Unified safety protocol to boost overall equipment efficiency
In April 2012, David Humphrey of the ARC Advisory Group published an article on openSAFETY in the ARCwire Industry News Analysis. Entitled, “openSAFETY Initiative Aims to Unify Industrial Safety Protocols”, it recognizes the potential of the openSAFETY protocol to revolutionize the way individual production machines are connected to form production lines.
The analysis reports activities of large automation customers such as Nestlé as well as industry consortiums like the OMAC towards specification of a universally applicable safety interface standard. They have recognized that the lack of a common, machine-to-machine safety protocol reduces the value of having an integrated line. A unified, hardware-independent and legally open safety protocol such as openSAFETY on the other hand reduces line integration efforts while increasing overall line safety as well as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Founded in 1986, the ARC Advisory Group ranges among the leading technology research and advisory firms for industry and infrastructure worldwide. ARC’s coverage of technology and trends extends from business systems to product and asset life cycle management, supply chain management, operations management, energy optimization and automation systems.
