ICONICS, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner of the Year and provider of Web-enabled industrial visualization software for Windows operating systems,has announced the expansion of its HMI/SCADA, Building Automation and Manufacturing Intelligence solutions to include MobileHMI™, a Line of Business Windows Store app for Windows 8.

Users can visualize plant operations from Windows 8 devices with dazzling, fully animated graphics, or respond to alarms and alerts in real time. They can utilize natural multi-touch gestures to swipe through operations and zoom or drill down into areas that need attention most. ICONICS MobileHMI™ allows users to achieve instant, one-touch access to operational conditions of concern or KPIs of interest. The Search charm allows users to explore and identify all available information on topics of interest. With MobileHMI, users are made immediately aware of critical alerts (notifications) that are delivered to mobile devices and displayed on the Start screen via the MobileHMI live tile.

“ICONICS has proven that Windows 8 delivers the responsiveness and robustness needed for critical utility, process and discrete manufacturing applications," said John Richards, senior director of Windows App Marketing for Microsoft Corp. "Plant operators and supervisors no longer need to be tethered to the control room, and corporate executives are now virtually a touch away from real-time operations performance KPIs, independent of their travel schedules."

The ICONICS’ app for Windows 8 fully integrates with and communicates with, ICONICS GENESIS64 HMI/SCADA and Building Automation Servers. This integration enables OPC, OPC-UA, BACnet, SNMP, and Modbus TCP/IP compliance, helping ensure that data from any plant, building, equipment or system is virtually immediately viewable on a Windows 8 device. ICONICS offers a packaged server/app solution that can be plugged on top of almost any plant control network or building automation system network to make it accessible from Windows 8 devices.

Wonderware MES 2012 with Quality increases efficiency, compliance and product safety.

Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries, has released an updated version of its Wonderware® MES software. The newest version expands existing operations and performance management functionality by adding quality management for sample data collection, statistical process control and quality results monitoring, helping to improve operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and product safety.

Wonderware MES Software 2012 with Quality reduces the cost of quality management while improving regulatory and product safety compliance by capturing complete product, equipment and process-related quality data for both automated and manual operations. The software monitors quality data in near real time so plant operators can respond faster to non-conformance conditions, quality trends and deviations, as well as to take corrective actions that minimize variations and bring quality closer to specifications. It complements existing enterprise quality management systems with sample plan execution automation, higher accuracy in shop-floor quality sample data, integrated statistical process control (SPC) and enhanced work order and operational execution context.

“Our Wonderware MES 2012 with Quality software integrates manufacturing operations and quality operations in production and addresses a key challenge in synchronizing production schedules and the required quality procedures,” said Rob McGreevy, vice president of platform and operations software at Invensys Operations Management. “Enhancements to the software reduce distracting and difficult-to-manage operator tasks, as well as secure compliance and product safety in ever-changing environments. Integrating systems, data and processes enables better operations management and increases value within manufacturing. We’ve enhanced our MES software because users demand improved operational efficiency and reduced complexity, which allows them to better manage all their operational activities and improve their overall business performance.”

The new features of Wonderware MES 2012 with Quality software build out the quality management capabilities of the original version. The software now enforces manual and automatic data collection and integrates structured sampling plans, as well as includes rigorous SPC. The updated software also allows sampling plans to be dynamically generated, according to current work-order status for products, equipment and operations. Execution of the sample plans can be done according to system quality specifications, and the samples themselves can be automated, from equipment, control systems or instrumentation. SPC trending and charting are available for near real-time quality monitoring, and include notifications of violations of control and specification limits.

“The new feature-rich operations, performance and now quality-management capabilities can be incrementally deployed,” McGreevy said. “Our Wonderware MES software is configurable, providing reusable and sustainable manufacturing operations management solutions with a low total cost of ownership and high return on investment when deployed as an enterprise standard across multiple lines and plants.”

The iPC-Series and nPC300 from NEMATRON now have Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approvals for Class I Division 2 Hazardous Locations for both the USA and Canada. In addition the testing for FCC and the European CE marks have been completed, therefore the compliance on these units are no longer pending as previously stated in the launch documents and datasheets .

The iPC-Series units are approved for Class I Division 2 Groups A, B, C, & D; Class II Division 2 Groups F & G; and Class III locations when properly installed on a flat surface of a Type 1, 4, 4x, or 12 enclosure with appropriate wiring provisions.

The nPC300 is approved for Class I Division 2 Groups A, B, C, & D locations when properly installed on a flat surface of a Type 1 (or better) enclosure with appropriate wiring provisions. Both types of units have a Temperature Code Rating of T6, which is better than the previous ePC-Series.

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SoftPAC is a software controller that runs on your PC. A completely new product from Opto 22, SoftPAC is expected to be released in Fall 2012. You'll program SoftPAC using PAC Control (part of our PAC Project automation suite), just as you would any of our SNAP PAC hardware controllers.

The PAC Control strategy you develop will run on all of our controller types—PC-based (SoftPAC), standalone (S-series), and rack-mounted (R-series)—so you're not locked into one architecture. Compare all controllers.

PAC Project development software is field-tested worldwide and suited for any size control, monitoring, or data acquisition project.

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