From Plant Floor to Top Floor: PDA Featured in Control Design

President Jeremy Anderson spoke with Control Design about how PDA connects plant floor data to the business systems above it. Highlights below.

Data with context

PDA’s most innovative work links plant floor systems to Industry 4.0 business systems. Data is gathered as close to the source as possible, then contextualized for use higher up, delivered securely and in real time to both vendor and end user.

Standard machines, individualized

Most projects use standard machines tailored to a specific plant and product, rather than fully custom builds. Clients benefit from the track record of similar machines already in the field. The flagship example is the Ingeniq line from Krones.

OEE drives the work

PDA looks at availability, performance, and quality to find leverage in every project. Core industries are food, beverage, and pet care. PDA integrates 800 to 1,000 machines a year, mostly in the continental U.S., with projects also reaching Canada, Guatemala, and Jamaica.

Edge computing and remote connectivity

Exposing raw machine data to upper-level systems is central to PDA’s approach, feeding client analytics platforms, PDA’s own tools, or third-party systems.

Smart alarming for maintenance

PDA’s Shopfloor Guidance lets OEMs and end users define service intervals and watchpoints, giving plants the trending data to plan service ahead of downtime.

Suppliers and timelines

Controls: Rockwell, Siemens, Modicon. Motion: Rockwell, Yaskawa, Modicon. Sensing: Siemens and Endress+Hauser. EtherNet/IP and OPC UA for communication. PDA is also an Inductive Automation Premier Integrator. A typical five- to eight-machine project runs about nine months from design to installation.

Read the full Q&A on Control Design.