CHARLES H. GIFFORD, Power Engineers, Inc. Hailey, ID, USA
JUSTIN TYLER & MARK F. DUENAS, Power Engineers, Inc. Boise, ID, USA
ABSTRACT
To compete in the evolving global marketplace, companies are converting to the vertical business model. This model increases corporate efficiencies by providing real-time data into a predetermined decision-making process. Effectively moving real-time data to and from the plant floor through the MES, ASP, and MRP systems to the ERP system has become a major focus of the corporate transformation. Because much of the available off-the-shelf software does not meet the data damage, many corporations meet the data integration requirements with available web technologies. Unfortunately, there are many competing web technologies for integrating their operations and business systems and the manufacturing systems into the inter(ra)net to various corporate levels. With a high degree of security, these technologies are now able to monitor, maintain, control, and vertically integrate the production/manufacturing from remote locations and various corporate levels. The pros and cons of main web technologies are discussed. Topics include reasons for making the link, strategies and technologies for achieving it, benefits, and potential problems. Discussions include assessment skills, web technology models, security issues, and “custom” design alternatives for web solutions. Client-side versus server-side processing, Java, CGI, ASP, VB, C++, D-HTML are compared.