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by Stephanie Neil, MA Editorial Staff
Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 5:51:08 PM Sign Up to receive Daily News Alerts in your E-mail Inbox    | Abstract: | In creating a new business division, ERP purveyor IQMS aims to outfit manufacturers with better communication between PLCs and enterprise systems. |
| Keywords: | ERP to PLC, ERP interface PLC |
IQMS, a vendor of manufacturing-specific enterprise software, today announced a new division dedicated to creating technology that can unite factory floor machines with ERP through an integrated database, thereby driving lean business operations from the top down.
The Automation Group, led by IQMS Programmer Jason Slater, began as a custom development project for a customer that needed to tie its IQMS ERP system to Rockwell Automation programmable logic controllers (PLCs). In that instance, IQMS configured a PLC handling a pallet wrapper program to communicate directly with the ERP system. The project quickly expanded to allow interfacing to a variety of conveyors, vertical lifts, scanners, palletizers, and other pieces of equipment — all with the goal of gaining better visibility into work in process and inventory on the shop floor.
That project, in turn, drove the ERP provider to create its own division staffed by experts who can visit a manufacturing facility and integrate ERP systems and PLCs. The Automation Group provides this integration on a case-by-case basis, building out its expertise as it goes.
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