Optimizing the Value Chain in a New World:
It All Begins with Manufacturing

According to Gartner's Research Note entitled Business Activity Monitoring: The Promise and Reality, published 11 July 2001, "By 2004, in enterprises where faster reaction is key to operational effectiveness, business activity monitoring will be one of the top four initiatives driving IT investment and strategy (0.8 probability)."

At the automation layer, companies want to achieve manufacturing effectiveness, improve time to market, and lower their total cost of ownership. Business activity monitoring (BAM), which allows collaboration between the shop floor and top floor by the simultaneous viewing of product, processes, and facilities, is key to achieving these goals.

But wanting and doing are two different things. Because of the lack of capital funding, and collaborative hardware and software products that make it worth the investment, for most manufacturers, business activity monitoring has remained a wish, not a reality.

FactoryTalk™ achieves the benefits of an open e-manufacturing software platform through key components: FactoryTalk™ Directory FactoryTalk™ Data Model FactoryTalk™ Live Data FactoryTalk™ Audit FactoryTalk™ Portal Source: Rockwell Automation

"Collaborative commerce is a reality," says Don Lazzari, marketing director, Rockwell Software. "While some companies recognize this and are moving in that direction, it's also a reality that most are not in a position to collaborate internally, much less externally."

Nonetheless, companies see the value in collaborative commerce and, despite its initial costs, are moving toward it because the payoffs are great. The key to successful collaborative commerce is BAM, and the place to start is from the inside out.

As stated in the above note, according to Gartner, "Although BAM depends heavily on advanced infrastructures, technology is just the required pipeline to move business-level information to the decision-makers." The practice of BAM is not expected to be widespread until 2004, but for businesses that recognize the cost efficiencies of collaborative commerce now, Rockwell Automation is offering FactoryTalk™, a strategic initiative of Rockwell Software that enables companies to collaborate internally using a common framework and data flow.

Says Lazzari, "FactoryTalk acknowledges that now and in the next few years, businesses will have to pursue collaborative production management strategies in order to be more effective and profitable. By making them better internal collaborators, FactoryTalk will enable greater effectiveness and profitability."

Through its FactoryTalk initiative, Rockwell Software brings several technologies together to provide the common framework and data flow needed for BAM, delivering the right information to the right place at the right time in the right form throughout a customer's manufacturing system – anywhere, anytime. Using a combination of widely accepted international standards and next-generation vision to classify process data, FactoryTalk effectively enables the sharing of shop floor data with ERP and SCM enterprise systems.

FactoryTalk™ Benefits: Increased manufacturing efficiencies and optimization Enhanced production scheduling capabilities, performance analysis tools, and data historian and data collection functions Source: Rockwell Automation

To understand initiatives like FactoryTalk, it is also necessary to understand the value of an open e-manufacturing software platform – the common language that enables manufacturing applications to integrate seamlessly across the enterprise and allows access to information from third-party OPC servers. In an open e-manufacturing software platform, "directory" and "data model" technologies enable programs and applications to interoperate and share data effectively, regardless of where they're from.

The ultimate benefit that both the directory and data model, as well as other components of an open e-manufacturing software platform provide is access to relevant information needed to make informed decisions at the enterprise level. The end result is providing the enterprise with the right information at the right time to make better decisions, resulting in greater productivity and increased RONA.

Compare this to companies that write different programs designed to share information – information that has to be re-entered into different applications, usually resulting in large, hard-to-handle spreadsheets. With FactoryTalk, regardless of which products in the Rockwell Automation software portfolio are applied, they all share a common language, which is used to describe processes and store data. This results in the free sharing of information, openness, and greater and faster access to knowledge about what's happening on the plant floor.

Although FactoryTalk's focus is on internal collaboration, it paves the way for greater collaboration with the value chain too. Says Lazzari: "It allows you to take information from the automation layer, pull it up to manufacturing, gather key manufacturing information, and then push it up to the enterprise system. After that, the information can be supplied in a format that supply chain systems can also take advantage of."

For many companies, one hindrance in considering collaborative commerce options has been cost. Tim Scanlon, director, product strategy, Rockwell Software, says: "Today, the cost to integrate a system is great. Through FactoryTalk, however, productivity and time to market are improved because the system is up and running faster. Because of the high degree of data integration, fewer resources are needed to get the production line up and running. Because of these factors, ultimately, collaboration is going to be less expensive because return on net assets will be higher."

To provide interoperability, an open e-manufacturing software platform needs certain technologies in place: "Directory," which allows organization and browsing of application data and services for any manufacturing operation. Tags between applications do not have to be reproduced, saving time and money during development and start-up phases. "Data model," which commonly defines data so that it can be re-used among all applications across the enterprise. As a result, collaboration is easier and fewer resources are needed to manage data among those applications. Source: Rockwell Automation Up    Down

FactoryTalk provides a common namespace for factory automation products, whether they're Rockwell Automation products – such as RSLinx™, RSLogix™ and RSView™ – or other applications. FactoryTalk can also be specified by the user to represent any topology in a manufacturing facility, allowing users to browse tags, and plug and play new automation hardware. Further, it allows the efficient transfer of high-speed manufacturing data between processes in the system, promoting reliability and scalability. Its audit feature also allows users to track all changes to a system.

FactoryTalk™ provides the common framework and data flow needed for BAM through products that: Design integrated plant floor architecture Operate and integrate manufacturing data with enterprise-level systems Maintain systems through asset management, i.e., predictive maintenance and change management Source: Rockwell Automation

FactoryTalk's common namespace allows data to be entered only once, and used over and over by several different people. "Because we use a common data model and a common directory," says Scanlon, "we're actually able to reuse that data, as opposed to re-entering it every time." Cost savings are realized by virtually eliminating manual data entry, and the potential for human error that comes with it.

In the future, FactoryTalk will make information available in XML format so it can be shared with XML-based supply chain management programs. Through SAP-certified gateways, the system will also have direct connections to popular ERP packages.

FactoryTalk™ Features: Information transparency, connectivity to supply chain and customers Enhanced reporting: XML language allows easy data integration and sharing Easy navigation thanks to access via common browser and Web server Source: Rockwell Automation

Says Scanlon: "Throughout the design operation and maintenance of a manufacturing process, there are many user profiles involved with getting a product on line and producing it. Traditionally it was difficult for these different user profiles to collaborate, because they're using software and other tools that are unique to their domain. FactoryTalk changes all that, to the benefit of efficiency and optimization."

The availability of real time information is beginning to provide a tremendous advantage to businesses both competitively and on the profitability side. Systems like FactoryTalk will enable customers in a corporate location to get insight into what's happening in their plants by making that information readily available – and helping them better communicate with their suppliers and customers.

Says Lazzari: "Tighter collaboration with suppliers and supply chain partners is going to be something businesses will have to do to in order to compete effectively. And in order to do so, they will need to integrate their information internally, and across their entire company. FactoryTalk enables them to do that."

Source: Rockwell Automation

For more information on Rockwell Automation, Global Manufacturing Solutions, Rockwell Software and FactoryTalk, visit: www.rockwellautomation.com www.software.rockwell.com www.rockwellautomation.com/solutions Tell us what you think – send an email to Lynn Behlendorf, Managing Editor, RAGMSnewsletter@ra.rockwell.com If you'd like to receive the newsletter via email, go to www.rockwellautomation.com/solutions/subscribe Source: Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation has long been recognized as a global leader in factory automation. To extend the value we deliver to our customers, we've established the Global Manufacturing Solutions group. This division is dedicated to providing solutions focused on manufacturing excellence – from the factory automation level throughout the entire enterprise. Our goal is to give our customers the ability to aggressively pursue a competitive advantage against increasing earnings pressure, while maximizing returns on internal investments.

RSView, RSLinx, RSLinx Gateway, RSLogix, RSSql, and RSBizware are trademarks of Rockwell Software Inc. PLC, PLC-2, PLC-3, PLC-5, PLC-5/250, SLC-500, and ControlLogix are trademarks of the Allen-Bradley Company. Arena, RS Scheduler, FactoryTalk, and Global Manufacturing Solutions are trademarks of Rockwell Automation. SAP is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel, and Xerox Corporation. ControlNet is a trademark of ControlNet International. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.

Source: Rockwell Automation

Back to Top

Global Manufacturing Solutions Webletter is published by Rockwell Automation. Additional editorial material supplied by Gartner, Inc. © 2002. Editorial supplied by Rockwell Automation is independent of Gartner analysis and in no way should this information be construed as a Gartner endorsement of Rockwell Automation's products and services. Entire contents © 2002 by Gartner, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.