NEURON DATA IN MANUFACTURING
SELECTED CUSTOMERS
Belin-Groupe BSN
BMW
Boeing Company
British Steel
Carnaud Metalbox
Daimler Benz
Dassault Systemes
Essilor
Ford Motor
General Electric
General Motors
Gervais Danone
GKN Automotive
Hitachi
Honda
Kawasaki
Kodak
L'Oreal
Michelin
Minolta
Mitsubishi
Monroe Auto Equipment
Nestle
Nissan
Opel
Pioneer
Procter and Gamble
Rhone Poulenc
Sanyo
Seiko
Tetra Pak
Toyota
Volvo
ADDISON WESLEY (U.S.A.)
Addison Wesley is developing client/server-based Production Publishing
Systems that will enable the company to closely and automatically track every
aspect of a book's production cycle. The pilot is installed on a Pentium server
running Sybase and linked via Novell local area network to Mac and PC
clients.
AMBER ENGINEERING (U.S.A.)
Amber Engineering is a leading designer and manufacturer of Infrared
detection chips and systems. The company used SMART ELEMENTS to assist
them in cost effectively manufacturing custom chips. The first phase of the
project utilizes an intelligent requirements editor. A customer's
requirements are entered into a system that looks for discrepancies and bad,
missing or inconsistent data. Once the data has been approved, it is sent to
the intelligent design assistant.
The intelligent design assistant is the second phase of the project. The
customer's requirements are compared against a database of existing designs
that have "similar" requirements. These existing designs are presented to the
engineer for modification. The changes are also reviewed by a set of
approved design rules.
BAUMER ELECTRIC (SWITZERLAND)
Baumer Electric is a leading supplier of sensors used in automatic
manufacturing and industrial robotics. Baumer sensors use many kinds of
input (pressure, ultrasound signal, etc.) to obtain desired output signals that
control the manufacturing process. The sensors must match all customer
specifications for voltage, sensitivity, accuracy, range, etc. It is impossible to
keep every sensor in stock. The sensors are therefore built in a modular way,
and a parts list is prepared for every order.
Before sensor input knowledge was implemented with NEXPERT OBJECT into a
knowledge base, it took an engineer from 15 minutes to several hours to create
these parts lists. With NEXPERT OBJECT, Baumer employees can now generate
a list in 15 to 45 seconds directly from the customer's specification, without
engineering knowledge. The application also has access to Baumer Electric's
main database, and will offer assistance with information about parts
availability, pricing and delivery dates.
CARLETON (BELGIUM)
Carleton, a Belgium-based software company, developed an application called
"OpenHouse" using OPEN INTERFACE ELEMENTS. OpenHouse simplifies the use
of information already available in Carleton's production databases. The
OpenHouse architecture uses a pragmatic development, implementation and
maintenance approach. It is designed to meet the objectives of information
users, as well as the company's development, implementation and
maintenance guidelines. OpenHouse provides the ability to reformat data into
any of several PC file formats. Supported data structures include DIF, SYLK,
PRN, CSV and SAS. OpenHouse is available on multiple hardware platforms
supporting a wide range of operating systems, user interfaces and databases, as
both source and target.
COLGATE PALMOLIVE (NEW YORK, U.S.A.)
OPEN INTERFACE ELEMENTS is the key software tool used in the development of
a new generation of manufacturing scheduling systems at Colgate Palmolive.
The use of OPEN INTERFACE ELEMENTS has also sped up the deployment process
for these systems. "Its object-oriented structure and sophisticated graphics
enable us to deliver these mission-critical plant applications in record time,"
said J.M. Schwartz, Manufacturing Manager of Colgate Palmolive.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE (CONNECTICUT, U.S.A.)
Deloitte & Touche automates mass merchandise pricing with NEXPERT OBJECT.
The knowledge of an experienced merchandiser was used to develop a NEXPERT
knowledge-base, which now formulates mass merchandise pricing strategies
and proposes recommendations. The application runs on PCs under MS-DOS
linked to an IBM mainframe under MVS, and accesses data in VSAM.
FOSTER WHEELER (NEW JERSEY, U.S.A.)
Foster Wheeler Corporation is an international organization that provides a
broad range of design, engineering, construction, manufacturing, plant
operations and environmental services. Foster Wheeler is using Neuron Data's
Elements Environment family to build an integrated engineering application
that will include process simulation, plant design, procurement and material
management information. The application will integrate an array of
information from Oracle, SQLServer, spreadsheets, process simulation data
stored in an object-oriented database and CAD designs in Integraph, PDMS or
Autocad. Their environment will include PC and UNIX workstations; Sun,
Novell and HP servers; IBM mainframe and IBM AS400.
FUJI HUNT PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMICALS (SWITZERLAND/GERMANY)
The OASIS family of applications is used by Fuji Hunt's photographic labs all
over the world. Fuji calls it a "revolutionary system for total chemical and
process control management." OASIS Pro is 100% user-definable: it allows the
user to define his own checks on chemical parameters as required. This
information is then used by OASIS Pro for chemical or water additions, to
correct bath density, for regeneration of chemical overflows and even for
advanced diagnostics of process control problems. By maintaining the proper
chemical balances, Fuji labs are able to optimize their chemical mixes and keep
photographic quality levels as high as possible. Koller + Partner AG used OPEN
INTERFACE ELEMENTS to develop the application, a full-featured Windows
program that runs on IBM-compatibles.
HUSKY INJECTION MOLDING SYSTEMS BOSTON, INC. (U.S.A.)
NEXPERT OBJECT has been incorporated by Husky Injection Systems Boston Inc.
to design pail molds. The program assimilates all of the engineering design rules
which Husky has learned about the design and manufacturing of pail molds.
LINDE VA (GERMANY)
Linde VA, a division of Linde AG, specializes in plant engineering and
construction. Because of the company's international contracts, engineers
work at jobs sites around the world and use a variety of computer platforms.
Linde wanted to make its extensive mainframe database and ancillary databases
easily accessible and usable for all of its engineers, regardless of their location.
In response to their engineers' needs, Linde developed Database for Windows
(DfW) using OPEN INTERFACE ELEMENTS. DfW acts as a front-end, providing
VESUF, Linde's centralized database access program, with multi-platform
capability and a graphical user interface through a client/server architecture.
VESUF is able to access data in both DB2 on the IBM mainframe and Oracle on
IBM RS/6000.
MAZDA (JAPAN)
Using OPEN INTERFACE ELEMENTS, MAZDA developed an application that
enables them to reduce manufacturing time significantly. The application is a
manufacturing process job flow support system (assembling automobile parts).
It runs on mainframes and PCs and is moving to a UNIX client/server system.
Hardware to be used is NEC EWS4800 accessing Oracle databases. The
middleware is SequeLink. The high-level benefit, according to MAZDA, is that
they have cut the actual manufacturing process time in half.
OWENS CORNING (U.S.A.)
Owens Corning ensures manufacturing quality with NEXPERT OBJECT.
Production line workers call on NEXPERT an average of 16 times per week to
help them locate potential trouble spots on three fiberglass mat production
lines. The application runs on Macintosh and accesses data in an Oracle
database running on HP 9000s.
PARADIGM SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY (SOUTH AFRICA)
Paradigm Systems Technology has developed a product called Engineering
Planning and Management System (EPMS). EPMS monitors and controls all of
the facets of plant and equipment engineering during its total life cycle (design,
construction, operation and end-of-life phases) in order to achieve the desired
output at predicted maintenance costs. EPMS was developed with OPEN
INTERFACE ELEMENTS.
PHILIPS SEMICONDUCTORS (CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.)
Philips Semiconductors is using C/S ELEMENTS to build RelNet, an application
that will track semiconductor parts and enable the storage and efficient
retrieval of reliability testing information. RelNet will also allow the access,
querying and analysis of test results.
RENAULT AGRICULTURE (FRANCE)
Renault Agriculture is a leading manufacturer of tractors for various farming
uses. In the agricultural industry, the complexity of on-board electronics has
grown, and the spectrum of vehicles is varied, leading to complex diagnostic
and maintenance procedures involving additional costs and training for
Renault distribution networks. Using NEXPERT OBJECT, Renault Agriculture
developed METADIAG, an expert system for farm tractor diagnosis. The
application runs on a portable PC, directly connected to the electronic boards of
the tractor vehicle, from which diagnostic data is extracted for analysis and
recommendation. The expert system also supports detailed documentation of
the on-board electronics and hydropneumatic systems through the extensive
use of graphics.
SAAB (SWEDEN)
Saab has integrated NEXPERT OBJECT with SQL*Forms, Oracle and their C
environment to configure cars based on global customer demand. According to
Saab engineers, "the equivalent performance and functionality could not be
obtained by traditional means."
SIMON & SCHUSTER (NEW YORK,
U.S.A.)
Simon & Schuster has more than ten independent business units responsible
for their individual finance, production and manufacturing systems.
Operational inefficiencies led to the need for a cohesive and unified server-
based system. Thus, Simon & Schuster chose OPEN INTERFACE ELEMENTS to
develop Publishing Control System (PCS). PCS ties into a SQL server running
on a Digital VAX. The application enables departments to share information,
automates daily tasks such as forecasting the profitability of new textbooks and
analyzes and consolidates business unit financial forecasts. PCS has been so
successful that Simon & Schuster is planning to use OPEN INTERFACE ELEMENTS
to develop other client applications for Macintosh and Window workstations
tailored to individual department needs.
SONY (JAPAN)
Sony Japan used NEXPERT OBJECT to develop an application that speeds time-
to-market for camcorders. NEXPERT OBJECT captured chip design engineers'
knowledge to perform CCD simulations. The application runs on a Sony
NEWS workstation and significantly improves productivity, reducing the chip
design process by two-thirds.
SONY (WALES)
At Sony Wales, NEXPERT OBJECT maximizes production monitoring. The
application is an automated fault diagnosis system used to identify and rectify
defects in Cathode Ray Tubes, the central components of televisions. The
application runs on HP UNIX platforms and HP PCs, either running DOS or
acting as terminals to the HP UNIX systems, all linked on an Ethernet network.
STILL OTTO GMBH (GERMANY)
Still Otto GmbH is a plant construction company that performs systems
engineering in various fields. They recently complemented their conventional
production automation system with an expert system for fault diagnosis. At
Still Otto GmbH, NEXPERT OBJECT diagnoses faults in complex manufacturing
processes. Coke Plant Expert System was first developed on a DEC VAX
platform, then ported to lap-top PCs.
STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS RESEARCH CORPORATION (OHIO, U.S.A.)
Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC) is a leading vendor of
mechanical design automation software, focusing on solid modeling. NEXPERT
OBJECT is embedded in the analysis and design modules of SDRC's
I-DEAS product in order to provide the "intelligence" needed to evaluate
product performance and manufacturability issues. A few of SDRC's customers
include Hitachi (television systems and screen displays), Sony (VCRs), Honda
(motorcycles) and Waterman (pens).
VOEST-ALPINE INDUSTRIE ANLAGENBAU (AUSTRIA)
Using NEXPERT OBJECT, Voest-Alpine Industrie Anlagenbau developed VAI-
SchedEx, a hybrid expert system for cooperative production scheduling in steel
plants. Scheduling is a critical job because of increasing product quality
requirements and increasingly-stricter time limitations due to a strong
coupling of the various steel plant components. VAI-SchedEx runs on a VAX
station and accesses Oracle.
|