Industrial Network Engineering
The INS Group has developed the network architecture for numerous customer manufacturing facilities that require plant floor devices to communicate and integrate seamlessly with their enterprise IT networks. An integral part of this is the evaluation, validation, and proof of concept (PoC) testing of these industrial networking architectures and products. This testing was done for customers to verify that the products and architectures could interoperate seamlessly within their manufacturing and multi-vendor IT enterprise network environments. In many cases we had also developed the architecture and deployed the IT networks as well.
The benefits of this technology are considerable for many industries especially those where climate control is cost prohibitive, or the environments are costic. No longer would production data destined for IT systems need to go through gateways or bridges running non standard communications protocols. Standard non proprietary network technology (EthernetIP) could be deployed that would leverage more cost effective Ethernet technology. A single standards based common network will be easier to maintain, a customers support personnel will no longer be inhibited by dissimilar networks.
The testing we've done has shown this new technology to be capable of handling the harsh environment and stringent data response times required for real time production critical applications.
These industrial network products/solutions would typically be deployed in assembly, powertrain, stamping and foundry facilities
Following are some real world industrial networking projects
The scope of this project was extensive and touched manufacturing sites globally with board level visibility. The high level scope included:
- Develop an integrated plant floor/IT network architecture
- Evaluate potential vendors for this new architecture
- Develop detailed test plans to validate/test that these products will seamlessly integrate into this new multi-vendor architecture.
- Setup a test lab to simulate the plant floor and IT network environments.
- Work with vendors to help them fully understand the architecture they will be working in.
- Evaluate and recommend support tools
- Develop training plans for support personnel
- Develop a bid package and assist in the evaluation and selection process.
Industrial networking equipment is an excellent choice for warehousing environments. The network switches can be easily mounted anywhere and only need power and a copper/fiber connection. These devices are low maintenance and make for a very cost effective solution since there is no climate control required. Please follow the link below for more information of how The INS Group can help design and deploy your next warehouse networking project.