AP Haslam - Innovation in Open Automation

Shopfloor Analytics Downtime and idle plant cost money! Whether a manual workstation or a fully automated robotic cell, production managers need to know how everything is working. Without a central, simple overview of the production floor it can be very difficult and time consuming to see the potential for optimising the process. AP Haslam has the solutions to help centrally visualise your production floor, displaying machine status and facilitating quicker reaction to downtime issues, immediately, whilst using historical data to plan for a more efficient process. Industrial Ethernet Data is the lifeblood of the SMART Factory. Secure, robust sensing and transmitting of data is critical for the digitalisation of industry. Whether for a data centre or a production plant, AP Haslam provide an extensive range of the industrial ethernet hardware you need for your next digitalisation project. Seán Lynam – Industrial IoT Solutions Engineer for AP Haslam – shares some of his thoughts on the automation market with Colin Sherlock of Electric.ie. An Electrical Engineer by degree, Seán has experienced working with some of the largest companies in the technology and medical device sector. “The key lesson I have learned over many years is that the quality of your components is critical to the long-lasting success of automation and process improvement. “The core of any automation project is the Controller, historically the ‘PLC’, but for today’s automation builder, new options with Weidmüller’s award- winning Automation Controller (AC), you can offer localised machine control whilst providing ease of connection to on-site IT systems or indeed the Cloud via Node Red . ” On the surge of smart phone apps – and young programming clubs like CoderDojo: “The IT programming landscape for industrial controllers has changed radically with the trend being towards more ‘open source’ web-based type controllers offering greater interoperability over different platforms . ” On use of industrial PCs, and in particular the use of Industrial Panel PC’s (IPPC): “With an integrated touch screen, IPPCs are an excellent choice for certain machine and process applications where you want to integrate the machine control with the existing factory IT system. “Our industrial PC comes with the option of a Windows 10 licence, which not all manufacturers include, and integrating an industrial-grade touch screen in your control panel or remote station provides protection, ease of control and visualisation.” When pressed on the fact that most automated products and systems operate at an optimal level, Seán clarified: “Whilst many associated technologies are impressive – and offer considerable benefits – you should research and understand what’s in the market before deploying them as part of your customer offering.” Seán reminds us: “Improving machine and process automation has been a business objective since Henry Ford in the early 1900’s! What has radically changed over the last 10-15 years is the sheer volume of data needed to achieve the next step improvements in energy efficiency and predictive maintenance. “No matter what industry you are in, robust and reliable architecture is essential for the collection, transmission and storage of data – whether on-site or in the Cloud. “Weidmüller not only provides the best control and connection hardware needed for your machine or automation project, but we also offer the analytics platform to both visualise and action your data.” 6 HERNET