Software helps boost production reliability

A GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 26, 2008

With bidirectional communication between production and maintenance systems, companies can improve asset reliability to reduce equipment failure rates and increase uptime.

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms has added Proficy Maintenance Gateway to the Proficy software suite of production management solutions.

The software closes the loop between the plant floor and plant/corporate maintenance systems using real-time production data, events and information to drive maintenance.

With bidirectional communication between production and maintenance systems, companies can improve asset reliability to reduce equipment failure rates and increase uptime.

"Production teams are looking for every advantage they can gain and every loop they can close, strategically moving from reactive to reliable maintenance", said Bernard Cubizolles, Product Manager Software for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms Europe.

"With Proficy Maintenance Gateway, manufacturers can drive maintenance systems with accurate, timely data that significantly extends the value of their existing systems, raises overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and increases return on production assets".

Proficy Maintenance Gateway monitors data points, events, trends and conditions on the plant floor in GE Fanuc's award-winning production management software, Proficy Plant Applications and maps maintenance-related asset information from enterprise asset management systems (EAM).

Tightly integrating these two software systems, Proficy Maintenance Gateway uses the information in equipment to drive real-time optimisation of maintenance systems.

The software's "rules-based configuration engine" allows users to define business logic in an intuitive, drag-and-drop environment, which speeds deployment.

The system then monitors data points on the plant floor, executes the business logic defined by the user and executes the defined "actions" in the EAM system, for example creating a maintenance work order.

"Production teams can leverage Proficy Maintenance Gateway to monitor conditions, trends or events on the plant floor", said Cubizolles.

"The real-time responsiveness allows companies to react to problems more quickly or even to react to issues before they become problems, which can reduce unplanned downtime, improve first pass quality and decrease waste".

The data starts at the deepest level of a company's plant systems architecture - the control layer - where PLCs, DCS, CNCs and other devices provide the raw manufacturing data.

From there, this data can be stored in a central repository for the site and then loaded into the business rules engine of Proficy Maintenance Gateway.

This engine contains rules that can be adapted over time to achieve a state of "reliable maintenance" in the plant environment.

Users can view maintenance-related and performance-related information of each asset in one place.

In its first release, Proficy Maintenance Gateway provides a bidirectional connection between Proficy Plant Applications and Maximo.

Future releases will connect to additional EAM software solutions, including SAP Enterprise Asset Management and Datastream 7i.