Tag Archives: industrial computers

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Can Smart Farming Solve the Food Crisis?

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According to the “World Population Prospects” report published by the United Nations, Earth may play host to 9.7 billion people by 2050. With hunger already a problem in both developed and undeveloped nations (though at differing levels), how can food production match food needs over the next 30+ years?

Can technology like GPS, drones, industrial tablet PCs, and “Internet of Things” devices help bridge the gap between food production now and food production in the future?

Increasing the Number of Farms Isn’t Enough

Land is already at a premium anywhere with the proper climate and soil for farming, and simply increasing size may not be the best option. Environmental concerns, lack of available land, and water access could all stand in the way of a “more is more” approach.

Instead, farmers will have to increase the yield on their current farms to keep up with global demand.

Reducing Crop Waste

They’ll also have to reduce the waste — as it stands, 150,000 tons of food in the United States is wasted through either spoilage, harvesting mix-ups, transportation errors, or consumer waste. These numbers are even higher in countries with less technology, less infrastructure, and a broken “cold chain” that is unable to keep produce consistently refrigerated for long trips.

While farmers can only claim a portion of the responsibility for wastage, an increase in efficiency at the growing and harvesting level could massively increase effective yield. It will also mean that the water, fertilizer, and time being wasted on crops that end up in the garbage will be better used elsewhere.

Smart farming technologies are perfect for increasing efficiency, yield, and reducing waste.

Agricultural Drones

With farming, as in all things, knowledge is power. The power to increase yield, reduce waste, and in general do more with fewer resources. To this end, gathering data is key.

Using drones for agriculture is one of the many new applications for unmanned vehicles.

For Gathering Information

Agricultural drones analyze soil properties, cataloging data like soil erosion, moisture levels, and nitrogen content, and they do it all from the air and at a far greater speed than a person taking samples on the ground. This reduces time spent gathering this data by hand, and does it far more accurately and with a larger sample size.

With this data, a farmer would know where irrigation is problematic before it becomes a problem, or figure out which area is in desperate need of fertilizer before the crops start to yellow.

Some drones even use infrared sensors to detect how green crops are, detecting signs of unhealthy or diseased crops while there’s still time to do something about them.

For Protecting the Crops

Some drones can even be fitted with sprayers, and are far more accurate than most mass crop dusting methods for distributing pesticide. This accuracy also generally means they use less pesticide, which is good for the budget and for the environment.  

The best part is that many of these agricultural drones don’t require special control gear. Instead, a rugged industrial tablet PC or industrial all-in-one computer can be used as a control device, offering up photos, video, and all of the data collected in the drone’s flight.

All of these drone tools really come down to one purpose — keeping crops healthy and alive no matter how large the farm, thus reducing waste and increasing yield.

RFID Tags for Tracking Livestock

“Radio-Frequency Identification,” or “RFID,” is used in industry and hospitals to keep track of inventory, important assets, and (in the case of healthcare applications) even people and their conditions.

Improving Animal Health

Tagging livestock can provide many of the same benefits. A farmer with an RFID equipped industrial tablet can scan the RFID chip on the animal in question and get a full report of activity for that animal.

When was the last time it was vaccinated? Is it time for a check-up? What about cleaning, or milking, or when it’s mating season is? How has its weight changed compared to last year? Compared to the average weight of all other livestock?

You could even use livestock tags to track pregnancy and general population growth. Traits and genetic markers (both positive and negative) could be tracked through livestock “family lines,” providing more info about what to expect with each individual animal. This could be especially useful when animal husbandry is actually part of your business, like horse breeding.

Sick animals can be identified and separated according to their needs, and thus easily identified by their ID tag. Their treatment could also be logged alongside their ID, so a quick scan can tell a vet exactly what’s been done (and what still needs to be done). Even medication frequency, and a log of medication use, could be slapped right alongside all of the other data on the animal.

Healthier Animals Means Higher Production

While all this could certainly be documented in the past, being able to just hold up an industrial tablet to the cow or horse and find out everything about them in seconds is a far more efficient and user-friendly method.

With this level of care and health monitoring, livestock are more likely to live longer, be healthier, and produce more. And since food production is going to have to step it up to meet demand, RFID tags could have a long-lasting effect on yield in the meat, egg, and dairy industries.

Smart Farming with the Internet of Things

Drones can be expensive, so when looking for smart farming solutions there are plenty of small, connected devices that can perform similar operations.

Soil Sensors

Soil sensors can be placed in strategic locations around the farm and can feed regular updates on H2O and nitrogen content right to a device like an industrial tablet PC. The data won’t be quite as detailed as aerial drone data, but it’ll still give a great picture of the soil composition without breaking the bank.

This data can reduce resource consumption — why water an area that’s already plenty moist? Or, on the flipside, maybe a section that isn’t scheduled for watering is unseasonably dry. Having that data at your fingertips could save an entire field of crops that might have otherwise died.

Weather Stations

Weather sensors and weather stations can be placed around the fields, providing up-to-the-second data on wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and humidity. Connected sensors, like the soil sensors above, can beam the information right to the farmer’s tablet or anywhere they’ve mounted a touch panel PC for other farm operations.

Having an accurate picture of the current weather could improve pesticide spraying operations, crop watering, and a hundred other processes.

Over the long term, the weather data can be collected and used to predict future trends, as well as to help calculate why certain years may have had different crop yields.

This kind of information can even be shared with other farmers, creating a fully connected community.

Feeding the Future

Sustainable farming practices and smart farming technology could provide for the additional 2 or 3 billion people coming our way without even digging up another plot of land.

To learn more about how industrial tablet PCs and the internet of things can improve smart farming, contact Cybernet today.

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4 Ways Specialized Industrial Computers Increase Safety Levels

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Safety incidents in factories, manufacturing, and construction have been dropping since the ‘70s, which is fantastic news.

However, manufacturing and especially construction still have mortality and injury rates three times higher than the average of all industries put together. This is hardly a surprise, considering the heavy-duty equipment involved, but it can still be improved.

Specialized industrial grade PCs are leading the way forward, letting the machine take the risk while the human operator stays as safe and in-control as possible.

Properly Grounded Computers Save Lives

Though, as mentioned above, injuries are down overall, electrical fatalities actually had a 15% jump higher between 2015 and 2016, the date of most recent data.  As the amount of electrical equipment in the workplace increases in industry commiserate with the rise in automation, safety becomes even more important.

Industrial computers and equipment are everywhere, but luckily much of the danger from electrocution can be mitigated through the use of DIN rails.

What is DIN Rail?

DIN stands for “German Institute of Standards.” This doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you speak German – the original name was “Deutsche Institute von Normen.”  DIN is a standardized structural rail used to mount electrical equipment.

DIN rails are handy for installing a lot of electrical components in the same area. The rail can hold electrical breakers, terminal blocks for wiring, power supplies, and even heavier items like computers in certain configurations.

Other than ease of install and access, a DIN rail also serves to create a chassis ground for all equipment on the rail. This means that should a short occur and any equipment on the rail become energized, it will seek the nearest ground through the rail instead of, say, through a worker’s fragile human body.

There are modern industrial mini PCs that are designed to mount right to standard DIN rail. These computers are used for things like inventory, CNC machining, manufacturing processes, and even clocking in and out, and as such are in frequent contact with workers.

Should a DIN-mounted industrial computer take a jolt, though, the DIN rail is more likely to catch the brunt of it than an employee. Think of DIN rails as not only convenient hardware but as a lightning rod for keeping workers safe.

Computers Are Improving the Lockout / Tagout Safety Procedure

A large number of industrial accidents occur when it comes time to repair or service potentially dangerous equipment.

Turning off equipment isn’t enough. Saws, automated construction machines, meat grinders and cutters, industrial drills, bailers, and anything using a large amount of electricity (or compressed air, or steam) are all potentially fatal at any given time. One careless button press, switch flip, or plug-in could easily maim or kill the worker who’s repairing or cleaning the machine.

That’s why the concept of lockout / tagout was invented. In a nutshell, lockout / tagout is used to make sure that the machine being serviced is not only shut down, but has been physically prevented from being turned on by an actual lock. It also catalogs who was responsible for the lockout, and on what conditions (and by whom) it can be unlocked and safely used again.

Digital Lockout / Tagout Procedures

That’s where modern industrial grade PCs and industrial tablets come in.

With an industrial tablet and the proper software, it’s possible to create a custom QR code that lists every step of the lockout / tagout procedure for that particular machine. The QR code is then placed somewhere highly visible on the machine. The worker with the tablet can then scan the QR code of any machine and get step-by-step instructions for how to lockout that particular machine.

Software can even show the user if the machine has already been locked out, it’s normal maintenance schedule, machine audits, and whatever else you choose to include, depending on the software. It can even send an email or notification to the workers affected by the machine’s shutdown to let them know.

CNC Machining is Safer for Metal Shop Workers

Metal shops use two kinds of tools: manual, and CNC. Manual tools aren’t necessarily hammers and hacksaws – they can be powered, heavy-duty machines. Manual just means the operator does all of the work by hand.

CNC machining (“computer numerical control”) is instead automated and uses a CAD program or other set of directions to cut, shape, or detail metal per specifications. In theory, a CNC machine only needs an operator to put the metal in place, equip the right bits and tool in the machine, load the program, and step away.

While CNC machines are specialty equipment, they generally use an industrial panel PC as the brain of the device. The advantage of industrial computers is that, if they’re IP65 rated, they can withstand water sprays (from jet-cutting devices) and dust intrusion (from metal shavings and the like) coming from the metalworking process.

Precision is one of the main benefits of CNC machines, as is standardization. However, CNC machines (and the industrial grade PCs that run them) also work to protect workers from dangerous industrial accidents.

Instead of having to lean over a manual lathe or a drill, the operator can stand at the nearby computer, often behind the machine’s shield or guard. Fatigue, a cause of most industrial accidents, isn’t a problem since the CNC machine is doing the hard work.

Tracking Employee Locations in Emergencies

Some facilities are so large that tracking employee location can become a problem, especially when an accident or emergency occurs.

Back in 2005, a woman named Geetha Angara was killed at the Passaic Valley Water Commission facility in New Jersey. At first, it appeared she disappeared, and it took 25 hours to find her body. This incident inspired the use of RFID tags to track workers, especially in dangerous environments.

If all of the doors and gates in the facility — or at least the doors at major choke points — required an RFID tag to open, you could use that data to determine exactly where every employee is, and where they’ve been throughout the day.

This information could then be used by an industrial computer to map out employee locations and even send a warning or alarm if a normally-mobile employee hasn’t gone through a door in a while. If an employee goes missing, the system will know exactly where they’ve been, and the last known door or fence they used.

Protecting the Human Resource

It’s easy to think of industrial computers and power tools as implements to make work easier and faster, but they can also make work safer.

Reducing industrial injuries and accidents is everyone’s responsibility. Contact Cybernet to learn more about using industrial grade PCs and industrial grade tablets to integrate cutting-edge safety features into your workplace.

 

Industrial Panel PCs and the Internet of Things

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The “Internet of Things” has become the hottest buzzword in tech circles. It refers to the practice of physical items outfitted with electronics that allow them to connect to the internet and exchange data with other devices. It can include anything from dishwashers to bicycles, and its effects are in the process of transforming the world..

Nowhere is this more acutely felt than in heavy industry, where warehouses and factory floors are undergoing a sea change thanks to IoT. Industrial computers – and particularly industrial panel PCs – allow IoT to flourish in such environments. In the process, they can streamline the production process, ensure more efficient shipping, and otherwise help a given company improve the bottom line. How do such systems facilitate the IoT and what kinds of qualities should you look for in them if you wish to make use of them in an IoT environment? We cite a few examples below.

Improving Efficiency Becomes Easy with HMI

Automated machinery and assembly-line equipment often use industrial computers to allow human workers to control them via human machine interface (HMI). IoT integration can accentuate that process and permit humans to monitor automated systems much more effectively.

For example, sensors connected to components on an automobile assembly line (or the automated machinery tasked with assembling the cars) can detect elevated temperature, vibrations and similar structural problems that may result in a defective component. It can also detect recurring trends along those lines, suggesting a batch of components with common structural problems or perhaps an issue earlier in the assembly process creating such problems. That, in turn, alerts human operators to the problem and allows them to correct the problem before it causes more damage.

An industrial panel PC allows human monitors to quickly spot the issue through HMI: pinpointing the spot on the line where the problem is occurring and allowing the process to be shut down in order to correct it. That saves untold costs by stopping the problem early, as well as helping to indicate which (if any) assembled products may be affected by the issue.

Predictive Maintenance Saves Time and Money

When it comes to assembly lines and similar industrial apparatus, little problems can turn into big headaches very quickly. A single faulty machine can grind production to a halt while it gets repaired: costing the company huge amounts in lost productivity. Regular maintenance can identify trouble before it starts, but that can take a great deal of man hours, and often involves shutting production down regardless.

IoT can change that equation. The network of sensors that comprise IoT provides an ocean of data that can be analyzed and assessed. Machines can self report scheduled maintenance to operators, making sure that routine checks aren’t overlooked, which can lead to bigger issues down the road. When an IoT machine does breakdown, they can send information that identifies the exact nature of the problem, preventing a small fix from turning into a long and expensive repair issue that can arise from misdiagnosing a problem.

RFID Readers Improve Automation in Warehouses

IoT technology can also be used in warehouses and storerooms as a means facilitating automated management. For example, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) can sort and organize products for distribution. Sensors are placed along the production like and radio frequency ID tags (RFID) can identify the specific SKU of each box. That, in turn, allows them to be sorted accurately and stacked in the right section.

Controllers can use an industrial touchscreen PC with an RFID reader to keep track of the process, and to make adjustments or changes as needed. For instance, if a new product comes into the warehouse, the SKU for that product can be entered into the system and a storage spot assigned to it. The AS/RS will then automatically adjust the process to ensure that the new product ends up where it’s supposed to go. Not only does this significantly streamline the organization process, but it can help workers quickly identify the location of a given product that might otherwise get lost in the rows and stacks of storage.

Processing Power Matters

Considering the number of interconnected devices and the volume of data created by IoT, any system needs to be able to keep up. Every sensor and data reader in a given network produces data, and that data needs to be processed and analyzed, often in real time. That means higher processing power, lower energy use, and the ability to integrate numerous different data stream seamlessly. Indeed, recent articles by Deloitte Consulting and SAS cite the rise of more powerful processing abilities as one of the chief factors enabling IoT technology.

Any kind of industrial panel PC employed for us in an IoT  environment needs high processing power to accommodate the large amounts of data involved. It also should be upgradable, if possible: allowing you to expand its power by upgrading CPUs and RAM as required. That lets you further expand your use of IoT tech while still relying on the same computer to monitor and control the information you receive.

 

Cybernet Manufacturing produces a line of panel PCs designed to work with the Internet of Things. Contact us today to discuss your options!

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3 Benefits of Using HMI Panels and Industrial Computers in Metal Shops

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Metal shops are some of the most hazardous working environments—rotating heavy metal objects at high speeds (3000 RPMs!) can be dangerous if improperly handled, but using proper safety protocols has been a standard practice for metal shops for quite a long time. Still, there are ways to increase safety within a shop by evaluating the technology used. Plus, machine shops typically have requests from customers to produce metal parts with extremely high tolerances, sometimes parts that manual methods can’t accurately produce. More sophisticated metal shops use HMI panels to control machinery in order to shape the metal to specification. Here are three ways computers have improved metal shops and their machining methods.

Metal can be Cut via CNC

A manual lathe is a very common machine used to shape metal into a variety of forms; however, they’re known for being very dangerous if not used properly. A hydraulic clamp suspends a piece of aluminum, steel, or another metal, and starts spinning the metal at very high speeds. Then, a machinist controls an arm and slowly guides a diamond-tipped insert into the surface of the metal, chipping off slivers and shards. You may likely see the problems here already; the metal chipped off is typically very hot and gets flung around because manual lathes aren’t often housed inside protective barriers. A machinist has to guide the arm into the metal to properly shape it. It requires a lot of hand-eye coordination skill controlling the lathe to properly shape parts—or else a potential part is rendered to scrap.

Machinists can use an HMI panel to control a CNC machine in order to automatically shape a part. It requires less time and experience than manual machines and can produce parts with higher tolerances, more consistently, at a quicker pace. The part schematics can be entered into the resistive touch screen PC on the CNC and then the raw metal can be cut automatically without having to train employees how to properly control it. The part is made, time is saved, and safety is higher!

Bending Metals with Industrial Computers

Not all metal shops are focused on shaping parts! Some actually take damaged and bent parts in for repair. Propellers, for instance. Rather than haphazardly hammering a propeller back into shape—a practice that won’t yield successful results quickly—many metal shops use an industrial computer to scan the damaged propeller, compare it to an original model, and then control a hydraulic machine to bend the propeller back to its original state. A machinist can use an HMI panel to track and adjust the propeller so it’s reshaped for proper use. It’s a much more effective (and cheaper) method of restoring damaged propellers instead of machining an entirely new set of blades.

Temperature Changes Abound

The inside of a machine shop can have extreme fluctuations in temperature. The cutting process alone can produce incredible heat that could potentially damage electronic equipment like a computer. Beyond that, the temperature inside of a machine shop can be greatly influenced by the temperatures outside. Hot and humid conditions in the summer months can wreak havoc on internal components. In the same way, colder weather in the winter months can lead to hardware failure.

That’s why industrial computers are manufactured with high-quality military-grade components with very stringent tolerances and metals that resist warping. These kinds of metals are resilient to small and even large fluctuations in temperature changes. The benefit is that the computers last longer with better quality transistors and capacitors, and a higher Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rating of 50 thousand hours. Machine shops often run these computers at all times to maximize their production rate. These kind of builds are necessary for production sustainment. It’s best for businesses to invest in industrial computers since they fail less, expanding the time between each purchasing cycle, and thus saving money and time.

Industrial computers and HMI panels benefit machine shops in a myriad of ways; more accurate part machining when they’re coupled with CNC machines, higher safety standards, and saving the business time and money with higher quality materials that withstand temperature changes. If you’re serious about getting the best quality computers to run your metal shop, consider investing in an industrial computer today. Contact us for more information.

 

 

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Automating Production with Industrial PCs

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The idea of “build the machine, build the empire” has been a concept since the dawn of the industrial revolution in the 18th century. Machines are largely the force behind manufacturing today for mass produced goods. Once the machine is built, the time saved in altering a manual process to automated is staggering. With the advent of automation, suddenly work time is reduced significantly and leisure time increases. Because of the industrial revolution and the process of manufacturing, a new standard of living arose for people in the manufacturing business.

We’re pretty far beyond the initial growth of the industrial revolution, but some of the concepts founded during that time period still stand. Now, the high-concept of a fully-automated manufacturing plant is attainable because of advanced AI and use of the industrial mini PC. Once the machine—the mega monolithic manufacturing plant—is built, maintaining a high productivity rate is key.

The Problems of Manual Processes and Addressing them with Industrial Mini PCs

To err is human. That’s just nature. It’s reported online that the financial cost of a manually-driven forklift accident totals about 38 thousand dollars—and that’s just for the forklift itself, not including any lost productivity while the forklift is being repaired or a worker is recovering from injury. While not every company can afford self driving forklifts, inefficiency can be tracked in even the most mundane of manual processes. These problems prompt the need to control warehouse operations by an industrial computer. The more manual processes a manufacturing plant has, the more room there is for fatigue to set in and human error to cause issues with productivity and quality. We aren’t at a place technologically where someone can just flip a switch at the beginning of the day and expect machines to run themselves until its time to go home for the evening. One thing we can do is to use human machine interface, or HMI computers, that provide a bridge between manual processes and automation. The HMI computer allows a person to monitor and make adjustments to a machine’s output while the software operates the machine itself.

Safety in the Workplace and Workers’ Compensation

Industrial mini PCs are able to take over processes that are not only time intensive but ultimately dangerous for humans to be involved with. Injury on the job spells disaster for the individual and the business. The factory floor can be a dangerous place, which is why not just anyone is qualified to work in a manufacturing setting. Automating processes that minimize direct interaction with heavy machinery with an HMI computer or industrial PC saves money and mitigates against injury, loss of productivity and costly worker’s compensation claims. Not only that, but proper industrial computers have terminal blocks that can be remote-controlled to avoid problems of accessing the computer if it’s located near hazardous materials—dust, excessive paint spray, welding machines, high temperatures, the whole gamut. By streamlining common warehouse and manufacturing plant efforts, there’s typically a reduction in injuries—thus fewer workers’ comp claims and higher productivity with lower staff absence.

Applications Beyond Computing

Automated factories can also employ industrial computers to keep an eye on factory operations. One computer can be used to control a series of checks and balances or a monitoring system to see when and where production might hit bottlenecks. Computers can schedule the most efficient production plans, decreasing lead times and improving customer satisfaction. An industrial PC can even monitor maintenance needs, meaning you can identify potential machinery breakdowns before they happen, limiting costly repairs and maintaining consistent production levels. In the event of an unexpected breakdown on the factory line, the plant can be stopped immediately minimizing damage and allowing for repairs to take place faster. Fewer labor costs, quicker problem identification, and a smoother automated warehouse. Problems solved.

Remaining Results of an Automated Warehouse

Companies have been reducing costs via employing robots to automate their manufacturing efforts. The numbers don’t lie! Another result of the automated plant is that customers are more satisfied with the manufactured products. As before, build the machine, build the empire—you’ll just need a method to control it. Would you rather have a machine equipped with laser devices being controlled by an industrial computer painting a product, or someone hand-painting the product? Automating your warehouse means a higher standard of quality to each individual product. The benefits are clear; less time, less money spent, and higher satisfaction on the customers’ end with unmatched results. To see how industrial mini PCs can help eliminate manual processes for your company you can contact us here.

 

Farm to Table: How Industrial Computers are Improving our Food Supply Chain

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Two of the largest problems in the food manufacturing industry are traceability and safety. The ability to track food from farm to table is vital in order to ensure food safety and to avert financial disaster in the event of a recall. It’s a question of the supply chain process and how well those processes can be automated. The government estimates there’s around 48 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, with about 128 thousand of those cases turning into hospitalizations, and 3 thousand of those being deaths. There’s a vast range of food-related bacteria that can cause many diseases, and the unfortunate part is we can’t eradicate all of the illnesses, but what we can do is take proper precaution against them so that we see a reduction in cases. Food manufacturers are turning to industrial computers and rugged tablets both in the field and in the processing plant to help automate the supply chain and provide full transparency into how the food you put on your table got there. The challenges in accomplishing this are process automation, reduction in infectious diseases from food handling, and keeping food manufacturing computers functional at all times. How do we combat these problems?

Maximizing Yield with Industrial PCs

Contrary to popular belief, farmers are quick to embrace technological advances. The need to increase yield while maintaining the same footprint is essential not just to stay afloat financially, but to feed a population that is growing by the year. Automated farming sounds like something from a sci-fi novel, but it is already here. Farmers are using industrial computers to run a number of automated processes. Things like irrigation systems, drone monitoring of fields, alarms and sensors that track livestock can all be controlled by industrial computers. These computers need to be able to run 24/7, process large amounts of data, have the connectivity to work in more remote locals and still withstand environmental challenges. To put it bluntly, you can’t walk into your local electronics store and walk out with a computer capable of this job. Industrial computers are engineered with military grade components designed for 24/7 operability and have rugged casings to protect against harsh weather.

Achieving Lot Traceability in the Field

In the event of a food recall, lot, bin and serial traceability is crucial. Being able to identify which batches are contaminated and which are safe can be the difference between tens of thousands of dollars in losses compared to millions. The further back in the supply chain you are able to trace the source of a contamination, the better. A rugged tablet with an integrated barcode scanner can help provide insight right from the fields. These tablets are designed to withstand dust and dirt. They can hold up against drops and shock damage. They are even waterproof. Using one of these tablets in the field, you can scan an invoice as produce is put on a truck. Now that produce is timestamped as having been picked from a specific field on a specific day at a specific time. When that produce arrives at the manufacturing plant it is scanned again upon receipt and traceability from the first leg of the supply chain is complete.

Process Automation with a Touch Screen PC

There are a number of regulations that food manufacturers need to follow in order to stay compliant with the FDA. Some products might need to be steamed. Other might need to be kept in freezing or near freezing temperatures. Bio-waste needs to be properly disposed of, and the plant itself needs to be regularly disinfected to prevent the spread of dangerous bacteria. All of these are conditions that would wreak havoc on a commercial grade PC. Human Machine Interface or HMI computers are engineered with industrial grade components to withstand these conditions. They are designed with touch screen interfaces to easily start and stop processes and keep plant operations automated and running smoothly. As central points of control, these HMI computers need to be cleaned and disinfected regularly. That’s where IP65 certification comes into play. IP65 is a designation that means a computer is water resistant, and can withstand regularly cleanings. This is extremely important in a food manufacturing environment to prevent the spread of disease and keep vital hardware up and running at all times.

Once food is processed and packaged it can be traced all the way back to the field in which it was grown. Industrial computers are helping food manufacturers increase yield, track supply and process food safer. All of which results in higher quality food finding its way to your kitchen. Cybernet manufactures a complete line of industrial computers meant to meet these challenges. For more information you can visit our website or contact us here.

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The Human Machine Interface and the Role Industrial Computers Face

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Human Machine Interface (HMI) is an important concept to be aware of in today’s industrial automation IT world. Technological innovations and advances have pushed automation’s boundaries close to near-perfect operation within industrial warehouses and manufacturing plants. We’re seeing these pushes both on a software and hardware level. Developments in artificial intelligence software are getting more sophisticated, so naturally the hardware must scale with the demands of software. However, there still must be a “starting point” in the pathway from device controller to automation result, and that’s where HMI plays a part. It’s a concept that has evolved over time as an overarching idea that incorporates all functionality of a given production system into a single user interface that can be controlled by simply touching an industrial touch panel PC. It’s the combination of a graphical user interface, an automated production system, and its supporting software that must operate in synergy to be fully productive. These HMIs are becoming more important with the onset of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the desire to fully automate processes. However, not just any device will operate in the manner an HMI needs.

HMI Computers Must Be Compact

Warehouses come in all shapes and sizes, but regardless of the configuration of a warehouse it’s important to find an industrial touch panel PC capable of being installed in an area that’s non-obtrusive to traffic. A retail computer purchased off the shelf and then stored on a warehouse floor will undoubtedly get kicks and light shock damage. Populate an entire warehouse with computer towers, and you’re bound to see a hardware failure within the first three months. Small form factor design with a flexible open frame, wireless technology, and a fully integrated resistive touch screen are necessary components for a proper HMI computer. Why a resistive touch screen if it’s older technology? Capacitive touch screens won’t function with gloves. If you’re in an industrial warehouse, we’d recommend using gloves. We’d also recommend a resistive screen so you won’t need to remove them.

An Industrial Touch Panel PC Must Be Resilient

Temperature changes, sparks, disruptive noises, dirt, soot, chemicals, flying objects, shock damage, and other hazards are a concern for computers in warehouses. Workers can’t operate computers if they’re too close to an entity producing extremely hot or cold temperatures, so HMI computers must be resilient to extreme temperature changes. Thankfully, industrial computers are. Several industrial computer builds are encased in aluminum housings and constructed with military-grade components that have a Mean Time Between Failure of 50 thousand hours, much more than a consumer-grade computer. You’ll need an HMI computer resistant to all hazards to keep longevity. Combining metal enclosures, military-grade components, and resilience in extreme temperatures creates the perfect trifecta for longevity when it comes to HMI computers.

Industrial Computers Need Wireless Tech

A common problem with consumer-grade wireless devices is shoddy WiFi. Home routers drop wireless signals because of attenuation; wireless tech in HMI computers may do the same if the wireless range is too weak over the wireless “path,” or it’s blocked by warehouse walls—a concept known as a Faraday cage. Ensuring your next industrial touch panel PC is equipped with some of the strongest wireless capabilities—an Intel Dual Band Wireless-N 7260 Plus Bluetooth card—will reduce if not remove spotty wireless connections. Plus, if a keyboard and mouse are needed they can connect seamlessly with the HMI computer via Bluetooth. 

Industrial Panel PCs Need Mountability Options

For your next industrial computer deployment, it’s a strong idea to ensure all of the above are addressed, but that doesn’t address where your panel PCs might reside. What’s the solution there? An IT professional can’t leave them dangling from power cables or thrown about a warehouse floor, so a VESA mount is necessary to keep them clutter free. Using a standard 75/100m VESA mounting holes, staff can keep panel PCs out of the way by mounting them to the wall.

Adhering to specific hardware design and a set of features that expand productivity are what businesses should look for when it comes to HMI computers. At Cybernet, we’ve engineered a full line of industrial PCs that meet these standards and excels in the warehouse. Contact us today to find out more details.

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Real-Life Applications for Rack Mounted Computers and DIN Rail Computers

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Mounting a computer isn’t just screwing in a few bolts into a strip of metal and calling it a day; there are stronger reasons for rack mounted computers and DIN rail computers than just looking professional. Rack mounts are best employed to keep hot and cold air moving at efficient rates. DIN rail computers follow a worldwide standard so professionals can easily mount them and other devices to a DIN strip. Let’s take a look at reasons some industrial companies utilize rack and DIN mounting for computers and possible problems when they’re not used in place of a consumer-grade PC.

Rack Mounted Computers Alleviate Heat and Manage Cabling

Rack mounted computers aren’t just installed in racks because it’s convenient; heat plays a major factor in the design for mounts. Imagine gathering several tower computers together in a room, connecting them haphazardly, flicking the power switch, and letting the computers sit without ventilation. That’s the equivalent of putting a computer in the oven for several hours—that infrastructure won’t last. Without a proper structure with the right industrial computers in place to route heat and wires, the server room in question will cook every component within it. In a server rack mount computer configuration, there are layout designs called hot/cold aisle configurations. They’re in place to ensure hot and cold air don’t mix. That’s why rack mounted computers have a superior design over consumer-grade PCs—since they will be functioning as “always on,” it’s important to design their cases in a matter so that they’re easily removable if need be and cold/hot air can flow liberally throughout their vents.

DIN Rail Computers Are Uniform

Without a mounting standard for computers, how can an individual know what they’re getting and how to mount it? If there’s no standard met with mounting an industrial computer, one can easily get lost in translation trying to match a random mounting bracket with a DIN strip. One of the greatest benefits to DIN mounting is that there’s no guesswork. DIN is a German national organization that sets measurement standards for a range of applications such as electrical connections, paper sizes, film speeds, and other standards. If a company decides to make it’s own mounting standard, industry professionals would be forced to stick with their proprietary industrial computers and terminal blocks. What if a company needs to purchase a range of products from different manufacturers, each with their own standards? That would lead to a potential pathway of unnecessary clutter, especially if a company requires four or five different standardized mounts. Standardizing the mounts through DIN make it easy to organize and mount DIN rail computers so there’s a neater possible configuration of components that retail off-the-shelf computers can’t provide.

DIN Rail Computers are Protected

If there’s a loose ground on an industrial computer for whatever reason, there’s an obvious risk of losing data, facing a short-circuit fiasco, or an entire system failure happening. Plus, heat has a tendency to rise upwards—if a series of computers are mounted together on a vertical rail, what kind of heat is each industrial computer receiving? How will cabling be handled with an entire coupling of computers? Gathering heat-producing electrical devices together can be a heat and electrical risk. That’s one reason why DIN mounts are standardized—they function as grounds for each computer. A DIN mount’s metal composition is important to the series of DIN rail computers installed on it. Aluminum is a common metal to use for ground transfer in the case of galvanic corrosion or electrical problems—it’s lightweight, too. Copper mounts can act as heat conductors, drawing away heat from the military grade computers. Plus, DINs function as proper cabling pathways. Setting up a bunch of retail computers to reside on a warehouse floor with cables strung everywhere is not an ideal solution for safety—either for the computer or for who might be using them. Protect your investments and your employees by mounting your DIN rail computers whenever possible to keep electrical hazards down and maintain a professional look.

Cable management, protection from heat, power distribution, and grounding all come to mind when handling rack and DIN mounted computers—that functionality isn’t just a matter of having convenient access to the computer in question when it’s needed. It’s a matter of optimizing your server installation layout to protect your data and ensure your network installation has zero problems in its design. That’s why choosing an industrial computer is a better option than consumer-grade.

tough tablets

Industrial Tablets vs Off-the-Shelf in the Field

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Since 2010, Apple has seen tremendous success after the corporation released it’s first iPad tablet, launching a new market and being the trendsetter in a new line of mobile technology products. As recent as 2016, Apple’s global market share has reached 25 percent for tablets, leading Samsung by approximately 10 percent. It’s clear that this market has seen tremendous growth and application in the past 7 years—Apple sold more than 40 million iPads alone in 2016. However, what we’re looking at is largely representative of the consumer market for tablets and not the industrial market. It’s likely the case that an industrial company settled on Apple products for mobile productivity in the past, but there’s an important financial factor that’s hard to see on a day-to-day basis; the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is an estimation of expenses related with buying, deploying, using, and then retiring of a piece of equipment or product. Industrial companies focus a lot on TCO, but consumer grade tablets aren’t best in the long run for industrial companies. Generally the TCO for a tough tablet is lower (better) since they last longer. Here’s an in-depth look at why.

Tough Industrial Tablets Utilize a Hot Swappable Battery

If you’ve ever tried to remove the internal battery for a tablet, it was probably a frustrating and educational experience. Most tablets are sealed, so battery removable and replacement either requires someone who has experience getting into the innards of a tablet, a trustworthy individual with a steady set of hands who can learn quickly, or device shipment to the manufacturer who can replace the battery if the tablet is within warranty. If it’s not within warranty, expect to pay around 100 USD for a battery replacement and a turnaround time of 3-5 days with no promise of restoring all the previous data. If you’d prefer to remove and replace the battery yourself, kits often cost around as much as a manufacturer’s price for a battery replacement anyhow. That’s not a strong outlook for a business, especially if the tablets have no backstock, leaving at least one employee with no way to be productive. Or, you could just swap out the removable battery on the tough tablet instead and resume productivity. Not only does this removable battery functionality affect TCO greatly, it prevents production downtime. Plus, if a battery doesn’t hold a charge, others are available to purchase. The hot swappable battery function justifies the cost alone. It can take productivity from a few hours to a full work shift—or more, depending on how many people on different shifts use one tablet. One tough tablet with three batteries can be used continuously over the course of an entire day instead of three separate tablets in use, each potentially lasting the time span of a shift and then stored away to charge. Again, industrial tablets have a lower TCO.

Tough Tablets Need Tough Glass, and More

Some tablets use Corning’s Gorilla Glass, an alkali-aluminosilicate sheet of glass that is highly resistant to scratches, direct damage, and drops. Gorilla Glass has become a staple in tough tablet and smartphone manufacturing, but it’s not indestructible and a lot of videos have surfaced online demonstrating it can shatter if a tablet is dropped in sensitive areas—usually a corner. Industrial tablets are known to use Gorilla Glass and often have housings to protect the corners, which iPads and other consumer-grade tablets lack. Sure, a CFO can get protective cases for tablets too, but a rugged case can hit the wallet at about 80 USD—another cost consideration when going with consumer tablets. Why buy more when an industrial tablet comes with the protection? The last accidental drop a warehouse needs is one that shatters the glass on a tablet, potentially rendering the device useless. Tough tablets are built to withstand shocks and vibrations.

Tablets Tend to Bend

A quick search online reveals that consumer tablets aren’t the most resilient to warping. Some have actually shipped bent in the past, and others warp so much the glass actually shatters. Couple that in an industrial warehouse with temperature changes—not a favorable result. Even aluminum and stainless steel are known to warp a few microns because of temperature changes in machine shops, so we’ve come to expect sheets of silicon, aluminum, and glass to do the same. Industrial tablets are built to withstand temperature changes, vibrations, shocks, and accidental damage, extending their life beyond what a consumer would expect. Built with industrial-grade components, these tough tablets have a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) timespan of six years. Consider that the original iPad released in 2010—several models of the iPad have been released between then and 2017, suggesting that one industrial tablet will last longer than several iPad generations. Again, lower TCO for the industrial tablet.

Capacitive is Great Technology—but Not For Industrial Tablets

Working in a warehouse often requires gloves—regular gloves, unless you buy capacitive-knit gloves (which are expensive and don’t provide much protection), don’t work on capacitive screens. Capacitive technology uses the electrical charge from our hands to actually register a change in voltage, thus changing the elements on screen. With a gloved hand, the electrical charge doesn’t register. Consumer grade tablets usually use capacitive screens, so a gloved hand won’t work. Industrial tablets use resistive screens so a gloved input can actually register. Sure, employees can take off their gloves and work with a tablet screen, but that’s quite a tedious annoyance.

These reasons clearly outline why tough tablets are the best choice for an industrial setting. Consumer grade tablets warp easier, batteries aren’t easily replaceable, gloved hands can’t interact with their screens, operational life is shorter, and there’s a higher TCO. Consider that the MTBF for an industrial tablet is longer than the lifespan for several generations of iPads and other tablets! You don’t want your employees to suffer productivity downtime over charging batteries or sending a broken tablet off to a manufacturer over one drop—unless you prefer spending more money over time.

 

 

Multiple Hardware Vendors

Multiple Hardware Vendors vs 1—Weighing the Pros and Cons of Both Approaches

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In a business setting, it’s not always clear what the best decisions are. Discounts often drive who is chosen for hardware implementation. Unfortunately for many, the largest discount might mean the fattest payout in the long run, and it’s the clairvoyance IT professionals need to see how extensive an expensive route will pay off for them, ironically. Sometimes choosing multiple hardware vendors for a company’s IT needs is a good idea for certain business applications—and sometimes not. Imagine placing a competitor computer’s battery in the wrong workstation on wheels! Problems can arise for multiple industries if an IT department takes the wrong business approach. We look at both sides critically, first by pointing out that multiple hardware vendors isn’t the best idea.

Multiple Hardware Vendors Don’t Work Together

The sad truth is that no IT infrastructure lasts forever. It’s nice to have support on hand whenever a hardware component goes awry, even though the process may not be the most enjoyable. The roughest part is when IT professionals can’t pinpoint a specific diagnosis for a particular problem—maybe a firewall is blocking internal access to a server by one small setting, or perhaps another component in the entire infrastructure causes all emails to be rerouted to the helpdesk. Either way, if a problem with a computer arises, like with a workstation on wheels, and there’s a conflict with another computer from a different vendor, prepare for a battle of finger pointing. One vendor will likely accuse another’s hardware of malfunction, and so beings the process of calling each vendor back and forth or even having a conference call to determine what the true problem with the conflicting computer might be—if that even solves the problem. Once the “finger pointing battle” is over, it might take a networking specialist to locate the culprit. Purchasing from a single vendor increases the likelihood of network integrity, higher security, total functionality, and easier support so that every workstation communicates effectively with all others.

Multiple Hardware Vendors Leave You to Figure out the Problems

Sometimes with different hardware on the network, a vendor’s integration technician won’t be able to get computers talking. For instance, let’s say the data on one workstation on wheels is encrypted with a trusted platform module and a technician needs to network it with un-encrypted computers—is that a possibility? Likely not, and it’s left up to the IT department to figure out. Medical grade computers are often equipped with trusted platform modules to encrypt data, and they won’t talk well with something off the shelf. Refer to the first point we mentioned about the potential fiasco an IT department could face when mixing different vendors.

Contract Negotiations Can be Troublesome

Hypothetically, let’s say an IT department purchases from three separate vendors—one can deliver in two days, another can deliver in three weeks, and the third hasn’t gotten approval from department heads. A full network of computers won’t be deployed for weeks! Consulting with one hardware vendor will ensure full deployment of all computers for the entire network instead of having to deal with multiple contracts, conflicting contract timelines, several points of communication, delays in shipping, differences in support, distinctions in policies, mismatched software upgrade timelines, and hardware incompatibilities. Single contract business operations clearly outweigh multiple here.

Think About The End Users–Your Staff

It takes time to train people on specific hardware. If the powers that be purchase vastly different workstations, it’ll take time and effort to train people on proper usage of each of them. A tablet with barcode scanner is used in a much different manner than a workstation on wheels. The hardware differences between conflicting vendors could be vast to a point where it takes more training than necessary, unless all hardware comes from the same vendor. Some vendors require to have training specialists sent out in the field—an expense companies only want to endure once.

The Positive Points of Multiple Hardware Vendors

In our unbiased approach, we recognize that there are benefits to multiple vendors. As before, the clearest benefit is access to discounts—generally the lowest bidder is the winner in the short run. Also, mixing hardware gives IT departments greater access to a variety of technology so professionals can pick and choose what they consider easier to work with or better. Choosing multiple hardware vendors also addresses individual preferences for hardware—perhaps one nurse on a medical staff prefers using one brand’s workstation on wheels over another. That’s a clear aspect where multiple hardware vendors may benefit the staff. Every corporation is different, so consider all possibilities that can benefit the staff and help the corporation grow. As before, keeping competition between vendors for your next workstation deployments might be better in the short term for price, but total network connectivity will net better results in the long-term. Consider Cybernet’s workstations for your next deployment.