Wonderware Contributes to the Digital Transformation for Industry 4.0 (Part 3)

What Wonderware products make up our reference architecture for Industry 4.0?

In the previous article, we presented our reference architecture to facilitate the digital transformation of the industrial sector, an architecture organized around 6 layers, from sensors and control to application and integration.

In this article, we delve into the mapping of Wonderware products that make up this reference architecture for Industry 4.0.

If we observe layers 1 and 2, “Sensors and control” and “Concentration and Conversion” respectively, Wonderware provides connectivity and capabilities to concentrate data in real time with solutions such as InTouch Machine Edition, Local Historian, InTouch View or InTouch. Scalable, flexible and easy to deploy and maintain technologies.

In particular, the OIServers include industrial drivers that allow communication downstream with the main manufacturers of industrial devices and upstream with IoT platforms through the MQTT protocol.

Finally, Prometheus has recently been launched on the market as the industry’s first universal configuration solution that defines, programs and documents its control code in all control systems from the HMI to its PLCs and I/O.

The layer 3, the one of “Processing and Compression” is par excellence, the layer in which Wonderware has traditionally positioned itself. Solutions such as System Platform, the MES/MOM suite (Operations, Performance, InBatch, Recipe Manager), or the new maintenance management solutions (Avantis PRO), allow converting data into valuable and contextualized information that can then be used functionally by the solutions located in the upper layers.

All processed and compressed information can be stored. In layer 4 of “Persistence and Storage”, the Historian solution from Wonderware provides the possibility of consolidating all data for later exploitation. Historian can be deployed taking into account different historization needs, architectures and/or deployment models.

In layer 4, it is also worth mentioning the eDNA solution, used mainly in continuous process industries that generate and collect massive amounts of data.

In layers 5 and 6, Wonderware again provides specific solutions that allow easy exploitation of the information collected in the lower layers.

In layer 5 of Intelligence and Prediction, the predictive maintenance solutions (Avantis PRISM) or real-time information management solutions such as Historian Client, Dream Report, SmartGlance, OnLine InSight or Wonderware Intelligence stand out. The latter focused on standardizing and homogenizing data extraction, loading, transformation, contextualization and analysis processes. The approach of this solution is based on the traditional concept of Business Intelligence (BI).

Finally, in layer 6 of Application and Integration, solutions such as Wonderware Enterprise Integrator or Skelta BPM help create a “single system” facilitating integration between transactional systems and real-time systems (vertical integration) and horizontal integration between the real-time systems themselves.

In parallel, solutions such as Line Performance Suite or GISize! are presented as specific applications of Wonderware Spain.

Line Performance Suite facilitates the real-time analysis and management of the productivity of industrial environments (factory, area, line, machines, systems, etc.). Wonderware has relied on “standard” indicators (KPI) to measure the productivity of production environments: OEE, MTBF and MTTR.

For its part, GISize! offers the end user better georeferenced information and more agile navigation through the visualization environments provided by Wonderware in infrastructure management.

The digital transformation of industrial environments requires Software solutions that help to carry them out, minimizing the risks inherent in this type of program. In this sense, the solid technological strategy on which Wonderware is built generates competitive advantages that position us in the market in a privileged way.

For all of the above, Wonderware Spain is the perfect travel companion for all those companies that are committed to digital transformation as a positioning strategy to improve their competitiveness, do not hesitate to contact us to delve into how we can help you.