SCADA Forge
Corso Systems has worked with the Ignition platform from Inductive Automation since 2009. Our earliest Gold certification was obtained in 2012, and we have been a Premier Integrator since 2018.
We have trained not only on own staff on how to become amazing Ignition developers, we have also trained dozens of people from other integration firms who have gone on to become Premier Integrators as well hundreds of people who work for our customers on how to manage and support their Ignition systems themselves.
The SCADA Forge system takes everything we have learned about Ignition over the last 17 years, compiles it in an easy to follow and understand format, and gives you everything you need to take your Ignition skills to any level you wish.
The first section of the course covers the basics of industrial automation opening the door for people new to the field by removing jargon, using real-world examples from daily life to explain industrial automation concepts, and lowers the barrier to entry to this industry as low as possible.
From there we cover everything you need to know about Ignition Development starting with the platform itself, when and why you would want to use certain modules, and the basics of the various components in the Vision and Perspective Modules.
From there we run through the free Ignition Design Challenge showing you a variety of ways to accomplish the prompts in the challenge.
We then move into the Gold Certification Prep course from Inductive Automation’s website giving you everything you need to know to develop at a Gold Certified Level.
Finally we dive deeper into more complex topics in the Ignition world like MQTT, Forms in Perspective, Scalable System Design, advanced security concepts, and integrations with systems manufacturing companies use to run their operations like ERP systems.
To be notified when the course launches and to take advantage of an early bird discount please give us your email below and you will be among the first to know when everything goes live this spring!
We will not spam you, send you any unrelated emails, sell your information, or do anything else other than let you know when the course is live!
Ready to Power Up Your Processes?
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No sales pitch, just a candid conversation.
Facilities and Process Utility Management
Even the most advanced, fully robotic, automated production line is only as good as the utilities and facilities supporting all the equipment. If you don’t have power, water, compressed air, hydraulics, steam, or any other common utilities required by your process, you won’t be able to produce product!
One of the first and most critical tasks we tackle at new automotive facilities is to make sure they have a solid handle on their Facility and Utility Management screens. This involves monitoring all the systems, enabling control where needed, and sending out alarm notifications to staff and operators need to know about them to keep everything running smoothly.
A Facilities Management System will integrate with devices in the switchgear for the building, the electrical circuits, and control panels with alarms and alerts for power quality or power sourcing issues. The system can expand into monitoring/controlling compressed air, cooling water and water treatment systems, air and liquid compressor systems, and even boilers and steam systems where applicable.
Taking advantage of the Mobile and Map-Based SCADA solution detailed below in this post, our Automotive Power Pack allows your team to manage your supporting infrastructure from any location.
With the Ignition SCADA platform, you also get the ability to directly connect with the most common industry protocols for utilities and facility management: DNP3, BACnet, Modbus, and Ethernet/IP. Plus, you can interface these systems with any other process controls and robotics through Ignition directly.
Track and Trace
With the Digital Transformation of the past decade, it’s easier than ever to automate data collection down to literally each individual nut and bolt tightened to a particular tolerance on a chassis. Track and Trace information can include the details about which nuts and bolts are used, when the torque wrench was calibrated, and when the operator was last trained on its operation. You could even add in ambient temperature and humidity readings, noise levels, along with detailed information such as part manufacturer’s lot numbers for every part involved.
All of this information is integrated with your ERP system to a vehicle’s VIN number. In the event of a product recall, this information can be quickly retrieved to find and alert affected customers. Track and Trace allows manufacturers to pinpoint and contact the exact customers affected.
Compared to the old days of clipboards and inspections there is no reason not to take advantage of this technology. It is the right thing to do by your customers and helps you maintain regulatory compliance. It also helps you build trust and support your customers by being able to proactively reach out to them in the event something needs addressed on their vehicle.
Our Automotive Power Pack gets you started with everything you need to begin collecting any and all track and trace data about your production lines along with the reporting tools required to find affected vehicles across your entire production lifecycle.
It’s Time to Track, Trace, Transform!
Book a 15-minute call with Corso Systems sales
No sales pitch, just a candid conversation.
Mobile and Map-Based SCADA
Automotive Manufacturing plants are some of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world. While operators will typically have a hyper-local focus on a single area of the line (or an individual work station), the maintenance staff, higher level production staff, and supervisors need to monitor many places at once.
The Ignition Perspective Module helps solve the problem of needing to be in multiple places at once. Using mobile SCADA screens can speed up decision making—your team can access critical data and alarms right when they need it. Instead of needing to find a computer on the floor, walk back to a control room, or their office, they can access a dashboard on their phone, see the current state of any equipment in the facility and decide what needs to be done on the spot. This same technology can also apply to overall compliance and quality control because your team can enter readings and notes for anything they need to measure right on the spot. No need for pencil and paper to later transfer “to the system” manually back at their desks.
Mobile SCADA also enhances the collaboration opportunities available to your team. Different teams can share real-time data and examine it together on their phones or tablets. Combined with plant floor dashboards and HMI displays, they can get a full picture of the current state of operations along with the context provided by historical data and data analysis tools.
Location tracking on mobile devices can improve safety by tracking the real-time location of your staff members in an emergency.
For large scale facilities, using a Map-Based SCADA screen provides a complete view of your plant with different levels of detail as you zoom into the floor. Dashboards, KPIs and status indicators for every production area, individual line, work cell, and piece of equipment can be added to the screen, giving you access to any level of detail you need. For additional detail, zoom in on a particular area and your view will update accordingly.
Unified Namespace for Overall Data Management
As we’ve covered in our Unified Namespace: The Ultimate Guide, a Unified Namespace (UNS) simplifies the flow of information across an entire enterprise, giving you insight on everything from the shop floor to the top floor.
A Unified Namespace can map out your overall business including customer service, shipping and receiving, warehousing, facilities and utilities, and your entire production operation. You can drill down further in these functional areas, and follow the ISA-95 hierarchy for production lines with the flexibility to model the rest of the business as needed.
Each area sends data to the Unified Namespace from each integrated system so that you can see the entire state of your business as it stands in real time. This approach allows you to standardize your data map for process lines, equipment, and operations, reducing training time to get people up to speed across the plant, and simplifying specifications for new equipment or data points you need to add later.
Building out a Unified Namespace along with advanced reporting and dashboard tools gives you the ability to easily build dynamic systems to examine other areas of the plant without excessive configuration.
The Unified Namespace can also simplify building out a Map-Based SCADA system. By including coordinates in the plant for specific pieces of equipment in the UNS, you can automatically generate all of the KPI and Dashboard instances on the map itself, simplifying deployment of the overall Map interface.
Corso Systems has helped many companies across various industries implement UNS for their organizations and we include this service and the work of mapping everything out as part of our Automotive Power Pack.
Power Up With the Automotive Power Pack!
Book a 15-minute call with Corso Systems sales
No sales pitch, just a candid conversation.
Dynamic Reporting and Dashboards
Dynamic reports and dashboards play a crucial role in optimizing operations and decision-making processes within an automotive manufacturing facility. These tools leverage real-time data visualization and analytics to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the manufacturing process.
The first and most common use for dynamic dashboards is real-time monitoring and performance tracking of the process, including metrics like OEE. This gives your team a real-time view into the health of production, any issues preventing vehicles from moving out the door, and if slowdowns affecting how many vehicles are moving through the line.
Using this information allows you to allocate resources to your process more efficiently, reduce bottlenecks, and ensure you are meeting your production schedules. Combined with a warehouse management system, tracking production in real-time also helps you manage inventory and gives you visibility to your overall supply chain. This can reduce downtime for parts to be delivered to the line, and can alert warehouse staff to bring materials before there’s a production slowdown.
Many manufacturers also use dashboards to track quality control issues and defects. This simplifies re-work and can help estimate when a vehicle will be close to completion.
Your team can easily customize dashboards for their specific needs. Supervisors can build tracking tools for shift standup meetings, managers can track overall production on any given line. You can track the overall health of the business at the C-Suite level by tying into the overall Unified Namespace for the business to correlate data across the company.
Dynamic reports and dashboards provide an invaluable toolset for automotive manufacturing facilities with real-time insights, enhanced decision-making processes, optimized resource utilization, improved quality control, and overall operational excellence. This is why dynamic reports and dashboards are a key component of the Automotive Power Pack.
What is the Automotive Power Pack?
The Automotive Power Pack consists of the Ignition SCADA platform and process automation hardware. If you already have automated equipment with PLCs we can easily integrate with them. Or if you want to take your operation to the next level, we have trusted partners (including US-based controls manufacturer, Opto 22) who can work with us to upgrade your existing equipment with modern controls. We can also program and commission those systems for you too!
What you get with the Automotive Power Pack:
Ignition SCADA System including Corso Systems Automotive Power Pack standardized functionality with:
Operator Interface/HMI screens
Process Historian for continuous data logging
Facilities and Process Utility Management
Track and Traceability Systems
Mobile and Map-Based SCADA Solutions
Unified Namespace for Overall Data Management
Dynamic Reporting and Dashboards
Unlimited screens, data points, and users
A database to store all your logged data and job tracking information
PLC Programming to support automated operation of your equipment using our standardized control libraries
Ongoing support to help you get the most out of your system
Training for your team for managing and utilizing all of your new tools
Get Started Today!
Let’s take your automotive manufacturing process to the next level. Schedule a call with Cody Johnson in sales to learn what our Automotive Power Pack can do for you!
No sales pitch, just a candid conversation.
