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[Chris France]

Hi,

I was curious if anyone is capturing data from production machine PLC’s or encoders? If you are, what middleware do you use? Is the data translated into NAV? What kind of MS or NAV licensing is required if any?

I attached a Visio converted to PDF to explain.

Thank you

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Chris France
Colortech, Inc.
Morristown TN
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[David Wiser]

When I worked for Tillamook, they were using a package called Wonderware to handle all the PLC controls and also had interfaces in to NAV to send transactions back and forth.

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Dave Wiser
Controller
Beckwith & Kuffel
Seattle WA
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[Robert Jolliffe]

Wonderware is very popular for collecting and analyzing PLC data.  I’ve seen it used at several places.

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Robert Jolliffe
President
Sabre Limited
Cambridge
robert@sabrelimited.com
http://www.sabrelimited.com
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[Chris France]

Thank you for the information.

Chris

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Chris France
Colortech, Inc.
Morristown TN
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[Franz Kalchmair]

you could have a look at https://www.modusconsult.de/en/industry-solutions/production-industry.html

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Franz Kalchmair
Dynamics NAV Engineer and Consultant
Microsoft MVP
Vienna
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[Jeff Rassie]

Chris,

One NAV ISV company that has done some work in this area as I understand and may lend some help is DynamicMfg Solutions.

Try contacting Mark Hamblin at  mhamblin@dynms.com    or  780.619.8208

They have a very good MES application we’ve implemented and one of its capabilities is this subject.

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Jeff Rassie
Eastern Region CSM
Western Computer
Cleveland OH
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[Chris France]

Thanks

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Chris France
Colortech, Inc.
Morristown TN
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[Peter Lundrigan]

We have been looking at Ignition becuase of the cost. It connects in a similar way as Wonderware. 

Ignition Software Packages and Pricing

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Peter Lundrigan
IT Manager
Joseph Gallo Farms
Atwater CA
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[Meenakshi Singh]

Factory MES is another software that I am looking at, for PLC data collection. Does anybody have any experience with that?

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Meenakshi Singh
Manager of Business Applications
Home Market Foods, Inc.
Norwood MA
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[Chris France]

Great Feedback. Thanks.

Anyone using Wonderware? It looks promising.

Chris

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Chris France
Colortech, Inc.
Morristown TN
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[John Grant]

Chris –

I do not have first hand experience with Wonderware but have had customers using with NAV as well as AX and they have high reviews of the software. The software besides having an interesting name is used worldwide and has been around for a long time.

Good luck with your search and keep us posted as to who you selected and why.

Best Regards

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John Grant
Senior Application Consultant
Innovia Consulting
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[Chris France]

Thank you for your reply.

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Chris France
Colortech, Inc.
Morristown TN
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[Mark Hamblin]

Hi Chris,

You have a few options depending on what you want to do. The standard for ‘middleware’ for PLC/automation data collection is OPC (see http://www.opcfoundation.org), and there are dozens of vendors that can provide clients that connect your PLCs, etc., and provide that data to external applications (such as Wonderware, our tools, etc.).

If your goal is simply to collect info from the PLC for use within NAV or other reporting, all you’d really need is an OPC to SQL client. There are a few on the market (most with demo versions), and let you connect to the PLC and send the data you ask for to a database using queries or simple table configuration. Once it’s in SQL, you can do whatever you like with it from within NAV, SSRS, MES, etc.

We used to be Wonderware partners, and it’s a good system if you need MES, but it’s often on the higher end of the market. So depending on what you need to do, there are likely alternative (and more NAV-oriented) solutions out there.

– Mark

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Mark Hamblin
President
Dynamic Manufacturing Solutions
Edmonton
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