Simatic IT - Industrial Automation and Control - Siemens  |   11/23/2008 6:09 PM  
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New SIEMENS software provides more scalability and transparency

SIMATIC IT version 6.1 - Overview

Siemens Automation and Drives has released a new version (6.1) of its manufacturing execution systems (MES) software Simatic IT.This new version offers complete fulfilment of ISA-95 requirements, the international standard for manufacturing operations, from three new software components. Client Application Builder (CAB) is a Web-based MES client development environment. Data Integration Services (DIS) is an XML-based tool to integrate control and production systems with enterprise transactional systems, such as SAP. Product Definition Manager (PDefM) is an engineering environment for translating specifications into manufacturing actions.In addition, Simatic IT version 6.1 comes with a new sales approach, referred to as Simatic IT Bundles. The new Siemens offer address customers’ needs for scalability and transparency, allowing customers to ‘start, learn and grow’, beginning with so-called entry point bundles up to bundles with a high level of functionality.

SIMATIC IT version 6.1 further improves the overall reliability of SIMATIC IT

SIMATIC IT 6.1 offers complete fulfillment of ISA-95 requirements, the international standard for manufacturing operations. This is obtained with the following new software components:
  • Product Definition Manager (PDefM) is an engineering environment for translating product specifications into manufacturing actions.
  • Data Integration Services (DIS) is an XML-based tool to integrate control and production systems with enterprise transactional systems, i.e. SAP.
PDefM is the component that enables to engineer the entire MES application. In fact PDefM enables the definition of all the products that have to be produced, in terms of needed operations and the associated equipments, parameters, BOM, quantities and all the required properties. Several of these properties are also shared by the ERP System that is not considering the same level of granularity required by an MES application. For this reason information contained in the ERP system for product definition has to beenriched for becoming useful at MES level, as well as reports developed by MES have to be properly filtered before feeding back the ERP. PDefM can therefore be considered as the “bridge_ between a corporate PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) system and the MES world.Another improvement with version 6.1 is aiming to fulfil ISA-95 model, for what concerns interfaces. In fact with version 6.1, SIMATIC IT is implementing a new set of connectors dedicated to integrate the business level. In SIMATIC IT the communication to business applications, in particular to ERP system is handled by the SIMATIC IT Data Integration Service component that is managing all the communications at the transactional level, through XML messages. The new connectors are developed to increase the interfaces to different types of applications.This strategy is proving not only Siemens’ deep involvement over the years, but also the clear focus provided to customers with a product proposition that can solve the problems commonly found during daily operations, and helping them to win their business challenges.

SIMATIC IT version 6.1 further improves the overall reliability of SIMATIC IT

An MES application has a level of complexity that is somewhat higher than normal control applications.To prevent this, SIMATIC IT Version 6.1 supports transactions. Transactions provide a way to bundle a set of operations into an atomic execution unit. A transaction is an ensemble of actions and in particular of database records updates that may involve databases residing on different PCs. With transaction management these updates are executed but not copied into the database. When the entire rule is properly ended, the Production Modeller commands the physical copy of the transaction in the database, all at once. On the contrary, if for some reason the rule cannot be completed, the Production Modeller discards the transaction, leaving the database unchanged. In this way the consistence of the database is guaranteed and there will be no partial updates, virtually impossible to recover.To further improve the overall reliability of SIMATIC IT, the concept of recovery is applied to this version. If during the execution the Production Modeller stops, for example for a crash of the operating system, when it restarts it is now possible to realign it to the last status before the stop. In other words it is possible to recover the Production Modeller execution and restart the production from where it was suspended.Starting from version 6.1 SIMATIC IT also benefits from performance improvements since Production Modeller can be distributed on several machines along the network. Multiple instances can coexist on the network, sharing activities and resources to achieve the manufacturing targets. Rules from one PC can call rules on other PCs thus balancing the execution of the application.

With SIMATIC IT version 6.1 the Manufacturing Intelligence concept becomes true

The standard capability of SIMATIC IT to manage Key Performance Indicators has been enhanced in version 6.1 with the possibility of defining limits that specify when the KPI is on-plan, or that specify target values (industry benchmarks, corporate targets, etc.). In the case some of these comparisons generate a violation, PPA can react and feedback an event to the Production Modeller in order to take immediate and corrective actions. It is now possible – for the Production Modeller – to receive specific events related toeach KPI and with this contextualized information Production Modeller can then take actions aimed to minimize the effect of this deviation.An important step for fulfilling Performance Intelligence is related to Asset Performance Management. This is achieved with the introduction of the new OEE-DTM product option. SIMATIC IT OEE-DTM (Overall Equipment Effectiveness and Down Time Management) provides dedicated functions to enable a real and consistent efficiency analysis. Also in this case the integration with the entire SIMATIC IT environment enables active and consistent corrective actions to react to efficiency decreases, thus dramatically improving economic return on assets. It also provides the calculation of several predefined KPIs to benchmark performances and inefficiencies and enables the definition of custom KPIs calculations.

Totally Integrated Automation: the consolidated platform for control and execution level

One of the peculiarities of this new version 6.1 is the big improvement in integrating SIMATIC IT into the TIA (Totally Integrated Automation), the Siemens’ global proposition for control systems (hardware and software) from sensors and field networks, to control, DCS and HMI systems.Important SIMATIC IT 6.1 improvements, towards TIA integration, are
  • the adoption of SIMATIC Logon, an integrated User Management function of TIA,
  • the adoption of SIMATIC Licensing, which enables standardization of software licenses management throughout the entire TIA architecture
  • the support of language defined with a multi-byte structure (now SIMATIC IT can support applications developed with Far Eastern languages, such as Chinese).
According to this description, it is becoming clear the huge effort that Siemens is putting in developing its MES offering. This offering, provided by SIMATIC IT, has been put by Siemens at a very high priority, and in fact it is included in the entire and consolidated architecture for software for Process Control, that is TIA. This happened in a seamless way, as this evolution is naturally described into ISA-95, the reference standard for MES. Siemens’ strategy is very much focused in this direction, as the evolution of SIMATIC IT is oriented to keep the specification described in the normative as a clear target. This strategy is proving not only the deep involvement of Siemens since years, but also the clear focus it has to provide to its customers a product proposition that can solve the problems they find during daily operations helping them in winning their business challenges.

More information

Additional information can be found on the Internet: http://www.simatic-it.com

Contact:
david.berridge@siemens.com, manoj.gupta@siemens.com
or srbo.balta@siemens.com
Siemens AG 2008