Product category:
Work-in-progress tracking software
News Release from: Tecnomatix Technologies | Subject: eM-PLC
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 April 2002
Engineering to production process
streamlined
A joint project will launch a newly integrated virtual manufacturing environment that streamlines the engineering process and provides a seamless path from process design to shop-floor automation.
A joint project (the third in a series) will launch a newly integrated virtual manufacturing environment that streamlines the engineering process and provides a seamless path from process design to shop-floor automation Tecnomatix Technologies, the leading provider of Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) software solutions, announced today it has signed a joint product development partnership agreement with Siemens Automation and Drives Group (Aand D), the world leader in automation and drives and programmable logic controllers (PLC)
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 29 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The agreement is the third in a series of product development agreements Siemens has made with Tecnomatix over the course of the past three years to launch a newly integrated virtual environment that streamlines the engineering process and provides a seamless path from process design to shop-floor automation.
The new eM-PLC product, jointly developed over the past two years as part of the Tecnomatix eMPower solution suite, now enables engineers to design manufacturing processes in a 3D virtual environment and then introduce control information into that virtual cell.
With eM-PLC, engineers can increase the speed, consistency and reliability of their design processes.
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New powerful suite of Web-based applications enables sharing and viewing of manufacturing project and process information across the extended enterprise and supply chain.
The solution reduces production ramp-up time by moving the testing and commissioning process from the shop floor onto the control engineer's desktop.
In addition, shop floor personnel training and the creation of documentation can all be done off-line, cutting both time and costs.
Tecnomatix is launching and marketing eM-PLC in conjunction with Siemens' STEP 7 Professional.
STEP 7 is a fully extended version of the company's powerful universal development environment software tools designed to configure, manage and maintain a plant-wide automation system.
Together, the solutions enable engineers from both mechanical design and control departments to work in parallel and share information.
"We've been working with Tecnomatix for over three years, since the first official engagement," said Thomas Schott, vice president of Automotive System Business at Siemens Aand D Group.
"The end result of combining our SIMATIC STEP 7 development environment with the eMPower simulation environment from Tecnomatix helps companies realize the optimization of their engineering process, while significantly reducing overall ramp-up time." This new eM-PLC product has been extensively tested and validated by a group of customers representing many of the world's leading automotive manufacturers.
As a result of the trials, the group was able to estimate that eM-PLC could save companies as much as two full working days for each PLC program running, which could represent as much as $4 million per car project.
According to Luisa Losito, control and computer engineer at Volvo Car Corporation (Gothenburg, Sweden), "One of our goals is to be able to verify PLC code offline, before installation.
eM-PLC offers this capability, helping the programmer to debug and optimize the code." Losito continued, "eM-PLC is a valuable tool that fulfills many of the needs of the Virtual Commissioning process.
After the test in our eM-PLC pilot project at Volvo, we can say that through the extensive use of the eM-PLC tool, we could reduce lead time and lower installation costs for PLCs.
In addition, the tool can improve the quality of the PLC programs by eliminating the information gap between simulation and PLC program generation." "This third agreement with such a worldwide force as Siemens is a huge win - not just for Tecnomatix - but for the entire Manufacturing Process Management marketplace," said Harel Beit-On, president and CEO, Tecnomatix Technologies.
"We have had a dedicated R and D team working on this project for more than two years, and the knowledge we have gained by working with Siemens has helped us introduce the market's premier solution for model-based, automatic PLC program generation, simulation and verification.
Together, Siemens and Tecnomatix are providing customers with a seamless path from process design to shop-floor automation." eM-PLC is a key piece of the Tecnomatix eMPower suite of Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) solutions - enabling companies to generate optimized PLC programs to the shop floor.
The solution permits engineers to design manufacturing cells, digital special machines and processes in a 3D virtual environment and then introduce control information into that virtual environment.
The system automatically generates PLC code, which can be simulated and verified before it is downloaded to the PLC on the shop floor.
By moving and testing the commissioning process from the shop floor onto the control engineer's desktop, eM-PLC accelerates planning and commissioning, the engineering process and production ramp-up.
Tecnomatix Technologies, (NASDAQ : TCNO) is the world's leading provider of Manufacturing Process Management software for the electronics, automotive, aerospace and heavy equipment industries.
The company's eMPower(tm) software enables global manufacturing customers to build the best production strategies to succeed in their increasingly complex environments.
Tecnomatix applications run on an open platform providing a collaborative environment for authoring, simulating and managing manufacturing processes across the extended enterprise and its suppliers.
The company, founded in 1983, has offices and distributors in North America, Europe, the Pacific Rim and Latin America.
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