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HMI and SCADA Software Application Stories

Please choose an option below to view the application notes, success stories and case studies for HMI and SCADA software.

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High Bright Displays: Get the Picture

By Hector Lin, Advantech Corporation, eAutomation Group
Not all LCDs are the same. In industrial applications, such features as display size, power supply, and location of on-screen display, or OSD, controls have to be considered, along with certifications for operation in harsh environments. This white paper will cover display technologies, indicate which is best for industrial applications, discuss market and technology trends, and finally make recommendations about what to look for in a display. Read Full Article...

A Solution for Your Operations that Just Flows

By Inductive Automation
A Solution for Your Operations that Just Flows! Case histories of three water/wastewater companies using SCADA systems: Brazeau County in the Province of Alberta Canada; the City of Lago Vista in Texas and the Helix Water District in California’s San Diego County. Read entire article.

Monitoring System Tracks Worker Efficiency

By TJ Johns, AutomationDirect
BG Industrial Control builds its Greer Monitoring System for textile plants based on AutomationDirect's touch panels, Terminator IO, DirectLOGIC 205 Ethernet-based controllers, and Think & Do Studio PC-based control software. Read full story...

Husky Builds Flexible Network with Standards Based OPC

Husky Injection Molding Systems is a leading supplier of injection molding equipment and services to the plastics industry. Many companies use Husky’s equipment to create a wide variety of plastic products for the food and beverage, medical, automotive and consumer electronics markets.
Click here to read full article...

How do we keep our Control Systems ahead of competition and provide enough flexibility with all the latest technology trends?

Traditional control systems used by competition are either proprietary embedded controllers or a “closed” HMI married with a PLC. Most HMI products force integrators to use their HMI software, thus limiting their capability. Enhancements and updates are usually slow to come, making it difficult to keep up with technology. On the control side, PLC’s have evolved very little over the years. Support for scripting and larger function libraries help, but developing advanced & adaptive control algorithms are difficult to impossible on most PLC platforms. Click here to read full article...

Shurtape Reduces Cost of New Operator Interface Points by 40 Percent with Thin Clients

Shurtape’s manufacturing process is constantly changing, forcing them to add and move operator interfaces more often then they’d like. Things became a lot easier when they implemented thin client technology, courtesy of Automation Control Products. Click here to read full article... by Advantech Automation & Automation Control Products.

Nematron's hardware integration assures a sunny future for Inalfa

Inalfa Roof Systems is a tier 1 supplier of original equipment sunroofs and roof assemblies for the automotive industry. With annual sales exceeding $400 million, 2,100 employees, and facilities in North America and Europe, Inalfa is a major player in automotive roof systems. Click here to read full article...

Ease of connection improves plant efficiency for Santee Cooper

OPC technology provides ease of access to the wide variety of devices in our enterprise, eliminating costly custom or proprietary interfaces. Providing us with a flexible and scalable solution we can build on for years to come. We are confident and secure in our ability to meet the 98% uptime emissions reporting requirements. Now that these manual processes are automated, we are saving approximately 4 hours of resource allocation in a 24 hour shift rotation. Click here to read full article...

Water Treatment and Distribution System Upgrades from Hardware Panel to Windows GUI

Water treatment and distribution systems present some unique control and monitoring requirements. Controls for these systems include both continuous and batch processes, single and compound loop control and chemical control. Typical to all such systems is at least one remote station facility with a control and monitoring board that provides a manmachine interface (MMI). The “boards” are typically enclosures that are recessed into a wall and have hardware controlling and monitoring the processes. Such is the case for the Covington Water District facility located in a nonincorporated rural area near Kent, Washington. This facility has a single, centralized control board that has continuously changed in size and layout as the responsibilities and the number of aqueous wells being pumped, as well as the filtration responsibilities have grown in number. Click here to read full article...

Pennichuck Water Works Gains Precise Remote Control using FIX for Windows NT

Pennichuck Water Works is a private, investor-owned water treatment utility located in Nashua, New Hampshire. It serves 90,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers from its 35 million gallon facility. Pennichuck produces an average of 13 million gallons of potable water a day and owns and operates 16 community water systems. Pennichuck also feeds three other city systems. Its largest commercial customer is the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Click here to read full article...

NT-based HMI® Quickly Upgrades Water Treatment Plant

In 1999, the Downingtown Municipal Water Authority (DMWA) in Downingtown, Pa., was under pressure to review the status of its plant control system. The Y2K issue was approaching, the system's 386-based PCs were causing maintenance problems, and the EPA was on the verge of requiring additional monitoring and reporting. The existing system had done an excellent job of maintaining water quality since its installation in 1994. Unfortunately, the UNIX-based HMI (Human Machine Interface) was too difficult for plant personnel to reprogram to meet all the new requirements. The water authority had a good relationship with a local control equipment distributor, Applied Controls, Inc. (Malvern, PA), so the decision was made to upgrade to a more modern Microsoft Windows NTbased HMI system, Siemens WinCC. Click here to read full article...

Kankakee Wastewater Utility Implements Remote Monitoring with a High Level of Security

The Kankakee Wastewater Treatment facility serves over 65,000 residents of the city of Kankakee, IL and three neighboring villages. The utility also provides wastewater treatment service to 30 industrial and 676 commercial customers. The Kankakee operation includes a hydroelectric facility which generates and transmits energy to the municipal wastewater treatment plant. Click here to read full article...

VLSI Technology Gets Precise Online Information on their Facility Support Systems

Headquartered in San Jose, CA, VLSI is a leading worldwide provider of custom chips. Today, nearly one third of the world’s digital cellular phones contain VLSI computer chips. VLSI serves the computing, communications, embedded encription, and consumer entertainment markets. The pioneer in single-chip integrated hardware and software data encription, VLSI was the first to offer a Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) system block. VLSI’s San Jose semiconductor fabrication facility support system uses FIX for Windows in its wafer manufacturing by-product treatment process. Click here to read full article...

FIX for Windows Provides Process Control Solutions for Sheldahl, Inc.

Sheldahl maintains profitability and sets itself apart from its competitors through commitment to quality, a solutions orientation, cost-containment programs, and increased utilization of its manufacturing capacity. Sheldahl enhanced its technological capability by choosing a system that could: Click here to read full article...

Genesis Adds New life to Utility's Measurement Department

Founded in 1986, ICONICS is a leader in the development of Web-enabled industrial automation and manufacturing intelligence software for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Offering the industry's only suite of fully-integrated OPC-based components and products, GENESIS32 Enterprise Edition is available for Windows XP, XP Professional x64, Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 x64. Click here to read full article...

Civil War–Era Factory Runs on WWII Hydroelectric Power Monitored by State-of-the-Art HMI®

Built on the site of a gunpowder factory, originally built during the Civil War, Avondale Mills in Augusta, GA is now a textile mill. The plant has its own World War II era hydroelectric generating station with three generators. Water flowing through the historic Augusta Canal built in 1845 drives the generators. An important addition to all this engineering history is a state-of-the-art PC-based HMI that’s used to monitor the hydroelectric plant. Click here to read full article...

Transparent Batch Processing - WinCC at the Catalyst Manufacturer H. C. Starck

When it was decided to restructure the production facilities for catalysts at the Bayer Group of Leverkusen, the H. C. Starck Corporation was awarded the contract for building a new plant in Laufenburg. The open and flexible automation system introduced at the new plant can process multiple batches and separately document their quality. In addition, the automation system is ready for the vertical integration into higher-level structures. Click here to read full article...

Totally Integrated Automation of complete production plant at Pharmacia & Upjohn in Belgium

In Puurs, Belgium, Pharmacia & Upjohn is building one of the first production plants for sterile products which will be fully automated, from the generation of the active pharmaceutical components to the delivery ready product. This demanding automation task will be carried out using Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) from Siemens. Click here to read full article...

Transneft - Russian Pipeline Company Standardizes on ICONICS

Transneft, a joint stock Russian Oil transport company and Russia's largest oil pipeline company, has signed an agreement with ICONICS to purchase 350 GENESIS32 software systems to monitor and control the Trans-Russian Oil Pipeline System - the largest PC-based SCADA and dispatch system in the world. Transneft is responsible for transporting 99.5% of all the oil in Russia. The Transneft Oil Pipeline system covers over 30,000 miles (45,000 km), with more than 400 pumping stations from Siberia to Moscow and many other locations throughout Russia. Click here to read full article...

Internet Technologies, Open Platforms Enable 30 Percent Growth at El Paso Field Services

How can a company turn all the bits and bytes traveling over the Internet into profit? Anyone who has been following the explosive growth of the Internet during the past several years knows that the great net-related question is, “How do I turn all of those bits and bytes into profit?” Hundreds, if not thousands, of companies around the world have dedicated themselves to building applications that will help businesses build a better bottom line. Click here to read full article...

Esso Petroleum Company LTD Monitors and Controls UK Network of Terminals for One Central Location

Esso has a total of nine oil terminals across the United Kingdom, the largest of which handles over a thousand vehicle movements per day, each carrying some 30,000 liters of fuel. Due to the high volumes of fuel dispatched daily, Esso has used increasingly higher levels of automation to efficiently and precisely control the operation of its nationwide network of oil terminals. Working with systems integrator Salem Automation, Esso decided to implement a method of monitoring and controlling the oil terminals from a single, central location. Click here to read full article...

BP Exploration (BPX) Alaska Gains Tighter Control Using FIX for Windows NT

BPX Alaska is the leading oil producer in the U.S. BPX’s Milne Point facility, located on a 71,000 acre tract on Alaska’s North Slope, processes raw crude oil drawn from surrounding oil wells. Milne Point produces about 65,000 barrels of oil per day, making it one of the top ten oil producing fields in the U.S. 240 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Milne Point is the northernmost oil producing field in North America. Click here to read full article...

System Checks Faraway Machines' Health

Imagine you're an engineer charged with overseeing operations at several plants in multiple, far-flung geographic locations. Your job is to monitor meters, relays, and other devices, which can alert you the moment a machine fails or develops other problems. Now, imagine being able to monitor all the equipment at those far-flung plants by simply watching a handheld readout device in the comfort of your office. Using its own Pittsburgh-based manufacturing facility as a test bed, Cutler-Hammer has partnered with Windows-based industrial automation software supplier Iconics to enable plant operations and maintenance engineers to do just that-without wires. Click here to read full article...

Less Waste & Greater Efficiency with New Automated Control System at Cable & Wire Facility

Rockbestos-Surprenant Cable Corporation is a world leader in the design and manufacturing of specialty engineered insulated wire and cable. The company revamped its batch processing operation for producing “rubberized” plastic used for wire and cable insulation jackets. Located in Clinton, Mass., Surprenant was originally founded nearly 60 years ago, and its eventual merger partner Rockbestos, was founded twenty years earlier in New Haven, CT. The two companies merged in 1980 and are now a part of the Marmon Group. Click here to read full article...

High Tech HMI® Software is no Longer Limited to Complicated, Multiple Component Processes

Today, investments into HMI software are reaching a much wider range of applications. Whereas in the past, the simple applications often relied on control panels with pilot devices, meters and LCD screens being driven directly and solely by PLCs, there is a change now taking place. Minimal component applications are now finding good reasons to invest in HMI software, and high-tech HMI is no longer exclusively applied to the more sophisticated and complicated process applications. Additionally, for those who have developed HMI using software not specifically designed for HMI, there are some very good reasons to begin taking a look at why HMI-dedicated software can be a worthwhile investment for future product design. Click here to read full article...

It´s All in the Mix - Continuous Proportioning for a Dry Mix Process at Nestle

Nestlé is a byword for quality and good taste all around the globe. The high standards employed in the production of the familiar brand names require a process automation system that is always state-of-the-art. That’s why Nestlé unreservedly backs Simatic S7 from Siemens for the automation of a factory in Samara, Russia. Click here to read full article...

Intellution's FIX Software & Microsoft's DNA-M Technology Proving Tasty Blend for Ocean Spray

As North America’s leading producer of canned and bottled juices and juice drinks, Ocean Spray Cranberries® Inc. (Lakeville-Middleboro, MA) knows more than a little about creating effective blends. The company has been the best-selling brand name in the canned and bottled juice category for nearly 20 years, selling more than the combined total of its three largest competitors. With annual sales in excess of $1.4 billion, Ocean Spray employs more than 2,500 people worldwide. Click here to read full article...

Hunt-Wesson on the Fast Track to Innovation

Back in 1963, Hunt’s Snack Pack Puddings were introduced as four-packs in shelfstable, single-serving aseptic aluminum cans with tear-off aluminum lids — a revolutionary package at the time. Consumers found them so convenient that this reporter, then a supermarket manager, couldn’t stock the shelf fast enough. Rarely has any new food product scored such immediate success in the marketplace — and maintained that success for more than 35 years! Click here to read full article...

Central visualization and control of a highly complex conveyor technology by a WinCC Client-Server configuration

In the new potato processing plant of Raiffeisen parat located in Dannstadt-Schauernheim (to the southwest of Mannheim), up to 1000 tons of potatoes are moved in and out every day. For the central visualization and control of the highly complex conveyor technology, a SIMATIC WinCC clientserver solution is employed. Click here to read full article...

Cargill, Inc. Salt Division Implements a Real Time Critical Data System to Ensure Process Optimization

Key personnel from each location of Cargill Salt Division formed an automation team with TEC Engineering, Inc. (Wichita, KS and Minneapolis, MN) to determine the Division’s automation strategy. Click here to read full article...

TSC remanufactures, designs and upgrades Sputtering and Evaporation systems.

In nearly 20 years of operation, TSC has established itself as the leader in innovation, quality and reliability, delivering enhanced equipment and system performance in several hundred unique installations worldwide. Click here to read full article...

Dow Corning Strives to Create a Global Supply Chain

While a rose by any other name may smell as sweet, what happens if a rose is simply not a rose? That’s the challenge manufacturer Dow Corning faced as it strove to meet the demands of their customers for global products. Product consistency across the globe was difficult to achieve, due to differences in raw materials, equipment or production processes. With a diverse range of plants and customers demanding consistent products anywhere in the world, Dow Corning undertook a reengineering effort to better manage their supply chain and introduce operational control and consistency. Click here to read full article...

Intellution Helps American Axle Improve Performance While Meeting the Needs of Huge Automotive Contract

When American Axle Manufacturing Corporation (AAM), Detroit, was contracted to build all the new axles for a large automotive manufacturer’s truck line, the pressure was on to perform at the highest manufacturing levels. As a Tier One supplier to the automotive industry, AAM was familiar with the demanding requirements of Big Three automakers—but this was a challenge of truly significant scope. Click here to read full article...

Hot Problem Tamed at Ford - New heater control system increased dependability and reduced downtime

A little more than a year ago, the Interiors Division of the Ford Motor Company’s Visteon plant in Saline, Mich., was experiencing a serious problem with high scrap rates on vinyl parts they were thermoforming. The items were destined to serve as “outer skins” for dashboards and instrument consoles on the Lincoln Continental, the Lincoln Town Car and other Ford luxury vehicles. Each thermoforming machine has a heater control system to ensure that each of the hundreds of quartz heater elements within the top and bottom surfaces of the “oven” heats up to the correct temperature for softening the plastic properly inside the mold. The overall pattern of temperature settings for the individual elements is called a “recipe.” Click here to read full article...

Data Information System Boosts Automotive Paint Quality

In preparing for the launch of the Dodge Durango, DaimlerChrysler (DC) identified certain environmental, production, and quality goals that it intended to meet. To do so, the automaker contracted systems integrator DynaLogic Engineering Inc. of Walled Lake, MI, one of the leading integrators in the area and an Intellution system provider. Click here to read full article...

An American in Graz - Totally Integrated Automation at DaimlerChrysler

The Voyager MPV is built at the DaimlerChrysler EUROSTAR works in Graz, Austria. As a technical standard for the updated body shop, the company has opted for a solution using Totally Integrated Automation. The cultural Austrian town of Graz is now known in the automotive industry as “the Detroit of the Alps”. Click here to read full article...

The Air Force strikes against a contaminated aquifer on Cape Cod

When Cape Cod residents started complaining about the taste of the drinking water, contamination from fuel spills, chemical spills, landfill leaks and storm drain leaks needed to be addressed. Although some of the contamination was from surrounding communities and some of the contamination was from Otis Air National Guard base, it was the Air Force that took responsibility to clean up the plumes of contaminants. This was to ensure an efficient means of coordination and control of numerous existing groundwater remediation systems and systems to be built in the future. Click here to read full article...

Aerospace Manufacturer Implements SCADA System

Lord's Mechanical Products Division embarked on a multiphase project to develop a plantwide supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to provide the control, links to manufacturing standards, and data collection required by its customers. Its goal was to provide a plantwide system with a common entry point for all machine setup parameters that could be easily maintained. It was also necessary for the networked system to provide a common point of data collection and review for all operations in the plant. Click here to read full article...

Automation.com Real-time Information for the Automation Professional May. 26, 2012

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