In an announcement that marks its official entry into the hybrid control space, automation vendor GE Fanuc next month will introduce an integrated process-oriented system, officials told Managing Automation today.
The new Proficy Process System will blend GE Fanuc's existing multidiscipline controllers, embedded systems, HMI/SCADA, and manufacturing execution systems (MES) products into a tightly integrated system that leverages common tagging and a common database and can operate in both discrete- and process-based roles.
Specifically, the hybrid product includes PACSystems controllers (supporting continuous process, discrete, and motion control capabilities on the same controller); embedded reflective memory for redundant control; both the CIMPLICITY and iFIX HMI/SCADA packages; and Proficy Production Management software, which includes MES, manufacturing intelligence, and quality and compliance capabilities.
To date, these products have been used by process-based manufacturing companies in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and chemical industries, but have been sold as separate components that require integration by the end user or a third-party systems integrator. Over the past year or so, GE Fanuc has modified the firmware, hardware, and software associated with these components so that everything works together seamlessly.
"We've leveraged the existing technology we've had and done some engineering to pull it together as a system," said Craig Thorsland, GE Fanuc's manager of Proficy solutions marketing, in an interview with Managing Automation. The company is also teaming up with systems integrators that have industry and application domain expertise to deliver tailored solutions on top of the Proficy Process System.
The difference for manufacturers is that they no longer have to piece together the various components. For example, new process function blocks in the PACSystems controllers include predefined tags that are automatically mapped to I/O, HMI, and production software — including batch execution applications. In the past, tagging and mapping required manual programming and integration by an engineer. Moreover, each piece of technology had to work with different HMIs and system programs based on the type of control required, be it motion, process, or discrete. GE Fanuc's PACSystems controllers, however, can manage all three types of control. For manufacturers, this means that the same control system can be used in the batch process and the packaging line.
GE Fanuc, which started as a programmable logic controller (PLC) and computer numerical control (CNC) vendor, has long been associated with machine tool and conveyor belt control, for example, as have its core competitors Rockwell Automation and Siemens. The process vendors, including ABB, Emerson, Honeywell, and Invensys, have typically delivered larger-scale systems that control signals for temperature, flow, pressure, and other process variables. Both camps, however, have been vying for the "middlespace" where everything overlaps.
"The end user wants one platform," said Craig Resnick, an analyst with ARC Advisory Group. Historically, "if they need something to do the process loop, the motion, and the control loop, they have needed three systems to program and maintain." GE Fanuc's Proficy Process System provides one HMI, one tag, and one database that together provide multidiscipline control and connect to the production management system, he said.
The move mirrors what Rockwell did with its Logix platform, Resnick said. Some distributed control system vendors, including Emerson and Invensys, have scaled down their offerings to accommodate hybrid applications. But Rockwell was the first to provide process control on a programmable automation controller (PAC) platform, he said.
Now GE Fanuc is following suit. "The technology now exists to do at the control layer what only could be done at the computer layer in the past," said Steve Ryan, GE Fanuc's director of marketing for global process solutions, who joined the company two years ago from Rockwell.
The Proficy Process System will be available by late June or early July, officials said, with pricing scaled by the number of I/Os and the number of seats (consoles). The package includes new system software and upgraded controllers.