More and more companies are adopting some form of automation. Companies see automation as a way to reduce costs, increase access to information when needed, and improve productivity. In the realm of manufacturing, connecting previously isolated equipment to a network gives managers realtime access to manufacturing facility information for improved management and decision-making.
In their quest to improve productivity and quality, manufacturers need to remotely monitor and control manufacturing equipment such as programmable logic controllers, robots, process control equipment and instrumentation. Until recently, factory managers had to be on-site to monitor and maintain control. They can now access this information from their internal network or via the Internet using industrial device networking. This allows them to be automatically notified of equipment readings that are out of the normal operating range and to remotely initiate troubleshooting of production equipment.
To enable remote monitoring and management, manufacturers can place their equipment on an existing local area network (LAN) or on the Internet using industrial device networking. This requires networking products that are rugged, easy-to-customise to individual circumstances and that are cost-effective.
For products to operate in harsh industrial environments, they must withstand and operate reliably under extreme temperatures and vibration, and resist the effects of exposure to electrical interference. Networking products operating in these hostile environments must also offer security and encryption to prevent other types of 'interference' such as unauthorised access, compromised data integrity or attacks that may result in halting the system.
Benefits of device networking
The primary goal for any factory manager is to meet required production volumes and maintain a consistent level of quality.
With no realtime access to information from production equipment, managers must manually gather the necessary information that they need and manually monitor machines that are not working correctly to determine where the problem exists.
Equipped with device information in realtime, managers can gain improved and consistent system performance that contributes to improved product quality and achievement of production schedules. They can also automate quality control functions using device networking to ensure that the critical parameters of their factory systems are monitored and maintained within appropriate ranges.
Growth of industrial device networking
The adoption of industrial device networking is increasing because it provides the ability to interactively access, evaluate and utilise data from networked equipment via a LAN or the Internet. Industry analysts expect rapid growth in the use of device networking in industrial environments in the next five years. Device networking includes both wired and wireless technologies. A recent ARC Advisory Group study indicates that the worldwide market for the use of wireless technology in manufacturing is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 26% during the next five years.
Ethernet is an established networking standard, robust and reliable enough to support industrial networking. It is also rapidly gaining momentum in industrial automation because it is an open standard, fast, can support multiple fieldbus protocols simultaneously and can leverage existing equipment and IT tools. To connect non-networked equipment to a LAN or the Internet, manufacturers are depending on Ethernet and 802.11.
Wireless technology has revolutionised how computer users access information. And this revolution continues in the world of manufacturing. Wireless networking is the best alternative when it is impractical or cost prohibitive to run cabling to connect factory equipment to a LAN or the Internet. When installing a wireless network, managers need to consider the physical layout and size of the facility, the RF interference present and the bandwidth strain if numerous devices are placed on the same network.
Factors to consider in industrial device networking solutions
* Systems should be easy to deploy: the industrial device networking solution should connect enterprise systems to factory floor devices without disturbing control networks or requiring dedicated wiring for remote monitoring, diagnosing and controlling equipment.
* Solutions should be versatile: a preferred industrial networking solution facilitates the connection of virtually any piece of factory equipment to a network or to the Internet to interactively access, manage, control, repair, and even automate data capture. The information collected by the industrial device networking solution must be able to be used directly with human machine interface (HMI) and supervisory control and data acquisition (scada) systems.
* Systems should operate in harsh environments: industrial device networking solutions should be designed to operate within a suitable temperature range such as from -40°C and +70°C. Where necessary, the solutions should be certified for hazardous locations Class 1, Div 2. These solutions should also resist exposure to electrical shock, vibration and physical abuse.
* Solutions should support industrial protocols: to ensure device interoperability, industrial device networking solutions must support protocols such as Modbus TCP, ASCII, RTU and DF1.
Industrial device networking in action: Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation is one of the leading global providers of industrial automation power, control, and information solutions. One of the company's leading brands is Allen-Bradley, a manufacturer of PLCs and other automation equipment and a provider of engineering services.
Rockwell's customers needed to remotely access and manage their PLCs where only a serial interface was available. To meet their needs, Rockwell designed an industrial device networking server to provide Ethernet/IP connectivity. Their device server provided a gateway from their controller's serial port to an Ethernet network. This allowed their customers to upload/download programs, communicate between controllers, and generate e-mail messages via SMTP (simple mail transport protocol). This solution enhanced the capabilities of their PLCs and allowed customers to remotely access their controllers from anywhere in the world.
By quickly and reliably connecting virtually any piece of factory equipment to a network or the Internet, industrial manufacturers gain the ability to interactively access, manage, control, evaluate and utilise data transmitted from the devices. This powerful, yet simple to implement technology allows manufacturers to perform realtime diagnostics and repair, automate data capture and gain immediate notification of problems from virtually anywhere over an Internet connection.
For more information contact Steven Allan, CST Electronics, +27 (0)11 608 0070, [email protected], www.cstelectronics.co.za
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