Getting connected in industry
Gary Marrs, senior field applications engineer at Lantronix explains why manufacturing companies need to connect their stand-alone devices to the network.
More and more companies are adopting some form of automation because it is a way to reduce costs, increase access to information and improve productivity. In the realm of manufacturing, connecting previously isolated equipment to a network gives managers real-time access to information for improved management and decision-making.
In their quest to improve productivity and quality, manufacturers need to remotely monitor and control their equipment such as programmable logic controllers, robots, flow meters, temperature monitoring systems and mixing stations. Currently, production managers must be onsite to monitor, maintain and control; however, managers can access this information from their internal network or via the internet. With device networking they can be automatically notified if equipment is not operating normal and can initiate troubleshooting of production equipment, even if the managers are located outside the factory.
Benefits of Device Networking
Equipped with device information in real-time, managers can gain improved and consistent system performance. Managers can automate quality control using device networking by ensuring that the critical parameters of factory systems are maintained within appropriate ranges.
Industrial equipment can be quickly and easily networked using a device server. The device server is a complete network enabling solution or external box package that can create a networked environment from simple serial data.
Growth of Industrial Device Networking
The adoption of industrial device networking, whether it’s wired or wireless, is increasing because it provides the ability to interactively access, evaluate and utilise data from networked equipment via a LAN or the internet.
Ethernet is an established networking standard, robust and reliable enough to support industrial networking. It is also rapidly gaining momentum in industrial automation because it is an open standard, fast, can support multiple fieldbus protocols simultaneously and can leverage existing equipment and IT tools.
Wireless Device Networking
Wireless device networking is the best alternative when running cable is impractical or cost prohibitive. Wireless reduces the need for expensive wiring, which can account for two-thirds of the total cost of an installation in a factory. In installing a wireless network, managers need to consider the physical layout and size of the facility, the RF interference present and the bandwidth strain if numerous devices are placed on the same network.
By quickly and reliably connecting virtually any piece of factory equipment to a network or the internet, industrial manufacturers gain the ability to interactively access, manage, control, evaluate and utilise data transmitted from the devices. This powerful, yet simple to implement technology allows manufacturers to perform real-time diagnostics and repair, automate data capture and gain immediate notification of problems, virtually from anywhere over an Internet connection.