Manufacturing
The current trend towards Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory means that collecting, aggregating, and accessing real-time data is more critical than ever before. Cogent DataHub™ software is being used for this type of monitoring and control application in automated systems for discrete manufacturing across the globe.
Data Collection and Aggregation
With the advent of OPC DA in the mid-90s, data collection and aggregation for manufacturing systems took a huge leap forward when plant engineers and managers began using best-in-class solutions from different manufacturers. Now OPC UA offers the same type of connectivity, but with better networking and security. The DataHub program integrates OPC DA and UA into a common data set, and supports server-to-server bridging, redundancy and OPC tunnelling, making it a highly functional, multi-purpose tool for system integration in any type of manufacturing facility.
Monitoring, Control, Archiving
Connecting and integrating data sources is just part of an overall solution for in-plant systems. Most systems also need some kind of monitoring, and many benefit from supervisory control. The DataHub program’s web-based HMI, WebView, is being used to complement to existing HMIs and SCADA systems by many companies, and as a stand-alone system by others. The DataHub program’s convenient logging options provide a way to store production data for later analysis, and is often used in conjunction with existing MES and ERP systems.
Use Cases
Textile Manufacturing: Automating data collection at a textile plant allows management to gauge performance, resulting in a significant cost savings for the company.
Wood Products Fabrication: DataHub Scripting allows this wood products company to crunch numbers on the fly, so their MES system can now combine raw data and live analytics.
Water Nozzle Assembly: An assembly line robot that picks water nozzle parts got a boost in performance thanks to DataHub software―resulting in higher output and less downtime.
Manufacturing Paper Products: A European paper company used the DataHub program to make a reliable, real-time connection between their process vision and quality control systems.
Heavy Equipment Manufacturing: Viewing production data from two heavy equipment plants was implemented using the DataHub WebView application, with zero impact on the company’s IT department or IIS system.
Thin-Film Plastics Production: A system integrator used DataHub software to access OPC data from a thin-film plastics plant, cutting production costs through better data analysis.
Battery Production Facility: A DataHub implementation at a battery manufacturing plant normalizes data connections from over 200 devices to optimize connectivity for an MES system.
