More companies are adopting some form of automation, whether it is within their offices or manufacturing facilities, seeing automation as a way to reduce costs, increase access to information when needed, and improve productivity.
Companies have already realized increased productivity just by networking their computers and printers within their offices. 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 manufacturing equipment such as programmable logic controllers, robots, process control equipment, motor drive controllers, power monitoring equipment, flow meters, gas detection devices, temperature monitoring systems, bar-code scanners, scales, and mixing stations. Currently, production and material managers must be on-site to monitor and maintain control; however, managers can access this information from their internal network or via the Internet using industrial device networking. Managers can be automatically notified if equipment is not operating normal and then can initiate troubleshooting of production equipment, even if the managers are located outside the factory. Industrial manufacturers require networking products that are rugged, easy-to-customize, and cost-effective yet are capable of connecting, communicating information, and controlling virtually any type of equipment in an industrial environment. For products to operate in harsh industrial environments, they must withstand and operate reliably under extreme temperatures and vibration, and resist the effects of exposure to electrical interference. There is also considerable potential for noise interference which can cause communications latency and transmission retries. While operating in these somewhat hostile environments, networking products must offer security and encryption to prevent another type of “interference,” such as unauthorized access, compromised data integrity, or attacks that may result in halting the system. For any production or materials manager, it is his or her primary goal to maintain a consistent level of quality as well as meet the production volumes of the goods produced. Without having real-time access to information from the equipment within a manufacturing facility, managers must manually gather the necessary information that they need to make responsible decisions to maintain production and quality levels. If factory equipment is working improperly or is outside of its normal range of operation, the manager and his/her staff must manually monitor these machines to determine where the problem exists. Sometimes a factory will use PCs to perform this monitoring function; however, there is often trouble with maintaining PCs due to the harsh conditions that exist in most factories. Equipped with device information in real-time, managers can gain improved and consistent system performance, all contributing to better product quality and achieving production schedules. Managers can also automate their quality control using device networking by ensuring that the critical parameters of their factory systems are monitored and maintained within appropriate ranges. This monitoring, maintenance, and even troubleshooting of production equipment can be conducted remotely. Industrial device networking products must be built to operate in harsh, extreme environments and support standard communication protocols. This networking also allows managers to leverage their existing network wiring and corporate IP networks. To access the networked devices via the Internet, these networking products should have a built-in Web server to allow users to remotely access and manage the attached equipment using a standard Web browser. Multiple industrial serial devices can also be cascaded from a single network backbone connection eliminating the need for expensive hubs and cabling. Industrial equipment can be quickly and easily networked using a device server. The device server is a complete network enabling solution enclosed in a ruggedized RJ-45 or external box package that can create a networked environment from simple serial data. It’s important to consider device server solutions that are easy-to-deploy, versatile, operate in harsh environments, are certified, and support industrial protocols such as Modbus TCP, ASCII, RTU and DF1.|
The UDS100-IAP device server from Lantronix allows users to choose between several protocols. |
