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This month we interviewed Ron Mayfield and David Lewis from Sierra Nevada Brewery, the 7th largest brewery in the U.S, about his experience with Inductive Automation software.
IA: Tell me about your company - what do you produce and where are your markets?
Sierra Nevada: We are the 7th largest brewery in the U.S. Our beer is produced exclusively in Chico, CA, and we distribute in all 50 states as well as export to Europe and Asia. Our flagship product is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and we also have a year-round program of seasonal and specialty beers.
IA: What do you use Inductive Automation software for in your company or facility?
Sierra Nevada: We started using it for data acquisition not long after it was first introduced to market - I think we were one of FactorySQL's first customers. Data acquisition continues to be our principal use of it, but we have also found quite a few other areas where FactorySQL and FactoryPMI have been very powerful. A few examples include: capturing data from laboratory instruments (thereby eliminating data entry), and replacing many of our legacy GUI's for manual data entry with screens built in FactoryPMI. The latter project has allowed us to finally move to web-based clients for GUI's, which has been a great savings in terms both cost and maintenance. We have also built custom FactoryPMI screens that allow non-technical personnel to find and correct data errors in the DB tables. FactoryPMI allows us to control the type of corrections and provides a safe method for users to interact with the database, eliminating the need for them to open a request and wait for the IT department's assistance.
IA: Why did you choose Inductive Automation software?
Sierra Nevada: Tremendously flexible, very quick to develop and modify applications, and very cost-effective.
IA: What features have you found most useful to your specific processes?
Sierra Nevada: The ability to easily switch between development and production environments. Deployment of new applications, functionality and updates from one place, to all clients. Even if a client is in production, they can instantly see that a new version is ready and can update to that new application in just seconds without having to close the application or interrupt production.
IA: What have you found to be the main benefits of the software?
Sierra Nevada: Easily integrates with data sources from multiple vendors, databases and work stations. Automated data collection in FactorySQL is simple using drag and drop methods. Easy to learn FactoryPMI expression language and built in routines make putting together an attractive application quick and simple. The underlying Jython script and Java language allow for a very flexible and robust working environment. Support for the entire product line is by far the best I have ever seen.
IA: How do you plan on using IA software in the future?
Sierra Nevada: We plan to continue to automate our data collection process from the lab and production systems. Another project we are working on is for our packaging department, where the environment is spread out and noisy, which makes coordination difficult and when delays occur they cost a lot in production downtime. We are using FactoryPMI and FactorySQL to create a visual communications system -- we want to make it easier for key people to get access to real time information when they need it, which will help eliminate the need to print a "snapshot" report and will conserve resources.
IA: Is there anything else you can say regarding your experience with Inductive Automation?
Sierra Nevada: Excellent support. Feature requests are so quick to be released that it feels sometimes like we have our own personal software development house.
Screenshots:
End-User Highlight: Sierra Nevada Brewery
11/21/2008 - This month we interviewed Ron Mayfield and David Lewis from Sierra Nevada Brewery, the 7th largest brewery in the U.S, about his experience with Inductive Automation software.
IA: Tell me about your company - what do you produce and where are your markets?
Sierra Nevada: We are the 7th largest brewery in the U.S. Our beer is produced exclusively in Chico, CA, and we distribute in all 50 states as well as export to Europe and Asia. Our flagship product is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and we also have a year-round program of seasonal and specialty beers.
IA: What do you use Inductive Automation software for in your company or facility?
Sierra Nevada: We started using it for data acquisition not long after it was first introduced to market - I think we were one of FactorySQL's first customers. Data acquisition continues to be our principal use of it, but we have also found quite a few other areas where FactorySQL and FactoryPMI have been very powerful. A few examples include: capturing data from laboratory instruments (thereby eliminating data entry), and replacing many of our legacy GUI's for manual data entry with screens built in FactoryPMI. The latter project has allowed us to finally move to web-based clients for GUI's, which has been a great savings in terms both cost and maintenance. We have also built custom FactoryPMI screens that allow non-technical personnel to find and correct data errors in the DB tables. FactoryPMI allows us to control the type of corrections and provides a safe method for users to interact with the database, eliminating the need for them to open a request and wait for the IT department's assistance.
IA: Why did you choose Inductive Automation software?
Sierra Nevada: Tremendously flexible, very quick to develop and modify applications, and very cost-effective.
IA: What features have you found most useful to your specific processes?
Sierra Nevada: The ability to easily switch between development and production environments. Deployment of new applications, functionality and updates from one place, to all clients. Even if a client is in production, they can instantly see that a new version is ready and can update to that new application in just seconds without having to close the application or interrupt production.
IA: What have you found to be the main benefits of the software?
Sierra Nevada: Easily integrates with data sources from multiple vendors, databases and work stations. Automated data collection in FactorySQL is simple using drag and drop methods. Easy to learn FactoryPMI expression language and built in routines make putting together an attractive application quick and simple. The underlying Jython script and Java language allow for a very flexible and robust working environment. Support for the entire product line is by far the best I have ever seen.
IA: How do you plan on using IA software in the future?
Sierra Nevada: We plan to continue to automate our data collection process from the lab and production systems. Another project we are working on is for our packaging department, where the environment is spread out and noisy, which makes coordination difficult and when delays occur they cost a lot in production downtime. We are using FactoryPMI and FactorySQL to create a visual communications system -- we want to make it easier for key people to get access to real time information when they need it, which will help eliminate the need to print a "snapshot" report and will conserve resources.
IA: Is there anything else you can say regarding your experience with Inductive Automation?
Sierra Nevada: Excellent support. Feature requests are so quick to be released that it feels sometimes like we have our own personal software development house.
Screenshots: