At-a-glance overview of all critical aspects of plant operation

The Vision Assistant software package, from ifm electronic, which provides a convenient yet flexible way of capturing images from vision sensors in machine and process applications without specialist knowledge, has been augmented by the release of a new monitoring tool add-on. With the new add-on installed, it is now possible to display plant data alongside images in the same dashboard, giving users a comprehensive at-a-glance overview of all critical aspects of plant operation.

The user can configure the data displayed alongside the images, but it might typically include statistics on good and reject parts, current production rate and status information from critical sensors.

Combining real-time images and data in a single view makes it much easier to identify problems and deviations from normal operation. This may indicate that a fault is developing or that product quality standards are not being maintained. As a result, remedial action can be taken promptly, reducing or eliminating wasted out-of-specification production and costly unplanned downtime.

Like Vision Assistant, the new monitoring tool add-on has been designed to be easy to install, configure and use. It allows easy integration of new and existing sensors using network search and, in addition to real-time options, it supports analysis of past trends and process status thanks to functionality that provides automated capture of data and image history.

The new monitoring tool add-on is compatible with all versions of Vision Assistant from Version 2.6 onward. It is offered as a six camera connection version, with optional single-camera additions thereafter.