ROSEMONT, IL -- Sensicast Systems Inc. availed itself of the National Manufacturing Week (NMW) stage this week to offer attendees a peak at its industrial-strength turnkey wireless mesh networking systems.
Dubbed the Sensicast Wireless Advantage, the system integrates sensors, wireless interfaces, gateways, and nodes bundled with a choice between three applications: temperature monitoring, energy monitoring, or predictive maintenance.
While Sensicast made a big splash at NMW, it was not the only news echoing across the exhibit halls here at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Updated CAD, ERP, commerce software, and warranty management products also made their public debuts.
In addition, the U.S. Commerce Department's Manufacturing Council, chaired by Don Wainwright, used NMW to present new action items to Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, who appeared yesterday as an event speaker. The Manufacturing Council presentation followed NMW keynotes earlier in the week that offered U.S. manufacturers recommendations on ways to deal with rising structural costs, which have conspired to tilt the competitive playing field.
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Key to Sensicast's turnkey mesh networks approach is operator interface and secure monitoring software provided by Citect Corp., under a soon-to-be-announced OEM agreement with the Australian HMI/SCADA vendor. By packaging its applications with hardware and a communication protocol, Sensicast is addressing a key shortcoming that has held back the adoption of mesh networks to date: The lack of killer-apps. While the wireless infrastructure to move data has been available, manufacturers, for the most part, have had to custom-build applications to take advantage of it.
For its part, Sensicast, which has tried to separate itself from the competition by pitching its offering an end-to-end service rather than a component within a wireless infrastructure, has designed Sensicast Wireless Advantage with a clear functional purpose, according to Gary Ambrosino, Sensicast CEO.
The wireless temperature-monitoring application, for instance, which is geared toward process-oriented manufacturers like metals, pharmaceuticals, and food & beverage, offers real-time views into processes, maintaining tight control of temperature for work-in-process and streamlined compliance reporting. The wireless predictive maintenance system, for example, provides real-time data collection on rotating equipment.
The predictive maintenance system, moreover, offers operational status of machinery, and is said to reduce labor costs and increase machine uptime. The wireless energy-monitoring system, which is applicable to any industry, can help manufacturers get a grip on power utilization, take energy conservation measures, or track equipment status to avoid outages.
"These are complete systems designed and integrated for a specific purpose," Ambrosino said in an interview with Managing Automation. "They are easy to install and operate and are reliable." Traditionally, mesh networks have been designed to move data, but there has to be more value-added functionality because, "in the end a human has to do something with this information."
In the energy-management package, Sensicast has partnered with NK Technologies, a maker of current sensors for factory automation which can identify whether a motor is on or a fan is off, for example. Power monitors aren't wireless by nature, but getting data back to another point -- such as a Citect SCADA system -- is where the value of Sensicast's approach becomes clear.
"It's like Sensicast is the central nervous system," said Robin Shaffer, vice president of sales and marketing at NK Technologies, in an interview. "Our device is just one of the sensors. We help with energy and power monitoring."
All three application options for the Sensicast system are currently available, with more offerings to be unveiled this summer, according to Ambrosino.
In other NMW developments:
- Access Commerce, a developer of software to aid the selling process through multiple channels, introduced a software product for spare parts management. The product, part of the company's Chameleon Commerce Suite, enables manufacturers to create a specialized electronic catalog for spare parts and service offerings. Access Commerce has obtained the software on an OEM basis from Docware GmbH, said Access executive vice president Kurt Haller. Chameleon Spare Parts is available now and is priced on a concurrent user basis.
- Epicor Software Corp. said it has expanded a relationship with TIE Holding N.V., a developer of integration software, to include TIE's Business Integration suite of products with Epicor's next-generation Vantage and Vista ERP products.
- Hewlett-Packard Co. introduced what it called a warranty chain management "initiative" for discrete manufacturers that combines technologies from Microsoft, PolyVista, iTAC Software, and 4CS.
HP said the "closed loop solution" identifies product reliability issues and provides parts traceability and warranty management capabilities. Brian Walker, HP's director, Automotive Industries, Worldwide Manufacturing and Distribution Industries, said that there are five proof-of-concept efforts underway in the automotive and heavy equipment industries.
- Actify, Inc., a developer of CAD visualization and digital design communications tools, said that a new version of its SpinFire Professional product would be available in mid-April.
The new version, designated 8.0, includes the ability to interact with Product Manufacturing Information, a new user interface, improved analysis capabilities and an easier exploded assembly creation tool.
The product is designed for the automotive, high technology, aerospace, and industrial automation industries.
- The Manufacturing Council outlined five action items for manufacturers seeking to maintain a competitive edge in a global marketplace. The council presented its ideas to Secretary Gutierrez at a public meeting. The agenda encouraged the government to: innovate workforce development; encourage the U.S. to pursue a free trade agenda and progress on IP protection for U.S. companies; pursue tax reform to decrease the U.S. manufacturing cost burden; ease regulatory costs; and address escalating energy costs.