IT in Manufacturing


Advansys' services and Silhouette

November 2011 IT in Manufacturing

Save time and finger trouble by importing process and instrumentation diagrams directly into Silhouette.

Advansys is a system integrator with diverse experience and skills that allow it to offer a wide range of expertise to customers. The company’s focus is on partnership building with both suppliers and customers to stay at the cutting edge of technology that supports customer requirements. The core offering includes:

* Process analysis and performance optimisation.

* Control system design, specification and project management.

* Instrumentation specification and installation.

* PLC solutions.

* Scada/HMI solutions.

* Batch solutions.

* MES and ‘vertical’ integration solutions.

* Reporting solutions (HTML, ASP, ASP.Net).

* Software Applications solutions (SQL, C#.Net, VB.Net).

Configuration management using Silhouette

The Silhouette software is designed to document automation systems in a structured object oriented manner, maximising re-usability and standardisation. It provides a single, central source of configuration data for all automation system components, removing the need for tag list management between the PLC, HMI, Historian and Batch environments. This allows for consistent naming and structure definition between all environments.

Silhouette guides the software design engineer along an S88 path, providing structure and re-usability to the physical model. However, the S88 design methodology is not enforced, allowing Silhouette to be used by those who do not require it. The platform can be used to model S88 control modules, equipment modules and units for batch related processes.

Use the Toolbox to define class objects according to automation standards:

* Control module classes representing the lowest level of control.

* Equipment entity classes representing groups (or collections) of control modules, which together perform defined process actions.

* Group class objects logically using the Toolbox folders.

* Export class objects for reuse in other projects.

Use the Project View to define instance objects to model physical automation equipment:

* Control module instances representing the valves, pumps, transmitters, etc.

* Equipment entity instances representing units or equipment modules to perform defined process actions.

* Group instance objects physically using the Project folders, representing the hierarchy of equipment.

* Use the Object Editor to define properties and attributes for automation objects (classes and instances):

* Properties can be defined for each class object and grouped into property types.

* Attributes can be defined to ‘extend’ the information captured against each object type

* Audit the change configuration of each object using the automatic logging facility.

For more information contact Christo Potgieter, Advansys, +27 (0)11 510 0340, [email protected], www.advansys.co.za





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