Inductive Automation Blog

Control Systems Upgrade for NASA Space Simulator

This was a control systems upgrade for the space simulator, which is a joint venture of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the California Institute of Technology.

Greater Mobility, More Data, Less Paper

The project was aimed at quickly collecting work-order data from the shop floor and communicating it to the company’s ERP system. The goal was to react faster to delays or unforeseen events. To accomplish that it was necessary to adopt a scheduling process supported by software, to give operators an integrated system to collect data on mobile devices.

Ignition Enables Data Collection, Analysis, and Much More

Ignition is being used as an Industrial Information System and allows Constancia to obtain KPIs for daily production, maintenance, downtime, and equipment operation. It helps the production team to quickly find problems that prevent it from achieving optimal production.

KTrack Helps Grain Facilities with Traceability & Inventory

KTrack helps grain elevators meet traceability requirements and improve inventory management. KTrack is software from Konnection, a division of Kasa Controls & Automation. Konnection provides automation, data collection and other software solutions across many industries, including grain handling. KTrack is Konnection’s first off-the-shelf product offering. It’s an untraditional Ignition project in that there are no devices, PLCs, motors, or sensors to control; there are only a few memory tags.

Greater Access to Data with Ignition

The bottling line and racking line application allows operators to select brands, tank sources and pathways to bottle beer from. Through Ignition scripting, the application checks whether the tank is ready and meets requirements for bottling and racking.

Ignition Solves 11 Key Problems

Thanks to the Ignition implementations, now the plant operator has all the information and control that he/she needs in only one easy-access and high-reliability system. Also, laboratory, supervision and management personnel have access to historical and real-time production data, production quality, historical users’ operations, and a high quantity of reports that make the decision-making process easier than before.

Unique White Box Quickly Reveals Valuable Data

Ignition is used in 11 of the top 50 craft breweries in the United States, yet most of the other breweries have not heard of Ignition. The White Box was developed as the culmination of a nationwide craft brewery campaign that targeted the top 200 craft breweries in the country. The goal was to show off the power of Ignition on a self-contained White Box in an unobtrusive, plug-and-play installation on a bottling or canning line.

Water Authority Leverages Ignition for Faster Processes & Lower Costs

The Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority operates a Collection and Distribution (C/D) system of approximately 30 sites, consisting of waste water lift stations, water wells, storage tanks and booster pump stations serving approximately 3,500 homes and businesses in an eight-square mile area south of Denver, Colorado. The system uses over 30 Rockwell programmable controllers at each site communicating to three Master Terminal Units via serial radios which transmit data across Ethernet radio to a Master PLC, using over 300 message instructions.