Automation’s Best Friend Solution Chronicles

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T E C H N O L O G I E S

Kepware Technologies Automation’s Best Friend 1.888.Kepware sales@kepware.com www.kepware.com

Automotive solution provider

“validates” with OPC
Advanced Production Systems, Inc. (APS) is a solution provider based in Louisville, Kentucky. APS has been providing solutions to the
manufacturing industry since 1986 and is now positioned to help manufacturers and their associated trading partners capitalize on
emerging economic and technological trends in manufacturing.

After identifying the application requirements of the validation tool, it was

determined that of the more than 25 machinery suppliers, there were a
total of approximately 10 different brands of PLCs incorporated into the
t ion various machines. APS engineers would need a way to seamlessly connect
a l ida l
Supplier V oo the validation interface to each of the PLCs used by suppliers. Custom driver
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Validation U
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development would be to expensive due to the go to market timeline as well
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as the shear quantity of drivers needed.

For the final solution APS engineers tailored the Data Transport Utility (DTU)
+ by I/Gear to handle the validation interface requirements and connected
the DTU’s OPC client interface to Kepware’s OPC server suite KEPServerEX.
+ Since KEPServerEX provides a single OPC server interface with more than
EX plug-in 100 plug-in device drivers, the Validation Tool would be able to connect to
ne ...n
PLC drivers chi the machinery supplier PLCs without requiring additional interface changes
Ma
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ch ine in the DTU. The additional benefit is that the final Validation Tool provided
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to the automotive manufacturer would be composed of only two products.

e2 i ne3 Thus simplifying order delivery and support as well as reducing long-term
c hin M ach
Ma maintenance of the solution.

While working with a major automotive manufacturer earlier this year,
engineers at APS were asked to provide an interface to validate data within
the PLC programs provided by machinery suppliers to the manufacturer. The
ultimate goal was to provide a portable software application or “Validation
Tool” which would be installed by each supplier at their engineering and
production facility. This Validation Tool would provide self-validation by
suppliers prior to onsite commissioning thus eliminating travel expenses and
dramatically reducing the overall cost of the machinery validation process.
According to Don Korfhage, owner of APS, Inc., “Today’s global economy
requires that most manufacturers need to respond to rapid change. To do
this, manufacturers need to continually optimize operations and reduce costs
through the entire supply chain. APS engineers are skilled at combining the
appropriate application of information technology with process/plant-floor
knowledge to close the gap between business planning systems and shop-
floor production systems. This Validation Tool is one example of closing gaps
in the supply chain using standards-based technologies like OPC.”

Kepware is the leading provider of communications software for automation with annual shipments exceeding 100,000 units.