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Interoperability Through Evolution  OPC is changing.
For 10 years, OPC (originally for Ole for Process Control, now simply OPC, a connectivity standard) has been the dominant communications standard for transferring data between devices on the shop floor and engineering-level systems. In January 2004, the OPC Foundation began work on OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA), a major revision to the standard that synchronizes OPC with ongoing advances in industrial automation.
The purpose of OPC has always been to increase the interoperability of industrial automation system components by standardizing communications among them. That purpose remains the same, but OPC UA improves on classic OPC in five important ways.
One: In classic OPC, real-time data access, historical data access, and alarms and events are actually separate specifications that must be implemented separately. This results in duplicated programming work. OPC UA is a single, unified specification. Common tasks such as connecting and name-space generation only need to be implemented once.
Two: Classic OPC is based on component object model (COM)/distributed COM (DCOM), an object model developed by Microsoft. OPC UA is independent of any vendor or platform. Its more flexible architecture uses Web Services and is not constrained by any single, underlying object model.
Three: OPC UA extends standardization down into embedded systems where classic OPC cannot reach.
Four: OPC UA extends standardization into higher levels of the enterprise. OPC UA can interface with business decision-supporting software such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems using complex data types, whereas classic OPC cannot...
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» INDUSTRIES: Water and Wastewater Industries Grow More Efficient -
The main goals of water or wastewater treatment—providing reliable, affordable service to customers and delivering high-quality water—haven’t changed, declares Eduardo Ballina, water-and-wastewater-industry manager with automation supplier Invensys Operations Management (www.ips.invensys.com), Lake Forest, Calif.
But what has changed are conditions surrounding operations, especially the current global economics plus an aging workforce having few trained replacements, Ballina explains. And that spawns the do-more-with-less practice. To him, that means optimizing systems and increasing efficiencies, and thus productivity.
Rebecca West sees and wrestles daily with these things. “We’ve seen smaller commercial businesses close. People have also reduced their water usage,” says West, director of technical services for Spartanburg (S.C.) Water (www.sws-sssd.org), a municipal water-and-wastewater function....
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» INFRASTRUCTURE:Data Acquisition Goes Beyond Tradition -
“What we’re starting to see is a little bit of brain drain at our clients. They’re collecting all this data, but are not necessarily able to manage it or make sense of it,” comments Andrew Brodie, product manager with the network-solutions-products group of automation supplier Yokogawa Corp. of America (www.us.yokogawa.com), Newnan, Ga.
CLICK TO ENLARGEA potential cure he mentions is third-party analytical assistance, such as that provided by ScientificConservation (www.scientificconservation.com), Berkeley, Calif. “What they do is take data from customers and normalize those data, and put those into a structured database,” Brodie says. For example, with heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, the Berkeley company could collect data from a chiller, which Brodie says has “tons of data associated with it.” Those data will then be put into a virtual piece of equipment, when “they can run models for different conditions..."
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» AUTOMATION TEAM:Lean Six Sigma Balance for Process Improvement -
Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing represent the core of modern thinking on improving performance in industry.
They have often been considered alternatives, and sometimes antagonists. But in recent years, it has become clear that a synthesis of the two produces a hybrid more vigorous than either is alone.
“The dominant trend in Six Sigma is Lean Six Sigma,” observes Hung-da Wan, of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems (http://camls.utsa.edu). “Lean Six Sigma combines the philosophy of Lean Manufacturing with the structured tools of Six Sigma. It is a great integration."
Tim Donaldson, president of the Donaldson Group (www.donaldsongroupinc.com), Wayzata, Minn., a firm that provides services to accelerate profitable growth, agrees, “Today’s economic realities drive organizations to improve quality and reduce costs,” he says. “It is a good time for companies to add Lean Enterprise tools to their Six Sigma repertoire..."
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