From January 2006 there will be a great novelty about Automa products. MicroC, the powerful C language compiler, will become part of the Super-Flash package. The commercial offer of the coming year will therefore see completion of a pathway to give everyone the possibility of using the numerous potentials of the supervisor. Offering MicroC in Runtime mode as well, goes exactly in this direction. This means that, apart from the free development system, the compiler will also be at zero cost.
Both the products will therefore be found in the same package: apart from being extremely reliable, Super-Flash also becomes very powerful. In fact, thanks to its library of more than 500 functions, MicroC considerably widens the potential of the Development System.
We want the times when the developer has to tell his own customer that "it can't be done" to become fewer and fewer!

From January 2006 Super-Flash and MicroC will be part of the same package.
Those who choose the Royalty-Free formula will have 2 products by purchasing a single licence. After their initial investment, they will be able to make reliable and extremely powerful supervision applications without any additional cost.
But the great novelty is that MicroC also becomes Runtime! You will be able to download and start to use not only our Development System, but also the Compiler free of charge. You will therefore be able to develop both simple and very complicated and personalised applications, which will work for 15 minutes each time. When you need to run them for longer than the trial time, you purchase a key (hardware or software), choosing between the “Super-Flash key” or the “Super-Flash + MicroC key”. Then there are different sizes for each type of key, according to the number of variables and alarms used.
To get to know more about the new commercial offer, please contact our sales staff at the following address: sales@automa.it or telephone the company directly on 035.32.33.911 .

To wind up the year with a flourish, we have thought up a special promotion for all our Royalty-Free customers: at the sole cost of updating the Super-Flash licence, you will also receive MicroC. This is an exceptional promotion so that everyone can use the Development System at its best and make it even more powerful and complete thanks to the Compiler. There are obvious benefits for both updated customers, who will be able to get a special discount, and those who have an old version, who will be able to access the new performances of both products and, at the same time, take advantage of the typical benefits gained by those who are always up to date. To get to know everything about the “2 for the price of 1” promotion, you can visit the Promotions Page on the Automa web site or telephone directly on 035.32.33.911.

The need for integrated management of information which, starting from the field, rises through the various information system levels and vice versa, is now widespread and highly felt in all production sectors. This means that offering an automation system must often “reckon with” the complex world of databases. How to communicate? What information to exchange? Generally, integration of the HMI level applications with the MES world poses problems which can be divided into 3 categories: connection, synchronisation and consistency of the data. Automa comes to its customers' aid by making SmartDB; the product, in its new version 1.1, allows a Super-Flash application to transfer data taken directly from the field into databases, so making them available to everyone, as well as to receive instructions and recipes to operate with. Whilst connection towards all the OLE DB providers (Databases, electronic sheets, etc.) is made available by SmartDB, synchronisation is helped by the new WRunfile 3.9 beta event management, which stores data in safe queues on disk, destined to being exported to external systems.
Finally, consistency of information, i.e. selection of the significant information (in relation to type and quantity) to achieve set objectives, is a characteristic linked to the functions required at MES level. Automa already makes an application for alarm data generation and recording available, studied to ensure complete reconstruction of the alarm events .

To carry on the continual improvement process of its offer, from January 2006 Automa will make new services available to its customers. In view of the increase in computer and data thefts over the past few years, it proposes the “guarantee against theft/loss”: thanks to a small annual fee, in the case of theft or loss of your Royalty-Free key, it is possible to obtain another without having to purchase the licence again.
Automa has been operating for some time in conformity with what the legislator has provided for, proposing a repair and replacement service for faulty keys. When no longer under guarantee, the key is replaced at net cost of the repair. However, the case of theft/loss is different: the licence purchased is still valid and its replacement is therefore not foreseen. Management of these events is left up to the owner of the licence who, if they want to, can see to taking out insurance for this asset themselves.
In view of the fact that insurance companies are sometimes not yet ready to provide a made-to-measure service for this, to help solve this aspect as well, Automa offers a "guarantee against theft/loss" directly. To get to know more about the service, please telephone on 035.32.33.911.

On 9th December, over the "long week-endfor the Immaculate Conception", and from Friday 23rd December 2005 to Thursday 5th January 2006, for the Christmas period, our technicians and the staff at Automa will be taking a break.
From Monday 9th January, we shall be back in great form ready to clear up doubts, satisfy your curiosity, solve any problems and find the right solutions.
We remind you that to obtain the technical assistance available to you at all times, every week day from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to midday and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., all you need to do is sign a contract of variable duration according to your own needs (2, 6, 10 and 12 months). But we don't want to leave you without any help! On Tuesday and Thursday morning (from 9.30 a.m. to midday) the service is open to everybody!

The new price list of Supervisione Libera will come out in January 2006 with lots and lots of new advantageous opportunities for our customers. For those who would like to know about these in advance, you can book your price list by sending an e-mail to sales@automa.it or telephone directly on 035.32.33.911 .

In an industrial scenario like today's where the requests for rapid delivery, personalisation of assets and limited costs are becoming increasingly insistent, effective management of production is essential, both in terms of efficiency of the installed machines and of product quality. Precise and timely information is therefore indispensable to be able to make correct assessments and analyses. For this reason, Automa has for some time made products (MicroC and SmartDB) and services available to allow a Super-Flash application to write the data, taken directly from the plant, into a local or on the web database. This means the information can be “read” by any application and be available to everybody. In particular for alarms, Automa proposes WAM (Web Alarm Manager) - a web application able to display the historical data and, above all, the real-time ones. Some other useful functions, such as “search”, complete the package. The operator is no longer obliged to be on-board the machines to know the state of the plant, but can be informed of this remotely, thereby with the possibility of controlling several of them. But that's not all. If the application is visible to the maintenance technician as well, he can know immediately if and when he needs to intervene. In order to facilitate users in their work and so that they can always be reached by the information, the interface of WAM has also been designed to be displayed effectively on a handheld computer connected to the network in WiFi mode.
WAM is an open software, so that it can be adapted to the needs of each customer. In fact, it can be personalised with information on production to be of help not only to the operators, but also to the person in charge of production. Apart from providing assistance with the product, Automa is available either to train users so that they are able to manage the application independently, or as a consultant to reduce personalisation time-to-market.
Then there is also the possibility of renting a web space and database with our servers to start using the application at once ...

After English, Super-Flash has learnt another language. In fact, since mid-October our development system is available in Italian, English and German, whereas the applications have been provided with 11 different dictionaries for years.
Translation of the product and relative documentation into different languages is part of the internationalisation process which Automa has being going ahead with for some time.
But why German in particular? Because Germany is one of the major countries we look to, not only because of the large number of Super-Flash applications present there, but also because it is an important market at global level in the sector of machine and plant manufacturing. The decision to have a distributor in this country was made on the same basis.
But that's not where it ends, because our seagull wants to fly round the world!

Greater customer focus and careful attention paid to their needs for flexibility, spur on to make increasingly customised plants and systems. Sometimes the basic functionalities of a supervisor (reading/writing process variables, creating animated synoptic diagrams conditioned by the variables, signalling real-time and historic alarms, displaying trends and managingplant recipes and configurations) are no longer sufficient to satisfy the new requirements. With MicroC the spectrum ofpossible application of Super-Flash can be widened, thanks to a library with more than 500 functions. The architecture, based on a Runtime engine, ensures top reliability and allows “on field” modification of the applications with peace of mind. The programmer can easily interact with variables, alarms, recipes and trends from MicroC. Furthermore, its multitasking structure can put up to 999 programmes, communicating with each other, in parallel, to allow division of the processes down to “elementary” level.
When the customer wants the best .... we have a small genius available!

One of Automa's strategic objectives is to reply rapidly and punctually to the technical and commercial questions posed by our users. We make a constanteffort towards achieving good results. For example, our assistance team only takes 17 min. 15 sec. (average time for providing assistance, taken from our database - 01/01/2005 – 05/10/2005), to clear up doubts, solve problems and find the right solutions.
This result, which is being improved even further, is the fruit of two important Automa characteristics. The first is that our products are all developed internally so who could be more competent and informed about the novelties and their technical and commercial aspects?
The second characteristic is that a series of e-mail addresses, specific for different types of requests and to which you can send any type of question, are available to all our users. Thanks to these lists you can contact the right person directly, thereby eliminating the so-called negative effect of “passing the word on”. In fact, when a piece of information passes from one person to another and so on, it is highly likely that it will get to the person it is destined for garbled and late. Find the right address for all your requirements yourself!

Addresses People contacted sales@automa.it Commercial and marketing staff for general and sales information about products/services/consulting assist@automa.it Assistance team to get to know everything about the technical aspects of our products maintex@automa.it MainteX team to get to know everything about our maintenance software (technical aspects, sales proposals, novelties, etc.) web@automa.it Web team for information about downloading and in general about the Automa web site amministrazione@automa.it Administrative office for any accounting matters solpro@automa.it Solution Provider Team to obtain information about our Solution Providers and about the “Super-Flash Solution Providers” initiative automa@automa.it Postmaster for general information of any kind. The e-mail is then forwarded to the right person

For some time Super-Flash has also been used in the textile sector. Some of the most significant applications in this sphere are those found at Val Lesina, a historical company in Sondrio (Italy) and a leader in yarn production.
Thanks to Automa's TwinDRV driver, the Super-Flash applications communicate with Beckhoff's TwinCat to make an enviable supervision and control system.
To learn more about this, you can read the article “PC control in the textile industry” in the Press Review section of the Automa web site.

Service Pack 2 of the 3.8 version of Super-Flash is available in the Download section of the Automa web site, allowing you to have the development system in German, as well as in Italian or English.

Telephone assistance will be suspended on Monday 31st October. But don't worry, on Wednesday 2nd November we'll already be back again in full force!

Since 2002 -the year the electronic AutomaNews came out for the first time, we have been keeping you up to date about all the novelties at Automa. Our aim is to continue to provide you with the most useful news. To do this, any suggestions you may have for improving the service and bringing it closer to your needs is of great help to us. Please write all your comments to elena.bertillo@automa.it.

A good automation system of a machine or plant, also a complex one which operates seven days a week around the clock, must be extremely reliable. Apart from this pre-requisite, it has two basic tasks: to save time and to make the operator's job easier, improving rapidity of intervention, providing a clear picture of the state of the plant and immediately giving warning in the case of any anomalies and alarms.
All this is possible with Super-Flash. Our development system is often chosen to supervise continuous cycle plants and those with delicate production processes to safeguard the product or personnel, since it guarantees a high level of operating continuity.
Apart from the characteristics typical of supervision software, it is able to manage a plant remotely and to make several Super-Flash applications communicate with each other to monitor several plants at the same time by means of just a single PC. With MICROC the application can also be extremely personalised, for example by creating made-to-measure interfaces, or particular reports, or by realising own communication drivers, to fulfil even the most specific requirements.
But that's not all - Super-Flash is also economical: the development system can be purchased, without any additional royalty, or it can be requested free of charge by then buying the keys (hardware or software) for each application made.
And that's not the end of it! Further useful performances can be offered with Super-Flash: thanks to MainteX, it is possible to manage extraordinary, corrective and programmed maintenance, taking the data directly from the supervisor in a simple and linear way. To say nothing of the possibility of exporting the data to a database...

Because of the increasingly insistent requests for flexibility and personalisation of production, a simple supervision system is often no longer sufficient. The customer not only wants to control the plant, but also to monitor production to assure product quality and guarantee production capacity. For this reason, apart from the machine operator, you are nowadays faced with another very important interlocutor: a production manager who requires management of the data regarding pieces produced, lots, rejects, "good" pieces, production speed, date and time of beginning/ending, etc.
Have no fear - thanks to the Supervisione Libera products, numerous possibilities have been opened up. From a Super-Flash application which controls and manages the plant, it is possible to send SMS, by means of SendSMS, or e-mails, by means of M-Box.
With MicroC and SmartDB, the data collected by Super-Flash can be sent to a local or remote (in Internet) database. This operation allows integration with EPS/MES systems, and implementation of functions for production management, which use real data taken directly from the field.
Then it is possible, for example, to display historical and real-time data in a Web application (WAM), which can be personalised. Besides on PC, this application can be also displayed on a hand-held computer connected to the network in WiFi mode, to allow operators to have the information in pocket format.
There is plenty to satisfy even the most demanding customers' requests!

Can you make a complete supervision solution by yourself, which communicates both with the field and with a database, like the one described previously? Of course you can!
But getting in-depth information about the innumerable technologies, especially in the EPS world (communication, Internet, Web Applications; Database, Visual C++, Modem, GSM, SMS, Web Server, etc.) has become extremely difficult for a company which does not make software its core business. For those who need a hand, Automa is available as a partner at different levels.
In the supervision (HMI) sphere, we provide training and assistance on our products directly. Those who want "turnkey systems" can contact our Solution Providers, spread all over the world and who are extremely competent, both in general regarding industrial automation and in particular regarding Automa products.
Apart from training and assistance to more expert people, in the EPS/MES sphere we are at disposal for consultation and development of prototypes which make users independent in their job, down to offering "turnkey solutions" for those who need to make highly innovative systems or do not have the necessary competency within their company.

Being particularly attentive to the needs of SMEs, we well know how important it is to have functional solutions at limited costs. For this reason, Automa proposes the following two complementary commercial formulas for all the products in the Supervisione Libera line, both of which are extremely competitive: Runtime and Royalty-Free.
For example, if you choose Super-Flash Royalty-Free you purchase the development system and then there is no licence cost for the applications made.
On the other hand, with Super-Flash Runtime it is possible to download the development system from the Automa site immediately at zero cost. Then the keys (hardware and software) needed for running of the applications realised can be purchased at a later date. You can therefore evaluate the product and start to develop your first applications, which can operate (without key) for 15 minutes each time. Thanks to this commercial proposal, our customers take no investment risks. Only the number of keys needed at a certain time is purchased. Even the size of the keys, which differ according to the number of variables and alarms required, can be decided after having developed the application. And that's to say nothing of the extremely limited price: from € 450.00 to 1,540.00, which can be further reduced according to the number of keys purchased.
Obtaining the price list of Super-Flash and all the other products of Supervisione Libera is very simple: ask for it from sales@automa.it and it will be sent to you as soon as possible.

Super-Flash is provided with more than 70 drivers to communicate with most of the peripherals on the market. For some of these, widespread ones, Automa has developed different communication solutions. This is the case of the Siemens PLCs: in fact, Super-Flash supports 5 different devices in MPI bus. To get to know the five proposals, the characteristics of each and their differences, simply consuls the "Super-Flash and Siemens MPI" document. To receive it free of charge, just send an e-mail requesting it to the following address: sales@automa.it.

To get to know all the characteristics of Super-Flash and the other products of Supervisione Libera, the "Brochure" is available on the supervisor page of the Automa web site. The document gives all the useful information to evaluate our development system and its numerous potentialities.

From when it came out until today, our supervisor has been used for thousands of applications all over the world and in very different sectors. To get an idea of this , you can visit the Press Review on the Automa web site where you can find some articles regarding Super-Flash applications made by our customers and which are working perfectly at the end users'.

Super-Flash had grown a lot since 1989 - the year its first version came out. From a small SCADA package, it has become an international product, complete with numerous functionalities and rich in drivers to communicate both with the field and with the higher levels of information systems. The development system has continued to evolve and improve according to market requirements, but this growth path has not yet come to an end - just in these months in fact Automa has been completing definition of the new development plan of the product.
The planning we are carrying out is strategic, as it not only aims at a product update, but also at adding significant and important functions for users. Automa has always taken the indications and suggestions from their customers, via e-mail or directly by phone, into great consideration and they have often conditioned, and continue to condition, development of the product. Since we are at the stage of finalising the development plan, we should like to ask those who have not yet let us know their own requirements regarding new functions to be implemented or improvements to be made to the existing functions to do so now.

Every customer who contacts Automa has a technical team of 7 people at their disposal who look into their request and come up with an answer which is the result of pooling several people's knowledge, competence and ability.
A considerable added value if you think that, apart from being efficacious, this working method is also highly efficient: so far, in just about 15 minutes, our technicians have managed to find the right solutions and satisfy the customers' requirements.
The team is available free of charge on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.30 a.m. to midday, whereas users who have signed a contract can telephone every day from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to midday and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m..
We should like to remind you that, although they are exceptional, our technicians are still human beings and now and then, but not very often, they need a rest. For this reason, they will be on holiday from Monday 8th to Friday 26th August. From 29th August they will be back in better form than ever, ready to solve problems, find solutions and clear up doubts...

After having purchased some sites for power production from Enel, in 2002 Endesa Italia decided to convert the thermoelectric power stations, and among these the one in Ostiglia (MN), from simple to combined turbogas cycle, to improve the technical performance of the plant and, above all, to reduce the environmental impact to a minimum in accordance with the European legislation.
In a combined cycle power station, water is indispensable and plays an essential role. For this reason, apart from the 4 power generators, Endesa Italia has decided to completely do over automation of the DEMI plant for demineralising the water. Once again, this delicate task has been entrusted to Sis.El., a company from Milan expert in plant automation with more than 20 applications spread around the world (Italy, Turkey, China, etc.) just in the power sector.
As always, the company has chosen Super-Flash for the plant supervision system, considered the most suitable not only for its reliability, but also for the flexibility of the product, able to adapt to the most varied situations and to satisfy widely differing requirements.
To learn more about operation of the power station and about the system used by Sis.El., the article: "New Technologies and Clean Energy" is available in the Press Review section of the Automa web site.

Communication is one of the basic functions of a SCADA/HMI package. With its own multi-driver structure, Super-Flash has always made it possible to communicate with most of the PLCs on the market, even simultaneously.
In view of their widespread diffusion, various possibilities for communication are offered for the Siemens PLCs (Ethernet, Profibus, MPI, etc.). In the specific case of the MPI bus, Super-Flash supports 5 different communication devices (produced by Applicom - Woodhead, Helmholz; Hilscher and Siemens). There is so much variety that the user can find it difficult to make the most appropriate choice. Aiming at offering its customers a good service, Automa has collected, in a single technical document, the main characteristics of each device along with the results of a series of tests together, designed to give an indication of communication speed using the drivers for Super-Flash. The document is provided with a useful table comparing the speeds of the various devices.
Since Automa is able to supply and support all the devices analysed directly, the purpose of the document is certainly not to orientate the user's choice, but rather to simplify this by offering a valid tool for comparison.
You can receive the document by sending an e-mail requesting it to the following address: sales@automa.it or by telephoning Automa directly.

Automa always keeps in close contact with their distributors to exchange opinions, information and knowledge, also thanks to periodic meetings with them.
Being highly competent in the field of automation, the distributors are perfectly able to provide training and assistance to help users and make them independent in using our products. Furthermore, they have the advantage of being their "neighbours" and therefore able to know the customer's situation personally and to help him/her in the best possible way during the start-up stage as well.
One of our historical partners is Protekna, which supplies customers in the Venetian areas and in the Mantua area. Apart from being experts in supervision, in over ten years in the business, this company has acquired transversal competence in the automation sector. All the information about the company and the services it offers can be found on their new web site: www.protekna.it.

After a year of intense work, always at the service of their customers from Monday to Friday, in August (from 8th to 26th) our service technicians will take a short break, to recharge their batteries and be ready on Monday 29th August to solve any problems, clear up any doubts, satisfy your curiosity, and find solutions...

The water taken up from the Po river is of utmost importance during the process of power generation at the Thermoelectric Power Station in Ostiglia (Mantua). The delicate task of automating the plant for demineralising the water was carried out successfully by Sis.El., which chose Super-Flash to develop the supervision and control software.
To learn more about this, you might like to read the article "New technologies and clean energy".

How many times have you thought that it would be interesting to show a system you have made and which is in operation at a company to other present or future customers as well, so you could show them your abilities in a concrete way? A good way to put this idea into practice and reach a large number of people is to publish an article describing the system you have made, using various means of communication (magazines, web site, etc.).
Automa takes works by the solution providers of its products into great consideration, because they are always of high technical value,. For this reason it offers to see to editing and publishing articles which highlight both the applications and the systems developed, as well as the good relationship which the Solution Provider has been able to set up with the end customer.
To know more about the services offered to solution providers, the article "At the service of solution providers" is available in the Press Review section on the Automa web site.

Simply listing and describing your own abilities is often not enough to get through what you really can do effectively. This is even truer for a company like Automa, which not only makes its products, but above all its competency and services available to its customers. This is why we have decided to show our potential in a concrete way by setting up a test room at our offices. Here it is possible to have a hands-on experience with a real solution, which is already used by our customers, for collecting data from supervision applications and displaying them on the web.
The system integrates a supervision and control application, connected directly to the field, and the most widespread communication technologies (Internet and GSM), to view the data regarding production and the state of the plant by means of SMS, e-mail and a web browser.
Would you like to see how this integrated system has been made for yourself hands-on? Come round and see us!

Automa's ten years' experience with the web has not only been used by the company to develop products and applications for its customers, but also to create, update and maintain its own web site. The latter is one of our most important communication tools, thanks to which users can easily and rapidly find the information they are looking for about the company and what it offers, and can contact Automa at any time of the day and night, even from the other side of the world.
And the importance of the web site is why it is continually developed to improve its contents, layout and structure, and also to make it increasingly interactive. For this reason, any suggestions, indications or other contributions from users always receive our careful attention.
By means of our web site, AutomaNews, publications in magazines, etc, we do all we can to keep you up to date!

Apart from using SCADA products, in order to fulfil specific requirements, those who operate in the industrial automation sector often also make software in Visual Basic and Visual C++. As well as the drivers in the Communication Tools line, Automa also offers some "general purpose" products for those who develop Windows applications,.
One of these is Optimizer, which allows the layout of parallelepipeds to be optimised in a space, on several levels. The most widely used application of the product is definitely the organisation of boxes on pallets, but there are also innumerable other possibilities for its use.
Studying the best layout is a complex and diversified problem, above all when you consider the specific requirements of each individual customer. Automa has created a DLL allowing Windows applications to obtain rapid calculation of the best layouts of parallelepipeds in a space.
The advantages are there to be seen: on the one hand, time is saved in studying a complex algorithm like this one, and on the other, you are completely free to define the most suitable user interface for your own specific application.
Optimizer has also been implemented directly by Automa in Box, a ready-to-use product already in use with many end customers.
For information about both these products, please contact Automa directly by sending an e-mail to the following address sales@automa.it or by phone on (+39) 035.32.33.911.

At the beginning of June (from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th) Automa will take part in a great event organised and promoted by the Banca di Credito Cooperativo della Bergamasca (BCC) to celebrate its 110th Anniversary. In fact, a large exhibition of numerous companies - clients of this bank - will be set up at the Bergamo Fair.

Last April, the magazine, 'Automazione Industriale' (Industrial Automation), dedicated its cover to Automa and published the article "At the service of Solution Providers", where the company's mission and strategies are explained.

To learn what types of applications have been made using our development system by the team of companies which Automa recommends to end users as partners, simply visit the Super-Flash Solution Providers page on the Automa web site and click over the Press Review icon.

The training courses on Super-Flash and MicroC, which Automa organises periodically at its offices, are an excellent opportunity to increase your competency and discover the innumerable capacities of the development system. To know the dates and details, just give us a call!!

SF-NetLink, which allows a Super-Flash application to communicate in MPI with Siemens S7 300/400 PLCs by means of the Hilscher NetLink device, will be available by the end of the month. Choosing to use this device is ideal for those who want a solution with good performance and which does not involve inserting hardware components inside the CPU. In addition, it has another interesting added value: it allows the same card of the PC to be used to program the PLCs with Step 7. In order to fulfil all requirements in the best possible way, as well as the SF-NetLink driver, Automa also makes a further two solutions available to Super-Flash users for communicating with Siemens S7 300/400 PLCs: by means of an Applicom card, for excellent performance, or by using a HMI Adapter, for those who are looking for the most economical solution. For further information, please contact Automa via e-mail at sales@automa.it or directly by telephone on number 035.32.33.911.

Automa has now been specialised for years in integration between the various different levels of information systems. The competence acquired through numerous direct experiences in the field has led the company to make solutions for production management, data collection and integration available to its customers. SmartDB, which will be available shortly, is a product which allows efficient management of communication between a Super-Flash application and databases. Perfect for those who use MicroC and already have basic knowledge of procedural programming languages, SmartDB is also very useful for those who increasingly need to access databases, within a short period of time and with limited resources. Automa's staff is at your disposal for demonstrations and to provide information about the product and access to databases.

Communication Tools, the new line of communication drivers for Visual Basic and Visual C++ programmers, was presented in the March issue of AutomaNews. One of the products in this family is Modbus, selected because the protocol it refers to is now a widely recognised standard and, in its serial version, has one of the most extensive installed bases in the world. This DLL driver allows Windows applications to communicate efficiently with the field and with other software. Modbus manages the master side both of the RTU protocol and TCP/IP one. In particular, communication with Super-Flash is greatly facilitated since the slave side of the protocol is already implemented in the development system.
For further information about this or other drivers in the line, please contact Automa via e-mail at sales@automa.it or directly by telephone on number 035.32.33.911.

To produce its well-known and tasty Panettone, Maina strictly follows the traditional recipe, which requires a long and delicate production process (about 50 hours per Panettone), especially during the dosing and kneading stage when a whole lot of parameters (quantities, temperatures, weight, etc.) have to be kept carefully under control. And this is exactly why, in 2002, the company decided to assign the task of updating the two supervision systems (one for each production line) of this critical stage to Gamba Automazioni, a Piedmont company specialised in designing and implementing automation systems and in developing software for traceability. Highly reliable supervision applications have been made using Super-Flash, which guarantee continual control of a complex plant in operation round the clock seven days a week. To get to know more about Maina's production and the system made by Gamba Automazioni, the article " Technology improves tradition" is available in the Press Review section on our web site.

On 29th April it will be Automa's 18th birthday. The company has grown considerably during almost twenty years of operation and has specialised in the industrial automation, production management and integration sectors. But it doesn't end here ...

A new article, "Technology Improves Tradition", has been published in the Press Review section on the Automa web site. It illustrates how Gamba Automazioni has renewed the supervision system of Maina's production lines for panettone, pandoro and colomba cakes.

Super-Flash Service Pack 1, for both 3.7 and 3.8 versions, is available on the Automa web site in the Download section.

Even though it falls within the sphere of a commercial strategy mainly aimed at solution providers, the arena of potential MainteX users is really vast: maintenance departments, machine and plant manufacturers, companies operating in the sectors of continuous or not-continuous industrial process automation, in the building and home automation, etc.
To satisfy the varied spectrum of those who could benefit from using a product like MainteX in the best possible way, Automa has come up with a new commercial offer which covers seven different product "sizes".
For example, the smallest licence, costing €199.00, means MainteX can be used as a valid and innovative alternative to the pure and simple maintenance manual, either on paper or in electronic formats, which is normally combined with a supply of machines and plants.
To know more about this new commercial offer, which contains special conditions for solution providers and distributors, please ask for the product Price List via e-mail at sales@automa.it, or telephone us on 035.32.33.911

MainteX is a software for managing preventive and extraordinary maintenance.
Unlike most of the maintenance information systems on the market, it is extremely operational and has been designed with the maintainer as the user in mind.
Being user-friendly and simple are some of the plus points of the product. Added to these is a special feature - fruit of Automa's twenty-year-long experience as a manufacturer of industrial automation software: the possibility of interfacing MainteX directly with machines and plants to collect the data from the field. This means the maintainer does not have to do extra work to obtain the information needed for good operation of the system. The time required for data collection and any errors in transcribing them are therefore reduced.
To assess the product, a DEMO version can be downloaded from the web site: www.maintex.it, where a lot of information can be found, both on the general subject of maintenance and on the software.

Two alternative approaches are usually followed to manage maintenance tasks: the one regarding extraordinary or corrective maintenance (a plant is only operated on when a fault occurs), or the one regarding preventive maintenance (the interventions are programmed before a fault occurs).
The advantages of the latter approach lie, above all, in the possibility of planning machine downtime, so that there is minimal impact on work organisation and production. Using parts which are always efficient allows balanced operation of the systems, avoiding deterioration of plant parts caused by excessive wear on other components.
Those not in favour of preventive maintenance observe that it increases spare part costs. In view of the fact that replacement of a component is made when it is not yet faulty, this activity is equivalent to a waste of resources, also due to the fact that some spare parts can be very costly.
This effect is further underlined by using a maintenance information system. To programme activities, the "operating hours" of a device must, in fact, be inserted in the software. Without the possibility of determining this data automatically, and since manual determination is often impossible to implement, one tends to define an average parameter of daily operating hours. Basically a piece is changed while it is still in working order.
To optimise the cost of spare parts, the component should be replaced when it is about to end its life cycle, or when its state of wear has reached an established level. Replacement could be the so-called "Condition-based Maintenance", i.e. a system able to propose an intervention according to the effective condition of the piece to be replaced. Without going into theoretical considerations regarding condition-based maintenance or even the preventive type, it can be said that automatic determination of some data, directly from the machine or from the plant, could make it possible to considerably improve the amount of spare parts used.
By providing the possibility of collecting data directly from the plants, MainteX allows a preventive, condition-based and predictive maintenance system to be implemented.

MainteX is a EPS/MES level software, able to communicate with the field, thereby making it possible to get closer to the subjects of maintenance and automation. In fact, since it is a system joining two levels, it puts the maintenance function directly in relation with the technicians who develop the supervisors or with the machine and plant controllers.
In order to manage their activities efficiently, maintainers do, in fact, increasingly need "very meaningful" data, which can be determined, processed and supplied by plants, machinery and equipment fitted with local intelligence (supervisors, PLCs, etc.)
This therefore creates a great opportunity for interaction between maintainers and expert PLC and supervision technicians. To facilitate communication between these two worlds, at least from the technological viewpoint, Automa makes various drivers available, which can connect MainteX with the majority of supervisors and the most widely used PLCs.
To help automation technicians enter this "new world", the presentation called "Maintenance and MainteX" can also be downloaded free of charge; it illustrates the basic concepts of maintenance and the main characteristics of the product.

Super-Flash 3.8 Service Pack1, which corrects some malfunctions of the development system, is available in the Download section on the Automa website.

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Automa has made the new version of the S7-HMI Adapter driver available to its clients. This driver allows a Super-Flash application to communicate with Siemens S7 300/400 PLCs.
The choice to use an HMI Adapter is perfect for those who want a cheap solution which avoids the insertion of hardware components in the CPU.
Moreover, the new version of the driver aims at reducing the negative impact on the speed of data transmission, due to use of the RS232 serial line. In fact, the version 2.0 has the possibility to make use of a baud rate up to 115.200, about 6 times higher than the former one.
To find out more about all new functionalities of the driver S7-HMI Adapter or receive further information, please visit the Products' section on the Automa website.

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