Process Industries such as Refineries, Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Power Plants, and Iron & Steel form the core sector of our economy. These industries are being driven to deliver higher quality products tailored to the specific needs of individual customers in shorter periods of time at lower costs. Achieving this goal is complicated by the fact that every manufacturing company is a complex web of activities and information flows.

With the advent of open systems, process automation systems and process control software have moved out of proprietary control. This has opened up a world of opportunities for seamless integration of all plant processes, from the sensor in the field to the boardroom decision support systems.

OPC

The OPC (OLE for Process Control) Specification is a non-proprietary technical specification that defines a set of standard interfaces based on Microsoft’s OLE/COM technology. The application of the OPC standard interface enables interoperability between automation/control applications, field systems/devices, and business/office applications.

Traditionally, each software or application developer was required to write a custom interface, or server/driver, to exchange data with hardware field devices. OPC eliminates this requirement by defining a common, high performance interface that permits this work to be done once, and then easily reused by HMI, SCADA, control systems and custom applications.

i3 has deep experience in Process Industries and their automation, and can help develop Manufacturing Execution Systems that deliver information to optimize production activities from order placement to finished goods.