The research-team was cooperating intensively with industrial companies for years and there were numerous contacts with many diverse SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). In cooperation with this trade-group several projects, which are complementary with the current one, were executed in the past.

Project 1: ‘On-line collecting of production-data of heterogeneous platforms and provide it differentiated to diverse user-groups.’

HOBU nr: 10133
Project period: 2001-2003
Project manager: ing. Dominique Daens
Researchers: ing. Dirk van der Linden & Lic. Marc Michiels
Summary:
In this project the research team demonstrated that OPC is a very useful and transparent technology to collect production information (raw data) out of vendor-independent PLC-controls, without adapting the control program.
In this project there was made a lengthy study on the field of the OPC DA specification. OPC servers, according diverse specifications were configured. A limited pilot installation, compound with a XY manipulator and some automatically controlled light-systems, was build in the research lab. SCADA packages were implemented on this installation via OPC. The methods of event-controlled data-captation provided by the OPC specifications, were tested lengthy by way of self-written Visual Basic (VB) and Access opc clients.

Project 2: ‘Integration of industrial IT/MES in SMEs, implemented on vendor independent PLC- and robot controls.’

HOBU nr: IWT030077
Project period: 2003-2005
Project manager: ing. Dominique Daens
Researchers: ing. Dirk van der Linden & ing. Steven De Schutter
Summary:
In this project a test lab (prototype of a real production line) was build. Several production-units (XY-manipulator, 3 robots, light-systems) were controlled by classical PLC’s and iPC-based systems of different vendors. Depending on the possibilities provided by vendors, opc servers were implemented. The production-units are connected with a TCP/IP Ethernet. On this pilot installation all technologies handled in this project proposal, could lengthy be tested on scale.
In this project there is obtained a lengthy knowledge about MES. From this point of view this project proposal is presented. It seems that MES is focussing in general to batch-processes with a comprehensive recipe management. For discrete processes we noticed that control software has to meet certain requirements.
A case-study at the company ‘Hansa Mertens’ in Wilrijk was executed. The production lines of some punch-units can now be observed online. We developed applications for recipe management, supervision of production capacity and failures in VB and MySQL.