If the shoe doesn't fit, design a different shoe. That's essentially what a group of manufacturers and vendors is proposing be done for discrete and hybrid manufacturers that want to bring wireless networking technology into their plants.
The ill-fitting shoe in this case is the proposed ISA100.11a wireless standard. Although that standard initiative has gained a significant following and helped inspire growing interest in industrial wireless networking applications, ISA100.11a was developed for process manufacturing, not discrete or hybrid manufacturers.
Now a group of industry leaders — including representatives from manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble, Ford, General Motors, and Boeing — is pushing for a version of ISA100.11a specifically for discrete and hybrid manufacturers. Their goal: to save money and improve plant floor data collection by using standard wireless networks rather than complex and expensive wired networks.
The idea for a wireless networking standard for discrete manufacturing that is complementary to ISA100.11a is advancing within the IS automation standards organization. A core group came together after an IS meeting in October 2007 in Houston to gauge industry interest in a wireless standard aimed at factory automation, discrete parts manufacturing, and high-speed machines. Like the proposed ISA100.11a standard, a standard for wireless networks in discrete and hybrid manufacturing environments would be expected to address issues such as the radio frequency that devices use to communicate, security, data transmission speeds, and reliability.