Friday, November 29, 2013

SmartGlance for Chinese Language: True Global Support!

As we strive to meet our customer needs, we are proud to announce that SmartGlance for the iPhone now supports the Chinese (Simplified) language, and is available for sale on the Chinese App store.

With the release of Chinese localization, SmartGlance now supports 6 languages English, French, Spanish, German, Italian & Chinese.
 
 


 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Repost, with Comments: Mobile devices continue to fuel consumer demand for increased transparency

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/Mobiles-Millennials-and-IndieWomen-Supermarket-Guru-explores-what-s-big-in-2014?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright


"Mobile devices continue to fuel consumer demand for increased transparency; more convenience; and quick, easy opportunities to be social. Expect continued emphasis on technology and social media as trend-savvy, authenticity-minded Millennials start having families of their own, along with a call for healthy, convenient foods from the growing influencer segment known as IndieWomen, according to “Supermarket Guru” Phil Lempert’s top consumer trends for 2014."

I always pay attention to articles that examine the sentiments and drivers for consumer behavior.  First of all, it shows macro trends that will eventually ripple into the conservative world of industrial automation: #mobility, #cloud, #big data, #social all started with the consumer market, and made their way into industrial offerings.  Sometimes, these trends need a push--like Microsoft's Azure program, which supports commercial offerings to further their platform, or partnerships leading to products such as SmartGlance to address cloud, mobility AND big data--a trifecta as it were.

Friday, November 22, 2013

The need for better control of the food manufacturing process, through #MES




I read an article today on SmartBrief that said FDA recalls more than doubled in this quarter, primarily due to undeclared allergens. Here is the article link:

http://www.smartbrief.com/news/gma/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=C815E5BB-7A9C-4A0B-B3F4-8A02B272EFA5&copyid=8C2DB16D-CFB4-41CA-A7BB-13A33D45D6ED&campaign=googleplus&ref=googleplus8C2DB16D-CFB4-41CA-A7BB-13A33D45D6ED

PODCAST: Mobility for Industrial Workers Enabled by the Cloud

http://themanufacturingconnection.com/2013/10/mobility-for-industrial-workers-enbled-by-the-cloud/

Invensys' Saadi Kermani
How can mobility, coupled with the cloud, help mobile workers?  Question no more--simply listen to this brief podcast from the Manufacturing Connection, where Invensys' @SaadiKermani explains the benefits of using mobility with cloud hosting.  Gain productivity, access at any time to tools that boost operational efficiencies.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

SATORP Jubail refinery project enters commissioning phase




During the #Invensys Software User Group and Technical Support Symposium, Dr. Ravi Gopinath, President, Invensys Software Business, discussed the expansive greenfield project Invensys has undertaken to provide SATORP with a full, comprehensive manufacturing infrastructure.

This link will take you to a video.
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/satorp-jubail-refinery-project-enters-commissioning-phase/c7110c49172e0c9847d4f7efc2aa43f8.html

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Avantis Enterprise Asset Management training schedule now available: January 2014 - June 2014

Interested in extending your knowledge about Avantis Enterprise Asset Management software? Want to get the latest in updates and functionality?


 
Avantis training courses are now available for the January – June period 2014. In addition to the Calgary and Burlington locations, we have also added courses out of our Lake Forest, CA office. Additional courses are being planned for later in 2014 in other U.S locations.  


Two new courses being offered are Avantis Approvals (given for the first time in Burlington in March) and the Cabinet Customization course.

 

Please visit the registration site for a catalog of available courses and dates - http://iomtraining.invensys.com/avantis/calendars/index.cfm?fuseAction=loadCatalog&calendarID=91

 

Repost: Hack Your Memory: Never Forget A Task Again

https://www.openforum.com/articles/hack-your-memory-never-forget-a-task-again/?extlink=of-syndication-sb-p



How often are you in the middle of a task, step away, and forget where you were? This is a good article for giving yourself clues, notes, and other means of keeping on track.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

SmartGlance Mobile Reporting Leverages Windows Mobile

When used and implemented correctly, business intelligence Windows-based solutions can enable the decision makers in improving the effectiveness of the organisational concerns, saving capital and enhancing customer service. Business Intelligence helps companies understand and predict the trends of the market quite effectively.


SmartGlance Apps with Window Mobile

SmartGlance brings a flexible and fresh approach to the decision making, using a mobile device platform to gather real-time operational data.  SmartGlance provides a vital platform for analyzing and extracting the crucial data within fractions, providing a cost effective solution for any enterprise.

Monday, November 18, 2013

NEW! Information Server 2012 R2 BETA Class

NEW! Information Server 2012 R2 BETA Class



Wonderware Information Server is a web-based information portal to display real-time event-based reports from your Wonderware Historian.  A class is being offered by Invensys Training to take advantage of the new features in Information Server 2012, R2.

Repost: Focus on "Roles being more effective" provides a potential path forward towards 2020!!

Focus on "Roles being more effective" provides a potential path forward towards 2020!!
By Tim Sowell, Invensys Fellow

Repost, with comments: Traceability to be a top consumer food trend in 2014

 http://www.smartbrief.com/11/13/13/traceability-be-top-consumer-food-trend-2014-1



The drive for better understanding of food sources continues, with point of origin labeling now a prequisite for many consumers.

This is an extension of the Food Safety Modernization Act now being mandated by the US government, requiring a swift and definitive response to a recall event.

For companies like Invensys serving the food and beverage industry, this is a welcome movement, for the industrial automation industry has strived to put better controls around a manufacturing process supply chain, starting with the raw ingredients/incoming quality inspection and extending through final delivery to the customer.  The more transparency the manufacturer has to their process, the better they can control and manage.  That's the focus of #ManufacturingExecutionSystems, providing the supply chain visibility, quality control, and transformation management of raw materials to finished goods. Long a staple tool for the food and beverage industry, #MES has expanded beyond the traditional plant floor to provide enterprise integration (for example, the amount of material consumed by operation), quality and production management (yields, throughput, LIMS integration) as well as equipment uptime (bottlenecks, yields, quality). It's a comprehensive solution to help manufacturers meet their customer needs for better quality, security and peace of mind.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Mobile Reporting goes Mainstream...

"My Plant Manager bought a new iPad and the Production Manager has an Android based phone. Now, they want to view the latest production and efficiency reports from their home and when they are travelling. How can we do that?" asked the Automation Engineer at a large manufacturing facility. “Viewing reports from the email attachment is not convenient due to the scrolling problems and the size of the report. Also, sending and opening emails every 15 minutes is not practical.”

SmartGlance from Invensys can help. SmartGlance offers mobile reporting that can deliver real time and historical reports on any mobile devices.

Their vision for the mobile enterprise is to show new ways that mobility can streamline operations, reduce costs, increase worker productivity and enable the power of real-time response. SmartGlance believes that mobility will let you transcend distance and connectivity issues, create a virtual, personalized space for collaboration and empower front-line workers to make better, faster, smarter decisions.

Mobile reporting technology is quickly becoming a normal way to run day to day life. There are three major benefits offered by Mobile Reporting Solutions like SmartGlance:

  1. Visualization - Monitor Your Business in Real Time

  2. Analytics - Pinpoint a Problem

  3. Action tools - Solve a problem

Take the example of Skånemejerier. They used the SmartGlance solution for live updates of a newly installed filling line in order to follow OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) and production data in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all the time.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

SmartGlance Mobile Business Solutions

SmartGlance is one of the leaders providing  mobile business decision support solutions for enterprises. Whether you are from a company who intends to enable the mobile workforce, or a company with products considering extensions of mobile devices; SmartGlance will take you to your destination instantly and at affordable costs.

Since its inception, SmartGlance has delivered integrated mobile business solutions on the iPad,iPhone, Android, Windows and Blackberry platforms. All these solutions are helping our customers achieve their set goals and vision.



For exploiting the opportunities put forward by mobile business intelligence, which are positively making impact on the performance of businesses, it is very clear that the companies who are successful have begun using these mobile business solutions to drive their decision making. Just as is the case with any strategy in this briskly changing work environment, agility of the mobile solutions gains prominence. The solutions offered by SmartGlance provide just that for improving the prospects of your business.

The mobile business solutions from SmartGlance aid in planning your business strategies. Our solutions will bring you closer to the real world and aid in leveraging the immense potential of business intelligence for the achievement of goals and aspirations in a timely manner.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Repost: Enabling Operational Excellence with Manufacturing Metrics

http://www.lnsresearch.com/research-library/research-articles/enabling-operational-excellence-with-manufacturing-metrics



Let your voice be heard--the MESA Metrics That Matter Survey will assemble feedback from a variety of manufacturers, to show you best practices, results, and trends cross-industry.  You'll also have access to LNS's research library, free, for a year.  So don't delay, take the survey today.  It closes November 15th so there's still time.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Breaking News: FDA to Food Manufacturers: Remove The Trans Fats

http://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2013/fda-to-food-manufacturers-remove-the-trans-fats/


http://iom.invensys.com/EN/Pages/FoodandBeverageIndustry.aspx

Thanks to Food Processing for letting us know that the food industry now has 60 days to respond to this finding. For consumers, this is good protection against substances that may be harmful, but in any case, it may lead to more healthy eating, which is a boom for both the public and the processors.

Quote: "Invensys Wonderware has been on the leading edge of mobility for several years" Gary Mintchell

Thank you, @GaryMintchell, for the recognition and quote!  You can read Gary's post here on the Invensys Software Conference and our mobility offerings.



For over 5 years, Invensys has invested in mobile technology, both from a software and hardware perspective, to provide our customers with tools that help them to make better, more informed decisions, collaborate more effectively, and manage workforces more efficiently.

It's great to be recognized for our vision, as well as our execution.  And, there's much more to come!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Invensys Workforce Enablement Solutions

http://iom.invensys.com/campaigns/Pages/Workforce-Enablement-home.aspx

Wonderware IntelaTrac guiding remote task management

Workforce Enablement can encompass many aspects, from task management to decision support to greater visibility of operations. Without adding people, how can you effectively increase productivity, transparency and capabilities of your workforce?

One of the ways we've seen that is most effective, especially for companies in heavy industry, is using a combination of mobile solutions, based on remotely gathering data and providing feedback on real-time conditions, and collecting in a central repository for subsequent analysis and improvements.

Wonderware IntelaTrac has hundreds of customers in the oil and gas, chemical and even food industries, providing them with a tool to track and manage tasks and repetitive routines. It uses mobile handheld devices for data capture, collecting conditions, images and asset behavior that are important operating indicators for good manufacturing practices.

For more information on our Workforce Enablement solutions, click here.

Repost: 3 Technology Trends Shaping Manufacturing Performance Management--AND Take the METRICS THAT MATTER SURVEY!

http://blog.lnsresearch.com/blog/bid/189885/3-Technology-Trends-Shaping-Manufacturing-Performance-Management

MESA is sponsoring the Metrics That Matter Survey

Invensys sees a similar pattern--mobility, big data, and the cloud being positive impacts on manufacturing productivity, visibility, uptime and affordability of new operations applications. Now is your chance to tell us--how are you using these technologies, what do you need from the vendors to make your enterprise more responsive, adaptable and competitive?  Take the survey now!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Real Time Reporting Solutions Using SmartGlance

Consider the potential of making business intelligence patterns at the centre of your operations. How much more effective could you be? Invensys' SmartGlance real time reporting solutions aid decision makers bu correctly analyzing company information, allowing them to  collaborate with office colleagues, spot the opportunities, identify the troubling issues and then deciding on ways to share issues using a real time reporting pattern.




Sunday, November 3, 2013

Repost: 8 Signs You’re About To Hire The Wrong Person

https://www.openforum.com/articles/8-signs-youre-about-to-hire-the-wrong-person/?extlink=of-syndication-sb-p

A really good article highlighting some of the important aspects of hiring.  Oftentimes, we are so focused on the basics of the hire--do they have the right experience and background, that we miss the nuances that make the hire really work within the group.  Personally, I've found that if you hire with any misconceptions, they don't work out.  Sometimes, you have to look at not only their accomplishments on paper, as well as their interactions and behaviors.

Lessons learned!