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by Stephanie Neil, MA Editorial Staff   | Abstract: | Standards-based control architectures are pushing open the factory doors and driving manufacturing data out into the mainstream of enterprise activity. |
Darren Allison is a pioneer in his profession. He has ventured into new territory and discovered a whole new world. He's not a scientist, an engineer, or an astronaut. He's an IT manager at Martinrea International Inc., and he's in charge of the shop floor. As the person in charge of both enterprise and automation — two very different corporate realms — Allison wants one thing from the systems under his supervision: "We are looking for a generic language that crosses the boundaries between IT and the factory floor." Allison may soon get his wish. Over the past few years, automation vendors have rebuilt their control architectures around some of the same de facto standards that exist in the enterprise: Cisco Ethernet switches, Intel processors, and Microsoft .NET Web services, to name a few. [Click to continue] |