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Www liveview com6/26/2023 We could write our own drivers with complete control but at an internal cost. “We could purchase OPC drivers and pay high recurring software costs. We essentially had three choices,” Giles explained. And because CimQuest doesn’t require each copy of its INGEAR software to be individually licensed, as OPC software vendors do, the INGEAR decision has saved thousands of dollars in licensing fees. According to Giles, the INGEAR drivers gives LineView the flexibility to interface with multiple PLCs without requiring additional OPC server software. The INGEAR drivers they are using include the drivers for Siemens S7 PLCs, the Allen Bradley suite, and Modbus PLC communication. This was a big step for LineView, as the INGEAR drivers are the only third-party software used anywhere in the product. The downside, however, is that developing drivers for even just the most popular PLCs on the market would have taken longer and cost more than purchasing them from a third party.Īfter a thorough evaluation, LineView opted to leverage CimQuest INGEAR driver software embedding it into iView. For example, according to Andrew Giles, Operations Director for LineView Solutions, one advantage of developing their own drivers is that the company would have had total control over the software. They could either develop the drivers for communicating with production-line PLCs themselves, or they could purchase third-party software.īoth approaches had advantages and disadvantages. As a result, new drivers were needed, and company engineers had to make a crucial decision. This new version of the LineView platform would, however, use the iView data collector to communicate with the PLCs. Production-line PLCs interfaced to this server via a PLC that acted as a data collector. Earlier versions of LineView were built on a third-party historian platform that required powerful server hardware to run. When LineView Solutions first began designing LineView Version 5, the company had some decisions to make. INGEAR drivers connect to Allen Bradley, Siemens, Modbus Because the system is Ethernet-based, users can also use a secure VPN/ADSL link for remote access and support. The iView connects to the FactoryView data server via Ethernet, which in turn, connects to a wide range of control and display devices, including mobile devices, big-screen LCD displays, LED displays for the factory, and industrial PCs on the factory floor. iView collects data from a single production line, and multiple iViews can be used to support more than one production line. Each iView contains an embedded PC with the INGEAR drivers and gathers data from a production line's PLCs and remote I/O. The key to this architecture is the iView data collector, which provides the interface between the LineView system and the production line. ![]() For LineView V5, LineView Solutions redesigned the system, moving to a distributed, Web-based architecture. A block diagram of the LineView system is shown in Figure 1.įigure 1. As a result, LineView helps manufacturers reduce manufacturing costs in high speed, high volume production environments which require reliability and stability to operate successfully.Ī LineView system is designed to work with a customer's production line, monitoring its operation, while at the same time allowing it to function at full speed. The web-based system automatically captures PLC fault codes, andprovides instant overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and Six Loss analysis. The LineView software ensures that all productivity loss is correctly allocated, meaning customers can be sure that their improvement efforts deliver the expected results. Yet company developers pointed to reliability and economics when explaining the choice.Ī LineView system monitors a customer's entire production line in real-time and provides performance data that drives continuous efficiency improvements. In some respects, incorporating outsourcing driver code to a third-party company is an unusual decision for a software development company to make, rather than writing it themselves. To make this connection, they chose CimQuest INGEAR PLC drivers. It recently upgraded its flagship product, simply called LineView, and in doing so, needed a software solution to connect its system to the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) found on the factory floor. Typical LineView Solutions customers are blue-chip companies in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business, such as Coca-Cola Enterprises, Ltd. ![]() LineView Solutions is a leading European provider of intelligent OEE monitoring solutions to the bottling and packaging industry. To make this connection, they chose CimQuest INGEAR PLC drivers.īy Chuck Karwoski, President, CimQuest INGEAR ![]() LineView needed a software solution to connect its system to the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) found on the factory floor.
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