Discrete Production Control through SCADA Technology: An application case in automotive industry

The development of the hardware technologies has made cheaper microprocessors and, in general, electronic components. At the same time, a continuous improvement of the performances of these components, has made possible a rapid development of their applications to production’s problems and an increase of their functionalities.As disadvantage the complexity of these components is increased because the software dedicated to their management, supervision and control has to be expanded so a lot of problems are rise up both for the maintenance that for the expandability of the systems.This is the main reason because actually automation technologies are oriented versus distributed systems characterised by autonomous systems able to communicate each other (through, i.e., using SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition –technologies) resolving the problem of the complexity.In such context we have implemented a SCADA (based on RSView 32) able to collect – real time – the information coming from each part of a given production line and, subsequently, to process them in order to follow the system’s evolution; at the same time we have defined a lot of synoptical tables to make easier the evaluation of the main production parameters. Using these tables we are able, in the end, to single out an optimal balancing solution.The developed system is currently employed, successfully, in a well known factory of engines allowing us to identify a solution able to rationalise the monitoring phase of the whole process and, at the same time, to maximise the efficiency of the management of the technical and the human resources.Especially our system is able, given an overbooking situation of the production cycle analysed, to identify on time the machine that have caused such situation and, consequently, to adapt the productive rhythms of the machines upstream and downstream of it.