Make2Pack ISA88 Part 5 works toward interoperability

-- Control Engineering, 4/18/2008

Dayton, OH – Interoperability continues to be a key issue for participants working to create the Make2Pack ISA88 Part 5 standard. At the Dayton Airport Hotel, April 15-17, Make2Pack ISA88 Part 5 committee members gathered and worked on standard explanations for various types of control. The Part 5 draft of the ISA88 standard aims to improve connections among batch, process, and discrete controls, as well as expand the scalability and reuse of embedded programming.

A tabletop equipment demonstration at the meeting showed controllers, two conveyors, photoelectric sensors, safety interlocks, terminal blocks, and an HMI interface using the latest in Part 5 thinking. Bob Steele of GE Fanuc developed the screen and code (structured text and ladder logic) and Dave Bell of ATR Distributing (Wonderware Cincinnati) integrated some equipment on loan from P&G.

Discussions included "scope and detail of the standard—whether the intent is to create guidelines or if certifiable, interoperable devices and controllers will result. Clear guidelines allowing for scalability and collapsibility are a minimum. Interoperability is the hope," according to David Chappell, Part 5 chairman, who discussed these points and others in the Standard profits: Make2Pack and ISA88 blog. 

For more, along with a photo of the demonstration and a screenshot of the accompanying human-machine interface, see Make2Pack ISA88 Part 5 Dayton meeting demo, scope, interoperability, the April 15, 2008, blog entry.   

– Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief 

Control Engineering News Desk

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