FAQs
Below we have added previous customers questions
and answers to some common queries about FactoryLOOK
product and associated service.
Q: What is the licensing scheme for Vistrian’s
software products?
A: For small implementations, Vistrian provides a
bundled solution called v2 that consists of hardware
and all software required to get your Manufacturing
Intelligence project off the ground. For large
implementations, license fees consist of two
components, the first component is the license fee
for the server side, and the second component is the
license fee for each piece of factory floor
equipment that is connected to the FactoryLOOK
server.
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Q: What is the pricing model for your solution?
A: Vistrian will provide turnkey pricing for all
aspects of the Manufacturing Intelligence
implementation. The turnkey pricing includes
hardware items (such as servers, switches, data
storage units, etc.), software licenses, and
professional services fees (for customization,
installation, training etc.).
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Q: What support services does Vistrian provide?
A: Vistrian’s services organization provides
initial consultation, customization, installation,
training and on-going managed services.
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Q: Can additional equipment be “added” to the system
as the customers plant grows?
A: Yes. The Vistrian FactoryLOOK implementation
is scalable and additional equipment can be easily
added to the system as needed. In many cases, the
customer can perform this task. If necessary,
Vistrian’s professional services team can perform
this task for the customer.
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Q: How will FactoryLOOK be able to extract
information if the equipment does not have a PLC
with communication ports
A: In some of these cases, when possible, it may
be useful to add a communication module to the PLC
to facilitate data extraction. Where addition of a
communication module is not feasible, Vistrian will
explore the use of the programming port and in some
cases, connect to the I/O.
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Q: How will FactoryLOOK extract information if the
equipment controller only has a serial port?
A: The Vistrian implementation can be configured
to perform data extraction from serial ports of the
PLC. RS-232, RS-485 and RS-422 are all supported.
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Q: How much data can your system store and for what
duration?
A: The amount of data that can be stored is only
limited by available disk space. Factors such as
data collection frequency, data field size (# of
bits), and capacity of existing disk drive are the
drivers in the determination of the overall size of
the data store and the duration of data
availability. During the initial consultation phase
with the customer, the Vistrian sales team will
establish the customer requirements and will propose
appropriate configurations of hardware configuration
to support the customer’s expectation.
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Q: Is the data exportable to other applications?
A: Yes. The FactoryLOOK application uses
Microsoft SQL Server as the database, and data can
be exported for any purpose suitable for the
customer.
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Q: What does the Vistrian solution include?
Hardware, Software, Services?
A: Vistrian provides a turnkey solution that
includes hardware, software and professional
services to suit its customers. The exact
configuration of hardware and software will be
determined during the initial consultation and sales
processes.
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Q: What is the frequency of data collection?
A: The frequency of data collection will be
dependent on the customer’s requirements. In
addition, the capability of the target equipment is
a major contributing factor in the resultant data
collection frequency. The Vistrian solution when
appropriately configured will be able to support
frequencies as fast as 100s of readings each second.
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Q: How do we handle changes to equipment
configuration, layout changes etc.?
A: Software tools will be provided as part of the
FactoryLOOK application that will permit changes to
equipment and layout configurations. In addition,
for customers that have on-going managed services
agreements in place, the Vistrian support team will
perform these tasks routinely.
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Q: How does the Vistrian solution handle hardware
failure on the server?
A: Because in large implementations, Vistrian
uses a distributed hardware and software
architecture, failure on one server does not cause a
major outage of the FactoryLOOK software. The
Accumulator layer of the architecture continues to
collect and analyze data even if the main server is
off-line. When the failed server is brought back
on-line, data flows into the main server
automatically and after a short “catch-up” duration
(depending on the duration of the outage), data is
again available to the user.
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Q: Can FactoryLOOK acquire data directly from
sensors?
A: Yes. When appropriately configured, the
FactoryLOOK system can acquire data directly from
sensors. This is especially useful in applications
where environmental or facilities data is collected
from all over the facility. Another application
where this feature is useful is when legacy
production equipment with minimal controller
capabilities needs to be instrumented with sensors
to improve process quality.
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Q: What are the training requirements in order to
use FactoryLOOK?
A: Anybody who is familiar with a browser such as
Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox will
be able to use FactoryLOOK. All interaction with the
application is via browser and all functionality is
accessible by point-and-clicks of the mouse.
Training classes are included as part of the turnkey
project and a typical training class takes no more
than 2 hours to get the users ready to be productive
with FactoryLOOK.
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