J
Dear All, I am presently designing a Semiconductor Processing System which I intend to run using a PC Based Control scenario. It is a very high quality expensive product($3M+) so cost is not really a consideration. I am very familiar with PLC product/design/systems/interfaces, etc. I am not however familiar with PC based controls although from my initial evaluations to date, Think & Do plus Wonderware's Factory Suite 2000 seem to be the highest used products. My project requires Alarm/Auto-Dial-up/High Quality GUI's/Server /Database/Security/multipile Interfaces even PLC's/etc/etc. It must dial out to remote servers on an hourly basis. It must provide real-time data to a number of key managers in a factory situation/ Process Mgr /Equipment Mgr/ Production Mgr, etc. on separate PC's (dumb). It must allow video capabilities. It must communicate especially well with PC Anywhere, Microsoft Products, VB/C++ GUI's+HMI's, etc. It is also likely that parts of the system design will need to be changed every couple of years and I would like the software to be designed in sections so the section which is new only needs new software. Note:It must look and feel as a single system. All GUI's/HMI's will be developed in C++ and will sit between the user and the PC based control application. I will be hiring 3 Engineers for the Software part alone but I am still trying to get my budgets as close as possible at this stage. Also I am interested in info on the latest hardware/HMI panels/Computers /I/O's/etc,etc. Regards, John Quinn. CEO. NuEon Systems.