Have service-oriented applications added to the complexity of heavy-duty manufacturing, managing, monitoring, and processing transactions flowing between production centers and distribution networks and control centers?
David Mavashev, writing in IndustryWeek, says yes, and it's time for more real-time transaction monitoring.
He notes that at large 24x7 manufacturing operations, "every day, billions of business transactions flow back and forth
from Web-based applications through Web servers, application servers,
messaging technologies and back-end mainframe systems." However, the information coming out of these systems tends to be reactive, and don't provide the visibility needed to address real-time problems. As manufacturing businesses understand, prevention is far cheaper than spending millions of dollars to fix problems, such as breakdowns in the supply chain or delays in production.
Heavy-duty manufacturers have a new approach they are turning to -- Business Transaction Performance, or BTP. The key is to put BTP to work to not only react to problems, but prevent them. A Complex Event Processing (CEP) approach can address this challenge.
Mavashev describes how an electronics manufacturer implemented BTP software to monitor the operation of its automated factory floor systems and automatically remediate its failures and degradations. "Under a consolidated dashboard, IT teams were able to bring all key manufacturing automation applications and the infrastructure systems that support them under centralized control for simple monitoring and management."
Leave a comment