Saturday, November 30, 2013

SPS IPC Drives Expo in Nuremberg, Germany: Invensys gets double the expected journalists

The press conference held by Invensys during the SPS IPC Drives Expo in Nuremberg earlier this week attracted  more than double the journalists it expected.  It’s new offerings in mobility and HMI/SCADA situation awareness libraries generated a lot of interest not only among journalists but also the numerous visitors to its booth as it could be seen in the image below.
Image credit: ‏@InvensysEMEA 

10 Tips for Building a Metrics-Minded Manufacturing Company

Building a company that makes metrics part of its daily operation takes a strategic approach. In this post, I will share 10 tips for transforming the role of metrics in your organization. These are based on the LNS' research paper: “Enabling Operational Excellence with Manufacturing Metrics”.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

How to Analyze Manufacturing Enterprise Software

Whether you are considering Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), Multi-Plant HMI/SCADA, or another enterprise-level manufacturing software solution, LNS Research Market company has identified six filters to run prospective vendors through that will either validate or eliminate their spot on your shortlist. According to their site, it is the same criteria that they are using to analyze and compare software vendors:
Source: LNS Research

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Top 3 benefits of Wonderware ArchestrA Open Architecture Technology

Wonderware ArchestrA technology offers benefits in both development and runtime environments over and above other Industrial Service Oriented Architecture (ISOA) technologies.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Wonderware HMI/SCADA Times, November 19

The November  19th edition of the Wonderware HMI/SCADA Times newsletter is out. For up to date HMI/SCADA news, sign up to get it weekly at http://situation-awareness.com/ and click on Subscribe.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A closer look at the situational awareness HMI/SCADA graphics

According to a recent article in “Automation World”, when you consider situational awareness, HMI screens are ground zero for the concept. That’s why there’s been so much focus recently on the HMI color guidelines presented in the High-Performance HMI Handbook and the ASM Consortium guidelines. 
“But there are inconsistencies between the color standards listed in those two sources,” says John Krajewski, Director of Product Marketing at Invensys.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Situation awareness (SA) demystified: Highlights of the new SA features presented in Buenos Aires

My last blog covered the key aspects of the 2014 of the Wonderware HMI /SCADA software release, namely: Engineering Simplicity, Operational Agility, Real-Time Performance Mastery, Historical Revelation. Having just completed a seminar on situational awareness in Buenos Aires, I would like to expand with this blog and provide the highlights of the actual related features of the new 2014 release. I am  highlighting the situational awareness issue because “42 percent of industrial business losses are generated by human error most commonly caused by a lack of situational awareness according to a study done by ASM consortium.  Situation awareness is defined as the perception of environmental elements with respect to time and/or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status. (Source: Automation World).
Buenos Aires, Boca area, live restaurant entertaining: Tango dancers 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Situation Awareness Seminar in Mexico City, Mexico

I am excited to have just completed presenting at a seminar on Situation Awareness in Mexico City, Mexico on Invensys Software’s new  InTouch HMI & Supervisory software capability.  Invensys has holistically redesigned the software to increase the number of improvements ranging from the front end graphics to the historian real-time object representation. The software was first introduced announced during the User Group Conference in Dallas last month and this week I am in Latin America region (Mexico & Argentina) covering the new library with our team.

Guidelines for the “How to” WonderVideo Contest

As seen in the past couple of blog articles, this “WonderTube” prize program seeks to increase the number and range of videos available to our customers by encouraging Wonderware distributors, system integrators, Invensys employees and customers, to create Wonderware HMI SCADA “how to” product videos. Below are some guidelines for you to assist with creating the materials.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Suggested Topics for the “How to” WonderVideo Contest

As mentioned in last week’s blog article,our new “How to” Video Contest Program is designed to increase the number and variety of product videos available to our customers. 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Weeekend Infografic: 7 high tech wonders of the world

This infographic is not related to HMI/SCADA or the role of social media to the factory floor, I park those topics for the weekly blogs, however it may be part of those topics that interest all of us.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Reminder: Daylight Saving Time 2013 Ends Sunday November 3, 2013 For Most Americans

For most Americans daylight saving time will end with a "fall back" to standard time on Sunday, November 3, at 2 a.m.

Friday, November 1, 2013

New “How to” WonderVideo Contest

Customers or system developers are busy people. Short  product “how to” videos are a great way to improve our customer’s use of our products, their features and capabilities. The customer gains more value from their investment in Wonderware software which leads to more sales!