Industrial Programming Solutions uses CimQuest INGEAR drivers. We have written many programs that use the OPC Server driver and the PLC ActiveX driver. All programs have performed flawless for many years now. As an example, one particular communications program we have written connects to 28 different Allen-Bradley processers using the OPC Server software. In this group are 1 PLC 5/80E processor, 3 ControlLogix processors, and 24 SLC 5/05 processors. The connections to the PLC and ControlLogix processors are common ethernet connects. However, in this case, the connections to the SLCs have to multi-hop through etherent to DH+ (Data Highway +) protocols. Being a server type program, this program has a minimal user interface screen that displays program events. The CimQuest driver has no problems at all addressing this issue and Industrial Programming Solutions has the experience and technology to read/write to the processors.

We have used the CimQuests PLC ActiveX driver with VB6 and .NET programs in situations where the program needs to connect directly to the processor. Programs of this nature do have a user interface that is heavily used by the operator. This method is ideal when the data does not need to be stored in a database such as SQL Server and viewed by many on your intranet.

Data collect often involves serial port communications with devices like barcode readers, card swipe readers, and serial port printers. We have 12 years experience working with such devices. However, we have not yet tackled RFID but we're ready and eager to take on the challenge.

Industrial Programming Solutions also uses Microsoft SQL Server for data storage and retrieval. We have extensive knowledge in creating compact relational tables for databases. Although we haven't experienced everything that SQL Server is capable of doing, we have written many stored procedures, views, user-defined functions, and created many login accounts.

We use ADO technology as the data access method for communicating with databases. This technology is the standard when reading and writing to Microsoft SQL Server, Access, Oracle, and many other databases. This technology provides a common approach to programming. This means that changing from one database to another requires only a change in the connection string to the database.

Industrial Programming Solutions uses Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005 for all new programming projects. We don't recommend their 2003 product because it leaves many blank spots such as serial port communications, but 2005 is a complete product. Visual Studio .NET 2005 has many, many features that ease common programming tasks. With this product, maintaining and supporting your custom software is becoming easier than ever.

We use Microsofts Visual Studio .NET 2005 program for creating standalone executables and web pages. Standalone executables are required for real-time data processing and best suited for intense data input. Web pages are ideal for presenting data and minor data inputs into the database. This web site for instance is written completely using their product. For web pages, we also use web controls created by telerik to add AJAX support and added flare. AJAX is a technology that basically allows web pages to change data without completely refreshing the web page. This is very important technology in a manufacturing facility because it allows near real-time data to be displayed without the annoying web page refreshing.

If you need to update or modify existing software, Industrial Programming Solutions can handle this task provided your current software is written in FORTRAN, Borland Delphi, or previous versions of Visual Basic. But, the important thing to remember is programming logic is logic! So, no matter what the language, any good programmer can adjust to various languages provided strong fundamental logic is the cornerstone to their knowledge. Industrial Programming Solutions is extremely logical when is comes to programming.

The final product is a software system that :

• collects data from your plant floor PLCs and displays the information to managers and supervisors in the front office in a near real-time manner,
• collects and sets operating parameters for machinery.

Some of the benefits of such a system are :

• monitoring and control of product inventories,
• near real-time scheduling to keep your process flow moving.

Industrial Programming Solutions has the technology and experience to improve your manufacturing process.