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Wednesday, October 31, 2007 |
There are a couple of really good articles in this month's MIT Technology Review. Blow Up goes deep into this summer's (and lingering) subprime mortgage derivatives situation and its causes. Measuring the Polar Meltdown is a great look at the effects of climate change. (Note: you have to register to see the articles.)
5:08:38 PM 
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Here's my news article from the GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms User Conference.
Changing a company name is a big decision and usually follows changes in the company or in the market-or both. In the case of GE Fanuc adding "Intelligent Platforms" to its moniker, the reasons are a little of both. Maryrose Sylvester, president and chief executive officer, told Automation World that the name change reflects what the company's customers have come to expect. No longer merely a product or component supplier, the company has become a supplier of technology platforms for automation following a long series of acquisitions in both the embedded computing and software markets.
Not only that, but the company is now part of a new division within GE-GE Enterprise Solutions-headed by none other than former GE Fanuc CEO Charlene Begley. Assembling a number of other GE industrial companies such as GE Sensing, Begley intends to turn the division into a cohesive business. When evaluated in total, the division is a significant automation player.
Dubbed "Transformational Innovation," GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms and Microsoft touted their partnership for editors in private meetings. GE Fanuc is developing a new software platform for the future built upon Microsoft's Workflow Foundation and Communications Foundation technologies. A new platform called "Proficy Platform" and a new product, "Proficy Workflow" are expected to be released in the first quarter of 2008. The application is a user-configurable decision-making engine. Users can define a process "workflow" comprised of a number of steps with a logical execution path within the software application.
ARC Advisory Group's Research Director Craig Resnick used the forum available by the conference to announce a new manufacturing model developed by the Dedham, Mass. analyst firm's analysts to describe the manufacturing software space. Collaborative Production Systems (CPS) provides a holistic vision for how companies view their manufacturing and production operations and how those operations can best collaborate with the rest of the enterprise according to Resnick. Dubbed a "next generation" model that helps combine ARC's Collaborative Process Automation Systems (CPAS) and Operations Management models, the Collaborative Production System model outlines not only systems infrastructure, but also the requirements, functions, people and processes needed for manufacturers to achieve operational excellence. GE Fanuc stated in the press conference that it supports the new definition, and that, in fact, its products fit within the definition.
Also at the conference, the company announced its TranSphere Wireless communications products. This offering includes extended range Internet protocol (IP) networking, wireless IP/Ethernet connectivity, and Ethernet and serial communications radio modem solutions. Complementary products also introduced include TranSphere Wireless remote input/output (I/O) modules for analog and discrete I/O signals.
In another announcement, GE Fanuc announced a version of its iFix 4.5 human machine interface / supervisory control and data acquisition (HMI/SCADA) application targeted to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This new version of the visualization product provides a variety of OEM-specific features including the ability to build OEM brand awareness with their customers. By building their own brand, OEMs are also building customer loyalty and product recognition in their specific marketplace.
VisiconX, an enterprise-wide analytical tool, is now available for Proficy HMI/SCADA Cimplicity. VisiconX enables users to obtain and group data from any relational database in the operation and turn it into information that will be valuable to everyone in the organization. Designed originally for Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX, and is now also available for Proficy HMI/SCADA - Cimplicity.
Also announced was VersaMax MicroMotion, a 2-axis module, allowing users to integrate motion control, servos or steppers, and low-end control into a package from one vendor. It can be integrated with the VersaMax Micro controller, QuickPanel Operator Interface Controller or in standalone mode providing a flexible motion solution at an economical cost.
4:28:01 PM
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I seem to be picking up some comments on my open fieldbus post from yesterday. Lest all my readers think there is only on "culprit" to this story, please be assured that the comments regarding connecting to fieldbuses can go wider than just Dave and Graham's. One of the most popular aside comments I get at events regarding open connectivity is how a company doesn't really play "fair" with this or that standard. This relates to all the fieldbuses plus OPC. Companies all talk open, but there always seems to be some glitches in the users' nirvana of "plug and play." Conspiratorialists believe that this is on purpose. That systems users want to lock in customers as much as possible. And, of course, they all do. But I usually don't subscribe to the conspiracy theory point of view on much anything because I think it ascribes way too much preplanning and knowledge on the conspirers. I've been in product development. Usually, just like in Dilbert, marketing comes up with a bunch of ideas and management says, "make it." Oh, and by the way, we want it done yesterday. So you take what you already have, design it as close to the spec as time and money permits, and get it out the door.
However, these comments lead to the value of interoperability testing. ISA is looking into that -- something I wholeheartedly support. Each fieldbus organization is also doing more interoperability testing, as is OPC Foundation. Here's the thing. End users need to a) get involved with the committees developing testing and b) specify and buy products tested to interoperability standards. In other words, user engineers need to put some teeth in their wish list.
11:52:13 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Gary Mintchell.
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