder to infant formula production using brand new process technology in amongst simultaneous civil, mechanical and electrical operations, proved interesting to say the least. The software solutions we chose helped us minimise development and deployment time and to cope with a rapidly-changing environment." - Ockert van der Berg, process control engineer, Nestlé South Africa. Selected solutions: Wonderware's ArchestrA/IAS, InTouch (with SmartSymbols), IndustrialSQL Server, ActiveFactory together with the Recipe Manager developed by system integrator Ram-Tec Systems.
Rand Water central control room
"Due to its scope, the Control Centre project is more of a journey rather than a project. What appealed to us about Wonderware's ArchestrA, was that it provided the 'Galaxy' concept for the unification of networks and information repositories through a single transparent tag name database. Although they are geographically distributed over the whole of Gauteng and beyond, we can now treat all our sites as a single entity or Galaxy. This will eliminate islands of information and present us with a unified and centralised information repository that is available to all. This approach is also leading to an easier development and deployment of standards through a central control point that is also facilitating software change management. The other reasons we chose Wonderware are their large installed base both locally and worldwide as well as the strong local support and availability of skills.
"We see ArchestrA as an excellent solution for our needs. It maps well to our primary objective of an integrated and unified 'shopfloor' and provides the necessary infrastructure to safeguard our extensive existing investments and assets." - Les Lange, chief engineer, installations, Rand Water.
Lonmin Western Platinum Refinery concentrate refining process
"ArchestrA is a powerful tool that, amongst other things, really simplifies the integration of PLCs, reduces engineering costs and facilitates the deployment of plant objects and updates - ask our system integrators, we think they will agree." - Dries van der Lith, Lonmin WPR IT manager.
Expert system at AngloGold Ashanti's Navachab gold mine
"The ArchestrA platform allowed us to reduce engineering time considerably. We also have full traceability of the software model (structure) so that the site instrumentation engineer has a good overview of the structure of the plant. This will serve as a roadmap for future projects and it is a state-of-the-art control system with an excellent support and training infrastructure through Futuristix."- Andre Vuilleumier of system integrator, Systems Anywhere.
Tenneco's catalytic converter production line
"This ArchestrA-based upgrade has given us a solid foundation on which to base the rest of the project. It is already starting to pay dividends in terms of cost-savings and engineering effort while the Production Event Module is giving us new insights into our production processes on the catalytic converter line." - Etienne le Roux, project engineer, Tenneco South Africa.
Batch control system at Resinkem
"You cannot compare the old system to the new. We now have a handle on the plant's vital signs and the accuracy of the new control system allows us to maximise plant efficiency like never before." - Cyprian Mhkize, production manager, Resinkem on their ArchestrA-based batch control system.
Power monitoring system at MOZAL
"Some of the most significant contributions made by ArchestrA are the ability to create standards, the re-usability of objects and the propagation of changes. Templates also mean less development work in the future for existing objects." - Sergio Da Silva, superintendent automation, MOZAL SARL.
Training
Today's complex world of process control and manufacturing execution systems (MES) requires sophisticated software solutions equal to the task of optimising the use of production assets and the processes they control. Arguably, even more valuable than these solutions, is the training required to get the most from what they have to offer. The investment in human knowledge and understanding of these solutions is directly proportional to the return on investment that can be expected not only in their use but, more importantly, in improved efficiency, increased profitability and the ability to cope with rapid change in operational and business requirements.
Once more, we let customers speak for themselves:
"Great product, very powerful! Super interesting material thank you. A major upgrade to my knowledge." - Stephen Goemans of Systems Anywhere, after completing the ArchestrA Industrial Application Server (IAS) course.
"The method of group project work at the end of the course is a fantastic learning aid." - Michael Ampofo of AngloGold Ashanti, after completing the ArchestrA Industrial Application Server (IAS) course.
"This product is a powerful equipment analysis tool, which I recommend to all technical persons." - Simon Halse of Engelhard, after completing the IndustrialSQL Server realtime historian course.
"This was a well presented course and was worth attending. Information learnt is applicable to plant environment." - Johan Kruger of Engelhard, after completing the IndustrialSQL Server realtime historian course.
"In today's mass production, reliable and well-engineered systems are in high demand. So is training of technical staff. InTouch is what South Africa needs." - Collet Reginald Fani of Volkswagen SA, after completing the InTouch HMI/SCADA course.
"As project manager the course gave me a good understanding of the workings of the system. I will probably never programme myself but now I understand how it works." - Mark Terblanche of AECI, after completing the InTouch HMI/SCADA course.
"Wonderware has opened more visions for me in the industrial sector. Thanks Wonderware." - Yule du Plessis of Johnson Matthey, after completing the InTouch Fundamentals course.
"I found the course very practical and the facilities are state-of-the-art for a training environment. Now I am confident to use the product." - Clive Jacobs of Afrox, after completing the ArchestrA course.
"Enjoyed the course thoroughly, understood everything well and my questions were answered completely." - Carlo Rech of Quad Automation, after completing the ArchestrA course.
Conclusion
The manufacturing and mining industries are winning with Wonderware because Wonderware cannot envision an alternative scenario. For more than a decade, it has been a buyer's market and buyers can get very sticky about solution suppliers that do not help them achieve their business goals. But when they come back for more, year after year, in a changing and competitive world, then the one thing that should not change is the proven formula for success - help customers win and hang on as they take you with them.
For more information contact Justin Tweedie, Wonderware Southern Africa, +27(0)861 WONDER, [email protected], www.wonderware.co.za
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