Rockwell historian module to improve data reliability and cut downtime
10 Feb 2010
London – Rockwell Automation has introduced a machine-level data historian to help manufacturers mitigate the risk of machine downtime and achieve continuous process improvements. The FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition (ME) application is an embedded, solid-state module hardened for on-machine data collection that features a limited software footprint, no moving parts, and reduced risk of data loss due to network or other system interruption.
The application was developed as part of a distributed, tiered architecture that allows employees in different locations and at different operating levels to view and analyse role-appropriate historical data, according to Rockwell.
Operators, for example, can view data from the specific machine they are using while plant-level supervisors can view individual machines or complete lines to build real-time comparisons against standards and assess critical batch or process performance. Meanwhile, senior management can use the same technology to develop executive dashboards that compare KPIs of production activity across multiple locations.
The software improves manufacturing intelligence by providing a new level of visibility into production operations, according to said Jan Pingel, product manager, Rockwell Automation: “By integrating data from a machine-level historian with data from a plant-level historian, operations can now locate and correct sources of inefficiencies more quickly to improve manufacturing consistency, energy use and first-pass quality.”
Rockwell believes the stand-alone design makes the FactoryTalk Historian ME module ideal for remote data capture in challenging environments, such as drilling rigs, wells and other previously inaccessible locations. The software, it adds, can significantly reduce implementation time because it is directly installed in the Allen-Bradley ControlLogix backplane, then autodetects the controllers and configures all relevant tags to be historised.
The software can also allow machine builders to pre-qualify the data collection of their machines to speed up on-site installation, configuration and validation efforts. Data-capture capabilities produce historical data that helps provide effective sequence of events analysis, improving both product quality and customer satisfaction.
