Connecting legacy machines to IT system seamlessly and automatically
Introduction
An IT team of a home appliance manufacturer was assigned to make their manufacturing facility smarter. They planned to have the data in the Mitsubishi FX PLC of their legacy machines and the robot servo controllers to be connected to their SQL server seamlessly and automatically.
With the iX software and X2 series smart HMI of Beijer Electronics, the IT team was able to collect and visualize data in the legacy machines and robot servo controllers with the built-in communication protocols. It saved them a lot of engineering time developing codes for connecting OT devices from scratch.
“The solution from Beijer Electronics really made our life much easier by unifying the interface between the machines and IT system, now with only one coding package we can link the data from the site to SQL server automatically and get rid of the paper work for good.” the PM of the IT team explains.
After mapping the IO addresses of the OT devices to the iX platform, the IT can utilize standardized SQL commands to send data from X2 HMI’s embedded SQL database to their SQL server directly. The PLC protocols and IT standards like SQL database built within the iX software make integrating machines and IT system easy.
System requirements
• A platform to integrate legacy controllers and IT system
• Hardware device with abundant IO and network interface
• Must not interfere day-to-day operation when implementing
Why Beijer Electronics
• Ready-to-use drivers to all PLC brands
• Equipped with both Ethernet port and expandable serial ports
• Non-invasive communication to existing machinery and SQL database