The ever increasing demands on today's manufacturers to enable Lean manufacturing, JIT (Just in Time) delivery and reduced WIP (Work in Progress) inventories require more effective solutions for supporting automation and information technologies.

HMI/SCADA software applications have come a long way since their inception in the 1980s as a means of automating and regulating simple plant floor processes.

The ISA95/MESA Best Practices Working Group explains how to apply, migrate to and maintain a single data definition across "Level 3" functions and interfaces.

For many years, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) have provided OEMs and end users with a highly reliable method of control. However, engineers working with PLCs must plan for generational upgrades to achieve greater functionality and improve their control system's ability to communicate beyond the plant floor.

FDDI (Fibre Distributed Data Interface) technology was developed in the 1980s by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X3T9.5 standards committee to address three primary issues that were facing networking at the time: bandwidth, resilience and latency.

It’s been almost 10 years since 21 CFR Part 11 appeared on the industry stage, and again the pharmaceutical community is buzzing with activity regarding recent guidance issued by the FDA – this time about Process Analytical Technologies or PAT.

GE adopted a Six Sigma Quality program in 1995. Since that time, every business unit (including GE Fanuc) has used Six Sigma to drive cost savings and improved customer service.

Advances in automation technology have provided alternatives to traditional approaches to managing remote sites — and helped users speed implementation, reduce costs, improve data integrity and significantly ease accessibility.

Generally, plant productivity is considered from a macro overview of the process. But this may not reveal improvements to be had from a micro view of individual plant systems and machines.