The Two Tasks of the Software Solution:

   Production Control and Data Management

By the client’s specifications, the new software solution needed to take advantage of the code already residing the existing programmable controller and also totally upgrade the operator’s role at the Supervisor’s Consol as well as the Operator’s Panels.

To address this requirement, Systems Interface first applied our capabilities in Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to implement at the Supervisor’s Consol computer a non-proprietary system database architecture.  This architecture includes modules that allow users to view production, track product processing, provide recipe management, and assist in scheduling based on demand and available resources.  (Our OASIS platform.)

To interface with the code already existing in the programmable controller, Systems Interface modified and enhanced that portion of the code that managed communication and interface with the Supervisor Consol PC as well as the Operator Workstation panels.  Communication ports were also modified to support the new Ethernet network.  That portion of the programmable controller’s code that managed the actual movement of parts (via overhead cranes) through the plant floor remained largely un-changed.