Altech Informatics, a wholly owned subsidiary of the multibillion-rand JSE-listed Altech group, has concluded an agreement with Rockwell Software to become an official integrator of that company`s plant automation and management information systems.
The first project, which entailed the installation of new Rockwell systems, from design to implementation, at technology products and solutions company NamITech, has already been completed. A unified solution was required that provided all the required functionality with the flexibility to allow growth as well as further functional enhancements. Therefore the `All Rockwell` architecture included Control Logix PLCs, RS view SE, plant metrics and RS SQL.
NamITech`s main requirement of the project was to reduce the effect of `drip` (data rich, information poor) on its operations. The Rockwell Software installations not only achieved this objective, but resulted in numerous additional benefits, including accurate capturing of information, accurate calculation of overall equipment efficiency (OEE) and breakdown reason codes for improvement of productivity. Improved problem identification and fault-finding also simplified the management information process.
Business Development Manager of Altech Informatics, Gerhard Greeff, said: "System integration has the purpose to share information through availability of the right data to the right sub-system at the right time and in the right format. There must be no duplication or limited access of data, or manual intervention to obtain such data. NamITech wanted information at their fingertips and we believe that this process, enabled by the Rockwell installations, has succeeded in that quest. NamITech`s products include GSM cellular SIM cards, smart cards, prepaid vouchers, mobile telephony starter packs, magstripe cards and cheques, which makes this our first project in the general manufacturing industry.
"Rockwell is a key player in the industrial IT arena and our agreement with the company enables us to provide our clients with a wider service offering. Our aim is to build a footprint on major technologies and the addition of Rockwell to our existing stable of best of breed architectures is definitely a step in the right direction," Greeff concluded.
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