Applications
· Power Distribution Portable Data Center - Richmond, VA
o Developed the HMI and PLC code to monitor and operate a Portable Data Center. The PLC monitors and controls all equipment and environmental conditions in the container. The HMI gives operators a graphical overview of the container and tracks all of the network equipment and their power usage down to each specific power plug.
o Software: Schneider Electric SoMachine, Iconics Genesis32
o Hardware: Schneider Electric Modicon M258
· Automotive Gauge Adjustment Calculator - Romulus, MI
o Engineered a Visual Basic application that takes engine measurements in microns as input data and does dozens of trigonometric calculations, creating a report of the quality of the current engine milling process. It also includes the calculations on adjusting the milling process on the block to correct the “squareness” of the engine.
o Software: Visual Basic
· Waste Water Treatment SCADA System - Wyandotte, MI
o Managed a team of four programmers that developed a complete SCADA system in Visual Basic. Control system included 20+ PLC’s, alarming, historical data collection, many custom ActiveX components and web browser integration. Uses DDE and ODBC compliant communication methods.
o Software: Visual Basic, MS SQL Server
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 5/05
· Food Package Manufacturing - Mason, MI
o Developed a complete data collection system in Labview for production statistical process control (SPC). System included database design and programming in MySQL, a data monitoring system written in Labview with timed and event based data collection, custom communication interfaces and a secondary data monitoring system developed in Ignition.
o Software: Labview, MySQL, Ignition, Kepware
· Automotive Paint Booth Control - Plymouth, MI
o Assisted company personnel in implementing the robotic paint systems in the prime, clear and basecoat booths at a plant in Fremont, CA. Updated the PaintWorx (VB) and ControlLogix PLC code controlling all environmental equipment and providing robot interfacing, paint calculations and providing all data to the plant.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Visual Basic, Fanuc PaintWorx
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Robotic Paint Booth Control - Sumter, SC
o Completed all PLC and HMI programming for two booths painting large cylinders with separate reciprocating robots. Redesigned all PLC and HMI code to create a new corporate programming template that significantly reduced their programming application development time to market.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, FactoryTalk View ME
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix, Panelview
· Sunroof Manufacturing Historical Data Collection - Rochester Hills, MI
o Developed a commercial grade data collection system in Visual Basic that is being used to collect data on over a dozen of their production lines. Wrote a custom OPC communication interface to retrieve data from any OPC data source. All data is stored in a database using a simple ODBC connection so it will work with virtually any type of ODBC compliant database.
o Software: Visual Basic
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500
· Automotive Part Traceability - Queretaro, MX & Saginaw, MI
o Assisted company personnel in implementing a plant wide part traceability system. Created a communication path to connect an old Modicon PLC to a new CompactLogix PLC to quickly implement their pre-created software templates. Travelled to Mexico several times to write and implement Modicon and CompactLogix code, numerous bar code scanners and other sensors to automate traceability on dozens of machines.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Modicon Proworx NXT, Modbus Plus, VB.Net
o Hardware: Allen Bradley CompactLogix, Modicon 984, Anybus Gateway
· Automotive Stamping Plant Production Monitoring - Howell, MI
o Designed, installed and manage two MS Windows servers using Wonderware Historian and Avantis Maintenance software. The Historian server collects data from Direct PLC, Mitsubishi, Omron and Allen Bradley PLCs and provides the data to 3 SCADA and 5 management nodes. Also assisted in developing a 3 node InTouch application controlling their stamping press lines along with most of the plant utilities and scrap through DDE and OPC interfaces.
o Software: Wonderware InTouch and Historian, various communication drivers.
o Hardware: DirectPLC, Mitsubishi, Omron, Allen Bradley
· Sunroof Off-Line Tester - Rochester Hills, MI
o Create an off-line testing application in Visual Basic that gives associates a graphical view of a sun roof and allows them to rework and retest the glass height measurements with a wireless micrometer. The application interfaces with several SQL tables to store the data. Also created several Excel reports to retrieve and sort statistical data.
o Software: Visual Basic, WinWedge, MS SQL Server
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Automotive R&D Fuel Delivery System - Warren, MI
o Designed all of the software for a system that uses a gantry robot to automatically open and close manual ball valves in a class 1, div 1 area. The application is designed to open and close valves controlling 17 fuels that are fed to 22 engine test cells. There are two robots and over 750 valves total. We are also controlling all of the supporting equipment including pumps, valves and pressure switches, etc. Designed all of the PLC code and a complete control HMI application in Iconics.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Iconics Genesis32
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Robotic Stitch Tracking System - Wixom, MI
o Developed all tracking algorithms and developed all code implemented through the Yaskawa Motoman MotoSDK to retrieve guidance information from a laser camera and perform all calculation to update the robot to properly track the part and stitch an automotive dashboard skin. Code was developed in Visual Studio C++ and compiled into the robot controller.
o Software: Visual Studio C++, MotoSDK
o Hardware: Motoman DX200, Laser scanner
· Adhesive Manufacturing System - Detroit, MI
o Designed an Iconics HMI interface to monitor and manage a glue pellet manufacturing process. Application included an interlocked custom batch processing module, OPC communication and complete alarming and historical trending.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Iconics Genesis32
· Automatic Vehicle Location System - Wixom , MI
o Engineered and programmed a complete vehicle tracking system. This product includes an in-vehicle unit and a computer attached server software that communicated through wireless data pagers for live two way communication. The in-vehicle unit managed up to 18 I/O, GPS positioning and an RS-232 configuration interface. The server included a communication module, live and recorded route mapping and a reporting module.
o Software: C, Visual Basic
o Hardware: Single Board Computers
· Chemical Manufacturing - Livonia, MI
o Worked with the customer’s manufacturing and IT departments to design and develop several new servers to update their manufacturing process control. We upgraded 5 stand-alone servers to operate on 2 new high powered virtual servers running in VM Ware’s vSphere software. This the first step of a phased upgrade to their entire Rockwell/Allen Bradley control system.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, RS Logix 500, VM Ware vSphere Suite
· Furniture Manufacturing Ergonomics Monitor - Grand Rapids, MI
o Developed a portable chair monitoring system. Used a Single Board Computer design to monitor 8 sensors on an office chair to store, retrieve and report on user positioning. The unit would last over 45 days on a RC type battery. Also created an interface to store the data in an MS Excel format for analysis. Created a data compression routine to store date, time and I/O status data in 5 bytes of memory.
o Software: C, Excel, VBA
o Hardware: Single Board Computer
· Glass Coating R&D System - Carleton, MI
o Perform several operational and feature updates to a research and development glass coating system. HMI updates were in several GE iFix applications, two Factorytalk View applications and multiple ControlLogix PLC controlling the operation.
o Software: GE iFix, RS Logix 5000
· Automotive Plant Monitoring - Romulus, MI
o Developed 4 Wonderware InTouch applications that monitor and control the Powerhouse, HVAC and Water Treatment facilities. The fourth application is a combination of all of the other applications that can monitor all of the facilities in the plant. These applications use G.E. and Allen Bradley PLCs along with other controllers and communicate through Modbus, DDE and OPC interfaces.
o Software: Wonderware InTouch & Historian
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500, GE 90-30
· Sunroof Manufacturing SAP Interface - Rochester Hills, MI
o Created a Visual Basic application that uses OPC to communicate with any PLC to create output files containing production data for import into an SAP database. It allowed for creation of the output file as a CSV file with up to 5000 parameters in any order. The software is now running in several plants on dozens of production lines.
o Software: Visual Basic
o Hardware: Allen Bradley, Siemens and other custom OPC comms.
· Metal Finishing System - Sterling Heights, MI
o Upgraded a Wonderware InTouch application performing metal finishing to work with a custom SQL batch management system. Batch management was accomplished through custom SQL stored procedures and InTouch database and PLC interfacing. Live data was stored to the SQL database as batches ran, and recipes were pulled from the SQL database and sent to the PLC for automatic batch control. Minor PLC changes were made to manage the data flow as well.
o Software: Wonderware InTouch, RS Logix 500, RS Logix 5000
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500, ControlLogix
· Automotive Powerhouse Monitoring - Romulus, MI
o Implemented a Wonderware Industrial SQL Server application monitoring process and critical data in their Powerhouse, HVAC and Water Treatment facilities. Also designed several reports in Excel that communicate to the InSQL database through ODBC connections over the network for quick and easy data retrieval. Implemented a scheduled report generator that creates HTML versions of the Excel reports automatically and saves them in a common directory with the report name and date as the file name.
o Software: Wonderware Historian, XLReporter, Excel
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500, GE 90-30, Various Others
· Automatic Vehicle Location Wireless Communication - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
o Engineered and programmed a 3 piece 900 Mhz wireless data downloading system to extract data from a Siemens/VDO vehicle monitoring unit. The product includes an in-vehicle “mobile” unit, a building mounted “base” unit, and a Visual Basic front end that retrieves and converts all of the data and stores it in the VDO database. This product is still in production and has over 1000 installed units at more than 40 locations worldwide.
o Software: Visual Basic, C, MS SQL Server, Custom Wireless Protocol
o Hardware: Single Board Computers
· Solar Panel Production Simulator - Auburn Hills, MI
o Developed a “simulator” application in GE iFix. The simulator records their startup and shutdown procedure for their solar panel manufacturing line and plays it back like a DVR. It includes several custom control functions including fast forward, skip ahead, pause, messaging, interactive button clicks and more. This allows them to train new operators on standard operating procedures and critical situation recovery significantly faster than using the live process.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, GE iFix
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Sunroof Manufacturing Marquee Display - Rochester Hills, MI
o Created a Visual Basic application that uses OPC to communicate with an Allen Bradley PLC and a production quality marquee. The PLC keeps track of production count and part data which the application would read and display on the marquee over a TCP Ethernet connection.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Visual Basic
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Wastewater System Monitoring - Brownstown, MI
o Designed and commissioned a new RF communication system from a remote lift station approximately 5 miles from the main plant. The communication included moving data from a local Micrologix PLC to an Allen Bradley SLC PLC at the plant, as well as the Visual Basic HMI programming to enable access to the new data.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Visual Basic
· Steel Manufacturing DDE Server - River Rouge, MI
o Created a DDE server to communicate with an outdated Rosemount controller that did not have a server available. Data was served to a custom iFix application for display, alarming and historical data collection.
o Software: Visual Basic, iFix
o Hardware: Rosemont Controller
· Automotive Powerhouse Monitoring - Flint, MI
o Analyzed an existing Wonderware HMI and Historian system. Updated PLC and database communications to significantly improve system integrity. Added and updated several reports using Crystal Reports and XLReporter.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Wonderware InTouch, Crystal Reports, XLReporter
o Hardware: Allen Bradley CompactLogix, Various other equipment
· Waste Water Treatment Rain Monitoring - Brownstown, MI
o Designed and implemented a rain monitoring system installed in 6 locations throughout the plant’s service area. Each site has a PLC monitoring rain fall equipment and transmits the data regularly to the main plant through RF communication equipment. Also created a data collection and graphical reporting system for statistical tracking of the data.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Visual Basic
o Hardware: Allen Bradley MicroLogix, SLC 500
· Municipal Water Telemetry System - Bowling Green, OH
o Engineered a wireless telemetry system to monitor live data from two water towers to the main water treatment plant. The system uses 900Mhz spread spectrum RF radios to transmit level, pressure and other data from the water tower to the plant using Modbus protocol.
o Software: GE Transphere, Wonderware InTouch
o Hardware: GE Transphere
· Sunroof Manufacturing Reporting System - Rochester Hills, MI
o Developed dozens of reports using Crystal Reports Professional to monitor their manufacturing process and report on its efficiency and history. Also developed an Excel spreadsheet application using VBA to create X-Bar and R-Charts to manage their statistical process control.
o Software: Crystal Reports, Excel, VBA
· Automotive Power Monitoring - Romulus, MI
o Installed two PowerLogic SMS3000 applications that manage over 80 power monitoring devices throughout two plants. Configured devices, database software and report modules. Added several custom web pages to the gateways throughout the plant.
o Software: Square D PowerLogic, MS SQL Server
o Hardware: Square D PowerLogic
· Automotive Air Conditioning Tester - Milford, MI
o Rewrote the Visual Basic for DOS code for an automotive air conditioner test machine which had not been used in several years. We reconditioned the equipment and rewrote the control software to monitor and control dozens of thermocouples, flow sensors and other equipment. It featured a PID control loop hand written in Visual Basic.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Iconics Genesis32
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500
· Commercial Bottling Data Collection - New Hudson, MI
o Wrote a custom data collection application that uses OPC to connect to a Siemens PLC and record process data to comma separated variable files at specific time increments. The application included a full featured configuration interface with all setup and OPC link information stored in a local database.
o Software: Visual Basic, MS Access
o Hardware: Siemens S7
· Sunroof Manufacturing Off-Line Tester - Rochester Hills, MI
o Updated an off-line machine that tests sun roofs for correct performance and glass height specifications. It uses DDE and OPC protocols to communicate with two PLCs for data gathering and storage. Also uses an ODBC interface to store the data in an RS Historian database. Developed a Visual Basic interface to produce a pass/fail barcode at the end of the testing cycle.
o Software: Visual Basic
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500, ControlLogix
· Steering Manufacturing Traceability - Saginaw, MI
o Design and layout a communication system to add functionality to a traceability application written with Visual Basic .Net and MS SQL Server. Performed project management and all design functions. Worked in team environment during code and database development.
o Software: Modicon Proworx NXT, Modbus Plus, Allen Bradley RS Logix 5000
o Hardware: Allen Bradley CompactLogix, Modicon 984, Anybus
· Waste Water Treatment SCADA System - Brownstown, MI
o Design, install, update and manage a 10 node SCADA network with redundant Windows servers including all alarming, historical trending, compliance reporting and communication. Also manage all network resources and devices on the hardware redundant Ethernet network. SCADA system is written in Visual Basic with RS-Linx as the OPC server and PLC communication interface.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Visual Basic, Wonderware Historian
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500
· Automotive Manufacturing - Battle Creek, MI
o Updated several HMI applications with new screens, controls and communication interfaces. Updates included building and working with several virtual machines, custom networking interfaces and communication.
o Software: Wonderware InTouch, Wonderware Historian, Kepserver
· Automotive Process Water Filtering - Lansing, MI
o Designed and implemented all controls for magnetic separation filtering system for an automotive plant. The system was designed to filter the process water returning from the phosphate paint system. The design included Devicenet communication to 12 control valves and careful integration to a running process. Also included updates to the Wonderware InTouch HMI screens and a reporting system on the filter’s efficiency.
o Software: Allen Bradley RS Logix 5, Wonderware InTouch
o Hardware: Allen Bradley PLC 5
· Automotive Parts Paint System - Ionia, MI
o Upgrade an existing Paint shop multi-node Wonderware application running on 5 PLCs and 3 Wonderware nodes. Converted communication from a KT Card DH+ Network to use a Procomm CIP to DH+ gateway. Commissioned the new nodes and added Win911 for alarm paging.
o Software: Wonderware, RS Logix 5, RS Logix 5000, Prosoft gateway
· Automotive Part Heat Treating - Pontiac, MI
o Rewrote much of the PLC and HMI software for a heat treating application manufacturing automotive brake pads. Updated the SLC code to work generically on over a dozen furnaces with a custom recipe management system handling up to 20 steps in the recipe. All data was stored in a custom SQL database with a user friendly interface from the HMI.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Wonderware InTouch
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500
· Automotive Paint Applicator Air Shaping - Holden, Australia
o Performed all programming and factory testing for a ControlLogix PLC application controlling the shaping air for a robotic paint system. Made required modifications to the Paintworks HMI application and provided remote support for the installation crew.
o Software: Visual Basic, RS Logix 5000, Fanuc PaintWorx
o Hardware: Allen BradleyControlLogix
· Waste Water Treatment Power Monitoring - Brownstown, MI
o Installed and configured a power monitoring system using Cutler Hammer Powernet equipment. This allows the facility to monitor and track the electrical usage for their equalization basin. It uses an OPC server to retrieve data from the power meters and stores it in a Wonderware Historian database.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Wonderware Historian, Visual Basic, Cutler Hammer Powernet
o Hardware: Cutler Hammer Powernet
· Automotive Part Heat Treating - Pontiac, MI
o Upgraded the PLC and HMI software for a heat treating application manufacturing automotive brake pads. Upgraded the RS Logix 500 code to RS Logix 5000, all I/O mapping and HMI interface.
o Software: RS Logix 500, RS Logix 5000, Wonderware InTouch
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Automotive Power Monitoring - Several Plants, MI
o Created a Visual Basic application that monitors the Square D PowerLogic or Pegasus Ion power monitoring software that is connected to numerous power monitoring devices around the plant. It creates an intranet web page displaying the current power usage in every area of the plant so team leaders can monitor and optimize power usage during operation and shutdown periods.
o Software: Visual Basic, HTML, Square D PowerLogix, ION Pegasus
· Glass Manufacturing Power Supply Control - Carleton, MI
o Wrote a custom application that monitored the power usage and performance of 10 high-capacity power supplies. Customized the PLC code and re-wrote the communication code in FA Basic which ran on five coprocessor cards installed in a DirectPLC rack. Also made required modifications to the iFix HMI.
o Software: DirectSoft, FA Basic, iFix
o Hardware: DirectPLC
· Sunroof Manufacturing Tox Machine - Rochester Hills, MI
o Updated a tox stamping machine that was moved from overseas to Rochester Hills. The machine pressure stamped sun roof rails precisely. Project included bringing all of the hardware back online, updating a PanelView application and adding two new product types to the sequence. Also updated a servo control system to complete the proper motion in the auto-loading sequence.
o Software: RS Logix 500, RS View ME
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500
· Waste Water Treatment Operation - Gross Isle, MI
o Update and manage a three node Wonderware SCADA system controlling a waste water treatment facility. Also performed many PLC updates and re-wrote several of the process sequences to manage the facility more efficiently.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Wonderware InTouch
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Bottling Palletizer/DePalletizer Vision System - Ann Arbor, MI
o Created a vision inspection system that communicates with a GE robot for a palletizer/depalletizer system. Each inspection calculated and fed the robot the coordinate and rotation criteria of a stack of pallets being inspected from above.
o Software: DVT Intellect
· Automotive Assembly Communication - Wentzville, MO
o Designed and implemented a communication system to translate data between several Modicon PLCs controlling a conveyor line and several Rockwell PLCs in different manufacturing areas. All parts of the system were designed in a modular form so the system could be easily implemented by multiple vendors with very technical assistance.
o Software: Modicon Proworx32, NXT, Modbus Plus, Allen Bradley Logix 5000
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix, Modicon 984, Anybus
· Automotive Plant Boiler Monitoring - Rawsonville, MI
o Completed a full FactoryTalk View ME conversion to Wonderware InTouch for HMI monitoring of an automotive plant boiler system. Project included complete historical data analysis and reporting with customized trending.
o Software: Wonderware
· Stamping Plant Network Design - Howell, MI
o Designed an integrated fiber-optic Gigabit/100 Base-T/802.11 wireless network to be installed throughout the plant. The design implemented the appropriate technology in each area of the plant that would maximize current installation and future expansion.
o Software: Cisco
o Hardware: Cisco
· Automotive Powerhouse Control - Hamtramck, MI
o Work with a team of engineers performing a research study of an existing automotive plant powerhouse. The result of the study was a report on the required and requested functional upgrades to the plant. The report included complete cost analysis and estimates for each item in the upgrade. All PLC, HMI and communication medium were included in the upgrades.
o Software: FactoryTalk View SE Server, Cimplicity, RS Logix 5000, RS Logix 500
· Waste Water Treatment Reporting - Brownstown, MI
o Created a full featured data reporting system using Microsoft Excel to retrieve data from a Wonderware Historian server that allows ad hoc retrieval of any required data with a few simple mouse clicks.
o Software: Wonderware Historian, Excel, VBA
· Nuclear Plant Water Filtration - Newport, MI
o Assisted in upgrading and re-commissioning a water filtration system for a nuclear power plant. Project included updating a Wonderware application to a new panel mounted computer and the latest software version, commissioning the system with plant personnel, and some minor operational updates.
o Software: Wonderware, RS Logix 500
· Automotive Manufacturing - Saginaw, MI
o Designed and commissioned several new screens in Cimplicity using the GM EMS template. The new screens added functionality for two new air compressors and two new air houses. Programming included commissioning a Prosoft BACNet gateway.
o Software: GE Cimplicity, Prosoft gateways
· Aerospace Part Heat Treating - Hot Springs, AK
o Developed an Iconics application to control an aerospace part heat treating process. Application included a complete batch processing and reporting system, alarming, historical data collection and trending.
o Software: RS Logix 500, Iconics Genesis32
o Hardware: Allen Bradley SLC 500
· Manufacturing Plant - Indianapolis, IN
o Designed and commissioned a custom ActiveX component that was used in a FactoryTalk View application. The ActiveX would display pictures stored by a vision system in custom directory names, all dependent on communication with data in a PLC. The ActiveX had 13 input parameter properties to make it very flexible during implementation.
o Software: Visual Basic, FactoryTalk View SE
· Solar Panel Manufacturing High Speed Control - Auburn Hills, MI
o Wrote a custom Visual Basic class module in Visual Studio 2008 that integrates a control application to a National Instruments data acquisition card. The class included several custom functions, events and property routines.
o Software: Visual Basic .Net, National Instruments DLLs
o Hardware: National Instruments DAQ Card
· Powerhouse Monitoring - Fredrick, MD
o Designed and commissioned a BacNet to CIP gateway medium to establish communication between a boiler system and a building management system. Performed the same service with similar equipment at multiple sites.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, RS Logix 500, Prosoft gateways
· Automotive Conveyor System - San Luis Potosi, Mexico
o Assisted in the commissioning of the final assembly overhead conveyor system. Responsibilities included project management, production support, PLC and HMI updates.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Siemens Win CC Flex and TIA Portal
· Glass Coater Operation - Carleton, MI
o Completed automating the operation of a glass coating line. Included building a custom recipe entry system in Excel, importing it to an RS Logix PLC, and automatically operating the equipment as the glass samples were moving through the coater.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, GE iFix, FactoryTalk View ME
o Hardware: Allen Bradley ControlLogix
· Food Processing - Imlay City, MI
o Created a production recipe management system for the empty glass handling line that optimized the speed of the line and reduced glass breakage. It also implemented changes that allowed for product changeovers to drop from an hour or more to several minutes.
o Software: RS Logix 5 & 5000, FactoryTalk View ME, Wonderware InTouch
o Hardware: Allen Bradley PLC 5 & ControlLogix
· Heat Tempering Furnace - Greenville, TN
o Commissioned a four zone heat tempering furnace with a 100 foot long conveyor. Project included some very stringent PID temperature control requirements which were completed surpassing the operation of any of the customer’s existing furnace lines.
o Software: RS Logix 5000, Wonderware InTouch
o Hardware: Allen Bradley CompactLogix