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INGEAR Communicating with Allen Bradley Processors is Best for F & A Data Systems
F & A Data Systems, vice president, Jim Feeney recently noted, "F& A Data Systems develops Warehousing and Material Handling Control Solutions. Our primary clients are retailers. We have software that controls everything from small automated packaging lines to large-scale conveyor, sortation and monorail systems. Our software extends to the management of Shipping, Receiving, Packing, Storage and Retrieval, and e-Commerce Fulfillment operations. For some of our clients, everything that happens within their Distribution Center is controlled through our software. Historically we've run on mid-scale UNIX machines like IBM's AIX based P-Series Servers. Within that platform, our software made use of Rockwell's Interchange Software product to provide communication between our server and the material handling systems under our control. The conveyor systems were controlled by Allen Bradley PLC, SLC, ControlLogix, and MicroLogix processors."
Before selecting INGEAR www.ingeardrivers.com, Feeney looked to see how the firm could interface with those processes that would accommodate the smaller systems. Fenney noted, "We wanted to employ embedded communication drivers rather than Rockwell's RSLinx or a similar style of OPC communication service like Kepware. We wished to avoid the overhead of that type of solution and we also wanted more direct control rather than the "black box" approach of RSLinx. Key to our approach in the UNIX systems was Interchange's ability to receive unsolicited messages directly from the PLC. An unsolicited message is sent by the conveyor's processor (say a PLC-5) to us to notify us immediately of an event that needs attention, such as a carton on the conveyor system. Without unsolicited messages, our software would have to periodically poll the conveyor's processor looking for new events. To provide the best possible response time, you'd have to poll very quickly- but that's a network beater. Polling slower is more network polite, but the trade off would be a time lag in sensing the event. Using Unsolicited Messages provides the best response with no network impact."
F&A Data Systems is a small company competing in an industry with some large players. The firm currently uses ABLink and Logix products for communicating with Allen Bradley processors.
The INGEAR.NET software from CimQuest is a set of runtime free class libraries that simplify building, developing, and deploying connected systems for manufacturing applications using Visual Basic or Visual Studio .NET. It uses only three primary classes of .NET code:
- one of which manages the PLC,
- one manages the data that are read from or written to that PLC,
- one manages groupings of methods, properties, and events to optimize read/write operations on a collection.
It includes a direct Ethernet communication channel to the PLCs enabling developers to write HMI interfaces to PLC controls or acquiring data from them. No additional third-party components, drivers, APIs or tools, such as OPC Servers, are required. This simple programming model by CimQuest InGear contributes to faster response times and ease of use and ultimately – profitability.
CimQuest INGEAR
Chuck Karwoski
Toll Free: 1.866.935.7979 | Telephone: 1.610.935.8282
About the Author
Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community. Manufacturing Journalist or Contributing Journalist for many manufacturing magazines and journals. Founder of the Media Consortium and media blitz.
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