Join us for the third episode of season 3 of The Plant podcast. Cybersecurity is everyone’s issue. The problem is, not everyone has a plan to deal with what might be modern society’s largest shared threat.
Listen in as we speak with Ahmik Hindman, Senior Networks & Cybersecurity Solution Consultant, at Rockwell Automation.
S4 Conference: https://s4xevents.com
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Join us for the second episode of The Plant for 2024. True safety is designed into a system and should be smart enough to keep everyone safe and still maintain a productive output.
“… if a safety device fails, somebody can get hurt, and you probably won’t know it until somebody gets hurt. So you can’t wait on it to fail. You have to be proactive in when you replace those devices. So if you put in a system 20 years ago, then it’s probably about due for replacement of those safety systems.”
— Steve Ludwig
Join us for our first episode of The Plant for season 3. We kick off a new podcast season by taking a look back at early automation technology and how the PLC has influenced countless industries since its creation.
“…the the intuitiveness of people and how we work will always be challenged and we’ll always be able to do better because tools allow us to do better.”
— Kris Dornan
Listen in as we speak with Kris Dornan, Commercial Marketing Manager, at Rockwell Automation.
Last year we posted a story about the Rockwell team in Southeast Asia training system integrators to be certified in using and deploying ThinManager.
As a follow up to that story, the ThinManager team would like to extend thanks and gratitude to Satish Basa and Anukoon Asawachatroj for continuing to lead the effort to certify more ThinManager system integrators in the Asia-Pacific region. Their hard work and dedication have continued to increase awareness, opportunities, and sales within the region. Their most recent training success comes from Jakarta, Indonesia with seven new ThinManager-Certified system integrators.
When one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies wanted to open a new processing plant in Davenport, Iowa, they called on their partners at Rockwell Automation to help them design and implement a modern, connected workspace.
Since the network services group from Rockwell Automation was already managing the networks for the customer, Dan Neiner, Senior Engineer for Rockwell Automation, was involved with the project from the onset. The customer wanted to implement a thin client strategy for this new facility. The old plants had used PCs, and the customer wanted to move away from the time and expense necessary to keep PCs up and running in their production environments.
Because the solution required thin clients, Dan called on his systems integrator partners at Quantum Solutions. Quantum not only had thin client experience, but they had ThinManager experience. They were chosen by the customer to lead this deployment.
Thanh Phan with Quantum Solutions knew ThinManager was the right solution for their customer. It’s the only thin client system designed specifically for industrial application delivery and management.
The customer’s new plant is very large, coming in at almost 385,000 square feet with a staff of around 475 people. It was designed to replace an existing plant that had operated for decades. Quantum’s plan for deploying ThinManager and FactoryTalk View SE consisted of 3 Remote Desktop Servers and 2 ThinManager Servers that would manage and deliver content to 48 industrial thin clients.
The servers and applications that run this ThinManager solution are driven and supported from a Rockwell Automation Integrated Data Center (IDC). This packaged solution not only runs the applications that ThinManager delivers, but it also runs the network and is securely managed by Rockwell Automation technical support professionals.
Simplicity Equals Productivity
There is more than one reason the team from Quantum chose ThinManager to deploy FTView SE to the thin clients in this plant. “All the requested functionality that our customer needed for this deployment was already integrated into ThinManager in a simple way,” stated Phan. “Other convenient features such as TermMon ActiveX, virtual keyboard and simple touchscreen calibration solidified ThinManager as the final choice.”
Phan continued, “The TermMon ActiveX provided reboot and screen calibration functionality directly from the HMI. We were able to apply a script to the reboot process that ensured the thin client logged out of the server and restarted, etc. in a specific order. This also eliminated the need for physical keyboards for calibration. When a keyboard is needed, ThinManager’s hold-time configuration allows operators easy access to a virtual keyboard. We were able to configure the virtual keyboards to persist for only 5 seconds ensuring the keyboard never got in the way of other hold events on screen.”
Safety and Security are Built-In
Safety and Security were also important aspects of this food and beverage deployment. In addition to the built-in security of thin client hardware, Quantum deployed two of ThinManager’s most powerful features—AppLink and Shadowing.
“AppLink guaranteed that operator access at the thin client would be limited only to the HMI application. This ensured that the server could not be accessed from the thin client. This was an absolute requirement, by the customer, for this deployment,” said Phan.
“Shadowing allows us to troubleshoot issues remotely. Not only can we see what the operator sees, but we can take control of a terminal while an operator is standing by. Working in tandem with TermMon, we can remotely reboot a terminal after making updates to the HMI,” Phan explained.“We also took advantage of ThinManager on the server side. First, all of the users in ThinManager are synced with Active Directory so system access can still be managed by IT. Also, by using SmartSession, we are able to load balance all three HMI servers. This makes the entire thin client delivery method much more robust and improves availability in the event of server failover.”
This is a textbook example of how ThinManager benefits systems integrators by providing solutions designed for specifically the industrial manufacturing customers they serve. We asked Thanh Phan if Quantum planned to deploy ThinManager for future customer thin client deployments.
“Absolutely!” Phan replied. “While the program itself is straightforward, easy to learn, and takes little time to set up—the time saved and travel expenses avoided as a result of allowing engineers to remote in to a plant’s system and solve problems without having to appear on site is really what puts ThinManager above the other platforms we have used.’
“As an example,” Phan continued,”after our initial on-site setup, the customer experienced small problems that we were able to solve in 15-30 minutes, over the phone, using the Shadow and TermMon ActiveX features. If these features were not readily available, it could have meant a trip out to the customer, resulting in additional travel costs that would otherwise be unnecessary. At the very least, it would have resulted in an additional loss of time.’
“While instances like those listed above do not occur on a frequent basis,” Phan admitted,”when the customer does happen to have a problem, ThinManager’s features keep it from becoming an expensive one.”
Project Overview
Required deployment for new plant startup with following customer requests:
Fit for ThinManager:
Quantum readily agreed to ThinManager being used as the platform of choice for several reasons:
The Rockwell team in Southeast Asia Architecture & Software decided they wanted some training and went above and beyond to make it happen. Satish Basa and Anukoon Asawachatroj assembled a group of System Integrator trainees in Malaysia looking to become ThinManager certified. Satish took the initiative to procure enough Mr. Demo kits from Australia to facilitate the training. Over a two day span they successfully trained 10 attendees to become certified ThinManager integrators in Malaysia. Many people worked diligently to make this happen and in a remarkably efficient and effective way.
A quick thank you to Satish, Xiao Han, Anukoon, Mukund, Dean, Keith, Anne, Diana, Kath, Doreen, Gaven, Alex, Paul, Bryan, Pierre, and Poi. We are also excited to announce that a group in Thailand has also completed ThinManager training! Congratulations to our new ThinManager Certified System Integrators, and we look forward to more Southeast Asia locations being added in the near future.
With ThinManager, seeing is believing. In fact, with all the amazing capability packed in to ThinManager, you =&0=& to see it to believe it. Luckily, we’ve got you covered!
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Most months of the year, some of our crew is on the road in North America and Europe to show live what ThinManager can do. There is no cost to attend so there is really no excuse not to. Visit the Roadshow Page for details.
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We offer in-depth training of ThinManager just north of Atlanta, GA at our headquarters many times a year. We also offer scheduled Systems Integrator training in cities around North America. There is no better way to truly get your hands dirty and learn ThinManager like a pro. See our Training Schedule.
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Interested in learning about ThinManager from the comfort of your desk? Take a look at ThinManager TV and the rest of our website to watch videos at your leisure. There you can find walk through webinars, interesting ThinManager facts, and even a video or two that are just fun.
No matter how you get your eyes on ThinManager, we know you will leave impressed. Check it out today.
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Most all of us now carry small personal computers (in the form of smart phones) in our pockets, and a day without using the internet doesn’t exist. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality hardware are predicted to become main stream next year while many already use a digital personal assistant like Siri or Amazon Echo.
Manufacturers were once the leaders in “state of the art” technology. Today, many are using dated hardware and not thinking forward or embracing the possibilities of today’s technology.
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Keeping up with technology is no easy task. We work feverishly to decide what to integrate into ThinManager to help our customers stay innovative and in the forefront of productive possibility.
We encourage you to come see ThinManager and Relevance in action at no cost to you. We are scheduling live roadshow demonstrations all over the U.S. Contact your local ThinManager reseller to get registered or to request a stop near you.
As a “tip of the cap” to all those in this great industry, we have put together a video about ThinManager in a sit down interview with ACP’s CEO, Matt Crandell, asking where it all started, and where it is going. ThinManager is the global leader in thin client management and industrial mobility. Without our partners and customers in the manufacturing industry, we simply would not be where we are today.
To download and try ThinManager free for 30 days, please click the link below. Thank you to all that support us and the manufacturing industry. Happy Manufacturing Day!
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This video focuses on the security and data safety in ThinManager. ThinManager gives you complete control in your production environment over who sees what, where and when. Secure data management has always been in the forefront when creating ThinManager. Our location-based resolvers create “Geo-Fences” for total security when integrating mobility in to your production environment.
The Factory of the future runs on ThinManager. Start a free trial of ThinManager today.
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