New factory saves initial and recurring costs, improves products with groov EPIC and Ignition.

Moving to Industry 4.0 takes time and determination, especially for an established company in a heavy industry. Castings Foundry POK in Guadalajara, Mexico, a Nucor subsidiary, uses equipment from manufacturers all over the world, which may include PLCs from a variety of automation suppliers. But data from all this equipment needed to be shared with corporate SCADA and ERP systems.  

In this new Opto 22 case study, see how POK's new factory solved this problem, saving an estimated 60% in initial costs, making operators' jobs easier with comprehensive HMIs, and improving product quality. 

Get Sparkplug 3.0 compliance, updated Node-RED, and new options for your groov EPIC controller.

The engineers at Opto 22 have been busy working around chip shortages and supply chain delays, yet even with those additional efforts, we're announcing the release of a new groov EPIC firmware update, version 3.5.

If I had to sum things up, I’d say a lot of really nice quality-of-life improvements and solid bug fixes were the key takeaways here.

Let's take a high-level look at some of the new features in this release.

With the latest groov 3.5 firmware update comes another new version of Node-RED, its 3.0 milestone release.

Get ready to see what's new in Node-RED when you update to groov EPIC 3.5. This new version includes all the additions of the 3.0.2 software, the most recently available at the time of writing, and node v14.20.0 and npm 6.14.17 package updates as well. Let's take a look.

Week 6 of the groov Manage video series brings you a detailed look at the control engines included with groov EPIC.

You might think we have a sleeper menu feature for this week's blog: only two buttons behind the Controller groov Manage menu option. Boring, right? Far from it! This is amazing! 

The fact that you can even choose between two control engine options is worth a pause. Learn what's possible in this week's groov Manage: Controller video.

Another full class of students learned about groov EPIC in the July 2023 Premium Factory Training class.

Another full class means word is getting out, and classroom PLC training is in demand. Are you considering a system upgrade or just curious how groov EPIC compares to other systems you've used?  Do you need help configuring and programming hardware and software for your industrial automation or IIoT application? 

Then consider spending a week with us at Opto 22 headquarters learning all the programming options and features of groov EPIC, the Edge Programmable Industrial Controller.

July's group of students represented a variety of industries and provided some great feedback on their training experience. Take a look at what they said.

Live I/O configuration and status from a web browser? Watch the next episode of the groov Manage video series and see how it's possible.

Our groov devices are much more than just industrially hardened, cybersecure devices—they also have abundant I/O options. In the case of the groov RIO, the 10 channels provide over 200,000 I/O combinations! This flexibility is also easy to drop into the groov EPIC chassis with the MM module. So, how can you configure, wire, and commission all this?

To get a glimpse, take a look at this week's groov Manage teaser video: I/O Status.

See how to set up a full LoRaWAN network stack in the latest episode of IntegrateLive! 

Last week, Opto 22's Benson Hougland joined the IntegrateLive! team for another hands-on project.

Sarah Sonnier and Jessica Williams from SiteSync also joined, to focus on using a groov EPIC and the SiteSync MultiTech gateway to set up a full LoRaWAN network stack. (LoRaWAN is a low-power, wide area networking protocol built on top of the LoRa radio modulation technique.)

The setup included a LoRaWAN Network Server, Join Server, and Application Server. Curious how it turned out? Watch the live demo.

Follow along with the 4th installment of the groov Manage video and blog series as we focus on the Security button in the groov Manage menu.

This week brings you the fourth installment of walking through the groov Manage menu options found on a groov EPIC. In case you missed it, you might want to catch up on the previous three menu options we've covered so far: Accounts, Network, and System. Now, you'll be ready to dive into the Security features.

Watch groov Manage: Security.

Watch this updated groov View Quick Start video to learn how simple it is to start designing and building your HMI.

With browser-based groov View, you can easily build an operator interface to see and interact with exactly what you need. groov View is included with groov EPIC and groov Server for Windows.

To help you get up and running in no time at all, we've put together a new video that takes you through 3 simple steps of setting up an HMI with groov View. This is a quick, high-level overview presentation designed to get you started and more comfortable with the tool.

Watch and learn: groov View Quick Start.

The 12-part video and blog series continues with a look at what's behind the System button on the groov Manage menu.

Over the past few weeks we've been taking a peek behind each of the main groov Manage menu options, both in a quick video and here in this blog. This week we are going to be jumping into the System menu.

Watch groov Manage: System.