DeviceMaster UP - Smart Papers LLC

Challenge

For most organizations employing sophisticated automation systems for manufacturing, distribution and warehousing have historically been hampered by technical and feasibility issues connecting plant floor devices to PLCs within the enterprise due to incompatibility with industrial automation control systems. This communication headache is solved with the DeviceMaster UP.

Technology Solution

When Smart Papers, a leading commercial paper manufacturer, set the goal to improve finished product quality assurance and gain more detailed manufacturing lot information using existing infrastructure they chose an industrial strength pain reliever - the DeviceMaster UP. It worked perfectly with their EtherNet/IP network, which extends commercial off-the-shelf Ethernet to the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP ™), an upper layer protocol fully compatible with standard TCP/IP protocols such as HTTP and SNMP. CIP allows EtherNet/IP product developers, system integrators and users to apply the same objects and profiles for plug-and-play interoperability among devices from multiple vendors and in multiple sub-nets. EtherNet/IP provides manufacturers with a proven and future-proof Ethernet network solution, one that incorporates all the advantages that have made Ethernet and Internet technologies ubiquitous and essential in office applications, while delivering interoperable, open network products that are supported by a vast network of vendors worldwide.

"In our manufacturing facility, we needed a way to add multiple serial ports connecting bar code scanners and printers to help improve product quality assurance and gain more detailed manufacturing lot information," said Bill Granzin, E & I Process Engineer at SMART Papers. "The DeviceMaster UP was the perfect solution to communicate with all of these added devices on our EtherNet/IP platform. It allowed us to minimize long-term costs, and still leverage our current infrastructure investment."

DeviceMaster UP is a network-attached device gateway that hosts an industrial Ethernet engine and translates serial device-to-PLC communications. The DeviceMaster allows users to attach RFID equipment, bar code scanners, displays and other TCP/IP speaking devices to their industrial Ethernet network. The DeviceMaster UP family of products includes embedded, 1- and 4-port models for added flexibility, plus each unit speaks all three protocols, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET and Modbus/TCP. DeviceMaster UP is ideal for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators interested in offering an embedded, universal method to connect factory floor serial devices and PLCs.

"With DeviceMaster UP, organizations don't need to be slaves to industrial automation protocols," said Bradford Beale, vice president of global sales for Comtrol. "DeviceMaster UP enables plant floor devices and PLCs to speak the same network language, providing a fast and simple way to access raw data without a large capital investment. DeviceMaster UP, the most flexible device server on the market, enables communications between serial devices residing on the factory floor and PLCs supporting the EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, or Modbus/TCP industrial protocols."

Additional Information

• Download PDF of this Story  (140 kB)