Products4Automation

Measuring real-time productivity through key performance indicators (KPIs) and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is the new Pro.Lean software from UK based SCADA specialist Products 4 Automation (P4A). By flagging underproductive areas, Pro.Lean enables users to boost plant performance in real-time, track success and plan for future improvements.

Progea’s Connext Communication Server for companies investing in automation platform compatibility and data processing is now offered through Products4Automation (P4A). The innovative product is much more than an ordinary server: it offers connectivity for different types of field devices as well as powerful data recording tools.

A new version of the Progea’s latest platform Movicon.NExT SCADA software has been announced by Products4Automation (P4A). The V3.3 release is a free update for existing users and provides additional drivers for SMS messaging and SQL Server, plus new security features. The latest version of Movicon.NExT from Products4Automation (P4A) is free to download for all Movicon.NExT users and focuses on document management and security. 

Being used to upgrade a fire behaviour training rig at Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Services Headquarters is a PC based SCADA system. This is used to show fire fighters how fire spreads through buildings, where temperatures build up fastest and which parts can be expected to remain relatively cool.

Delivering a host of new features, many the result of feedback from the user community, Products4Automation has announced the release of Progea Movicon.NExT SCADA version 3.2. The free upgrade Version 3.2 of Movicon.NExT brings improvements to the workspace, the user interface and the Historian, as well as adding new functions to screens and improving the performance of drivers. It also brings updated recipes and implements security on encrypted project management.

Paint spraying machine users can now benefit from easier set-up, reduced down-time and an assurance of future proofing in the wider production environment, thanks to Progea’s Movicon control and visualisation software. Based in Imola, Northern Italy, CELFA is a manufacturer of computerised paint spraying machines. The company applies advanced technology and automation solutions that combine the highest levels of spraying quality and precision with an energy saving and eco-friendly design.

Developed in the Italian city of Varese near Milan, by Refrattari Brebbia Srl, the innovative steel heat treatment process is based on a Movicon SCADA control system, available in the UK through Production4Automation. Heat treatment is a vital part of metals production, and is used to harden and strengthen steel to various levels. Discovered literally hundreds of years ago, it is now a highly developed industrial/scientific process and on-going innovations continue to improve product quality and operational efficiency.

Italian producer of refined biodiesel, Fox Petroli, has optimised its production process by investing in Movicon SCADA, available in the UK through Products4Automation. The upgrade has enabled the green fuel producer to meet increased demand for its biodiesel product, with improved production management. Located in Vasto in the Abruzzo region of the west coast of Italy, Fox Petroli built its name refining oil by-products, but in recent years has focused on the development of environmentally friendly fuels.

Instant and accurate man overboard location is just one of many features that SCADA technology is offering to transform the safety and comfort of pleasure sailing. Products4Automation’s SCADA expert Paul Hurst casts an over of the technology transfer from industrial process plant to luxury yacht.

  A flurry of industrial control and automation installations is a result of a training seminar based on Movicon NExT, the leading edge SCADA package available from Products4Automation (P4A).

Using a control system based on Movicon, the modular SCADA solution, accurate energy efficient heat treatment for the rollers used in heavy duty tracked vehicles such as earth movers has been achieved. Paul Hurst of Products4Automation (P4A), the UK representative for Movicon says the installation has been so successful that the technology is to be extended to other lines in the plant.

  With the role of SCADA changing within the industry, it pays for plant managers to become familiar with the trends that are shaping the development of next-gen SCADA systems. With modern technology pushing operating capabilities ever further, what key features will denote ‘future-proof’ SCADA?

Italy's largest agricultural biomass power plant has opened, integrating four 1MW generators using Movicon SCADA technology for control and visualisation for efficiency monitoring. The SCADA system is providing the information required to provide power for 10,000 homes while offsetting the carbon generated by the plant with the carbon consumed by the in-feed crops as they grow, resulting in a target zero carbon footprint.

The death of SCADA as a technology was predicted by pundits around 30 years ago, they said it would have no place in the plants and factories of the future. However, look at it now. Contrary to this the technology has constantly evolved in line with user requirements, and indeed continues to evolve. Paul Hurst, Managing Director of Products4Automation (P4A) vendors of the Movicon SCADA Suite explains what the next generation of SCADA will bring to the party.

  Multiple sites around the world are considering thermodynamic solar power following a successful trial of the technology outside Seville in Spain. The plant reliably produces 400MWh of clean energy per day regardless of weather conditions, thanks in part to a Movicon 11 SCADA control system.

There is a demand for businesses to adopt an energy policy that increases efficiency, and this demand has grown exponentially over the last few decades. And new legislation, rising fuel prices and changing industry standards all require companies to monitor and control their energy consumption with higher accuracy. 

Imagining a current automation system working without the capacity to use some sort of database technology is difficult. The process data needed for effective control and analysis in order to improve productivity is becoming more and more extensive. The result is that SCADA systems are needed not simply to perform their traditional supervisory control and monitoring role, but also to provide a platform to process, manage and store big data.

  Celebrating its 25th birthday is Progea, and the company has used the occasion to mark the release of NExT, a new SCADA product designed from a clean sheet to address the needs of SCADA applications of the next generation.

Being easy to drag and drop in the design process in one quality that makes pre-set graphics attractive, especially ones that are easy to link to standard inputs, but it all contributes to make great looking SCADA screens. But they also need to be easily adaptable to custom requirements to keep users engaged. Paul Hurst of Products4Automation examines key trends in SCADA screen designs.

The ability to control and monitor critical plant from a smartphone or tablet computer is proving highly beneficial to plant production, management and maintenance personnel alike. SCADA systems are now able to support this current advance in industrial control, as Paul Hurst of Products4Automation (P4A) explores.