What's Up, DAQ?

Data acquisition systems and recorders tend to be digital and can accept a variety of inputs, says Ravi Jethra, product manager, temperature/data acquisition, at Endress+Hauser, www.us.endress.com. "This tends to vastly broaden the range of applications that can be covered in all types of industrial environments, including factory automation or discrete manufacturing," he explains.

"This leads to usage in all types of industries, including food and beverage, automotive and chemical, just to name a few, for storing data related to monitored parameters on the recorder," says Jethra. "The data being recorded also can be transferred to an ERP system or MES. You could essentially have multiple sensors or transducers hooked up to a recorder monitoring multiple parameters. The recorder comes with an Ethernet connection."

Jethra identifies three viable ways to transfer data from a recorder to an ERP system or MES. They involve transferring the data directly or indirectly in a variety of formats. First, the data from the recorder can be transferred via a gateway device using .xml format. Second, the data can be transferred directly using .csv format. Or, in the third case, the data can be transferred via an OPC server that is hooked up to the recorder.

"Being able to transfer data from a recorder to an ERP system or MES allows for periodic review by upper management or for analyzing productivity or efficiency or inventory management," he says.

"Industries, like commercial electronics, that manufacture high volumes of complex products must understand in real time the quality of the products that ship out the door," explains Santiago Delgado, TestStand product manager at National Instruments (www.ni.com). "These industries log product test information, acquired using data acquisition devices or instrumentation, to ERP systems, so that test and quality engineers can resolve quality issues as quickly as possible."

While not a discrete application, water management systems are an example of how data can be logged and uploaded to an ERP to anticipate peak and trend levels, says Jim McConahay, PE, senior field applications engineer, Moore Industries International (www.miinet.com).

"Using the ERP system, they can strategically anticipate the most economic time of day when electrical pumping costs are lowest and pumping resources are available, even to transfer water from one storage facility to another in anticipation of need," explains McConahay. "The ERP system also provides immediate access to alternative water and pump resources within the system, should an unusual demand or system maintenance be required. While the commodity itself is low-cost on a per-user basis, the overall system is extensive."