We have put together these additional online resources on the integration of management systems at the plant level.
Articles
Clearing the Integration Hurdles
Control system/ERP integration is more profitable and technically easier than ever, but non-technical challenges remain.
Integration Operations to Enterprise
Who’s the best choice to help you get the job done?
Plant to enterprise – Putting the pieces together
While improved technology has narrowed the gap, the pressure now is on to complete the plant-floor-to-top-floor link. But the path is a twisty one dogged by complex technical and cultural issues.
The Whys and Hows of Enterprise Integration
CONTROL's Senior Tech Editor Rich Merritt reports on enterprise integration, who's doing it, how well it is going, and how information is provided from the process control system to enterpise-level software.
Can Integration Keep Your Processing Plant Safe?
Contributing Editor Wayne Labs reports that the best way to reduce the risks of dealing with dangerous chemicals and equipment that can fail in manufacturing is to integrate safety and process systems from the start.
Energizing the Enterprise
Asset management will put the zip back in your plants! CONTROL Editor in Chief Walt Boyes reports on the industry’s stampede toward asset management systems for productivity improvement.
Integrating Alarm Management to Boost Plant Production
This article outlines five practical steps you can take to reduce nuisance alarms and improve alarm quality for control room operators. This includes the ability to identify deviation from normal operating ranges as the process or equipment approaches equipment design thresholds, unsafe, or undesirable operating conditions.
Will your New Control System Fail?
Find out what to do to keep your new control system from failing. A veteran control system integrator tells you what you need to know.
The Whys and Hows of Enterprise Integration
CONTROL's Senior Tech Editor Rich Merritt reports on enterprise integration, who's doing it, how well it is going, and how information is provided from the process control system to enterpise-level software.
White Papers
Implementing a Manufacturing Execution System
This paper describes how the Chevron Chemical Oak Point plant used production and batch management software and the S88 methodology to implement a manufacturing execution system (MES) to manage the full life-cycle of production work orders.
Podcasts
What causes so many plant-to-enterprise integration projects to fail?
CONTROL Managing Editor Nancy Bartels tackles relationship issues inherent in plant-to-enterprise integration projects and says it's not the complex, knotty, technical problems, but rather the “squishy” skills that can make or break your project.
Resource Center
Software & Integration Resource Center
Blog
Freaky Fast-- Emerson gets first Syncade project
Emerson announces that Bristol-Myers Squibb will be, if not their first Syncade customer, at least their first public one.
Hitchhicking Through Manufacturing
Participate in Charlie Gifford's blog on integrating the plant floor and the enterpise.
Lear more about this blog by reading
Time for Plant and Corporate IT to Grow Up
Both The Plant and Business Sides of the Enterprise Must Grow Up and Work Together, Because the Role of the 21st-Century Plant Has Changed.
Industry News
Cisco and Rockwell Automation to Integrate Manufacturing and IT
Rockwell Automation and Cisco announced at the Hannover Messe last month that they are working together to optimize network integration across the factory floor and throughout the enterprise, using standard Ethernet technology.
