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December 2009 IT in Manufacturing

Wonderware releases industry application for packaging.

ArchestrA technology allows for the rapid development and deployment of industry-specific applications that address fundamental business and operational needs.

The Wonderware Industry Application for Packaging 1.0 enables producers to coordinate previously isolated packaging equipment and helps maintain consistent performance measurement and optimal execution of packaging operations. The Industry Application for Packaging meets the differing needs of operations, engineering, quality and production planning personnel involved in the packaging operation.

Through these powerful capabilities, key business challenges including stringent quality and regulatory requirements, diverse business factors and integration of information from isolated packaging equipment are addressed – packaging equipment controllers traditionally work in their own isolated world of machine control with little or no understanding that they form part of a bigger picture. That can now change.

Based on Wonderware System Platform, InTouch HMI and Wonderware Performance Software, the Industry Application for Packaging’s out-of-the-box capabilities help producers meet critical business objectives such as faster delivery and changeover times, decreased product losses, less downtime, greater flexibility and higher throughput and efficiencies.

Key benefits include the ability to:

* Integrate and manage existing packaging machines and systems – the flexible, open and scalable software architecture integrates with most packaging systems.

* Gain visibility into packaging losses, variation and problems.

* Reduce manual data collection and line operator interactions.

* Plan and monitor packaging operations in one intuitive environment.

* Configure and deploy quickly and therefore reduce time-to-value.

* Lower implementation risk and total cost of ownership with world-class technical support and services.

Key features of this new package include the ability to form a basic state model of the packaging equipment (OMAC-ready), downtime and utilisation monitoring, order management (create, sequence and dispatch orders) and the measurement of overall equipment effectiveness.

The packaging area can view overall line conditions and performance at a glance and check on their realtime status while line managers can create/dispatch jobs to the line, manage the setup for each job and monitor the current status of each piece of equipment.

At the equipment level, it is possible to view the performance, setup, OEE and utilisation of machines and also to view and set their state (run, hold, stop, etc).

“Packaging lines are a vital part of any manufacturing process,” says Deon van Aardt, MD of Wonderware Southern Africa. “In fact, many companies do little else but package items from manufacturing clients but until now, these packaging lines have been isolated from the mainstream of the production line with the result that their non-performance was rarely considered because upstream processes were far more likely to be the culprit. That is all changing.”

For more information contact Deon van Aardt, Wonderware Southern Africa, 0861 WONDER, [email protected], www.wonderware.co.za

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