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An enterprise appliance transaction module (EATM) is a device, typically used in the manufacturing automation marketplace, for the transfer of plant floor equipment and product status to
manufacturing execution system
Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are computerized systems used in manufacturing to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. MES provides information that helps manufacturing decision-makers understand how curr ...
s (MES),
enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a sui ...
(ERP) systems and the like.
Solutions that deliver manufacturing floor integration have evolved over time. Initially they took the form of custom integrated systems, designed and delivered by system integrators. These solutions were largely based on separate commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products integrated into a custom system.
Modern EATM products might not needing any software development or custom integration.
computer appliance
A computer appliance is a home appliance with software or firmware that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. Such devices became known as ''appliances'' because of the similarity in role or management to a home ap ...
Device communications software – Support for the automation protocols from which data will be extracted. Device communications software typically operates through polled or change based protocols that are vendor specific. Data to be extracted is typically organized into related items, and transferred based on a machine status such as Cycle Complete, Job Start, System Downtime Event, Operator Change, etc.
Typical protocols; Rockwell Automation CIP, ControlLogix backplane,
EtherNet/IP
EtherNet/IP (IP = Industrial Protocol) is an industrial network protocol that adapts the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) to standard Ethernet. EtherNet/IP is one of the leading industrial protocols in the United States and is widely used in a r ...
, Siemens
Industrial Ethernet
Industrial Ethernet (IE) is the use of Ethernet in an industrial environment with protocols that provide determinism and real-time control. Protocols for industrial Ethernet include EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, POWERLINK, SERCOS III, CC ...
, Modbus TCP. There are hundreds of automation device protocols and EATM solutions are typically targeting certain market segments and will be based on automation vendor relationships.
Enterprise communications software – Software that will enable communications to
enterprise systems
Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, ...
. Communications at this level are typically transaction oriented and require data transactions to be sent and acknowledged to ensure the data integrity. Examples include; Relational Database Adapters, Java Message Services (JMS), Oracle Database Interfaces and proprietary interfaces to specific products.
Transaction application – Software that is configured to watch and collect device variables, formats them into required transactions, and transfer the results securely and reliably to other systems. The transaction application resides between the device communications and enterprise communications.
Overall, a manufacturing environment is portrayed as a three layer manufacturing pyramid. At the base, device control Systems – Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems (SCADA) perform the process automation functions. A layer above that encompasses Plant Execution Systems that deliver the functions of; Asset Management, Genealogy,
statistical process control
Statistical process control (SPC) or statistical quality control (SQC) is the application of statistical methods to monitor and control the quality of a production process. This helps to ensure that the process operates efficiently, producing ...
enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a sui ...
(ERP) systems offer final control over the enterprise and track overall enterprise performance.
It is the job of EATM to act as a bi-directional bridge between field devices and the supervisory control systems. These field devices could be located in a work cell or an assembly or process line. They could be very simple devices, or programmable controllers, machine controls, or PLCs. The upstream business systems could be ANDON and
Kanban
Kanban ( Japanese: カンバン and Chinese: 看板, meaning signboard or billboard) is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing (also called just-in-time manufacturing, abbreviated JIT). Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, devel ...
systems for that line,
manufacturing execution system
Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are computerized systems used in manufacturing to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. MES provides information that helps manufacturing decision-makers understand how curr ...