Walt Boyes' Blog

I'm in Dallas today getting ready for a press event tomorrow at the Texas Motor Speedway. Citect, Schneider, and Graybar are holding a joint press event to show how Graybar can easily do your SCADA project, because Citect and Schneider have worked together to produce a unified product architecture from the PLC to the HMI. Long ago, in the really Dark Ages, around 1976 or so, I … [Read more...] about A SCADA state of mind…

From Eric Byres at BCIT: "so far we have tested five controllers for three companies and have another three in the hopper for the fall. The tests uncovered: 9 critical vulnerabilities; 42 warning notices; 7 informational notices. Two of these vulnerabilities hard-faulted the application logic running in the CPU." Eric says he can't disclose the names of the companies, or model … [Read more...] about BCIT Controller Testing…so far

One of the most unsatisfactory outcomes of the preoccupation of the automation vendors with low volume, high profit products is the need to control the product specifications. The most glaring example of this is the incredible (insert choice military aphorism for mess) we call the Fieldbus Standard. It took 15 years to develop, and is designed to unpromote, if I may coin a … [Read more...] about More reflections on Pinto's Point

Last week, Jim Pinto's column, "Pinto's Point," made some very good points. I think Jim may well be right about some of this. Pinto said that automation companies were locked into a "mindset" of being "stable, slow-growth, and low-profit." He notes that it is very difficult to get automation companies, their analysts, and the Wall Streeters who follow this niche to break out of … [Read more...] about Is there an Automation Mindset?

Talking this morning with Eddy Azad from Parsec Automation (www.parsec-corp.com)... Not a sales and marketing guy, Eddy has been hiding his light under a bushel basket for years. Starting in 1988, Parsec was founded as a system integrator...one of the first. By the mid 1990's, it was becoming increasingly clear that successful solutions required both advanced technology and a … [Read more...] about OEE before OEE was cool…