Tuesday, February 3, 2009

ARC Forum 2009 press conferences It's the first full day of the annual ARC Advisory Group Forum in a chilly Orlando. Yesterday we sat in a six-hour "press conference marathon." But it wasn't as bad as it might sound. There was much news and new products. I'm sitting in Andy Chatha's opening keynote to an obviously smaller crowd than usual. We knew that many people would be watching expenses right now, and there must have been some last minute cancellations. That's too bad because there is always a lot of good information and good people to meet at the Forum. I only have time for a brief overview of the sessions. More details when I grab a chance later. I "tweeted" the highlights live during the sessions yesterday. You can see them on my Twitter page (and join Twitter and follow me there). These are presented in the order of the press conference schedule. The first session I saw was from ILS Technology. This device connectivity company specializes in secure networking of devices and has introduced a "Software as a Service (SaaS)" application and is seeking to expand its market reach into industries beyond semiconductor manufacturing. Kicking off what is a major meme at this conference, Schneider Electric used the opportunity to highlight the various ways it practices sustainability in its operations--from energy to safety to socially beneficial projects such as participating in Habitat for Humanity. Wonderware has established a platform called ArchestrA that is built on software services. It can now exploit this platform by adding industry focused Application Solutions. Yesterday it introduced two of these--one for packaging for the food & beverage industry and one for facility automation. The FDT Group touted an increase in membership and its work on achieving standard status for its technology. It is also looking into an expansion into factory automation working with EtherCat, CANopen and other organizations/technologies. Honeywell announced a new product--Experion LS. It is a small batch processor--a small DCS in a PLC-looking package. It is specifically designed from hardware through software for smaller batch processes. Yokogawa laid out its roadmap of new and future (probably released throughout this year) product in its Centum suiter--Real-time Production Organizer. Based on ISA95 modeling, this software manufacturing opertions management package captures workflow best practices and can help capture business and process knowledge that will walk out the door with retired employees. Yokogawa also announced two other new products, an expansion of its Tunable Diode Laser Analyzer for boosting furnace efficiency and an "ultra low power" wireless RTU. AT&T (yes, the mobile network operator) showed off the Motorola Tundra rugged mobile (cell) phone for mobile workiers in industries such as manufacturing. Mitsubishi Electric Automation discussed its sustainable actions within the company. It also touted its new relationship with Cognex for integrated vision applications. Jerry Yen, former GM engineering manager and OMAC leader, was introduced as Director of Engineering for Mitsubishi's new Center for Solutions. Kepware discussed the company's ability to foster communications. It's KepServer technology allows for adding device communications protocols on one side and software connectivity on the other. It is also a leading OPC supplier, and marketing director Roy Kok stated that OPC UA products are beginning to ship. Emerson Process Management made the second big product announcement of the day with the introduction of Syncade--a MES or manufacturing operations management solution. Its modules include Resource Management, Operations Optimizaation, Integrated Information and Quality and Compliance. It uses ISA95 terminology and definitions and is build on modern software engineering with services and Microsoft .Net. Rockwell Automation highlighted its sustainability initiative that includes products and solutions around environment, energy, emissions, waste and recycling. Endress + Hauser was present to discuss its close relationship with Rockwell with its instrumentation offering a value add for Rockwell's process control. Harry Sim of Cypress Envirosystems had the dubious distinction of speaking last. I've written of the company's addon product that uses vision technology to read old-fashioned gauges and trasmit digital information wirelessly back to a maintenance or asset management application. The company has five additional products--all geared toward providing digital and wireless information from legacy analog, non-electrical instrumentation. They include a pneumatic thermostat reader/actuator, steam trap monitor, wireless transducer reader, freezer monitor and a battery monitor (for batteries in a UPS). For all those in plants and buildings who don't have the time and money to totally re-instrument (and that would be most of you), this is a great way to start moving into the digital age. 9:36:29 AM    comment []