Factory Monitoring System

Hi

I have a client that want me to put together a factory monitoring system for them. There are about 20 machines. 12 are Semi-Automatic where I need to monitor about 5 parameters and the rest are machine that only need 1 or 2 parameters.

The idea is check if operators have the correct settings and stop them abusing the machines and in the end reduce downtime and rejects.

I am thinking of using some Beckhoff/Wago/Phoenix Contact (Codesys) PLCs with ethernet ports to connect to the company network. And then have a PC with some OPC software that can generate report and send it via email weekly, log the parameters and send out alarms via email/sms. It would be nice if they can open a webpage and see all the machines current parameters.

I am looking for suggestions on the software I should use.

Thanks is advance
Bestbier

RSView32, not Enterprise, would be a good bet. Supports OPC and has VBA built right in so you can write Visual Basic scripts to do whatever you want.

I've used RSView32 to write collections data to a MySQL database on a webserver using ODBC connectivity. From there, the web master built the reports page from the database as he saw fit for reporting purposes.

http://www.inductiveautomation.com/products/factorypmi/
this will also do everything you need it to do.
Good technical support, fairly easy to use and you can try it out for free.

alanMICS said:

http://www.inductiveautomation.com/products/factorypmi/
this will also do everything you need it to do.
Good technical support, fairly easy to use and you can try it out for free.

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Not a bad looking HMI software. The only concern I would have with using something like that is to make sure you either do not allow that particular computer(s) internet access or make sure you have a very good IT person to maintain security on that network.

Last thing you want is a hacker remotely controlling your process from say Russia.

We just did a project similar to this last year using Wago 750-842 PFCs, although I would recommend the 750-841 or the new PFC with the built-in switch. We interfaced with our facilities equipment, chillers, boilers, air compressors, etc. with the Wago controllers and then used Wonderware for the SCADA software. At the same time, we replaced an existing RSView32 system that was monitoring other facilities equipment like HVAC and rolled it into the same Wonderware system and are experiencing much fewer software related issues than we did with the RSView product.

Good luck

bestbier,

Here is an example project where we did kind of the same thing but we needed to monitor the machine or work cell cycle times. In this case the operators were given a set of time for the machine to run through one cycle of making their widgets. If they exceeded the lotted time, then the PLC for that work cell would set an Output in which case we would transmit that data wirelessly back to the operations desk where we had a HMI that would show the current cell times and would also tally those times in a .csv format. Here are the photos to this project:

Work Cell Times

You could also consider a Red Lion Data StationPlus to do this as well. This would give all access to the web server and would also log the data as well. The Data StationPlus may not have all of the bells & whistles of the other software packages, but it will surely do plenty of this and cost one heck of a lot less as well. Super easy to use as well.

Joe_WaZoo
Joe_WaZoo

I'll echo raytrace's strategy. We use quite a bit of AB PLC and Enterprise, but choose to use OPCOfficelink to sample the OPC tags on each of the PLCs, and deposit into a MySQL database. We gather lots of data each day that can then be combined in any manner (real-time or not) through web applications or client apps that can be infinitely adjusted.

plaurent said:

I'll echo raytrace's strategy. We use quite a bit of AB PLC and Enterprise, but choose to use OPCOfficelink to sample the OPC tags on each of the PLCs, and deposit into a MySQL database. We gather lots of data each day that can then be combined in any manner (real-time or not) through web applications or client apps that can be infinitely adjusted.

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Yeah, depending on the amount of data you are trying to capture at any given time, a SQL database may be a better option than say a .csv file. Also, just as an FYI, Access databases are notorious for crashing on ya once they start growing large (100MB+).

If you are dealing with just a small amount of data, then creating a .csv file on a weekly, or even a daily, bases may work out just fine for ya.

But even so, developing with a SQL database will allow you to expand and collect a large amount of data.

If you aren't a big Visual Basic programmer, then you can even go with Rockwell Software RSSQL which will allow you to pretty much set up what tag points you want to record and allow your PLC to trigger when to record that data to a SQL database.

If you use an OPC server take a look here:
http://www.opclogger.com/

You may want to look at a solution for the 21st century...

http://www.wirefreecnc.com/

Their units can interface with our PLCs.

www.entertron.com

Good point! Keep in mind that there are huge security vulnerabilities with all the major HMI vendors, so use a closed network where appropriate. For cases where management has accepted the risk of remote access, use VPNs or other secure means of communication.

raytrace said:

Not a bad looking HMI software. The only concern I would have with using something like that is to make sure you either do not allow that particular computer(s) internet access or make sure you have a very good IT person to maintain security on that network.

Last thing you want is a hacker remotely controlling your process from say Russia.

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Another good solution is I/Gear (www.igearonline.com). Their main product does OPC client connections to PLCs via an OPC Server (ala Kepware), data logging to databases, spreadsheets, and text files, and notifications via e-mail and text message, just to address your concerns. That ties in with an intranet web based software called Web Framework which can display all the reports.

wago has a good machine together with codesys you can make and web visualisations but also make excel sheets and other couplings.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I like the idea/look of the Inductive Automation stuffs.

I gave the client a brief explanation what can be done and he indicated that it sound like more than what they need. My thinking is that if you want to monitor what settings a welder is using for the material thinckness you might as well log the job and part no to see what he actually did.

Regards,
Bestbier

Download a free trial and give it a shot. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

I agree - might as well log your data if you're going to monitor it anyway.

bestbier said:

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I like the idea/look of the Inductive Automation stuffs.

I gave the client a brief explanation what can be done and he indicated that it sound like more than what they need. My thinking is that if you want to monitor what settings a welder is using for the material thinckness you might as well log the job and part no to see what he actually did.

Regards,
Bestbier

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