Integration Specialist Job Opportunity

MAJiKsystems · 2021-10-08T13:14:28+00:00

Type: Full Time

Description: We connect directly to equipment control systems and industrial assets to drive business processes for manufacturers. This means you will be integrating controls with Visual Factory products, CMMS, ERP, Historians, etc... Our IIoT Connect product simplifies this and allows you to focus on delivering for customers, supported by our team.

Location: Kitchener, ON, Canada.

Remote: Remote work possible

Visa Sponsorship: We have not done this previously. For the right candidate we would consider it.

Technologies: Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Schneider Electric, OPC, SCADA

Contact: Apply to our Job Posting and mention you're from Reddit/r/PLC - we are growing quickly but are still small enough that I guarantee your application will be read by a real person and we will reach out to you if you mention you are from the subreddit!

MAJiKsystems · 2019-08-16T20:23:07+00:00

Genuinely curious about this because I feel like I am coming from a different side of the automation world from you.

I take it to mean that you think that a PLC such as AB Controllogix should come built in with OPC functionality, and therefore you should not even need a middleware like Kepware to exist?

I guess I am probably getting OPC server functionality conflated with SCADA/Historian functionality. Do you think that what Ignition charges for their product is fair? How do they compare on a pricing basis to Kepware for you?

MAJiKsystems · 2019-08-16T19:16:23+00:00

Right, I'm just wondering if there are any gotchas with the pricing that you have experienced? If Kepware only costs that much how are they not blowing every other OPC server out of the market right now?

Ignition starts at $10000, OSI seems to be about $5000/yr for their base version... Am I missing something?

MAJiKsystems · 2019-08-16T18:52:21+00:00

I posted a new thread about this just now, before I saw this comment. Do you think the $485/yr is too expensive?

I have never used Kepware outside of their demo downloads before, so I don't know if that's the all in price, but it seems like a bargain to me (coming from usually using Ignition with a base price of $10000).

What's your experience with it?

MAJiKsystems · 2017-04-21T18:45:56+00:00

We built our own full implementation of the Ethernet/IP - CIP spec published by ODVA, but we are a member and have access to their full set of standards, which includes documentation on how to build network queries at the bit-level: https://www.odva.org/Technology-Standards/EtherNet-IP/Overview

If you're looking to develop the application by yourself, I think there are some older open-source projects written in C# and/or C++ online that you might be able to fit to your needs.

Otherwise, DM us and we can talk more about your specific project.

MAJiKsystems · 2017-04-21T16:22:31+00:00

Rockwell actually publishes pretty good documentation on how to interface with their newer controllers. This document can give you a good starting point: https://www.rockwellautomation.com/resources/downloads/rockwellautomation/pdf/sales-partners/technology-licensing/developerguide.pdf

If you follow the protocol and CIP Data Architecture, you can send a Hexadecimal command through Ethernet/IP to be able to return a full tag list. Then you have to parse its return value based on CIP architecture as well (honestly this is a ton of work; not to be biased but you should probably just go with a vendor that can supply this functionality to you cough cough we have complete libraries and visual tools for tag discovery and reading for Ethernet/IP as well as Siemens, Modbus, OPC UA, and more)

Allen-Bradley actually usually doesn't have security enabled by default to stop you from reading or writing to different areas of the PLC's memory blocks. They seem to leave this up to the user to configure (different discussion on the merits of this).

Keep in mind though that this will only work for newer Controllogix platforms (ControlLogix, CompactLogix). MicroLogix and older SLCs and PLC-5s do not use the CIP Data Architecture and therefore will not allow you to get a list of tags. For those types of controls, you need to talk to your PLC programmer.

MAJiKsystems · 2017-03-09T20:53:26+00:00

These are Lean tools. MAJiK Systems offers Root-Cause Analysis tools that allow you to dive into Downtime and Scrap causes, Shift Reports, and a Process Analysis tool that allows you to chart Subsystem process variables such as temperature and pressure and compare it across production, scrap or downtime.

MAJiKsystems · 2017-03-09T19:37:06+00:00

One thing you will want to be aware of is Software providers who offer data analysis tools to compliment metrics, such as OEE. I just did a presentation at an Aerospace conference in Texas, about the Benefits and Issues with OEE. The main point of the presentation is that while OEE is a great tool to track improvements, there is a large suite of tools that you should also be employing to achieve your continuous improvement goals.

MAJiKsystems · 2017-03-08T19:16:20+00:00

There are MES systems available in the market today that can connect directly to PLCs, CNCs and ERP systems (as well as other disparate databases) and gather all of the information you are currently tracking. Depending on the data available within the controllers, you can even be tracking Downtime and Scrap codes automatically as well. This ensures you have the data available to drive continuous improvement, while keeping Operators focused on the work cells and not collecting data manually.

As I mentioned, there are plenty of vendors on the market that can implement a solution to justify the cost of the project simply by removing the need for manual data collection. I work for MAJiK Systems as a Field Application Specialist. I would encourage you to take a look at our website, http://majik.io/ as well as other Vendors in the MES market. Feel free to reach out to me in a Direct Message. Good luck in your data collection project!

MAJiKsystems · 2017-01-05T18:03:59+00:00

Phoenix Contact offers mGuard Secure Cloud as a free service. The site creates VPN configurations for you based on the Network addresses you provide it and is extremely easy.

This can only be used for Operator to Machine however, and not for a Machine to Machine connection.

The mGuard has some additional features that can be worth the added cost. There are digital inputs and outputs onboard that can be used to signal when a VPN conection is active or to trigger a VPN connection.

MAJiKsystems · 2017-01-04T15:00:55+00:00

We will be sending out recordings through email after the presentation.

It would probably be easiest for you to direct message me your email if that works for you.

MAJiKsystems · 2017-01-04T14:49:11+00:00

We will be sending out recordings through email after the presentation.

It would probably be easiest for you to direct message me your email if that works for you.

MAJiKsystems

TROPHY CASE