Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Upping Ante in Manufacturing Software Market Yesterday I had an interview with GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' Greg Millinger that included a demonstration of its newest product Proficy Workflow and its Service Oriented Architecture platform. This is a powerful application that not only meets the challenge laid by its competitors, but it actually ups the ante by adding one of the latest Microsoft technologies-the Workflow engine. The first significant thing is that GE Fanuc has finally released its SOA platform. This brings it into the same league as Wonderware with its ArchestrA platform and where Rockwell Automation has been going. This offers the ability to build libraries, not just of data, but also of objects and methods. This includes Microsoft's WPF vector graphics--something that integrators tell me is significant both for developers and for users. The second major part of the announcement is the incorporation of Microsoft's Workflow engine. This is the part that ups the ante on the competition. Check out a demo of this app. It's cool. It is also Business Process Management brought to the real-time world of manufacturing. A developer draws a workflow in a flow chart (looks much like Sequential Function Charts for you PLC programmers). Each block can be linked to various screens, objects and data. For example, an operator on a production line will be guided by the logic to assemble a part and click an acknowledgment. The instruction on the screen may include a picture or video of the assembly. On acknowledgment, the system logs the completed work and moves to the next step. All the data can be linked to ERP and MES systems. Data can also be imported from PLCs. It also includes basic ISA95 models to help guide users toward using this powerful modeling tool as they define their manufacturing business practices. I've done this stuff manually in my working life (no, contrary to popular belief it was not with chisel and stone, it was 2H pencil and 4-column accounting sheets). I consider this step significant. Something Iâo[dot accent]ve been looking for for a while. Other companies have hinted at this, but GE Fanuc has it--starting in June. The press release calls out these "common use cases:" orchestrate high-level processes and manage the data between systems; digitize Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) tasks; digitize Standard Operating Procedures and work instructions; HACCP monitoring procedures and corrective action; alarm and event response, corrective action; manual assembly error-proofing; plant task management; decision wizard; and line, workcell and machine setup.   1:16:54 PM    comment []

Any manufacturing twitterers out there I finally set up a Twitter account the other day. I'm too cheap to use the messaging on my mobile phone, but I'll see how this works. Might be good for days at conferences. You can follow me here. Or, let me know if you have an account so I can follow you. I was talking with my psychologist daughter last night and scanning some news when she called. Saw an item where a psychiatrist thought that compulsive emailing, texting, and so on should be added as a disease in the DSM. Heather was ambivalent about that, but if I get hooked on one more device, she might change her mind ;-) Hope St. Patty's Day was kind to all of you, and that you aren't reading this through the haze of the afterglow. 7:10:38 AM    comment []