AutomaNews

Automa celebrated its 16th birthday on 29 April 2003. From 1987 to today, the company has undergone extensive changes to efficiently adapt to evolving market needs: our headquarters have become even bigger, the team has expanded while different products and services are offered to satisfy our customers' needs.
However, what has remained the same is the group's goal of constantly improving to create the new skills needed to keep one step ahead of future developments in the industrial automation sector.
Today, after successfully focusing on the SCADA/HMI level, we're setting our sights on a new and ambitious objective: to become integration specialists. We've been working with this type of project for quite some time, thanks to our in-depth knowledge of production management problems, while also developing flexible and reliable products that adapt to the most diverse situations.

As of today, Automa is even more "multinational": not only because our products are being used around the world, but also because Silvina Carreras has become a member of our team.
Coming from Argentine, she has brought new skills with regard to the development and management of web pages and database-oriented applications.
Thanks to Silvina's know-how, it will be easier to efficiently organise the growing quantity of data and information circulating within Automa and between the company and its customers in order to offer better and more personalised service.
We're focused on getting better and better...ll the time!

Eurosistemi has been successfully building textile processing machines and systems for years.
The prestigious Altair Series 2000, the latest and innovative model of fabric rotary printing presses, efficiently meets the textile market's specific requirements regarding printing speed, precision, waste reduction and safety.
To improve plant performance, Eurosistemi relies on Super-Flash to develop extremely reliable and very user-friendly supervision and control software.
Once again the Automa development system, with its outstanding adaptability, has proven to be an excellent means for creating supervision applications even in a traditional sector of a classic industry that's not very focused on technological innovations.

On Wednesday, 9 April 2003, Automa presented its latest products at the Enel Hydro Image Point Auditorium in Seriate (BG).
The title of the meeting, "Not just Super-Flash", is rather significant since it puts the spotlight on the company's activities over the last few years. After specialising in the HMI sector with Super-Flash and Supervisione Libera, today Automa has a new mission: integration with other levels of the company computerised information systems.
In fact, the company has acquired consolidated experience in the EPS sector (data management and production planning) that it now offers its customers through numerous products and cooperation-based integration projects.
During the presentation, the three speakers, Claudio Volpi, Mario Borali and Franco Boiocchi provided a simple yet comprehensive overview of the new and complex concepts relative to future developments in the industrial automation sector. They also illustrated Automa efforts to meet the market's new integration requirements.
This meeting that in fact focused on integration was divided into three topics:

• SCADA/HMI: all the technical and commercial innovations concerning Super-Flash, MicroC and the other products of the Supervisione Libera line, in addition to the changes in the sector in which Automa has always been actively involved
• Field connection: the new field bus-based communication opportunities (Applicom sheets, OPC Client, etc.)
• EPS/MES: integration products and projects developed by the company (MainteX, Dolphin, SIR and other production management applications)

Notwithstanding the time constraints, 60 people representing 40 companies participated in this one-day presentation.
The objective was to create a relaxing and informal atmosphere, despite the number of people involved, only for sector professionals.
That's why the presentation focused more on the technical and development aspects of the sector rather than on the commercial and promotional factors. Lunch was also very important means of making everyone feel comfortable and of establishing a direct and personal relationship that's usually quite difficult to create spontaneously in such a large group.
In conclusion, Automa utilised this presentation to illustrate the problems and the needs that will be increasingly demanding over the next few years and that may become threats or market opportunities depending on how each company handles them.
Even though it wasn't possible to fully analyse each and every aspect in a single day, Automa declared its intention to delve further into the matter and to cooperate in various integration projects..

MainteX, Automa's programmed, unscheduled and corrective maintenance management software is now available in two versions that can be purchased on the Internet. In line with its strategy to satisfy market needs, Automa proposes two MainteX versions: Standard and Express.
The Standard version is designed for anyone who has to manage a plant or a complex system and, therefore, needs an unlimited number of maintenance elements and sheets. MainteX is supplied with a licence for one PC and includes Dolphin, a software product designed by Automa to help developers of EPS (Enterprise Production System) Windows applications.
The Express version is perfect for those who manage less complicated plants or who have to choose among various maintenance systems and thus want to limit their investment during the evaluation phase. MainteX Express, with 100 elements and 50 sheets, costs only € 199.00.
Buying the product is not only a good deal, it's also extremely easy: just go to the website www.maintex.it and download the installation program.
Equipped with software protection, the system will become operational only after the user enters an activation code. Depending on the licence, the product will operate in one of the two versions.
The activation codes can be requested from Automa by completing and sending in the registration sheet that appears when the application is run, or directly through a web purchase.
The site also offers a Demo version that allows all users to try the maintenance system before purchasing the licence.
After installing the program, and without entering the activation codes, the product will operate with some restrictions: possibility of inserting a maximum of 3 maintenance sheets and a limited number of operations. Instead, all other functions are the same as in the complete version.
The MainteX e-commerce site architecture is simple and functional so that it's as easy as possible to obtain the information needed for a general but still very precise overview of the automation system's features and functions.
To eliminate any doubts and to answer all questions about its operating functions, the software was also equipped with a very useful and extremely user-friendly on-line help wizard.
Thanks to the e-commerce site, you can try, evaluate, purchase and install MainteX while sitting comfortably in front of your PC.

Thanks to a competitive line of high-quality products and services, Automa is actively operating in Italy and throughout Europe.
Over the next few years, the Bergamo software house intends on penetrating the overseas markets, including Argentina where, after an extended economic and political crisis, the country is ready to make a rapid comeback.
Automa picked a qualified partner to help put its internationalisation strategy into effect: Automa Latina. This young and dynamic company has achieved many important milestones in the field of building and industrial automation.
Owing to its extensive experience, this Argentine company is the ideal reference for Italian companies that intend on installing plants in South America.
In fact, the company has completed many important applications including those for the Casino Group, one of the largest distribution holdings and founding member of the Word Wide Retail Exchange. In Argentina, thanks to the Libertad division, the group maintains a leading position and operates in the country's most important northern cities: Mendoza, Cordoba, Santiago del Estero, San Juan, Tucuman, etc.
Commissioned to automate the company's 12 business centres and hypermarkets, Automa Latina uses Super-Flash to guarantee maximum reliability and user-friendliness of the specially developed automation software programs.

Automa telephone assistance will be suspended from Monday 21 to Friday 25 April and on Thursday and Friday, respectively 1st and 2nd May.
Between the Easter period and the last weekend in April (28, 29 and 30) and from 5 May on our qualified technicians will again be at the complete disposal of all Super-Flash customers on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 am to 12 noon.
Companies with support contracts can call every day, Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 12 noon and from 3 to 6 pm.

The Press Review section of Automa's website includes an article about a Super-Flash application in the Building Automation field:

MainteX, Automa's preventive, unscheduled and corrective maintenance software, can manage an entire plant very simply and extremely efficiently.
The serviceman can program his specific jobs, develop a theoretical maintenance plan (planning), write up a final document about programmed and unscheduled operations, keep costs under control and produce a historical record of the information regarding the operations carried out.
To make integration easier, the software uses Microsoft ADO technology to access standard databases.
To satisfy the needs of the marketplace, MainteX is available in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish and in two different versions: Standard and Express.
The STANDARD version is designed for anyone who has to manage a complex plant or system and, therefore, needs an unlimited number of maintenance elements and sheets. MainteX is supplied with a licence for one PC and includes Dolphin, a software product designed by Automa to help developers of EPS (Enterprise Production System) Windows applications (Enterprise Production System).
The Express version is perfect for those who manage less complicated plants or who have to choose among various maintenance systems and thus want to limit their investment during the evaluation phase. MainteX Express, with 100 elements and 50 sheets, costs only € 199.00.

The new and final version 3.6 of Automa's industrial supervision application development software is already available.
In accordance with the company's objective to develop integration among different levels of company computerised information systems, Super-Flash can be used to dialogue with the peripherals to the field (PLC, regulators, CNC, etc.) and is open to field buses (Profibus, Conbus, etc.), industrial networks (TCP/IP, Industrial Ethernet, etc.) and to EPS/MES level systems.
One of the main advantages of the development system has always been the greater reliability of the final applications that implement a RUNTIME MOTOR to efficiently control and safely execute the user application.
The reasons for such enhanced reliability, compared to programs developed with traditional programming languages (Visual C++, Visual Basic, etc.), can be identified quite clearly from the work diagram used to develop the applications:

1. Development phase
2. Compilation phase, that produces a meta-code (macro language independent from the hardware)
3. Execution phase in which reliability during operation is guaranteed by the RUNTIME MOTOR that carries out a controlled and online execution of each single instruction of the meta-code

Not only does Super-Flash 3.6 contain all the important features of the previous versions, it can also satisfy the new and different needs of an ever-changing market.
This is a multiple-platform system because it generates applications that can run in DOS, Windows and soon, even in Windows CE and Linux.
Then, because it's multilingual, it can be used to develop a single application even if it will be utilised in different foreign countries since it manages 11 dictionaries. All this makes it much easier to develop multilingual applications.
The Automa development system is an indispensable work tool also because it's so easy to use: with the completely restyled graphic editor you can quickly create pages using the typical Windows functions (work area unencumbered by commands or displays, object trees, menus, toolbars and pop-ups so that commands are always directly available, immediate object selection, modification and movement, zoom always on line even during tracing, cut&paste, drag&drop, etc.).
Super-Flash manages alarms, trends and recipes but the really special characteristic of the Automa development system is how easy you can create an initial application. In fact, it's not necessary to be fully familiar with programming languages and all software potential to begin to create the first applications.
It's enough to obtain some basic information from the "Introductory guide to SFW 3.6": a comprehensive document that Automa offers from its site at no charge.
For expert users and for more complex applications, Super-Flash can be integrated with MicroC, the powerful C language compiler that enhances the potential of the development system.

Super-Flash 3.6:

1. easy
2. powerful
3. reliable
4. open
5. multilingual
6. extendible
7. complete
8. recognised
9. can be downloaded directly from the Automa site
10. at zero cost
11. ...
12. PERFECT!

We prepared the "Introductory Guide to SFW 3.6" in record time. This is a very important tool for those who have never used Super-Flash and need help in creating the first applications and for our more up-to-date customers who can use this document to find the right answer to various questions about the new graphic editor.
The guide is divided into 6 basic sections that provide a comprehensive and very specific overview of the main functions of our supervision software.
Each part is divided into sub-chapters that create an outline-based structure that's very easy to understand. Because it's complete and compact (about sixty pages), it's very easy to consult: therefore, it's quick and simple to develop applications for end users right away.
The "Introductory Guide to SFW 3.6" can be downloaded, along with the final version 3.6 of the development system, free of charge from the Freedownload section of our website.

The handy Supervisione Libera Price List, updated as of February 2003, offering lots of information about the line's numerous products and services, is now available.
It's very easy to receive a hard copy or electronic version: just call 035/665956 or send an e-mail to sales@automa.it and we'll send it to you right away.

For all those who are familiar with Super-Flash at least at a basic level, a meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, 9 April 2003 to present all the latest innovations about Automa products, including the new final version 3.6 of Super-Flash that is completely Windows integrated and equipped with a restyled graphic editor. The presentation will focus on three main topics:

• Supervisione Libera (the new final version 3.6 of Super-Flash, MicroC, etc.)
• the numerous field connection opportunities of our development system (Applicom sheets, OPC Client, etc.)
• the EPS/MES world (MainteX, Dolphin, Applications, etc.)

The presentation will be held from 10 am to 5:30 pm. Registration is completely free of charge. Please don't hesitate to contact us for any additional information. We look forward to seeing you!

After a few months absence for maternity leave and a blessed event in February 2003, Graziella is once again a part of our team. So, as of today, you can also rely on her qualified and courteous help to answer all your questions and clarify any doubts about the potential and characteristics of our products. Graziella and the other technicians are ready to provide you with their free technical assistance

The Press Review area of the Automa site includes an article about MainteX.

MainteX is the ideal software to efficiently coordinate corrective and, above all, preventive maintenance operations. The Automa system can manage an entire plant in a very simple and extremely efficient manner. The serviceman can program his specific jobs, develop a theoretical maintenance plan (planning), write up a final document about programmed and unscheduled operations, keep costs under control and produce a historical record of the information regarding the operations carried out. Organised into sheets that can be managed independently, MainteX is simple to use and an important tool for achieving all the technical, organisational and economic objectives, including:

• reducing machine down time, monitoring all equipment and optimising warehouse stocks
• better job management and guaranteed safety for personne;
• reducing maintenance costs, better economic control and reducing deviations from the budget thanks to activity historical record filing

To make integration easier and to satisfy the needs of the marketplace, the Automa software uses Microsoft ADO technology to access standard databases and is available in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.
MainteX is supplied with a licence for one PC and includes Dolphin, a software product designed by Automa to help developers of EPS (Enterprise Production System) Windows applications.

The first meeting of the year to present the new version of Super-Flash, completely Windows integrated and equipped with a restyle graphic editor, will be held on Wednesday, 12 February 2003. The event is designed for everyone who has not yet used our development system or has an outdated version and wants to check out the many new features and opportunities. Registration is completely free of charge and all participants will be given a CD with the new version of Super-Flash Runtime 3.6, the free development system.
Please don't hesitate to contact us for any additional information.

Elena Bertillo became part of the Automa team in October 2002 and will be responsible for marketing. In fact, we decided to invest in such a strategic area to improve market awareness of the company and its products. The new items presented here are only one of the many initiatives that she's involved with. One of her objectives is to keep customs constantly updated about company innovations. Elena is at your disposal to help write articles, to organise events and to satisfy your requests for information.

The Press Review area of the Automa site includes two articles about our company.

Following Automa's strategy to satisfy its customers in the best possible way, we have decided to change our toll-free support hours to a more central time of day. As from Monday, January 20, 2003, our technicians will be able to answer any questions about "Supervisione Libera".