Platform reduces control system development costs

A Rockwell Automation Global Manufacturing Solutions product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 28, 2003

RSAutomation Desktop is an integrated control system software tool that provides a single platform for designers, technicians and maintenance engineers to build and manage their automation projects.

RSAutomation Desktop is an integrated control system software tool that provides a single platform for designers, technicians and maintenance engineers to build and manage their automation projects.

RSAutomation Desktop is a Windows 2000 server-based application that easily integrates a wide range of Rockwell Software and third party products as well as providing a central repository for design data.

Because logic, HMI, documentation and other data can be created and shared by multiple users working on the project simultaneously, standards are enforced, duplicate data entry is eliminated and tag creation automated.

This dramatically reduces the time and effort required to manage the system design process, enabling OEMs and manufacturers to work together to reduce time to market for new products.

Once stored in RSAutomation Desktop, data can also be reused quickly and easily on future projects, reducing the time required to import existing designs compared with traditional "cut and paste" systems.

"The most cost-intensive stage of any automation project is the design, because the complexities involved in managing project data wastes a lot of time and system errors created during design are often not detected until startup", said John Gooday, RSAutomation Desktop Product Manager.

"RSAutomation Desktop helps reduce design costs by integrating disparate information into a single application for more accurate, efficient project management".

RSAutomation Desktop's centralised data on a single-server platform allows users to access personal views of the design project from any workstation via the Internet or a company intranet.

No matter where users log on, their applications are available, ensuring all the tools they need are ready to hand.

Users can navigate through all project work items - including logic, HMI, network layout, documentation and spreadsheets - and use the software's extensive cross reference and search capabilities to help speed the specification, design and development process.

The program helps designers manage software applications and reduces integration testing time by eliminating tag mismatches and reusing pretested code.

Once the system has been designed, wiring diagrams, I/O list and bills of materials are generated automatically.

RSAutomation Desktop manages access to objects used on a project so only one user can edit them at a time.

The system logs the actions performed by each user and automatically creates a new version so the history of the object can be viewed.

Traditionally, multidisciplinary control system design projects have involved tedious and error-prone copying or importing of data from similar previous projects, difficulties in controlling access to shared data and problems with synchronisation of the design process.

Now, RSAutomation Desktop removes these issues, freeing the team to focus on their primary roles of designing effective control systems.