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What does plant data collection mean?

Plant data collection (PDC) is a collective term for the collection of actual data on conditions and processes in plants. This data can be integrated into Plant Information Management Systems, Manufacturing Execution Systems or SCADA systems. As a rule, data acquisition is carried out as follows:

  • Centrally via screen workstations at central PPS systems,
  • decentrally, for example, via screen workstations at decentralized control stations or PDA systems,
  • via data acquisition terminals or
  • by direct machine data acquisition.

The identification of the “PDC object”, for example a work process for which a PDC message is to be recorded, is often carried out with barcode support. There is also a paper approach in addition to the modern methods, which uses writing objects to transfer characters or even primitive symbols (for example, tally marks) onto the paper. SFDC systems manage a variety of data from different areas:

  • Operating data (organizational & technical operating data)
  • Order data (production data such as times, number, weight, quality, number of pieces or work progress, order status, feedback of order-related work performance)
  • Personnel data (attendance and working time as well as other data for calculation of wages, wage costs, access control, etc.)
  • Machine data (switching frequency, interruptions and running times of machines, produced quantities, messages and malfunctions, interventions of the operating personnel, data of maintenance, consumption of material, energy and auxiliary materials or measurements of temperature in storage rooms or production, immission values, etc.)
  • Process data (quality, parameters of the processes, setting data, etc.)