Open Systems and Manufacturing Software Integration Platforms

Abstract

The evolution of automation in the manufacturing environment is rapidly moving towards Information Technology (it) standards and Open Systems based solutions. Besides, in order to realise a complete integration of all factory automation systems, that is one of the first steps in the implementation of the Computer Integrated Manufacturing (cim) technologies, final users and “system integrators” are implementing more and more solutions based on Integration Software Platforms.

Such platforms can help in developing the application programs, offering a wide range of common services for several kind of applications in the manufacturing environment. The application software does not have to consider specific problems such as those related to hardware, operating systems and base software. The products currently available on the market are nearly exclusively of the proprietary kind, while a new generation of integration software platforms working in the Open Systems environment is needed. The aim of this article is to analyse the relationship between it and cim and the main requirements this new generation of integration platforms have to meet in order to completely satisfy the users’ expectations.