FactoryTalk ViewPoint

Following are the main benefits of FactoryTalk ViewPoint:

1. It reduces total cost of ownership. Furthermore, no software needs to be installed and maintained on client device.
2. It extends visualization and real-time decision capabilities to browser-based remote users, together with plant managers, supervisors and mobile workers.
3. It permits System Integrators and OEMs to monitor customer installations from any location.
4. It can easily connect to customer sites, carry out diagnostics, or give remote support without having to actually present at the end-user’s site.
5. It grants immediate and easy access to critical information from the office, home or on the road via the simplicity of a web browser.
6. It supports multiple browsers and client devices for better flexibility.
7. It allows FactoryTalk View projects to be easily web-enabled without requiring application changes. 

RSLogix Emulate Benefits

Major benefits of RSLogix Emulate 5000 include:

• It has the potential to test application code and HMI screens at our desk without using real hardware.
• It reduces equipment failures and related costs resulting from application programming errors.
• It lessens our development and integration time.
• Via RSLogix Emulate 5000, one can get a head start on next project since it eliminates the need to wait for hardware or machine availability for initiating development. 

FactoryTalk VantagePoint Benefits

FactoryTalk Vantage Point grants access to an assortment of data sources, aggregates and analyzes the information into web-based reports leading to greater manufacturing effectiveness and IT agility. FactoryTalk Vantage Point can be of great help in manufacturing operations since in an incredibly short time after installation, it:

1. Overcomes economic challenges by trimming down costs and optimizing production capabilities.
2. Improves sustainability results by preserving energy, diminishing scrap and waste and reinforcing best practices and regulatory compliance.
3. Enhances global competitiveness by combining manufacturing information across all assets and resources, by reducing demand forecast errors and assuring customer commitments and contentment.
4. Augments production agility by curtailing product development and launch cycles, observing production variants, enhancing overall product quality, rising above asset constraints and most significantly, capitalizing on resource utilization. 

FactoryTalk Transaction Manager Advanced Features

FactoryTalk Transaction Manager Version 9.0 is the latest available version which consists of following enhanced features:

• Support for FactoryTalk Audit and FactoryTalk Diagnostics which enable us to log audit and diagnostic/status messages to the FactoryTalk Audit and FactoryTalk Diagnostics subsystem.
• Two new timestamp functions named OPCTimestampof() and MOPCTimestampof() are now supported by the Expression Editor in FactoryTalk Transaction Manager.
• The Expression Editor in the current version also supports both Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and system local formats. The UTC format can be applied to the TransTimestamp(), TimeStampOf(), and OPCTimeStampOf() functions.
• It is now compatible with Windows 2003 Server R2 operating system.
• XML Import/Export Utility is now incorporated within FactoryTalk Transaction Manager which can be used manually to export and import a configuration or programmatically build and import a configuration.
• The enhanced version of FactoryTalk Transaction Manager supports FactoryTalk Activation as well which is a secure, software-based system for activating Rockwell Software products and managing software activation files. Audit messages are generated for proper administration and monitoring of activation usage. 

FactoryTalk Transaction Manager Benefits

FactoryTalk Transaction Manager

FactoryTalk Transaction Manager is a valuable tool designed to assist us better manage our manufacturing processes by integrating the critical data in our shop floor control systems with enterprise IT and other manufacturing applications. It endows us with the ideal platform on which to integrate and build the solutions needed to run our enterprise.

Industrial transaction

To comprehend the power of FactoryTalk Transaction Manager, we must figure out an industrial transaction first. In the enterprise world, transactions are used every day to tightly link multiple systems so that they act as one. An industrial transaction is just like a normal transaction, except that, instead of linking multiple database systems, it links control systems to database systems. A true, end-to-end link is established that provides the level of reliability required to support enterprise-wide integration.

FactoryTalk Transaction Manager Benefits

FactoryTalk Integrator

The FactoryTalk Integrator is an essential component of the FactoryTalk Integrated Production and Performance software suite. It broadens the reach of the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture by letting our plant's systems to transmit data and exchange transactions virtually with any other system. It is designed to help us in getting required data with ease and in particular, when and where we want it.

Main Features

FactoryTalk Integrator consists of following vital features:

• It offers a reliable platform for connecting Rockwell Automation MES products to ERP packages
• It furnishes us one workflow engine for synchronizing manufacturing with our business system
• It can effortlessly connect one system to another.
• It Provides connectivity to SAP using their native interfaces
• It Supports B2MML standards 

Factory Talk Gateways

FactoryTalk Historian Latest features

Most up to date features included in FactoryTalk Historian are listed below:

1. New install and configuration tool to auto discover and auto configure tags
   
2. Advanced calculation engine in the server for simple and advanced analytics
   
3. FactoryTalk View integration to trend data from FactoryTalk Historian openly
   
4. Rich set of advanced clients including SQC and FactoryTalk Batch capabilities
   
5. Time-series optimized data store
   
6. Advanced filtering through exception and compression algorithms
   
7. Event framing of data to display event metadata with the time-series data
   
8. Advanced development tools ranging from VBA, ActiveX support to advanced Visual Studio .NET support
   
9. Redundancy and high availability support
   
10. Support for an extensive number of third-party data sources

FactoryTalk Historian Benefits

FactoryTalk Gateway Advanced Features

1. FactoryTalk Gateway has enhanced diagnostic capabilities which comprise user interface improvements that contain the information required for the current status and advanced troubleshooting.
2. By improving the messages from FactoryTalk Diagnostics and providing an integrated viewing tool for counters, messages and an integrated help system, the diagnostics counter monitor and FactoryTalk Gateway greatly expands our awareness of where the current state of the server can be reviewed.
3. Via FactoryTalk Gateway we can lock down what OPC clients are permitted to do, whereas FactoryTalk Security prevents unwarranted scanning and unwarranted writing to control system tags or datapoints. This is especially helpful because OPC clients can be difficult to control since it is easy to put tags on scan in a controller.
4. FactoryTalk Gateway also enables us to share the FactoryTalk Services Platform with third-party applications, and future advancements in FactoryTalk Live Data like adding the TCP/IP protocol, and improvements in ease-of-use for the services platform, will benefit the FactoryTalk Gateway.
5. FactoryTalk Gateway has added support for additional tags, including a 70,000 tag version for large applications or small applications which need to grow. 

Other FactoryTalk Gateway Benefits

DeviceNet

DeviceNet is a communication protocol employed in the automation industry for interconnecting control devices for data exchange. It is mainly used as a communication network between industrial I/O devices and controllers like limit switches, photoelectric sensors, valve manifolds, motor starters, process sensors, bar code readers, variable frequency drives, panel displays and operator interfaces. Controller Area Network is its backbone technology and an application layer covering a range of device profiles is defined by DeviceNet. Typical applications include

• Information exchange
• Safety devices
• Large I/O control networks

Technical Features

DeviceNet includes following main features:

• It defines the Media, Physical, Data-Link, and Application layers of the ISO/OSI 7-layer model.
• On the lower layers i.e. OSI layer 1 to 4, DeviceNet fundamentally uses the CAN specifications with some constraints and extensions while on the upper layers i.e. OSI layer 5 to 7 DeviceNet uses the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) specified by the ODVA.
• It uses the CAN data frame for information exchange.
• It also adds in trunk line topology with separate buses for signal and power. Usual configuration is two twisted pairs and a single shield.
• Defined Baud rates are 125 kbit/s, 250 kbit/s and 500 kbit/s.
• Trunk length is inversely proportional to the speed, i.e. 500, 250 and 100 meters respectively.
• Use of the quick-fix connector was allowed by adding on a new flat cable to the specification.
• It can support up to 64 nodes on a single logical network. Node addresses range from 0 - 63
• It supports master/slave as well as peer-to-peer communication, though majority of the devices work in the master/slave configuration.
• It allows several masters on a single logical network.
• Network cable can supply device power along same cable as communication cable.
• Networked devices can be both controlled and configured at the same time.
• It has the potential to withstand noisy environments. 

DeviceNet Conformance Test

SOAP Main Features

SOAP Main Features 

1. It is a lightweight protocol for exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment.
2. It is the successor of XML-RPC; however it borrows its transport and interaction neutrality and the envelope/header/body from somewhere else.
3. It can form the foundation layer of a web services protocol stack, providing a basic messaging framework upon which web services can be built.
4. It makes use of an Internet application layer protocol as a transport protocol.
5. It can potentially be used in conjunction with a variety of other protocols.

SOAP Message

It is an ordinary XML document which is generally sent to a web service enabled web site along with the parameters required for a search. The site would then send back an XML-formatted document with the resulting data. Since the data is returned in a standardized machine-parseable format, it can then be integrated directly into a third-party site. It basically consists of following four elements:

1. An Envelope element: It is the root element of a SOAP message which identifies the XML document as a SOAP message
2. A Header element: It contains application-specific information such as authentication, payment, etc about the SOAP message. The Header element is optional and if it is present, it must be the first child element of the Envelope element.
3. A Body element: It is the required message element which indicates call and response information. It contains the actual SOAP message intended for the eventual endpoint of the message. Immediate child elements of the SOAP Body element may be namespace-qualified.
4. A Fault element: It is an optional element which consists of errors and status information. It can only appear once in a SOAP message. If a Fault element is present, it must appear as a child element of the Body element.