Wonderware Celebrates 30 Years of Innovation

To mark Wonderware’s 30th anniversary, we reflect on the company’s past, present, and future, based on the testimonies of Phil Huber, co-founder of Wonderware Software Development Corporation, and Norman Thorlakson, Vice President, HMI and Supervisory Software, Industry at Schneider Electric:

More than 750,000 licenses installed in over 100,000 industrial facilities worldwide: Innovation continues with new cloud, mobility, IIoT capabilities, and new subscription-based services. Started as a vision of Dennis Morin and Phil Huber, the Wonderware Software Development Corporation became a reality on April 1, 1987. For 30 years, Wonderware has been an internationally recognized software solution that drives the industrial world.

“It is remarkable what Wonderware users have achieved in the last 30 years. Our original vision was that operators could be more productive by monitoring factory operations and creating software that was fun and easy to use,” notes Phil Huber, co-founder of Wonderware Software Development Corporation.

That philosophy remains valid today, with a new workforce that has grown up with the Internet, smartphones, and virtual reality. The unlimited potential of software powered by Wonderware continues to empower people and enable business transformation.

From the human being to enabled humans.

A philosophy that drives the future of Wonderware solutions is the confidence in the unlimited potential of technology to empower people and transform businesses. This strategy has materialized in a portfolio of world-class Human Machine Interface (HMI), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) solutions, Information Management and Analysis, and Manufacturing Execution System solutions. Staying true to the company’s vision, these solutions create better visibility and a superior user experience to engage workers and drive performance.

“Having been on this journey for over 20 years, I have witnessed an extraordinary level of achievement from both customers and employees to drive innovation and sustained operational excellence.” Today, the need for innovation has never been greater. We still see extraordinary opportunities to leverage our rich history and continue to help customers drive performance improvement through a new era of cloud, mobility, and industrial IoT-based solutions,” notes Norman Thorlakson.

30 years of Wonderware

In 1987, Wonderware introduced InTouch HMI, the first human-machine interface built on the Microsoft Windows operating system, allowing operators and plant managers to better interact with and control factory operations. As a result, Wonderware became one of the fastest-growing software companies in the United States during the 1990s.

Currently, more than 750,000 Wonderware software licenses have been installed worldwide in 100,000 locations, a vast source of industry knowledge to drive continuous improvement.

More recently, Wonderware drove one of the industry’s first “Model-driven” manufacturing execution systems, through workflow capabilities. Industrial companies can now adopt a process-centric approach to achieve sustainable enterprise standardization of operations management.

Investing in the future
Schneider Electric is investing heavily in cloud, mobility, and industrial IoT technologies to drive innovation in engineering, asset, and operations management. Our online offering includes enhancements to cloud platforms, turning real-time industrial data into powerful analytics for users and OEMs.

Wonderware Partner Community is the global network of automation specialists who are experts in adapting Wonderware solutions to the needs of specific industries. This community of more than 4,000 partners will continue to be a fundamental component of the future of Schneider Electric’s operations and information management offerings.

 

Innovation continues with the next generation of offerings available from the Wonderware brand. Features and functionality will include simplicity, flexibility, and scope for HMI / SCADA management, industrial IoT value that enables new user consumption models, such as cloud and subscription-based services.

Customer satisfaction with Wonderware offerings remains high, according to a TechValidate report:

• 81% of respondents in a recent survey of manufacturing and industrial organizations found that Wonderware Supervisory HMI software increases quality by more than 6%.
• 74% of manufacturing and industrial organizations surveyed found that Wonderware HMI Supervisory software reduces system disruptions by more than 6%.
• 82% of surveyed customers reduced energy consumption by 5-10% or more using Wonderware Intelligence software.

Schneider Electric’s offerings with Wonderware operate in a diverse set of industries: food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, infrastructure, mining, minerals and metals, power generation, oil and gas, chemicals, and water / wastewater.

You can access more information about Wonderware offerings from this video.