We found that sometimes it takes plain old analog human-to-human communication, as well.
经理和工程师很快需要信息，以便使公司盈利地运行。各种网络和软件技术乘坐救援。自动化世界编辑Gary MintChell探讨了现场总线的某些技术，包括蜂窝和无线，在第24页开始。
One of the newer Web standards is called Web Services. Contributing Editor James Koelsch describes how companies are exploiting this new standard as a means for reaching across networks and into disparate databases to collect information on demand, and make your data talk, in this article beginning on page 31.
Contributing Editor Rob Spiegel takes on the unenviable task of explaining several of the more popular industrial networks, known as fieldbuses. What he found is that while networks have stabilized, there is a new debate over device description languages. Could another “fieldbus war” be brewing? Read his analysis beginning on page 36.
The new frontier of automation is finding a way to automate data movement from factory floor databases to business level databases in such a way as to enhance corporate decision-making. As Contributing Editor Kenna Amos says in his article beginning on page 41, “Do it wrong and you’ve got a communications problem worse than the Tower of Babel.”
Arguably one of the best success stories of suppliers and users working together to build a standard for information exchange is OPC. Broadening from its roots as “OLE for Process Control” to an interoperable communications specification, OPC provides a standard way to move data within industrial automation applications. Editorial Director Jane Gerold describes the latest innovations in this article beginning on page 47.
Johns Manville, the insulation manufacturer, is a great example of how a company can leverage human-to-human communications to drive business returns. In an exclusive interview with Gerold, Dick Cunningham, program director for advanced process, explains how Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, and interdepartmental teamwork pay off.
