Saturday, July 29, 2006

Make-to-order subcontractors embrace 'lean'

Make to order Sub-contractors embrace 'Lean Management' In these days of downward price pressure, few sub-contractors can afford all the overheads required by materials and product management.
Make to order Sub-contractors embrace 'Lean Management' In these days of extreme competition and downward price pressure, few sub-contractors can afford to employ all the overheads needed to carry out the increasing number of daily tasks required by materials and product management. Since Prospec Systems Limited first developed PSL Datatrack in it is modular form, the main thrust of design has been a determination to give the user the ability to delegate tasks to the shop-floor with a view to encouraging collective responsibility for management operations. This has made it possible to utilise the entire shop-floor staff to function as part of the routine management system by delegating modules and operations to the people who actually perform the physical task.

Even complex requirements such as material allocations, issues and traceability are now being performed at operator level thereby making an invaluable contribution to management performance and costs.

The shop-floor contribution to quality has not been forgotten either.

Using the Gauge Management module has enabled detailed tracking of every gauge, fixture or tool requiring calibration together with every gauge or instrument used on a work piece.

Tooling modules are also available to monitor overall tool use within the system to ensure that setters have complete sets of tools before they attempt to run a machine, eliminating the annoying and expensive wait for a missing tool while the machine stands idle.

Tool replenishment is on a requirement basis to enable JIT (just in time) purchase of tools in order to preserve cash flow and keep tooling stocks adequate but lean.

This eliminates over-purchasing of tools to 'be on the safe side' and especially lets the setters control the management of the tools and stocks by requisition without the need to refer purchases to administration.

Overall, the more management tasks that can be delegated to the people who carry out the physical requirement, the leaner the management and the leaner the production.

As Jason Nicholson - Joint Managing Director of Unicut Precision Limited asserts: 'The contribution by shop-floor personnel will continue to become more and more important in the cost and effectiveness of management and PSL Datatrack has been invaluable in allowing it to happen.'

Line balancing software capabilities expanded

Line balancingsoftware offers ease of use and interoperability and greatly expand the analysis, charting, and reporting currently available for single and mixed model line balancing.
Proplanner launch the latest release of their Line Balancing software, v1.3 Dr Dave Sly, CEO of Proplanner, said. ''Our new Line Balancing application is setting the industry standard for ease of use and interoperability. The features in this release were designed to greatly expand the analysis, charting, and reporting currently available for single and mixed model line balancing.' Proplanner's Line balancing software is designed to interoperate with MS Excel as well as Proplanner Process Engineering Database, allowing users to quickly design efficient product systems in both single and mixed-model environments.

The Line Balancing software uses the COMSOAL algorithm to assign tasks to stations while preserving precedence, co-dependency, and resource constraints.

Additionally users can manipulate the assignments manually and investigate the impact of various derivative 'take rates' on the plan.

Comprehensive reporting includes not only station assignment and utilisation reports but also Ergonomic Factor Analysis showing the impact of the 'stacked' ergonomic hazards for a given assignment plan.

Proplanner is the leading web-enabled software on the Microsoft.NET platform for manufacturing process engineering, management, and collaboration.

Proplanner offers low-cost LAN and web-deployed MPM solutions for discrete part manufacturers.

These applications automate, streamline, and integrate engineering activities for industrial and manufacturing engineers who design and plan production systems for new and modified products.

Proplanner is supported in the UK by Saker Solutions based in Worcestershire.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Batching system reduces administration tasks

Cereal products producer found a new batching control system that has shown significant reductions in administrative tasks and has simplified operators' tank management.
Cerealia is one of the largest food and beverage companies in Scandinavia. It develops, produces and markets cereal-based products for the domestic markets in northern Europe and for export to other parts of the world. At its factory in Jarna, near Stockholm in Sweden, Cerealia produces such famous brands as Gyllenhammars havregryn, Start, Kungsornen pasta and AXA muesli products.

'When our Batch system for FruitMusli became too old, we started looking for a new solution and found CitectSCADA Batch'.

'At that time we knew nothing about Citect, but after talking to a number of their customers we got nothing but good feedback'.

Ingvar Malm, Automation Engineer, Cerealia, Jarna 'It took no more than 10 minutes to swap from the old to the new system.' Originally a pasta production site, the factory produces approximately 21,000 tonnes each year.

However, since the move of the AXA grain-mill to the Jarna site in the late seventies, the focus for this site has moved more towards being an outright cereal producer with current production of grain products almost equaling that of pasta at 20,000 tonnes, and production of cereal products standing at 6,000 tonnes.

At the Jarna factory, which comprises a grain-mill, an extruder (crushing and forming/ sizing facility), and a mixing plant for muesli, a total of 180 different products are produced by 150 people, using over 700 raw materials.

In 2004, Cerealia started a major project to increase the production capacity throughout the entire plant for similar products.

To handle the increase in capacity, a central storage facility was built next door to the production plant.

This facility is capable of storing 25,000 pallets at the same time, and these are shipped and replaced with new products every month.

* Gearing up for the future - in the Jarna factory, 10 different batching solutions were being used, a number of which were becoming outdated and inefficient.

In turn, this was making it increasingly difficult for Cerealia to get access to spare parts and product support.

'When you get to a situation like that, you have no choice but to start looking for new solutions,' said Ingvar Malm, automation engineer at the Jarna factory.

* Meeting the requirements - Cerealia had two major requirements for the new Batch system.

'It was imperative that the Batch solution be built and designed to handle the ISA S88 standard', said Malm.

ISA S88 defines terminology and models for batch control.

The standard comprises of two parts: ISA-S88.01 Part I: Models and terminology and Part II: Data Structures and Guidelines for Languages.

'The second requirement was that we had to be able to keep our existing PLCs and weighing equipment that was already working properly on the FruitMusli production line'.

'This meant that a hardware independent solution was important'.

'After seeing a presentation and a product demonstration of CitectSCADA Batch we felt that it was a solution that met our requirements and we decided to use it in a pilot project.' * Focussing on the operator - 'The new system was surprisingly easy to get going', said Malm'.

''It took no more than 10 minutes to swap from the old to the new system, and it is still very easy to swap back to the old system if required'.

'Another surprise was the reaction from the operators, they were all happy with the new system'.

'I was expecting to get complaints from them during the initial period, as the structure and operating procedures are different in the new system, but this did not happen.' According to Malm, the CitectSCADA Batch system is now in full production and is performing very much to his satisfaction'.

''The analysis we have done so far has shown significant reductions in administrative tasks needed'.

'It is easier for the operators to empty tanks and make sure that tanks are filled with the correct raw material,' said Malm.

Talking about his expectations for production efficiency improvements using CitectSCADA Batch, Malm concluded: 'It certainly looks very good and Beijer Electronics should be praised for its skilled and engaged staff'.

HMI software simplifies operator tracking

Latest release of Windows-based HMI software includes easy electronic-signatures, enhanced user administration, operator authentication, tracking and data logging audit trail functions.
Parker Automaton-CTC announces the release of InteractX version 2.0 of its award-winning, OEM-friendly Windows-based HMI software. This latest version of InteractX offers the industry's most streamlined HMI toolset for compliance with the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 and Good Manufacturing Process (cGMP) standards that require operator tracking and E-signatures. Known for its advanced graphics, ease of application and reduced cost of ownership, InteractX now includes easy electronic-signatures, enhanced user administration, operator authentication, tracking and data logging audit trail functions - all without special scripting or software add-ons.

InteractX's Operator Tracking and E-Signature tools track events transparently, as part of daily operator activities, or can be used for operator authentication and supervisor approval E-Sig compliance needs.

Simple checkboxes allow application developers to set approval requirements for specific events, while allowing operators to indicate desired changes in machine operation, reasons and authentication of his or her identity through simple predefined popup dialogs.

Multiple user levels are available to establish approval requirements and the system logs historical data to record events, requests, identities and approvals, creating a complete audit trail on a machine or group of machines.

All of this functionality is built into the standard software package, with no special programming or scripting required.

'Machine HMI presents the best opportunity to address Part 11 and cGMP requirements,' says Jerry Koch, CTC Product Manager.

'And now InteractX offers the industry's easiest solution for compliance with the increasing need for operator tracking and E-Sig system requirements.' Machine OEMs will also find it easy to deploy this solution to users in the field, thanks to auto detection of user admin security for Windows networks and seamless IT integration of MS Access, SQL and OBDC database logging.

'Machine builders will appreciate the ease with which they can offer machine event tracking with InteractX and their customers will appreciate how easy it is to manage and document E-Sigs as part of their machine installation,' says Koch.

InteractX also features fully rendered and scalable graphics, intuitive, object-style development tools, unlimited tag runtimes, 45+ standard communications drivers, real-time data acquisition, complete tag editing, integrated VBA and ActiveX tools for easy customisation and built-in multi-language support.

According to Koch, 'InteractX provides customers with the full functionality needed to create an HMI application - one software package scalable to a whole range of runtime systems.' InteractX runs on Windows/2000/XP operating systems and is installed/licensed on CTC's new HPX and PX PowerStations.

These workstations can run InteractX, and other fully functioning Windows applications, on their standard CompactFlash drives, potentially making a hard drive unnecessary.

HPX and PX PowerStations offer a bundled HMI solution for users who want higher Windows functionality along with a choice of 10in, 12in, 15in or 17in high-resolution touchscreen displays.

Unique among Windows HMI developers, CTC offers InteractX bundled into hardware/software solutions, specifically engineered for industrial applications.

'This bundling lets OEMs avoid the integration issues with hardware and software products from different companies, the typical practice until now with Windows HMI,' says Koch.

About CTC Parker Since 1980, CTC has been designing, manufacturing, and marketing both hardware and software to provide factory-floor, machine-operator-interface solutions for automation projects worldwide.

In 1998, CTC became a unit of the Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH), Cleveland, Ohio.

With annual sales approaching $7 billion, Parker Hannifin is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, mobile, industrial and aerospace markets.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Production monitoring systems advocated by moulder

Injection moulding specialists, have been an advocate of production monitoring since 1982 when they installed a monitoring system and have continuously upgraded it ever since then.
Holloid Plastics, injection moulding specialists, have been an advocate of production monitoring since 1982 when they installed a Barco (Dextralog) FSX monitoring system. Since then they have continuously upgraded the system, latterly with the Plantmaster Windows-based manufacturing execution system (MES). 'The use of the Barco system has been one of the major contributing factors that has enabled us to remain competitive over all these years.

We have had great value from the system.

I do not think we could function efficiently without it,' said Julian van Wyngaarden, managing director of the family company, which was started by his father in 1950.

Holloid Plastics manufacture between two to three million components a month across a wide range of industries, including office equipment, child care, lighting, burglar alarms and water softeners.

'Holloid strive to provide a very high quality manufacturing service, so that we can give customers what they need at the right price.

It is also important that our short runs are profitable, which is one of the reasons why we have installed robotic handling equipment on our machines.

Whatever the run length, it is essential to keep very tight control of our production from planning through to injection moulding, which is why we rely on the Barco system to monitor accurately all our machines ranging from 30 to 650 tons,' he explained.

'Holloid also have to be very flexible to manufacture such a wide range of components with a lot of tool changes.

Twelve tool changes in a day would not be unusual.

In order to process urgent orders, we constantly have to re-prioritise our workload and that is where the automated Barco scheduling system is such a bonus because you can see the jobs in the pipeline,' he explained.

A Barco data unit on each of the machines monitors a range of activities and reasons for down-time.

These include set-up times, cycle times and the required order quantity against the actual, so that our machine minders can immediately see the balance.

Plantmaster also monitors the amount of material needed to finish the job avoiding both stock out and over stock situations.

The Plantmaster machine layout is displayed on a monitor on the shop floor and colour coded to show at a glance if machines are running, idle or exceeding the cycle time.

Plantmaster displays all the information collected from the data units in real-time, together with the job code.

Holloid produce daily reports, so that they can compare the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) against a number of targets.

'We are constantly looking to improve our service levels and there is a lot of information the Barco system can give us that could help us in this area.

For example, we can look at the historical data to analyse performance where one job is manufactured on a number of machines, to see whether some machines run better than others and the reasons why.

We currently transfer the data from our sales order processing system to the Barco software manually but are in the process of implementing an MRP system and automatically linking the Barco system to it.' Holloid also intend to add a process monitoring facility to the Barco system, in order to measure changes of cooling water temperature, amongst other parameters, at each moulding machine to further improve consistency of production.

Finally van Wyngaarden plans to upgrade the existing data units on the Barco system, some of which are twenty years old and still going strong.

'The hard-wired data units have been exceptional value but they will not go on for ever.

I am now talking to Barco about their latest wireless technology for collecting data from the machines, which will be more cost-effective and simpler to install.' * About Barco - Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, provides visualization and display solutions for professional markets.

Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection.

Barco is active worldwide and has its own facilities for Sales and Marketing, Customer Support, R and D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Plastics turned parts cost-estimated in minutes

Sub-contractor machinist has installed a production system that produced customer quotations for over 50 components in under 1h, with a well presented quote letter delivered by fax.
Most sub-contractors are already 'lean' at the production level but in order to remain competitive they must deal efficiently with a greater volume of orders whether for 'one-offs' or 1000s and produce all the associated documentation in a well presented and traceable manner. One sub-contractor achieved this and more by installing a PSL Datatrack production system that really worked for his business. 'It is like getting off a 'push-bike' and into a Rolls Royce,' is how Mick Finney of Tefloturn, a UK specialist producer of turned parts in an extensive range of thermo plastics materials, described the changes to how he runs his business since he installed PSL Datatrack .

He also describes the return on investment as 'marvellous' claiming that the system paid for itself in less than six months.

After his full time administrator left the company he did not need a replacement as he discovered that the software was so easy to use.

Working in a variety of plastic materials such as PTFE, Acetal, Nylon and PEEK meant that the number of Quotations he had to produce was large and varied.

Finney stated that on one occasion, he dealt with customer quotations for over 50 components and variations in less than an hour, with a well presented quote letter delivered to the customer by fax, directly from the system.

The result, he said, was: 'Staggering'.

Other areas of production now easily managed include vacuum forming of plastics offering infinite capacity through sub-contract management, all dealt with via PSL Datatrack .

Of the suppliers of the software, Prospec Systems, Finney commented: 'Everyone says they offer exceptional support, but the PSL Datatrack engineers actually deliver it.

They encouraged us to start with just the modules we needed to get the system running quickly, and now we can update and add new modules at any time we feel they may be needed.

Prospec Systems also run an active 'wish-list' which means we can have a hand in designing the next upgrade, as well as getting the benefit of other users ideas at the same time.' Linking to their SAGE accounts system was another vital part of the requirement to make the whole organisation run smoothly and PSL Datatrack does this with ease.

'We do not ever need to type or enter data twice,' said Finney, 'Making certain that once it is right, it stays right, eliminating errors.' Tefloturn have become committed users of Information Technology utilising previously under-worked computer equipment fully in the administration of both their business and production facilities.

The confidence this gives them to continue their investment in reliable, simple to use software, lets them get on with the real business of producing parts at the right price and on time, something Finney described as: 'Priceless'.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Software helps manage production assembly sequence

Step-by-step assembly guide software is designed to help assemblers correctly recognise and assemble parts into a product and inspectors to verify that parts have been correctly assembled.
PHelp is a novel piece of software and a 'must' for any production line. PHelp (Production Helper) is a step-by-step assembly guide designed to help assemblers correctly recognise and assemble parts into a product and inspectors to verify that parts have been correctly assembled. PHelp can dramatically reduce training time for new staff or new products by showing the production technicians exactly what components to place where on the board.

Each part is complemented by a graphic showing what it should look like, any orientation shown on the part body and how the value is shown on the part.

PHelp is a novel graphic aid for production assembly staff.

PHelp is a cost effective way to share production data and help eradiate potentially embarrassing assembly and inspections errors.

PHelp will help you to reduce time-to-market, training and inspections times and complicated documentation.

* PHelp Workshop is the base module that displays the finished product along with an interactive parts list and list of assembly procedures.

* Notes and graphics may be attached to each part and procedure to aid the assembly process.

* The parts list can be filtered by the procedure list, showing only parts relevant to the selected procedure.

* Step through the whole assembly process one part at a time until the assembly is complete.

* Find any part details by clicking on the assembled product image.

Change the colour and shape of the part indicator to suit your personal preferences.

PHelp Administrator does everything that the workshop module does and more: * Create and fill new assembly databases.

* Add and change the assembled product image.

* Add and edit parts and procedures.

* Set filtering associations for parts and procedures.

* Attach notes and graphics to parts and procedures.

* Import and export parts and procedures lists and notes.

* Links parts lists to Stock Explorer III (Saturn Solutions stock control software).

Installing PHelp on your production line would: * Reduce manual assembly errors.

* Reduce long visual inspection times.

* Reduce steep assembly learning curves.

* Increase accuracy and productivity.

Fast, easy creation and editing of assembly databases that range from assembly image to positioning of the parts.

The software features: * Standard (mouse and screen) or touch-screen compatible.

* Multiple workstations.

* Import and Export to Stock Explorer III (Saturn Solutions stock control software).

* Import RTF notes for each procedure.

Distribute your assembly database to your sub-contractor, knowing that they have the ability to read with confidence.

No more lost BOMs (bills of materials) or documents.

Make to order subcontractors embrace 'Lean'

Looking for leaner procedures, 'make-to-order' sub-contractors take interest in a modular system to delegate management tasks to the shop-floor and encourage collective responsibility.
In these days of extreme competition and downward price pressure, few sub-contractors can afford to employ all the overheads needed to carry out the increasing number of daily tasks required by materials and product management. Since Prospec Systems first developed PSL Datatrack in its modular form, the main thrust of design has been a determination to give the user the ability to delegate tasks to the shop-floor with a view to encouraging collective responsibility for management operations. This has made it possible to utilise the entire shop-floor staff to function as part of the routine management system by delegating modules and operations to the people who actually perform the physical task.

Even complex requirements such as material allocations, issues and traceability are now being performed at operator level thereby making an invaluable contribution to management performance and costs.

The shop-floor contribution to quality has not been forgotten either.

Using the Gauge Management module has enabled detailed tracking of every gauge, fixture or tool requiring calibration together with every gauge or instrument used on a work piece.

Tooling modules are also available to monitor overall tool use within the system to ensure that setters have complete sets of tools before they attempt to run a machine, eliminating the annoying and expensive wait for a missing tool while the machine stands idle.

Tool replenishment is on a requirement basis to enable JIT (just in time) purchase of tools in order to preserve cash flow and keep tooling stocks adequate but lean.

This eliminates over-purchasing of tools to 'be on the safe side' and especially lets the setters control the management of the tools and stocks by requisition without the need to refer purchases to administration.

Overall, the more management tasks that can be delegated to the people who carry out the physical requirement, the leaner the management and the leaner the production.

As Jason Nicholson - joint managing director of subcontract machining operation Unicut Precision asserted: 'The contribution by shop-floor personnel will continue to become more and more important in the cost and effectiveness of management and PSL Datatrack has been invaluable in allowing it to happen.'

Plastics turned parts cost-estimated in minutes

Sub-contractor machinist has installed a production system that produced customer quotations for over 50 components in under 1h, with a well presented quote letter delivered by fax.
Most sub-contractors are already 'lean' at the production level but in order to remain competitive they must deal efficiently with a greater volume of orders whether for 'one-offs' or 1000s and produce all the associated documentation in a well presented and traceable manner. One sub-contractor achieved this and more by installing a PSL Datatrack production system that really worked for his business. 'It is like getting off a 'push-bike' and into a Rolls Royce,' is how Mick Finney of Tefloturn, a UK specialist producer of turned parts in an extensive range of thermo plastics materials, described the changes to how he runs his business since he installed PSL Datatrack .

He also describes the return on investment as 'marvellous' claiming that the system paid for itself in less than six months.

After his full time administrator left the company he did not need a replacement as he discovered that the software was so easy to use.

Working in a variety of plastic materials such as PTFE, Acetal, Nylon and PEEK meant that the number of Quotations he had to produce was large and varied.

Finney stated that on one occasion, he dealt with customer quotations for over 50 components and variations in less than an hour, with a well presented quote letter delivered to the customer by fax, directly from the system.

The result, he said, was: 'Staggering'.

Other areas of production now easily managed include vacuum forming of plastics offering infinite capacity through sub-contract management, all dealt with via PSL Datatrack .

Of the suppliers of the software, Prospec Systems, Finney commented: 'Everyone says they offer exceptional support, but the PSL Datatrack engineers actually deliver it.

They encouraged us to start with just the modules we needed to get the system running quickly, and now we can update and add new modules at any time we feel they may be needed.

Prospec Systems also run an active 'wish-list' which means we can have a hand in designing the next upgrade, as well as getting the benefit of other users ideas at the same time.' Linking to their SAGE accounts system was another vital part of the requirement to make the whole organisation run smoothly and PSL Datatrack does this with ease.

'We do not ever need to type or enter data twice,' said Finney, 'Making certain that once it is right, it stays right, eliminating errors.' Tefloturn have become committed users of Information Technology utilising previously under-worked computer equipment fully in the administration of both their business and production facilities.

The confidence this gives them to continue their investment in reliable, simple to use software, lets them get on with the real business of producing parts at the right price and on time, something Finney described as: 'Priceless'.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

SCADA improves manufacturing competitiveness

The power, flexibility and scaleability of SCADA systems bring manufacturers improved productivity, more efficient process control, improved product quality and integration with business systems.
The power, flexibility and scaleability of CitectSCADA enable manufacturers in all types of industries worldwide to maximise the competitiveness of their operations, through improved productivity, more efficient process control, improved product quality and integration with existing business systems. CitectSCADA is an extremely fast, ready to use system with all features, protocols and over 100 drivers included. It offers ultimate flexibility to handle the smallest to the largest tasks (450,000 I/O +) across all industry types - process, manufacturing, mining, petrochemical, aerospace, oil and gas, water treatment, power distribution (etc) - while maintaining the highest performance and reliability to safeguard production.

The ideal tool to improve productivity, CitectSCADA is designed with DCS style multi-level redundancy, which is easy to configure and can be incorporated at all levels.

The significance of this for the user is the ability to tolerate hardware failure anywhere in a system, with no loss of functionality, performance, communication or system reliability.

At the same time as safeguarding production, CitectSCADA also helps to maintain and improve manufacturing excellence.

The package is a vital tool for analysing and ensuring the quality of manufactured products using such high level functions as statistical process control (SPC) and advanced statistical alarms that enable plant personnel to predict and limit deviations of process parameters before they occur.

The task of competing in highly competitive global markets is also made easier through the deployment of a centralised CitectSCADA system.

The enhanced control of operations the system provides enables users to significantly reduce their operating and maintenance costs.

In addition, fewer personnel are required to monitor field equipment in remote locations, resulting in increased operator effectiveness, improved efficiency and savings in operational costs.

In today's fast moving business environment CitectSCADA equips users against the costly effects of changing market demands, courtesy of a flexible and scaleable architecture that adapts and grows effortlessly.

This provides the power to resize a system - up or down - without having to modify any of the system hardware or software.

As a result, system architectures grow to meet changing user requirements, while preserving initial capital investments.

The case for employing CitectSCADA as a business improver is further strengthened by the ability of the package to integrate easily with existing business systems.

The key to this integration is Citect Plant2Business, an easy-to-use platform that allows data to be shared.

In addition, Citect's Industrial Information Management (IIM) analysis applications allow real-time information to be aggregated and presented, improving decision-making processes and significantly increasing business performance.

Ensuring that any investment in CitectSCADA is both safe and secure is a dedicated team of experts, Citect Professional Services (CPS), that provide professional services, customer support and training.

CPS is made up of highly specialized engineers, all of which offer the best integration services to meet user requirements.

These engineers work strategically with Citect's impressive global network of over 500 sales and integration partner companies to provide leading edge industrial automation and information management solutions.

In addition, highly experienced technical support staff provide users of Citect products with the most up-to-date, quality support and services.

A global system of choice - although new to the UK market, CitectSCADA is already the HMI/SCADA manufacturing automation system of choice for many successful global manufacturers.

These include Alcoa, General Motors, NASA, Urenco, Baoshan Steel, BHP Billiton, Pratt and Whitney, BP Solar, WMC Resources, BMW, Nestle, Mars Confectionery and Shell Oil, to name but a few.

About Citect - Citect is a worldwide leader in industrial automation and information management.

The company's CitectSCADA, Plant2Business and IIM solutions are complemented by professional services, customer support and training.

These solutions are enhanced by strong partner programs and are sold in numerous industries, including water and waste water, facilities monitoring, gas pipelines, mining, dairy, food processing, pharmaceutical, and power distribution.

Citect is headquartered in Sydney Australia, has 17 offices in the UK, Australia, USA, Europe, China and Africa, and its products are distributed in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Software links factory floor and office on the Web

CTServer provides a direct, web-based link between the factory floor and enterprise systems such as MRP, customer relationship management, documentation and quality analysis.
Control Technology Corp., originator of web enabled automation, has released CTServer software. CTServer provides a direct, web-based link between the factory floor and enterprise systems such as MRP (Material and Resource Planning), CRM (customer relationship management), documentation and quality analysis. Remote terminal units such as those used for tank farms, water treatment and environmental monitoring may be used as CTServer clients, further extending its power and flexibility in enabling users to send data to and from anywhere.

In addition to standard Internet browsers, devices such as cell phones and pagers provide people as well as systems with direct, real-time access to plant floor data.

' Many facilities have implemented higher level enterprise systems only to find that they are not achieving their expected optimization and cost reduction goals, ' said Greg Woods, CTC President and CEO.

' The problem in many cases is a missing link: lack of accurate and consistent real-time data from plant and process level devices.

CTServer software provides this missing link in a streamlined, cost-effective yet powerful package.

' Easy to integrate - CTServer links CTC Blue Fusion controllers or any OPC-compliant device to enterprise systems by using the following IT standards: * HTML, XML, SQL.

* HTTP, SMTP, SOAP (Web Services), SNTP.

* ODBC, JDBC, J2EE Server.

CTServer additionally conforms to commonly used security strategies for multi-level user access (LDAP, MD5 digest authentication) and protection from unauthorized access (SSL with 128-bit encryption).

This makes it easy for IT professionals to integrate plant floor data with enterprise-level systems.

CTServer is Java-based, enabling it to run on many different hardware and software platforms.

How is it different from what's out there now?

CTServer differs from currently available SCADA packages in two respects: * It is designed from the ground up as a web-based server product.

It is not a ' browser-based bolt-on.

' * It provides a direct, bi-directional link between factory data and enterprise systems without complex, expensive SCADA gateways.

CTServer also makes it easy for IT professionals to exchange plant floor data with the enterprise and its supply chain using the familiar standards and infrastructure that are already in place, without extensive support from plant floor personnel.

An optional event-based package enables users to report or request data based upon events such as alarms, video motion detection, batch completions or other process events, shift and operator changes, or interruptions in communications.

Robust, fault-tolerant architecture and performance features ensure data integrity despite hostile environments or heavy requests on the server.

Visual modelling and analysis system is powerful

A powerful, visual modelling and analysis system enables the rapid evaluation of alternative lean production, warehouse and distribution, logistic and supply chain processes.
Production Modelling is a leading UK based provider of simulation, planning and scheduling software and consultancy. The company's Ccore ProModel product provides a powerful, visual modelling and analysis system enabling the rapid evaluation of alternative lean production, warehouse and distribution, logistic and supply chain processes. However, the company has also developed the Orchestrate planning, scheduling and optimisation system, which can be used to plan supply chains, undertake sales and operation planning and manage shop floor scheduling.

The release covers major developments with this product.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Software specialises in accounting environment

Draycir, a software provider specialising in the Sage accounting environment, plans to capitalise further on its memorable performance at Sage Visions 2004 by attending this year's event in Edinburgh.
Draycir, a leading software provider specialising in the Sage accounting environment, plans to capitalise further on its memorable performance at Sage Visions 2004 by attending this year's event in Edinburgh. Sage Visions 2005 is being held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC, 1-2 Nov), where up to 1000 delegates are expected. Draycir scooped two awards at last year's conference in London; Sage Developer of the Year 2004 for its revolutionary Spindle Professional document management product, and Most Innovative Sage Addition 2004 for Credit Hound - an SME credit management software package which will be launched to the Sage channel from 1 Nov, exclusively at Visions in Edinburgh.

Robert Ball, Draycir's managing director is excited in advance of Visions 2005: 'Last year was such a pivotal year for Draycir that it will be hard to replicate that level of achievement.

The business has grown a great deal in the last 12 months, and we will now be judged on how we translate all our efforts into sustained business success.

'The future is incredibly bright; Spindle Professional continues to be the bedrock and flagship product of the business.

Credit Hound is possibly set to overtake it in double quick time; we already have a large number of clients lined up to place orders for the software, and we are expecting Sage Visions 2005 to be an important springboard that will help us with our aggressive marketing push into early 2006.' Exclusively for Sage Partners, the two-day conference agenda presents an in-depth product day, addressing new functionality and technical detail, with a commercial, strategic and competitive analysis day.

Sage experts from directors to product engineers, research and development staff to vertical specialists will be onsite to answer questions, demonstrate products and outline the future for Sage and its channel.

Hazardous environment solutions for ATEX and UL

Zetes UK and Zetes Blackbird (Ireland) have announced that they can offer the full range of specialised mobile technology for deployment in hazardous environments supplied by Bartec.
Zetes UK and Zetes Blackbird (Ireland) have announced that they can offer the full range of specialised mobile technology for deployment in hazardous environments supplied by Bartec.

Bartec are the only supplier of the Symbol Technologies I-safe MC9000 device, approved to regional hazardous environment specifications.

This offers the market a rugged, wireless, multi-modal device that is ATEX-certified for potentially explosive atmospheres, zone 1 or Class I, Division 1, Groups C, D (UL).

Software boosts planning, scheduling by 25%

A major software breakthrough in planning and scheduling precision that can produce significant efficiency gains of up to 25% offers interactivity and flexibility.
ILOG has unveiled an integrated production planning and detailed scheduling solution - ILOG Plant PowerOps - that represents a major breakthrough in planning and scheduling precision that can produce significant efficiency gains of up to 25%. The latest addition to the ILOG PowerOps Suite of manufacturing and transportation solutions, Plant PowerOps (PPO) introduces several innovations to the Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) market, while allowing customers to leverage their IT investments in most legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) systems. Innovations in PPO include detailed models that capture the realities of both discrete and process manufacturing, as well as support the interactivity and flexibility needed by decision-makers.

Production planners, plant managers, and front-line schedulers can all create and compare scenarios, perform 'what-if' analyses, and define warning messages and alerts using a business rule management interface.

The efficiency gains are driven by optimisation models that take into consideration the resources, activities, and operating constraints of modern manufacturing.

Most ERP and SCM scheduling solutions address about 80 percent of the realities of the manufacturing process and fail to address a host of important considerations including true set-up costs, switch-over procedures, earliness costs, tardiness costs, waste factors, and the special requirements of process manufacturing.

ILOG Plant PowerOps (PPO) is designed to address the remaining 20% of required functionality, allowing manufacturers to produce optimal plans and schedules that are realistic, addressing the main resource capabilities, costs and operating constraints experienced by most manufacturers.

Manufacturers in process industries will also benefit from support for lot and batch planning, cleaning procedures, tank minimums and maximums, the tracking of reservoir consumption, and the scheduling of divergent, convergent and cyclical material flows.

Because of the limitations in their ability to address all aspects of detailed scheduling problems, most existing SCM solutions cannot offer a comprehensive integration of the planning and scheduling functions, which often keeps planning departments and the manufacturing floor from being synchronized.

ILOG Plant PowerOps fills the gap by enabling plant and supply chain managers to model their manufacturing and supply chain processes at a granularity that corresponds to their business operations.

Their plans and schedules are automatically synchronised because they use the same information and assumptions.

According to leading manufacturing research firm, AMR Research, organisations can cost-effectively get more out of their existing supply chain technology by installing business components into their software infrastructure.

AMR compared this to an 'aftermarket' where 'accessory components can be installed within an existing software infrastructure to increase functionality, much like buying an aftermarket audio or alarm system for your car'.

ILOG PPO 'bolts on' to most existing ERP and SCM systems so customers do not have to perform a 'rip and replace' operation to add new, leading edge APS capability.

In addition to integrated production planning and scheduling and the most complete set of models on the market today, ILOG PPO offers: * An Interactive Planning Board - based on ILOG's visualization technology - that allows plant managers to validate plans and manage exceptions at a glance.

The planning board also supports 'drag and drop' editing, partial freeze and solve, undo/redo, alerts, and other ease of use features.

* 'What-if' analysis and scenario comparison for planning and scheduling that allows users to understand key performance indicators (KPIs), and define scenarios and alerts using ILOG's business rule management systems (BRMS) technology.

* A Solution Generation window with a graphical display of optimization progress on multiple dimensions of cost, level of service, inventory, etc.

* Pre-defined connectors to SAP and Oracle.

Connectors to other systems will be available later.

The leader in optimisation technology, ILOG currently provides this technology through OEM agreements to eight of the top 10 ERP/SCM vendors.

More than 60 manufacturing companies in the Global 500 are currently using ILOG optimisation technology in custom planning and scheduling systems.

Over the past 10 years, the company has developed significant experience solving complex scheduling problems for manufacturing customers throughout the world through its professional services organisation.

ILOG PPO is the direct beneficiary of this real-world implementation experience, resulting in a next-generation APS offering.

* About ILOG - ILOG delivers software and services that empower customers to make better decisions faster and manage change and complexity.

Over 2,500 global corporations and more than 465 leading software vendors rely on ILOG's market-leading business rule management system (BRMS), optimisation and visualization software components, to achieve dramatic returns on investment, create market-defining products and services, and sharpen their competitive edge.