GE FANUC LAUNCHES NEW ENTERPRISERT SOFTWARE
01 May 2000 - GE Fanuc Automation CNC Europe SA

GE Fanuc Automation has launched new EnterpriseRT software, which combines and visualises real-time data from multiple company systems including ERP, supply chains, customers, product management, manufacturing and control. Based on a technology foundation developed by IndX Software Corporation (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), EnterpriseRT uses web technologies to provide a single portal for real-time monitoring and reporting of various systems and processes throughout an enterprise and its global universe. This improved combination of information enables users to make informed decisions about processes as they occur, from the factory floor to the highest management level.

'GE has a corporate-wide commitment to leverage the unprecedented power of the Internet for the benefit of companies and customers worldwide,' said Marcel van Helten, Manager FactoryIT Business Europe. 'The new EnterpriseRT package directly supports this initiative and represents the logical evolution of monitoring and reporting software to provide users with open, easy-to-use, web-based solutions for enterprise integration.'

EnterpriseRT's live, graphically-rich displays bring an enterprise to life through a web browser at any Internet/Intranet location. Each screen supplies information tailored to the individual user for context-based report presentation.

'EnterpriseRT monitors key enterprise systems, making business organisations more and more aware of the dynamics that affect them,' said van Helten. 'Acting as an intersection point for company-wide information, the software helps users make both tactical and strategic decisions that can improve their performance, strengthen the bottom line, empower employees and increase customer satisfaction.'

EnterpriseRT consists of four major elements: servers (web, enterprise and solution), connector framework, development environment and browser-based clients. These components are integrated into a web-based, multi-tier architecture that permits scalability and optimises process performance. The software connects to an enterprise's back-end systems through a connector framework; modifications to current systems environments are not required.

Users connect to EnterpriseRT via a web URL. The web server then sends a Java applet that organises the browser layout for EnterpriseRT, the navigation tree, the view animation engine and the trend viewer. The EnterpriseRT client automatically connects to the Solution Server, which downloads its information model and populates the navigation tree to indicate the available information views. By selecting views, the desktop client subscribes, causing the enterprise server to send the required view elements and the solution server to publish the real-time data that updates and animates displayed views. In a single browser display, a client can aggregate information that originates from multiple sources around the enterprise and its global customers and suppliers. Because it is browser-based, EnterpriseRT enables monitoring from anywhere a network connection and browser are available.

The software's 'thin' client approach eliminates duplicate software and complexity on every client, as EnterpriseRT clients do not make individual connections to back-end systems and therefore do not need complex client-server and database connection functions. Common logon, data extraction and presentation functionality are concentrated in one manageable place on the solution server. This unique scaleable, multi-tier architecture was designed to maximise processing efficiency and to support zero-latency, 'live' views of data presented in real time. Other benefits of this architecture include:

Ease of set-up and use: Users can rapidly create their own monitoring views 'on the fly' without assistance from programmers or reliance on IT, ensuring that any user can respond rapidly to particular manufacturing or other business conditions.

Scalability: EnterpriseRT supports any number of clients, offering unlimited scalability. As many servers as necessary can be deployed to support increasing numbers of end clients, to extend and build up a solution or for performance objectives.

Extensibility: Users can add new components, views, and information links that are available to all system users at any time.

Optimisation of data access: EnterpriseRT uses Ethernet TCP/IP and UDP for steaming data across the web and Java to present and animate data values in real time.
This highly-optimised system maximises end-to-end performance from the servers to the clients and automatically optimises itself to reduce network load.

'Competitive pressures force more efficient production, shorter cycle times and smaller inventories,' van Helten said. 'In this environment, real-time monitoring and reporting emerge as the critical functions that can provide much tighter business control for greater agility and responsiveness of activities in all departments and locations.'

EnterpriseRT was designed to help people at every level of the enterprise access and monitor processes in order to solve problems and perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively. Applications and users include:

Performance management: Executives and managers at all levels can navigate easily through a graphical directory of the enterprise and locate summaries of performance indicators for every division they manage.

Performance planning: Planners and analysts can view real-time representations of current operations, complete with forward-running plans, and compare present and past performance when preparing future operating plans.

Streamlining processes: Department and activity supervisors can see an overview of all the processes they manage to evaluate methods of doing business more efficiently.

Fully-informed decision making: EnterpriseRT enables task workers to see beyond the limited amount of data they receive from one system and get a clearer picture of what is happening in other parts of the enterprise and supply chain. For example, a worker in charge of sourcing disk drives can make better decisions with up-to-the-moment information regarding supplier quality, supplier costs, delivery performance, currency conversions and lead times.

Order tracking and delivery: Customers can discover where their orders are in the process and when critical parts are shipping, assisting them with their planning, production management and sales activities. Suppliers can view users' processes and inventory, helping them deliver the correct parts, at the right time, and at a lower cost.

http://gefanuc-europe.com

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