Monday, December 1, 2014

Wonderware Historian--it's not just for data storage anymore!

With the advent of Schneider Electric's acquisition of Invensys, our social media will be consolidated, and I'll be getting a new blog account and address.  I hope you'll follow me to my new address.  In the meantime, I'd like to share some findings from our +TechValidate Software account:
Customer References verified by TechValidate.


What's interesting about this study is that one normally views a data historian as merely a vessel for storage, versus a means to enable quality and other performance improvements. Over 55% of our customers cite improved quality as a benefit of using Wonderware Historian,  46% gained compliance ensurance, and 44% increased production. Substantial improvements attributed to a commonplace plant software application.

But look at what we've done to improve Wonderware Historian in the past year.  It's pretty impressive, and brings it into what we call an "Enteprise Historian" space.
 
So the next time you think Historian, think Wonderware Historian! And I'll be back soon to let you know where my new blog is.
 
Regards,
Maryanne
 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Key Solution Systems de Mexico Uses Wonderware Workflow for Process Facilitation

Case Study verified by TechValidate.

Solutions partner Key Solution Systems de Mexico implements complex projects in the MES space.  This case study is an compilation of their experience using Wonderware and Microsoft technologies, together, to enhance and improve project development, roll out and performance.  It's a great story and we thank Key Solution for their contribution!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Repost, with comments: Putting Your Brand Champions at the Center of Everything | Public Video | Video Library | All MKC Content | ANA

Putting Your Brand Champions at the Center of Everything | Public Video | Video Library | All MKC Content | ANA







This very short video from #General Mill's VP of Marketing tells a great story on finding your brand's purpose. He uses their Betty Crocker brand as the basis for reinventing and re-invigorating sales by uncovering who uses the brand and for what reason. I think about the @SchneiderElectric purchase of #Wonderware as ancillary example, and how we're looking at brand extensions, fit within the greater Schneider Electric portfolio and one thing is very clear--that the benefits that Wonderware has brought to the industrial automation market for over 25 years still exist and are still drivers to this day.  Customers struggle with legacy application integration, homogeneous control environments, implementing new technology into a changing workforce.  It was true over two decades ago, and it's still true today.  It takes commitment, it takes vision, and it takes a collective effort to ensure that your strategies and goals for automation, information management and operations tuning get executed.  We are a tool in your portfolio of solutions, (albeit an important one!) but without the drive and cooperation of many, it doesn't get the impact or the results.

“Wonderware has streamlined our ingredient batching system and our ability to track ingredient inventory.”

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Direct quotes from customers are the strongest proof point for the efficacy of how your solutions help them to be more profitable and productive. This small food food company processor, using Wonderware Historian to supplement their Wonderware InTouch installation, have gained efficiencies in batch material tracking, subsequently increasing product quality by over 10%.

Monday, October 27, 2014

4 Star Rating for Wonderware Historian from Major Food Producer!

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Customer Success: Johann Hay Automobiltek Uses Historian & InTouch HMI for Operations Excellence

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.


How can you increase your operations productivity, quality, visibility? Consider using Wonderware Historian along with Wonderware InTouch. As shown above, gain improvements in quality, reduce energy usage and manufacturing costs easily using applications that are designed for collaboration.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Repost, with Comments: LNS Research: Data: 43% of Manufacturing Professionals “Don’t Understand” the IoT

http://blog.lnsresearch.com/blog/bid/202628/data-43-of-manufacturing-professionals-dont-understand-the-iot?source=Blog_Email_%5bData%3A%2043%25%20of%20Manufac%5d


The LNS Research findings for IoT (Internet of Things) is not surprising given all of the hype around "talking refrigerators" and wearable devices.  It is sometimes difficult to connect the dots between a technology advance like a wearable, and a realistic use for manufacturers.  But let's think about this in another vein.  Manufacturing, for YEARS, has had IoT.  We called it DeviceNet, we called it OPC, programmically it was first DNA for Manufacturing and then .NET, but it was all about connecting the plant for communications.  Why?  To provide context into the information gathered, to be able to control the process and more importantly, predict when the process could get out of parameter.

The IoT, to me, is an extension of this paradigm. It brings other devices and entities into context to broaden, enrich and enhance the decision making capabilities of an enterprise. It's about using technology that makes sense to bring additional aspects within the environment that are integral to the process--for example, ambient temperature within a plant, or weather forecasts that could drive humidity to unacceptable levels in a process.

LNS's results indicate a need for continuing education, bringing "real life" examples and solutions to manufacturing that will help them gain additional productivity, quality, and competitive standing.  Like the cloud for manufacturing, first it's cool, but then it's a real provider of value, cost savings, and operations excellence.  IoT is in this nascent stage, so it's up to us as an industry to bring that education and value to our users.

Friday, October 24, 2014

"Culture and bureaucracy are the two barriers. People just need to stop hugging their data. People love their data so much."


"Culture and bureaucracy are the two barriers. People just need to stop hugging their data. People love their data so much."

-- Dan Morgan, chief data officer at the Department of Transportation, as quoted by CIO.com



I had to smile when I read this quote.  So that's what makes Business Intelligence, #EMI (Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence) and other data analysis applications so enticing.  We DO love our data!  In the industrial automation market, data makes stuff work.  Data makes the visibility and control of processes possible.  And you need to treat your data with respect, because if you don't believe it, processes can quickly get out of control.  This becomes not only a profitability issue, but a safety issue and a sustainability issue.  So yes, we need to hug our data.  We need to understand it, keep it close, nurture it and let it safely grow. 



 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Dairy Customer Improves Operations Using Wonderware MES

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Repost, with Comments: ATK CIO Says Metrics-Driven IT Paves the Way for Innovation

http://www.cio.com/article/2683272/cio-role/atk-cio-says-metrics-driven-it-paves-the-way-for-innovation.html



This is a very timely and relevant article from CIO Magazine, interviewing ATK's CIO,  Jeff Kubacki. The article discusses his activities to make IT a partner, and drive business value, through technology.

If we look at the changes that have occurred over the past 10 years in industrial software, we see several important milestones:
  •  An overlap and blending of technologies to create "composite" apps that provide not only visibility, but reporting, analysis, data acquisition and storage.  More functionality with less apps means time saved in installing, but more importantly, a faster learning curve, cost savings in both hardware and software, and greater productivity by leaning out your software stack.
  • More predictive capabilities in software and solutions.  It is one thing to analyze after events occur, but the big win, and the reason Big Data is so necessary, is the ability to not only analyze, but predict events concerning maintenance needs (proactively issuing work orders for asset overhaul, or anticipating additional maintenance based on environmental or condition factors of surrounding equipment); or using Operations Intelligence solutions to identify opportunities for improvements in material, labor, energy or equipment usage.
  • "On-demand Computing" fueled by mobile solutions.  No longer do workers need to be tethered to desks or buildings.  Insight Research reported that 67% of all workers now use mobile technology, and it's only increasing as form factors and cost of devices are reduced.
  • Ubiquitous access to applications using Software as a Service. One of the banes of IT has been the cost of acquiring and implementing complex manufacturing solutions such as #MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) since they touch so many other enterprise applications, and are normally implemented using a multi-plant architecture.  Using SaaS solutions reduce the cost of maintenance, upgrades, and infrastructure.
The outcome? IT has become an important stakeholder in determining which applications will be used, how they will be used, and what the impact on the organization will be.  It is a necessary and important change that brings large enterprises forward, and we certainly support it.






Friday, September 19, 2014

F&N Dairies Thailand - a Wonderware MES Success Story







A terrific new video by @JayDavid of Schneider Electric, covering F&N Dairies/Thailand's use of Wonderware MES solutions.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Customer Case Study: Lexmark International's Use of Wonderware MES

Case Study verified by TechValidate.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Case Study: DICS Intertrade Benefits from Microsoft/Wonderware Partnership

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

DICS Intertrade was faced with the task of integrating their business and automation systems. Although a variety of approaches could be used, they turned to Wonderware and Microsoft for a solution--and in turn, gaining efficiences of greater than 30% in productivity, time to market, and not surprisingly, technology adoption.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Food Company Gains Improvements through Wonderware/Microsoft Partnership

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

Wonderware and Microsoft have had a longstanding partnership, spanning almost 25 years.  During that time, a software revolution occurred--Windows for manufacturing, .NET, OPC, and now, the cloud.  We wanted to find out how our customers perceived the value of this relationship, and so you'll see a number of #TechValidate posts from me on the benefits customers have gained.  Want to see the entire library of assets?  Go here.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Global 500 Food Company Depends on Wonderware MES

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Need enterprise to automation integration?  A standardized approach to data collection, operations management?  Turn to Wonderware MES, like this Global 500 food company did!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Customer Case Study: "Immediate Validation of User Input" via Wonderware MES

Case Study verified by TechValidate.

This medium-sized industrial manufacturer met their challenges for inventory visibility, user inputs, and process integration using Wonderware MES Operations, enjoying increased output, better planning & scheduling and improved product quality.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Customer Case Study: Microsoft/Wonderware Benefits Cargill with Improved Process Visualization

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

This case study outlines the value that joint customer Cargill, a leader in food manufacturing, gained from the Wonderware/Microsoft partnership.

Customer Case Study: Medium-Sized Consumer Products Company Gains Paperless Execution

Customer Survey verified by TechValidate.

Manufacturing Execution Systems are scalable solutions for both small and large enterprises.  This medium-sized company uses Wonderware MES to give paperless operations management and execution, integrate with their automation products, and understand uptime tracking and reporting.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Customer Success Story: Gained Inventory Visibility Through Wonderware MES

Case Study verified by TechValidate.

Thought Manufacturing Execution Systems were only for BOM and operations improvements?  Nope--they can positively contribute to labor management, quality, and materials/inventory management. This Wonderware MES customer, a Global 500 Food Processor, reports better inventory visibility--fueling operations efficiencies and profitability.

Operations Impact Most Important Feature for Wonderware MES Customer

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Customer Case Study: Reduced Compliance Efforts Using Wonderware MES

Customer Survey verified by TechValidate.

This customer was able to achieve operational improvements, with a bonus--eased regulatory requirements reporting using the suite of solutions from Wonderware MES. 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Case Study: Beverage Processor Gain Quality, OEE Improvements with Wonderware MES

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

We've told you that Wonderware MES can bring real, identifiable benefits to companies cross-industry.  Here's an example from a mid-sized beverage company--gains of 20% and more across the board in efficiency, quality, throughput using Wonderware MES.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Global Industrial Achieves Higher Quality Using Wonderware MES

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

This customer testimonial shows the power of a Wonderware MES solution--improving their quality by more than 20% after implementation, and bringing with it efficiencies for operations.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Global 500 Industrial Manufacturer Achieves High Productivity with Wonderware MES

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

How hard is it to boost productivity?  Factors include training, equipment maintenance, operations tuning, effective material and inventory management.  This Fortune 500 Industrial turned to Wonderware for a MES solution that boosted their productivity by over 20% after use! 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Global 500 Industrial Achieves High OEE with Wonderware MES


Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Along with equipment uptime, OEE is a measure of quality x available capacity x throughput--it's a measure that may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but it's an indication of the efficiency and effectiveness of your plant maintenance and quality practices.

This global 500 industrial manufacturer turned to an OEE solution from Wonderware in order to achieve improvements of over 20%--a very significant measure that directly impacts profitability, capacity, and throughput of a plant.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Global 500 Industrial Manufacturer Gains Equipment Uptime Using Wonderware MES

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Equipment uptime management is a constant process of refinement and understanding of the dynamics behind stoppages.  Oftentimes paper-based systems are used to capture and manage downtime events.  However, not at this Fortune 500 Industrial--they use Wonderware MES in order to manage their downtime events, and achieved more than 20% improvement as a result!

Monday, July 28, 2014

Global 500 Industrial Achieves Significant Cost Reductions with Wonderware MES

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

This Wonderware MES customer is a long time user of the solution, and their reported savings of more than 20% in cost improvements is a testimony to how MES can provide bottom-line results.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Medical Device Manufacturer Uses Wonderware MES

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

Although Wonderware MES is well known for use in food and beverage and other consumer goods, we have a significant base of industrial, medical and discrete customers.  Here's one.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Beverage Company Gains More than 20% Quality Improvement Using Wonderware MES

Customer Survey verified by TechValidate.

MES, or Manufacturing Execution Systems, are a great boon to companies wanting to improve productivity and operations.  A Wonderware beverage customer reported over a 20% improvement in quality using Wonderware MES solutions. That's ROI you can count on!

Friday, July 25, 2014

4 Stars for Wonderware MES by Global Food Company!

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.
This Global 500 Food Company gained enterprise integration into their SAP ERP, as well as using it as a trusted backup system in case the ERP goes down.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

"Smooth and Reliable Operations" Says Customer Using Wonderware MES

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

A Global 500 Industrial customer reports overall efficiencies in operations by using Wonderware MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) solutions.  Not only are operations and quality improved, but enterprise integration, bill of materials handling and costs reductions were gained using MES.
 

Repost, with comments: Survey: Feds sacrificing billions in savings by skipping cloud

This survey discussion posted in SmartBriefs highlights the cost savings being ignored by the government not using the cloud for application hosting and user access.  It states that up to $19 billion could be saved by migrating services and applications to the cloud--$19 billion! 



Of course you'd say, well that would be insane for anyone to not take advantage of the benefits.  But I suspect that education and awareness has a lot to do with the indecision and/or inactivity of not going to the cloud. Not all agencies can be that tech savvy.  And, there is still a slight stigma of security when it comes to the cloud.  Regardless of infrastructure (and I use Microsoft Azure as an example) for triple-redundancy for high availability and security, no one can guarantee fault-free operations. 

So let's look at manufacturing cloud adoption.  A survey by LNS Research, as published in Manufacturing.net last October, showed a slight bump in the anticipated use of the cloud for plant software--around 17% of the respondents intended to use (or consider).  I'd still say this is a small percentage, but it's progress.  The benefits and cost savings for ERP using a cloud SaaS, as defined by Hudson IT, show over $2M in savings over 3 years--extrapolate that to Industrial automation users, and you could still see over a $1M savings (assuming that large, complex industrial automation projects run 50% of the cost of an ERP).

Wonderware has been working with Microsoft for well over three years now to bring solutions and knowledge of the cloud to industry. What have we found?  Well, the cloud is the delivery mechanism--but what customers really want is to make reporting and analysis easier, more accessible, and cheaper.  That's what the cloud does.  Maybe we need to call it "hosted" or "hands off reporting" in order to remove the stigma of what the cloud is perceived to be.  In reality, it's a productivity tool that provides users with unrestricted use of solutions to help them manage and execute their operations. Applications such as #SmartGlance and #Historian Online bring mobile reporting and analysis.  Do you think we should just drop the word "cloud?"  Let me know.
maryanne.steidinger@schneider-electric.com.


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Repost, with Comments: Top 5 BYOD Security Trends

The Information Security group on LinkedIn recently published a report that Mobile Enterprise covered, discussing the top 5 security trends around BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) security issues.

http://software.invensys.com/products/wonderware/production-information-management/smartglance
What was interesting in the survey was the lack of adoption in creating and enforcing BYOD policies within enterprises. The report states that only 20% of companies have a developed BYOD policy in place.  This is surprisingly low given the proliferance of devices, applications and solutions based upon mobile technology.  Notwithstanding the productivity increases (the study did state that the #1 trend was improved employee productivity/mobility/satisfaction)  there is still a reluctance to fully embrace and deploy mobile solutions.  Perhaps we as an industry need to jointly address security concerns?

Monday, July 21, 2014

Easier ERP to Operations Integration Using Wonderware MES

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Customer Case Study: Wonderware MES for Metals & Mining

Case Study verified by TechValidate.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Repost, with Comments: Is your company allocating a larger portion of this year's budget to security spending?

http://www.smartbrief.com/poll/07/02/14/your-company-allocating-larger-portion-years-budget-security-spending

An interesting poll from SmartBriefs, touching on the investment indicators for security infrastructure within their readership. With only half of the respondents planning to increase spending for security measures, does this mean the industry's readiness to withstand attacks is completed?  Are companies ignoring additional threats?  Or have they previously invested in levels that provides them with the protection they need. These questions go unanswered.

For industrial automation, security is an ongoing issue, for as new products come into the plant, there are always additional threats that need to be addressed.  Invensys/Schneider Electric has done a good job at providing their customers with security counseling, best practice sharing, and project support.  Each year at our customer user group, we have sessions on cyber security that are packed.  Why?  Because customers want to understand what we as an industry, collectively, can do to ensure safe operations.  It's a partnership to share understanding, strategy and best practices.

For more on cyber security for industry, please visit our blog by security expert Doug Clifton.




Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Wonderware is "simpler to use" for advanced applications

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

We asked our Wonderware InTouch customers to tell us the benefits they've derived by using our software.  This testimony from a small professional services company underscores the ease of using Wonderware InBatch, InTouch and Historian when they all rely on a common platform, Wonderware System Platform.  See here for more information on how you can leverage the ease of installation and use.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Customers Improve OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) with Wonderware

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

OEE--Overall Equipment Effectiveness--is a measurement of throughput, availability, and quality.  One solution to OEE is Wonderware Performance.  It gathers real time data from equipment and uses a dashboard to show status and efficiencies.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Wonderware Delivers Customers Improved Performance

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

Why do customers use Wonderware? An important benefit is operational performance--reporting and analysis of the process, in real time.

Repost, from SmartBrief: Cloud Adoption



Does your company continually embrace new cloud technologies?

No
 54.55%
Yes
 45.45%


#Wonderware and #Microsoft have been working together for over 3 years developing cloud-based solutions for productivity and operations. Yet this poll reflects what others are saying--that industry is not yet ready for the cloud. 

Why is that?  I think a number of factors are at play:
  • The applications are too specific.  The cloud needs to take an entire factory's applications, and virtualize them.  Mix and match may be too difficult to maintain.
  • The applications that are cloud-based may not solve the difficult problems.  Reporting is simple in the cloud, but reporting can be done in a variety of ways, and it may not be enough to go through the IT hurdles to get a cloud solution adopted.
  • Education.  It still may not be apparent that either cloud solutions are available, or that they are relevant to a particular function, like plant-wide reporting.
  • Security.  Companies are still reeling from security breaches such as StuxNet. Their IP is their lifeblood, and they aren't exposing it if solutions are available that do not have the same perceived risk.
On the other hand, the cloud is a tremendous boon to those companies that may not have the infrastructure, nor talent, to build and maintain applications such as plant reporting, plant data collection, plant intelligence. 

So it is up to us as an industry to continue to break down these barriers to adoption.  Education, success stories, finding the right markets--they all contribute to the proliferation of a solution that really helps industry scale, cost effectively, and easily adopt new technologies.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Customer Feedback: Customers Improve Quality Using Wonderware Software

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Wonderware customers were surveyed to see what percentage quality improvements they've made using Wonderware visualization, reporting and analysis software.  This testimonial shows sustained ROI as a result.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Repost, with comments: AstraZeneca's Focus On Supply Chain: With Change Comes The Obligation To Respond

Pharmaceutical Online recently posted an article on the need for tight collaboration within a pharmaceutical company's supply chain in order to respond to changing market conditions.

 
They also mentioned a Gartner study defining the five steps that a company needs to make in order to ensure an effective supply chain: React, Anticipate, Integrate, Collaborate, and Orchestrate. For years, we have been saying that using solutions such as MES and Workflow can be the underpinning of a responsive, agile supply chain.

Why?

Wonderware MES: ROI in 12 months!

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Repost, with comments: Report: SaaS Usage up 500% Since 2010; Second Cloud Front on Its Way

article at: http://www.telecompetitor.com/report-saas-usage-up-500-since-2010-second-cloud-front-on-its-way/

It's no big surprise that cloud has been thoroughly embraced by IT.  Given its ability to scale with demand (elasticity, going up or down in capacity), offer cost conscious means of using expensive software, and lessening IT burden onboarding new software and technologies, it's a boon to both users as well as vendors of these products.

What is interesting is the lag factor when it comes to industrial automation. 

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Carson City, Nevada - A "Smart City" Success Story



I've just started to delve into the water utility industry, and it's pretty fascinating. The pressures on these companies--to provide us with a consistent, clean, safe water supply, while ensuring profitable, compliant operations--is admirable.

Altprofits reports that the use of water has increased 35 fold over the past three centuries. The water/wastewater industry is in constant need of refurbishment, refinement, to continue to meet the demands of an ever-growing population.

Wonderware has supplied water/wastewater solutions to this industry for more than 25 years, helping them to visualize, report on operations, and manage assets for peak performance.  This success story from Carson City Nevada tells a great story on being responsie and prepared to meet their citizen's needs.

Want to hear more?  We're having a webinar with ControlGlobal.com on Tuesday, June 24 at 2PM EDT.  We'll feature Carson City's James Jacklett and Schneider Electric's Saadi Kermani, sharing their story of effectively meeting operations needs using Wonderware solutions.

Global 500 Food Company Uses Wonderware MES for MES to Controls Integration

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Did you miss this? Facts On Fiction: Operational Data Collection - What You Think You Know About Historians Might be Harming You

Safety: Webcast: Facts On Fiction: Operational Data Collection - What You Think You Know About Historians Might be Harming You








It's live again!  The archived webinar of Wonderware's popular webcast on Historian Myths.  Wonderware Historian is a industry-strength information management solution, designed for scalability, with a variety of reporting options to support your mobile and KPI needs.



Integration to Controls Key Need by MES Customers--Solved by Wonderware

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Customer Testimony: Improvements Using Wonderware MES

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Webinar: Run Your Plant in Real Time, June 24 @1pm CDT

Register for the ControlGlobal.com webinar, Run Your Plant in Real Time!


How can you optimize your information gathering and sharing?  How do you know that the decisions you are making are based on the most up to date, current information?  Wonderware customer Carson City Public Works' James Jacklett will discuss their use of Wonderware Historian, coupled with Wonderware SmartGlance mobile KPI software, as their solution for visibility, real time data management and process historization.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Drivers for using Wonderware MES: customer feedback

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Customer: Robustness of Wonderware MES key

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Dairy Company Uses Wonderware MES with Fast ROI

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Food Customers Reduce Costs Using Wonderware MES

Customer Survey verified by TechValidate.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Chemicals Company Boosts Productivity by 30% Using Wonderware MES

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Wonderware Manufacturing Execution systems deliver real value and competitiveness

by Michael Schwarz, MES/Workflow/Batch Product Marketing Manager, Invensys Schneider

Every manufacturer approaching the transformation from a paper based, fragmented or manual operations management system to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)  raises that question – what will be the ROI in my case? Often this question cannot be exactly answered prior to purchase – only very experienced professionals will be able to compare a prospect's situation to a similar case and relate to the results achieved in these case(s) without detailed analysis and investigations, which may require similar efforts close to a small MES implementation itself.

Wonderware wanted to better understand ourselves what real benefits and values our existing MES customers received, what were the operational improvements, and the ROI achieved, to share with those who need decision support to justify the investment. We partnered with TechValidate, a third party research service, to collect and validate such information for publication.  Here the first overview of Improvements through Wonderware MES Software use:




Customer References verified by TechValidate.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Operations Innovation & Transformation – Training “Systems”

by Stan Devries, Senior Director Solutions Architecture, Invensys Schneider

Industrial operations are experiencing innovation and transformation in 2 aspects.  There is a pervasive move to unify the industrial enterprise over multiple sites with a more holistic view, and there is a pervasive shift to using operational teams that spread across the sites, centrally governed, where subject matter experts (SMEs) make use a timely and dynamic decision support system in a dynamic operational world.

Using the recent discussions in the MESA community about the recommendation to consider “behaviors” and “systems” as separate, where “systems” help to achieve, sustain and improve “behaviors,”there has been a revolution in manufacturing and operations Training Systems.  The major change is from a single user, focused on his/her span of control with an isolated context of process or machine control, to multiple users handling multiple processes or machines, and handling more than just speeds and pressures – they contribute to operations performance indicators such as quality and unit costs.  The “contract” between the enterprise and the operator has dramatically changed.  In addition, even the traditional narrow span of control isn’t sufficiently effective when operators have never experienced a full start-up or one of the more severe abnormal situations.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

5 Stars for Wonderware MES!

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Why do customers choose Wonderware MES?

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Customer Uses Wonderware MES, not ERP for Operations Management

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Customers Report Improved Equipment Performance Using Wonderware MES

Customer Survey verified by TechValidate.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Use of Wonderware MES Improves Packaging Performance

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Wonderware Workflow Drivethrough



A Wonderware Workflow video from Schneider Electric.  Featuring full-fledged Business Process Management functionality, with industrial integration into control and process equipment.  Wonderware System Platform user?  You are in luck!  Natively integrated to System Platform, using the same development environment, gives you full visibility to plant and equipment models.

MES for Food and Beverage/Consumer Packaged Goods



A video from Wonderware on its Manufacturing Execution Systems offering for the Food and Beverage industry. Why do so many food processors trust MES?  Well, it's the top MES for those requiring compliance, standardization, quality management.

Food & Beverage Industry Use of Wonderware MES Solutions

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

New White Paper from Microsoft and Invensys on Cloud for Manufacturing!

http://global.wonderware.com/EN/PDF%20Library/WhitePaper_InvensysandMicrosoft.pdf



Hot off the presses! A white paper jointly penned by Microsoft and Invensys on the basics, and benefits, of cloud computing for manufacturing.

This white paper explains the basics of different types of cloud architecture (hybrid, on premises, off premises) and delivery mechanisms, such as Software as a Service.

For Invensys, we use cloud architecture for several of our products:
These products offer the convenience of a cloud hosted solution, with lower IT, implementation and maintenance costs, great scalability, and the ease of mobile access to critical applications.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

How Many Customers Reported Improvements Using Wonderware MES?

Customer Proof verified by TechValidate.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Customers Say: Better Integration Means Better Performance with Wonderware MES

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

ROI in less than 12 months using Wonderware MES

Customer Content verified by TechValidate.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Customer Case Study: Baltika Beverage's Use of Wonderware MES

Case Study verified by TechValidate.

Repost, with comments: Smart Water networks and the evolution of the water industry


http://www.metering.com/smart-water-networks-and-the-evolution-of-the-water-industry/


This article from Metering.com discusses the growing need for water distribution and improved management capabilities. As the population increases, and more remote areas are developed, smart water distribution will be key to cost-effectively and efficiently bring water services to these customers.

Invensys| Schneider Electric has partnered with leading engineering constructor firms to bring technology-based solutions to solve some of the pressing issues in water management. CH2M Hill is one of those companies.  They offer a cloud-based historian solution from Wonderware, Historian Online, coupled with Wonderware Smart Glance, a mobile reporting application, to collect, analyze, visualize and monitoring Key Performance Indicators for smart grid networks.

This solution will be detailed at an upcoming conference: The Automation Conference-- where on May 21, 2014 Dr. Raja Kadiyala of CH2M Hill will share their strategies and program for managing the smart water grid using the Wonderware Historian Online and SmartGlance solutions.  Join us!

PRIME Magazine, Spring 2014: Enterprise Social

Page 36 of PRIME Magazine's Spring 2014 issue features commentary from Invensys' Saadi Kermani on SmartGlance, a mobile application for remote monitoring and Key Performance Indicator analysis. As the enterprise becomes more "social," applications such as SmartGlance enable collaboration and operational fine tuning, as needed, where ever you are.  It's a productivity tool that supports all major platforms for true cross-enterprise applicability.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Invensys' Rob McGreevy on the Value of Interconnected Devices in PRIME

The internet of things is revolutionizing the way we communicate. It can not only connect us through various devices, but it connects and establishes communications with the world around us, allowing a richer and more interactive environment.  And, someone else besides us gets to do some work!  Here's an article that features commentary from Invensys VP of Information, Asset and Operations.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014