Proof of concept
X-ray interlock alerts, a proof of concept
- Systems
- Multiple OPC UA servers and tags
- Engagement
- Product build and demonstration
- 89 days
- From first build to a working MVP demonstration
- 0 lines
- Of code written for the demonstrated X-ray use case, which was configured instead
- 5+
- Industry professionals it was demonstrated to
The situation
Opcela Quality began as a modern replacement for a legacy Rockwell quality tool. The tool had stopped working, and because it had reached the end of its life the vendor no longer maintained it, so nobody was going to fix it. Quality checks had gone back to being done by hand.
As we see the market, a site in that position has two routes. It can rebuild on a platform: a platform licence, a connectivity gateway, a second vendor to write the quality application on top, and maintenance that is yours to carry for as long as the application exists. Or it can configure a product. A platform build is the right answer when the requirement is genuinely unique. A tolerance on a process value is not.
What the legacy tool did
The tool being replaced was bespoke. It raised a quality alert, and then it told nobody. The alert waited on an audit screen until somebody looked, where comments, documents and images were added, and it closed with a sign-off that required a comment.
The audit and the sign-off were worth keeping. The silence was not.
What we built
Opcela Quality, tested against multiple OPC UA servers and multiple tags. The use case it was proven on was an X-ray inspection tag with an interlock: when the X-ray value went high, meaning metal had been detected, the line was stopped.
We added the step the legacy tool never had. A named person is told, by SMS, WhatsApp or email. The alert then goes through the audit screen, where comments, documents and images are added, and through a sign-off that requires a comment. Every action is written to the audit trail.
The X-ray use case was configured in the interface, not coded. The tag, the condition, the person told and the sign-off were all set up on screen.
How it was proven
It took 89 days from the first build to a working MVP demonstration.
It was demonstrated to five or more industry professionals: engineering managers, automation engineers, quality managers and IoT contractors, chosen so that between them they covered every part of feasibility. It was built and demonstrated, and it has not been deployed into production.
What the demonstration showed
That the replacement for a bespoke quality tool can be configured rather than written. The X-ray interlock, the notification, the audit and the sign-off were set up on screen in a product, with no application code written for them.