HMI/Scada system satisfies BMW's global demands

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 6, 2006

After an intensive evaluation of all leading HMI/Scada systems, the BMW Group has decided in favour of worldwide implementation of zenOn.

The BMW Group has chosen to use zenOn software solutions for its plants worldwide, with immediate effect.

The reason for this long-term decision - zenOn has already proven its value in daily use and BMW are confident it could increase efficiency and productivity considerably across their plants.

After an intensive evaluation of all leading HMI/Scada systems, the BMW Group decided in favour of worldwide implementation of zenOn.

The visualisation solution of Copa-Data has already successfully operated the surface technique across the BMW Group for 5 years, with more than 1500 installations.

"This is another milestone in our successful business development".

"This long-term partnership reaffirms the trust earned by the European software house Copa-Data", Jurgen Schrodel, Managing Director of Copa-Data from Ottobrunn explains.

With the decision to use zenOn company-wide, BMW has entered a strategic partnership with Copa-Data.

For car production, the automotive specialist chose the contractor who could offer the most standardisation, and thus create the greatest possible internal synergy between operations.

Furthermore, the automotive manufacturer requires a universal solution from the plant pictures to the alarm management.

This universality not only increases quality, but also the overall productivity of their equipment.

As zenOn 6.20 can be used on all Windows operating system and platforms, from Windows CE up to Windows Server 2003, a transparent flow of information throughout the company network can fully be guaranteed.

Supervisory control to operator terminal transparency offered by zenOn makes it possible for the production team members to come to the right decisions at any time irrespective of their location.

Besides Copa-Data's automation expertise, soft skills have also proved important for the BMW Group: "With more than 50,000 installations we could prove our reliability as well as our technical competence".

"We will continue in this way in order to realise our long-term goal of expansion", adds Schrodel.

For the operation of machinery, plant and handling equipment, BMW specifies a B and R Windows CE platform.

The various process visualisation options and important production data are particularly powerful here.

Local operator terminals can be defined as network projects with a single mouse click, the high-capacity client/server architecture forming the basis for plant-wide use.

zenOn's highly regarded seamless redundancy guarantees the highest possible availability.

Integrated sequence chain diagnostics provides the control status of a production sequence at a glance.

In the case of a malfunction, zenOn also displays the graphical link status beside the predefined message text.

Implemented heuristics ensure the user is automatically informed about the most probable reason, simplifying maintenance and improving equipment productivity considerably.

The alarm management with escalation methodology implemented in zenOn is considered as leading the HMI/Scada systems market.

zenOn analyses all incoming equipment malfunction messages in a centralised equipment monitoring platform and displays it according to the individual users' requirments.

For example, effectiveness and efficiency of equipment is implemented graphically using a Pareto chart.

Optionally, the alarms can be stored in an ODBC compatible database.

All responsible personnel can access the desired data via the company network.

Here, a complete and secure user administration is very important.

The user permissions are administered according to FDA Part 11 rules.

Based on an active directory integration, access to the company-wide Windows network is even possible.

Furthermore, the zenOn software offers many functions to find and manipulate the latent production potential within the same intuitive graphical development environment.

"zenOn is a unique universal tool".

"Copa-Data will deliver more than 7000 licences to the BMW Group and help with knowhow, expertise and commitment".

"The BMW Group stands for 'recognising potential and designing growth'".

"Together we have recognised our potential, and based on a clear strategy we will transform this into joint success", Schrodel concluded.