Page 314 - Sensors and Control Systems in Manufacturing

The Role of Sensors and Contr ol Technology in CIM
services for production planning, engineering, and plant operations. 271
CIM with sensory technology must help protect this investment by
permitting the integration of existing systems, applications, and data.

5.8.6.4 Heterogeneous Systems
In today’s heterogeneous environment, data are located on different
systems and in different formats. Applications have different needs,
which are answered by processors, communications, and displays
utilizing different technologies and architectures.
In an enterprise model, production planning may automate its
operations on a single mainframe using an interactive database. Engi-
neering may store drawings in an engineering database, then design
and analyze products on a network of graphics workstations. Plant
operations and sensors and control systems may be automated with
personal computers and specialized machine controllers connected
by both standard and proprietary networks. The data needed to oper-
ate the enterprise are scattered across all these diverse systems.
The heterogeneous environment is also characterized by an
installed system base provided by multiple computer system suppli-
ers, software vendors, and systems integrators. A CIM architecture
must allow the integration of these varied system solutions and oper-
ating platforms.

5.8.6.5 Industry Standards and Open Interfaces
As integration technologies mature, there will be the need to support
an expanding set of industry standards. Today, these standards
include communication protocols such as MAP, token ring, and
Ethernet; data exchange formats like initial graphics exchange specifi-
cations (IGES) for engineering drawings; data access methods such
as SQL; and programming interfaces like programmer’s hierarchical
interactive graphics standard (PHIGS). A CIM architecture must be
able to accommodate these and other evolving standards. One
framework for accomplishing this has already been established, the
open systems architecture for CIM (CIM-OSA). CIM-OSA is being
defined in the Esprit program by a consortium of European manu-
facturers, universities, and information system suppliers, including
IBM. Data exchange formats are also being extended to accommo-
date product definition in the product definition exchange specification
(PDES). In addition, a CIM architecture must be able to support well-
established solutions, such as IBM’s SNA, which have become de
facto standards.
In this competitive marketplace, manufacturers must also be able
to extend operations as needed and support these new technologies
and standards as they become available. These needs may include
adding storage to mainframe systems, replacing engineering work-
stations, installing new machine tools, upgrading operating systems,