BMS vision has launched the freshly developed and built-in tool called OPC connector for its latest version 8.40.03 of BMS vision Weave Master and Plant Master systems, which offers superior flexibility to connect various machine types to the BMS vision MES systems. BMS vision is a developer of MES for the textiles, plastics, and pharmaceutical industry.
OPC connector allows an utmost easy and flexible integration of machines equipped with either classic OPC or OPC-UA interfaces. The BMS vision MES systems have always offered a wide range of interface communication protocols for data collection from various types of textile and plastic processing machines. So far, no general standard for machine connection is available. With the focus on industry 4.0, OPC-UA is widely recognised as a potential candidate for a worldwide communication standard, according to BMS vision.
Most of the PLC manufacturers support OPC-UA for communication with higher level systems while in the plastics industry; it is also the basis for the new EUROMAP 77 (Injection Moulding) and EUROMAP 84 (Extrusion) standards.
The OPC connector is a user-friendly tool allowing easy and straightforward connection to any OPC server available on the network as well as configuring the necessary nodes from each server. As such, even the most heterogeneous machine park is easily integrated into the BMS vision MES systems. Typical examples include an injection moulding plant with various types of moulding machines and assembly lines or a textile plant with different makes of looms, preparation and finishing lines. The OPC connector interfaces all these machines with the MES system without the need for extensive programming thus reducing the total investment as well as the cost of ownership for the MES system.
