: What kind of data analysis could you be doing?

 

With the introduction of InSQL Personal Edition, users of all sizes and types now have the capability of doing detailed analysis of production and performance data for less than the cost of a few drives or control valves.  The data available for analysis from this tool helps users tune their production capabilities such that the ROI generated easily covers the initial investment many many times over.  What's more, InSQL Personal Edition lets users start very small and grow their system as needed.  So what does this tool provide that the information coming out of your HMI or home grown database cannot easily provide?

  • The ability to store time based (temperatures, pressures, speeds, etc.), discrete (pump start/stop, conveyor on/off, batch start/stop. alarms, etc.) and string data (Lot ID, Operator Comment, etc.) in the same repository and correlate this disparate information for your reports.

  • The ability to handle plant data, collecting up to thousands of points at second or sub-second intervals. This is simply not something a standard relational database or plant floor HMI is equipped to handle.  Therefore, with InSQL, there is no need to pare down your collection list or limit your collection rate.

  • Time Domain Analysis capabilities.  This means that you have complete control of your data retrieval. Users can choose the number of rows returned over a time period or the sample rate of values returned. Retrieval control makes InSQL not just a continuous data collection system, but an event or exception based historian. For any Event you can view the value for any or all tags at the time of the event so that users can get a complete snapshot of their plant based on:

    -  The leading or trailing edge of a discrete signal (alarms, e-stop. etc.)

    -  A process variable exceeding a certain setpoint

    -  A product changeover designated by a change in batch or lot ID

    -  etc.

  • Out of the box analysis to do basic downtime reporting showing process/machine downtime with number of occurrences and durations.

  • The ability to perform process troubleshooting by analyzing Historical data over time find out exactly what happened and why.

  • The ability to retrieve Batch/Run information: Identify StartTimes / StopTimes, Associated string identifiers like Product, LotID and BatchNumber. Aggregate calculations over the entire run. Additionally, look at sub-steps or cycles within the process duration.

  • The ability to plot Analog, Discrete, and String data together with multiple X-axis offsets so that you can analyze one process run against a previous run.

  • The ability to store information at different data resolutions - e.g., some data cyclically at 1 sec, some cyclically at 30 sec, some data delta stored with no deadband, some data delta stored with a 5% EU deadband, temporarily halt some data storage based on a process condition, etc.
  • The ability to analyze all of this information with off-the-shelf tools such as Excel, Word or MS Access and publish these reports to a easy to access web site.
  • The ability to store information from other sources (quality data, manual data) in with process information so that you have a single source for all plant intelligence.

Would the ability to capitalize on any of the above benefits be useful to you and your company?  Would presenting data in easy to configure and maintain reports be useful to you and your management team?  Can you justify a system that would provide these benefits if the initial software price was less than the cost of a temperature and pressure transmitter? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you should be looking at Wonderware's InSQL Personal Edition.

To learn more, contact Q-mation at 215-675-5800

 

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