Customer Success Story - VEC Technology, LLC

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Marine & Shipping

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Manufacturing System Automation
Predictive Quality Analytics

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

The Challenge

VEC Technology required an HMI/SCADA solution coupled with data bridging/reporting/archiving that can be used over the Web, can integrate with the OPC communications protocol and can directly interface with the company’s product databases. They required the solution to control and monitor the company’s patented closed molding operations. They wanted a system that could manage various parameters based on several criteria, including the specific product being produced, ambient conditions and material properties. Also necessary was the ability to provide long term storage of multiple key parameters for product warranty information. The company sought a product with future-proof technology. They also looked for a solution that presented a simple user interface for making edits, as well as an easily maintained Web-based client/server architecture. VEC Technology aimed for a “single vendor” approach, intending to reduce both the number of automation interfaces as well as extra support staff to maintain various systems.

About The Customer

VEC Technology’s Greenville, PA. location provides custom composite manufacturing. Its parent company, J&D Acquisitions, also owns Larson Boats, a Little Falls, MN manufacturer of recreation boat hulls that utilizes the VEC process, “a patented, state-of-the-art, computer controlled manufacturing process that guarantees that every part is made to the most exacting standards of fit and finish, resulting in parts with unparalleled beauty and unprecedented quality.” VEC Technology considers itself a one stop shop for OEMs, providing part concepts, design, engineering, tooling and manufacturing, with seven molding stations at its Pennsylvania facility. The company states that manufacturing cells utilizing its Patented Floating Mold technology receive a “low-cost, high-quality, extremely accurate, closed-mold solution” and that VEC Technology has achieved “great success in the marine, construction, containers, transportation, farming equipment and recreational vehicle markets.” Larson Boats, itself a customer of VEC Technology, can process boat hulls in the 17 to 24 ft range at its Minnesota location, which includes eight molding stations and an automation mix plant.

The Solution

VEC Technology selected ICONICS GENESIS64™ 64- bit HMI/SCADA software, in addition to BridgeWorX™ (real-time workflow for data bridging), ReportWorX™ (enterprise reporting, charting and analysis), OPC Server (supporting both OPC-UA and OPC-DA connectivity), and WebHMI (Web-based, real-time visualization). The engineers at VEC Technology allowed themselves a 10-month development cycle for the first installation, ensuring that their in-house personnel would become more familiar with the selected HMI/SCADA solution. The software would need to interface with multiple systems and hardware including eight Modicon PLCs between the two locations, five Delta RMC controllers, temperature/pressure/proximity gauges, scales and valves. The selected HMI/SCADA software would need to handle approximately 1,200 tags per molding station. VEC Technology maintains four servers and 16 client stations for this particular project. It uses several Microsoft applications including Microsoft Office, Access (to modify process input parameters) and SQL Server (for longterm historical data storage).

Operational Impact

VEC Technology wanted a single source HMI/SCADA program that would require minimal custom scripting and programming.
They also required a solution that would run optimally on 64-bit operating systems, as well as easily handle 3D visualization to fully utilize existing CAD data of various equipment.
Additionally, they wanted the software to read and write natively to Microsoft SQL Server and to support global aliasing, in order to minimize development time and costs.

Quantitative Benefit

VEC Technology has also reprioritized its operational staff – from eight employees tasked with maintaining multiple systems down to two employees maintaining their new system.