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by Stephanie Neil, MA Editorial Staff Posted on Friday, November 03, 2006 3:10:08 PM   | Abstract: | Wireless network technology is now available for the factory floor, offering many benefits, yet acceptance has been slow. The linchpin is finding a killer app, which Ford and some others have done. |
Now that the benefits of e-manufacturing are more clear, it's time to buy and deploy those Web-enabled, standards-based devices that are going to fit the factory into the new lean and mean way of doing business. Can't you just see it? Information will be aggregated and everything will be integrated from the plant out to the supply chain, enabling quick response times and real-time inventory management. But before you start spending that big bonus check you expect to get for creating this e-manufacturing utopia, consider that extending the plant into the enterprise includes building out the company's network infrastructure to where it may not have been before. That means mapping the area and hiring union laborers to run Category 5 Ethernet cables throughout the plant. It's a task that's time consuming and expensive. And, let's face it, cabling can't always stand up to harsh factory environments, or it may not be practical to run wires to areas obstructed by walls or machinery. Then there is the headache of extending the network to detached warehouses, or even to outside yards where inventory may reside. Or maybe there is a need to communicate with a PLC that's mounted on a moving crane. How are you going to network that? With those obstacles factored into the e-manufacturing equation, it's time to rethink the network topology. Ethernet, yes. Wires, no. Instead, add a secure radio-frequency network and wireless control devices into the facilities. It's an alternative that most manufacturers have avoided in the past because it was a proprietary, pricey, and unreliable option. But that's changed. Due to emerging industry standards such as the IEEE 802.11b wireless Ethernet LAN and Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) interoperability specifications, suppliers such as Cisco Systems Inc. (San Jose, CA), Nortel Networks Corp. (Brampton, Ontario), and 3COM Corp. (Santa Clara, CA) are rolling out enough products that the price of a wireless network interface card (NIC) has fallen from about $500 to under $200. [Click to continue] |