Today's Automation News Headlines from Automation.com

November 6, 2011 - Invensys Operations Management updated its Eurotherm nanodac recorder/controller. Updates link the device more closely with the company’s InFusion Enterprise Control system, helping customers achieve operational excellence. The updates include greater storage flexibility for longer local data archiving; store and forward data retrieval; and connectivity to the company’s Wonderware Historian, a key component of the Enterprise Control System, for easier restoration, reporting and analysis.

The nanodac recorder/controller is ideal as a local historian to third-party equipment, but can also be utilized as a stand-alone device. It interfaces directly with the Wonderware Historian, providing a unique combination of secure, hardware-based local data acquisition and storage, along with powerful information, analysis and reporting software. With 50 megabytes of flash memory for data storage, as well as an on-screen help system and remote viewing functionality, the device allows plant-floor operators and supervisors to monitor and discuss the health of their process from virtually anywhere, creating a fully empowered workforce that can use real-time operating information to make better operating and business decisions.

In addition to its extensive data acquisition capability, the Eurotherm nanodac instrument also has an option to provide two high-stability PID loops with the unique Eurotherm Autotune facility. Both the product and its remote viewer application support several languages, including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The device also: meets many exacting standards for measurement, including Nadcap for aerospace compliance; can be used to aid 21CFR Part11 compliance for Pharmaceutical Electronic Records; has up to eight universal inputs coupled with high-density recording, and produces tamperproof files that can be retained in a long-term archive.

“High-integrity data collection and retention for continuous or batch processing is critical for many industries,” said Bob Postlethwaite, global marketing director, Invensys Operations Management. “Without a local collection and retention device, when communications fail, processors risk losing important data. For a food and beverage or pharmaceutical manufacturer, for example, that could lead to a batch being quarantined or even scrapped. With its local historian and powerful memory, the Eurotherm nanodac recorder/controller can store up to 38 set-up values. Additionally, its ‘store and forward’ connection to our Wonderware Historian component not only ensures that data retrieval is automatically implemented whenever needed, it is restored in crystal sharp display with highly accurate records that are updated every 1/8th of a second.”

“The Eurotherm nanodac recorder/controller is a great example of how Invensys products, as part of the InFusion Enterprise Control System, can unite real-time data from Invensys and other third-party systems, helping to pinpoint operational improvement opportunities and providing root-cause analysis for management teams and operations teams alike,” Postlethwaite said. “Incrementally upgrading your operations with InFusion Enterprise Control System hardware and software components can be a strategic, economical modernization effort that links business processes with production processes. It allows our customers to create the solutions they need to improve collaboration and to make the most of their most valuable asset-- their people.”

About Invensys Operations Management
Invensys Operations Management, a division of Invensys, is a leading provider of automation and information technology, systems, software solutions, services and consulting to the global manufacturing and infrastructure industries. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, its solutions are used by more than 40,000 clients around the world in more than 200,000 plants and facilities.

Invensys Operations Management’s offerings are delivered under several prominent industry brands, including Avantis, Eurotherm, Foxboro, IMServ, InFusion, SimSci-Esscor, Skelta, Triconex and Wonderware. The company’s approximately 9,000 employees and its global partner ecosystem integrate these products and services to help clients collaborate across systems and enterprises in real time, extracting critical data to make faster, better decisions and synchronize their operations from the plant floor to the executive offices, aligning production goals with business objectives. To learn more about Invensys Operations Management, visit iom.invensys.com.