Why You Should Consider Mobility

Mobility—it means a lot of things these days. Getting information immediately on a smart device. Having your system travel with you, unbounded by physical walls of the plant. Or, “untethering” your application from its PC-bound form.

SmartGlance connects your mobile phone with any corporate or production system data source. Virtually any electronic data that is delivered to your desktop can be transformed into a graphical report for real time viewing on your mobile smart phone or device. SmartGlance allows you to visualize data from a historian, MES, HMI, or other real-time automation application.

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A Break in my Blog Posts

Happy Holidays and a Wonderful, Prosperous New Year to Everyone!
I'll be taking a hiatus from blog posts for the next few weeks.
See you in 2014....

Regards,
Maryanne

Wonderware Intelligence: The Top 5 New Tableau Features

by Jim Frider, Product Marketing Manager, Invensys

If you analyze data to improve the performance of your facility then you need to learn more about the exciting new data visualization features available with Wonderware Intelligence. 

At its core, Wonderware Intelligence helps industrial companies better understand the subtleties of their processes and equipment so they can make better decisions.  It helps manufacturing; processing and infrastructure companies organize their many data stores into a coherent information model which then can be rendered into brilliant data displays and charts.  Wonderware has partnered with Tableau Software, a leader in business intelligence software, to offer the most compelling data analytics available to the industrial marketplace.    

Tableau Software has released version 8.1 of their leading data visualization software.  This new release contains dozens of enhanced features to improve your data analytics.  Invensys engineers have reviewed this new release, and here is our list of the top 5 new Tableau 8.1 features.

The Intelligent Enterprise - Components Part 3

The third part on the series on the Need for an Intelligent Enterprise

By Cronin Almeida, Invensys

What makes an enterprise intelligent is that now a days, anything can be instrumented.  Any parameter that plays even a slight role can be measured, documented and made visible. This has enabled real time information to be available across the enterprise. Intelligence and Workflow software along with traditional HMI/Historian software  are the solutions available to help enterprises process and act on this information in real time. The combination of these two products along with an HMI/Historian  enables the stitching of the entire manufacturing ecosystem. Disparate systems like production planning, production execution, quality control can be made to react to specification changes, supply chain availability, environmental regulations and other industry parameters. 

Business Intelligence in the Palm of Your Hand: SmartGlance

The two offerings from the Apple stable – iPhone and iPad, along with Android technology from Google and the Windows 8 phone, have completely changed the face of business in recent years. The wide adoption of the tools of mobile business intelligence is testimony to this fact. The products in mobile technology are witnessing drastic changes and are becoming adaptable to the new technology along with becoming mature. Mobile BI has revolutionized business; however, enhanced devices and better tablets and technology are the real reasons for propelling the market.

Avantis.PRO Users - Register now for early 2014 class!

The Avantis® advanced Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Suite enables your enterprise to do more than simply maintain assets. It is designed to meet the sophisticated maintenance and materials management requirements of today’s asset-centric organizations. It is fully and seamlessly integrated with distributed control systems on the plant floor; and it incorporates and responds to predictive condition monitoring processes.

 

The Avantis EAM suite provides the insight you need to make informed business decisions and manage all of your assets with confidence.

We are now offering early registration for the Avantis.PRO suite. The Avantis.PRO training is scheduled for January 13^th – January 16^th, 2014.  Access training here: http://iomtraining.invensys.com/avantis/calendars/index.cfm?fuseAction=loadCatalog&calendarID=91

This course is meant to train new users of Avantis.PRO requiring a generic knowledge of the core maintenance functionality, as well as existing users of Avantis.PRO maintenance who require a better understanding of the functionality, and core team members responsible for configuring Avantis.PRO.

Repost, with comments: GE Healthcare CTO Says IT Needs to Embrace Mobile, Cloud to Remain Relevant

GE Healthcare CTO Says IT Needs to Embrace Mobile, Cloud to Remain Relevant

Not to be self-serving, but this is exactly the reason that @Invensys and @Microsoft partnered to bring the Eye Opener Seminars to industry--because we see the convergence of #cloud, #bigdata, #mobility as means to share, collaborate and inform.  As organizations become more decentralized, there is a need to enforce some standardization and uniformity to their business practices.  Even if you have a single site, the drive for standardization and best practice proliferation is not lost--it provides you with infrastructure for understanding, and improving, performance.

So the technologies--cloud, mobility, big data, aren't in themselves the enablers.  You need to actually DO something to gain the efficiencies and benefits, such as lower cost of ownership, better visibility to operations, and more rapid responses to changes that occur during the course of business. 

I  just listened to @SimonJacobsen of Gartner today, who presented on the state of #MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems). He talked about the convergence of manufacturing IT and pure-play IT.  And that in itself is another driver for embracing these new technologies, as the boundaries and domains of IT are changing, and IT must keep up with the changes.  It's positive, and we at Invensys applaud, and support, the transitions.

Make vs Buy: 4 Reasons For Why You Shouldn't Build Your Own Software

Ever since I joined the wonderful world of industrial software, during the course of a sales pursuit, we come across the "make versus buy" argument for purchasing, versus having internal IT and engineering resources dedicated to building out a highly customized application.

Repost: Counting on Apps for Process Control - ASME

Counting on Apps for Process Control - ASME

a reposting of this article from April 2013, prior to Invensys' acquisition of SmartGlance from Sarla. Now fully integrated into the Wonderware product portfolio, SmartGlance continues to bring productivity to users through a mobile reporting app.

MESA-International-Brings-the-Information-Technology-Experts-to-Milwaukee

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Press-Release--MESA-International-Brings-the-Information-Technology-Experts-to-Milwaukee.html?soid=1101863098727&aid=2t_XjeO1gZ0

As a Keystone Sponsor, Invensys has long supported MESA's educational efforts to promote the benefits of using manufacturing execution solutions.  Their annual conference brings together practioners, vendors, and industry consultants for a three day best practice sharing and networking event.  Please support this effort and join us next year in Milwaukee, WI for IndustryWeek's Best Plants conference.

Repost, with comments: Food Processing Picks Favorite New Food and Beverage Products from 2013

Food Processing Picks Favorite New Food and Beverage Products from 2013

It is always interesting to see what the new food crazes are, for they are an indication of changing consumer tastes, which drives processors to invest in equipment and new technology to meet demands.  As Wonderware has over a good proportion of its sales to the Food and Beverage industry, it makes sense to keep updated with latest trends and behaviors. Most of these newer trends take a spin on old products--there's nothing really "new" about most of them--but it speaks to the desire for more savory products, with a hint of health considerations, such as reduced carbs or fat.  And for that, manufacturers need to reformulate, and while processing, maintain process and quality controls--all of which Invensys can contribute to with our Manufacturing Execution Systems, Batch and HMI products. 

Repost, with Comments: Number of Trade Regulations to Take Effect in 2014

<p><a href="http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2013/food-safety-trade-regulations/"><b>Unprecedented Number of Trade Regulations To Take Effect in 2014 </b></a><br>Matt Goodman, Livingston International<br>Prepare your company for an onslaught of new trade regulations, many of which center around food import quality and safety.</p>

Food Safety Modernization Act, Trade Acts, Compliance--how can a food manufacturer keep up with all of the regulations?  The rate of change that is hitting the food and beverage industry--from consolidations, acquisitions, to changing customer tastes, to government oversight--collectively challenge both the large and small processors.  It is one thing to purchase technology, but having the foresight and knowledge to adequately implement, and plan for the future, that's where a company needs assistance.

Repost: Microsoft's New CEO, survey from MSPMentor, with comments

http://mspmentor.net/careers/microsofts-new-ceo-your-top-pick-plus-our-favorite-longshots?cl=article_4?utm_source=121013&utm_medium=MSP&utm_campaign=NL

This survey from the readers of MSPMentor predicts the next CEO of Microsoft, now that Steve Ballmer has decided to step down.  What's really interesting is that the lead contender is their Cloud Lead. Microsoft has been active in educating the market, building out partnerships, and providing extensive infrastructure to become a leading cloud technology company. 

Certainly, if you read my blog yesterday, you saw that Invensys and Microsoft just completed their Eye Opener Series for the Cloud--Proof Points--to show that there's more to our partnership than just positioning, there are customers, products and services that are attached to this program.  It's an initiative that's pervasive for both companies, bringing productivity, cost savings and flexibility to users.  Although the seminar series is now over, we are planning more events within the next few months to continue our drive and education to help you understand, and utilize, cloud hosting and technology.

Eye Opener: the Cloud for Industry: "High Level" Thoughts and Takeaways

Seminars were held November 12 (Chicago)  and 14 (Boston)

The final Eye Opener Seminars/The Cloud for Industry: Proof Points were held November 12 in Microsoft headquarters in downtown Chicago, and then in Cambridge, MA on November 14.  Both featured a line up of experienced speakers from Microsoft, Invensys, and partner Saugatuck Technology who revealed the secrets to effective utilization of the cloud in an industrial setting.

Repost, with comments: 9 Buzzwords that make you sound dumb

https://www.openforum.com/articles/9-buzzwords-that-can-make-you-sound-dumb/

We all have our "go to phrases" that seem to have universal applicability and appeal.  My personal favorites are "leverage" and "so there you have it."  I don't necessarily think they make you look dumb.  They are lazy though--an easy way of conveying a message without having to think too much about it.  Your go-to words that you can just bring into a sentence, and seem to work.

Years ago, I worked for an engineering group that used to have a "word of the day" blackboard (yes, it was THAT long ago) and we'd post words that were weird, interesting, or thought-provoking. The point was, we deliberately tried to expand our horizons, and vocabulary, by exploring other ways of conveying a thought or concept.  Maybe going back to reading the dictionary, or at least a Thesaurus, might not be such a bad idea?

Mobile BI tools – Need of the hour. Consider SmartGlance!

Gauging the huge demand for tablet computers, smartphones and the subsequent mobile BI solutions, we need to sneak a peek into the various benefits, management issues, recommendations and challenges associated with mobile business analytics and solutions. You may be thinking about using the iPad, iPhone, Android or Windows 8 device; but how do you take that consumer-facing product and adapt it for the needs of industry?  How do you leverage their capability for the interacting and sharing of important business information?

The users of mobile BI are offered now a plethora of  new applications designed with mobility in mind. But how can you ensure that these apps are useful for transforming the actual role of data in the interactions with consumers, forecasting and planning of business, management of the performance of employees and taking the day-to-day decisions related to the operations of the business? The good news is that SmartGlance is capable of doing all this. This becomes mandatory if the devices need to survive in this ever increasing and demanding marketplace.

With the latest innovations in mobile BI applications, the users are allowed to obtain more than what they actually intend with the new applications and tools. The opportunities regarding IT performance, data visualization and security allow personalization from the devices. The business world is already overly excited about the use of mobile BI in positive ways. The real time access of vital data though is a tough challenge; the tools are providing just that. Heightened security, need of the hour technology and immense speed of delivery are aspects which are loved by businesses.

Businesses have taken a war front approach in the deployment of mobile BI applications in their work. The employees too are quite enthusiastic about the development due to improvement of their performance leading to growth. Overall it is a win-win situation for everyone; right from the top notch professionals to the field employees.

Get it on SmartGlance Apps

Repost, with comments: Virtual or Bare Metal Dedicated Cloud: Which Option is Right for You?

http://talkincloud.com/private-cloud/virtual-or-bare-metal-dedicated-cloud-which-option-right-you?cl=article_5?utm_source=120213&utm_medium=TLK&utm_campaign=NL&elq=~~eloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--recipientid~~&elqCampaignId=~~eloqua..type--campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id~~

A good article from the Talking Cloud on the differences, and unique benefits, of virtual machine-based versus "bare metal" cloud architectures.  Invensys offers both options, based on Microsoft's Azure, for there are times when a customer wants basically outsourced IT to manage their applications, and other times, customers require the additional security that an on-site hosted solution brings.  It's a matter of preference, budget, and sometimes corporate standards, that may determine or influence which design is used.