Skip navigation
Subscribe to Packaging Digest
RSS
Reprints/License
Print
Email

How to Make the Best Use of System Integrators

System integrators can bring effective results, but the relationship needs to have a solid foundation.

-- Packaging Digest, 12/5/2008 11:15:00 AM

Hiring a professional system integrator to design and install a custom automation system can reduce the overall cost of the project and improve the quality of the work, compared to projects implemented entirely in house by enthusiastic amateurs. In-house engineers know better than anyone how their plant works, but they're not likely to be as familiar with automation technology or how it can be used most effectively. The trick: Figuring out how to merge their experience with the system integrator's expertise.



Savvy system integrators know how to do that. They can develop a project plan based on objectives outlined by plant management, combined with the application-specific knowledge of plant engineers and operators. From there, they can implement the automation system that best achieves those goals.

But their ability to complete an automation project satisfactorily depends not only on their own skills, but also on the quality of the information they have to work with. Some plant engineers are understandably reluctant to reveal their trade secrets, preferring to operate on a strict need-to-know basis. And though some degree of confidentiality may be necessary to protect the plant's proprietary intellectual property, undue secrecy may deprive the system integrator of information vital to project success.

Other plant engineers will try to design and implement as much of their new automation system as they can manage themselves, bringing in a system integrator only for the technical implementation.

This, too, may be considered a necessary precaution for the sake of maintaining confidentiality, or a cost-saving measure, but it may not achieve either objective in the long run.

As Ed Diehl, executive director of system integrator Concept Systems (www.conceptsystemsinc.com) notes, experienced plant engineers prefer to bring system integrators into a project early on. “The trend has been to rely more on integrators at the initial stages of a project to help develop and specify the control architecture and approach,” Diehl says. “This is more of a consultative role and is a direct result of the end users' reduction in project staff.

Instead of end users developing control specifications, they are coming to integrators with very loosely defined needs and expecting help to develop automation solutions. Rather than responding to bid specifications, integrators are helping end users solve problems by defining their current and future automation needs.”

Diehl adds that integrators can also help decide what to do, not just how to do it. “Manufacturers have more automation choices available to them than ever before. The key is to get the best return on their automation investment,” he notes.

“With the technology in continuous flux, this isn't always an easy decision to make. Where should they make an automation investment? What technology should they use? How should it be implemented? How long will it be serviced and supported? Who should integrate it? Part of an integrator's role is to provide automation advice and consultation to help manufacturers plan for their future success.”






How to Get FREE Newsletters from Packaging Digest





.



Author Information
Consulting Editor Vance J. VanDoren, Ph.D., P.E., contributes articles on process control, advanced control and systems integration and edits Control Engineering's and Packaging Digest's annual Automation Integrator Guide. 
RSS
Reprints/License
Print
Email
Talkback
Related Content

No related content found.

Sponsored Links
Canon Resource Center

Featured Company

Most Recent Resources

Advertisement
Related Content
  • Blogs
  • Photos

Tom Szaky

Green Terratory

Tom Szaky
November 10, 2011
Recyclebank + Greenopolis = bright future for package recycling
As recycling has gained ground and moved to the forefront of concern in the past...
More

Lisa McTigue Pierce

Digestibles

Lisa Pierce
November 2, 2011
Plastic additives headed for a ‘breakdown'?
“What we have here is a failure to communicate.” That famous line...
More

KC Boxbottom

Adventures in Packaging

KC Boxbottom
November 2, 2011
The case of the falling labels
He was sitting in my office when I got back. He was the packaging manager at a...
More

KC Boxbottom

Adventures in Packaging

KC Boxbottom
October 17, 2011
The case of the busted bar code
My phone’s bleat told me it was urgent. I answered it to find Johnny, one...
More

VIEW ALL BLOGS RSS

Advertisement
Ask the Experts ad
About Us   |   Advertising Info   |   Site Map   |   Contact Us   |   FREE Subscriptions   |   RSS
 © 2010 UBM Canon. All rights reserved.
Use of this Web site is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy