"This is not one of the traditional Nashville tours," Invensys Operations Management VP of Software and Advanced Applications Steve Garbrecht said as he led off a tour of the Invensys OpsManage Expo. Invensys provides organized tours by reservation to show off the innovative organization of the Expo exhibit floor.
Arrayed in a star-shaped pattern around a central core, the tools Invensy Operations Management brings to its customers are displayed in applications, not as widgets. Designed to make a concrete representation of the three control loops Invensys has described, Process, Operations and Business, the displays include a Services island, an Operations island, a Management island, a Maintenance island and an island devoted to Field Equipment. Each of these islands, or "centers," features multiple brands from Invensys, including Avantis, Eurotherm, Foxboro, SimSci-Esscor and Wonderware. New product signs at select demo stations reflect offerings being announced at OpsManage11, including a Future Product Concept center with products not yet fully developed.
In the Management Center, managers can see how they can get the right information at the right time so they make the right decisions and direct the organization successfully. Invensys' products are displayed as answers to these issues; as not only keys to understanding historical and current operating conditions, but also as predictors of what might happen. Christian-Marc Pouyez, Invensys product manager for intelligence, said, "Here we have a corporate dashboard designed for someone like a vice president-operations with six plants under his control. He can see his most important KPIs including contribution, energy intensity, OEE, schedule attained, and he can use the drill-down tools for analysis."
The Operations Center features operator control rooms, HMI and MES solutions that scale from a single machine interface to fully distributed supervisory systems, process automation and safety systems. The focus of this center is on operations managers, operators, process engineers and anyone who deals with visualization and control of industrial operations. Asish Adhikari, director of Invensys India demoed a control system developed by Foxboro for power generators. "We can produce right on the display an overlay screen," he said, "with key parameters—cost versus value, not just measurement units—real KPIs—using the unified engineering environment of ArchestrA."
Central to the Expo is the Integrated IT and Engineering center, focusing on IT professionals, process engineers, control system engineers, systems integrators and software developers. It emphasizes modeling, designing, developing, engineering and maintaining industrial information and automation applications.
In the Field Operations and Equipment Center, the focus is on field operators, instrument technicians and engineers, maintenance managers and control system engineers.
The Services Center offers views of Invensys' portfolio of consulting, training, implementation, support and operational improvement services to augment internal resources and solution partner capabilities. "We understand that experience and knowledge in how to best design, build and maintain operations management systems as well as educate users, is harder and harder to find these days," Garbrecht said. "When coupled with the complexity of cybersecurity, government regulations and changing business needs, manufacturers need a trusted partner who understands the software and hardware they already have. Our services experts can assemble a portfolio of services that match their specific needs."
In addition, 33 Invensys ecosystem partners—systems integrators and equipment partners—are exhibiting their application solutions as the spokes of the star between the island centers.
"There is also a prominent Voice of the Customer station," Garbrecht pointed out, "where we hope to gain new insights from our customers and partners."
Using an application Invensys sells, called "SmartGlance," visitors can download an app for smartphones that provides an agenda-at-a-glance as well as drill-down for all the products and applications showcased at the Expo.
"There are also roving demo reps showcasing product demos on a variety of mobile devices, including iPads, Windows mobile phones and other smart displays. "We think you will be amazed what information can be shared in any location in a secure and safe manner," Garbrecht said.
