An IT Infrastructure for Automotive Manufacturing?

papa248 asks: "I have moved into a Launch Project Manager position within my company. The business is with automotive component manufacturing in a Just-In-Time scale, located in the heart of the Motor City. My job will be to facilitate the setup of IT systems in a new assembly plant. This would be office systems, customer broadcast (parts are sequenced so they arrive at the OEM to match a particular vehicle's VIN), shop floor systems for robotic control, PLCs for error-proofing, lot traceability, the whole nine yards. The company (large, Fortune 500) has some very specific specifications for office systems (HP hardware, Windows, Office, etc) but leaves lots of opportunity for the actual production systems. I've been burned in the past because my predecessors have used 'turnkey' solutions from some lesser known, local vendors that write such custom, specific code on ridiculous, non standard PCs and hardware. I'm in a jam right now, because I've got tons of NT4 systems with a semi-custom OS and VB 6 code on it that are literally falling apart. What are your suggestions for setting up manufacturing control systems that leave the flexibility to be upgradeable and redesignable without being locked in to one particular vendor or solution?"

Comments

Call your local Rockwell dealer

[DorianGre]

Seriously, real time control systems on PLC's are going to be over your head. This part is not an IT solution, but an engineering solution. Call your local Rockwell dealer, and get an automation consultant in.

Re:Call your local Rockwell dealer

[topham]

I would like to second this.

PLCs are often used with machinery that can kill workers if it malfunctions.

While the submitter has every right to want the systems to be 'standard' PCs, The controller cards for talking to the PLCs are probably the only unique thing in the box. The controllers are expensive for a reason.

Re:Call your local Rockwell dealer

[Modeftron]

I disagree, the code that covers the "kill workers" protection usually resides in the controllers logic, the poster isn't suggesting (at least that's the way I read it) changing the machine logic but making changes to the human-machine interface or adding an OPC server to gather SCADA information. The controllers are expensive because the OEM's are gluttonous bastards most PLCs or PACs are run by very simple hardware for instance correct me if I'm wrong but the GE Fanuc 90-70 series plc only has two cpu's a general multi-processor (386) and a boolean co-processor (Motorola) with a flash area for OS storage. Now I'm not knocking the good ole 386 chipsets but I think its a misconception to think of these "industrial computers" as anything but what they are: very simple and robust devices, but the cost of the units far exceed their component parts and engineering costs. I spoke with an AB rep not long ago and he mentioned that the profit margin on PLCs are close to 800%