New case study shows how StrataVu and groov EPIC secure a flexible future for Oil & Gas production.

When the hardware for the automation system you’ve deployed throughout your entire installed base is suddenly declared end-of-life, you’re faced with a problem. That’s what happened to Apex Energy LLC, a natural gas exploration and production company, headquartered just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

As a longtime customer of systems integrator and Opto technology partner Strata Innovative Solutions, Apex had used Strata’s field-proven PadPro automation solution starting with their second drilling site, or well pad. They were happy with the solution. But in 2019-2020, manufacturers of the hardware components began to end-of-life their products. For their planned growth, Apex needed a new solution that would offer as seamless a transition as possible.

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. 

AECOM, Ecosa, ENGraphted, and Opto 22 team up for a new solution to a complex environmental problem.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) in lakes, rivers, and oceans are an increasingly severe problem worldwide. HABs can produce toxins that harm humans, kill fish, smother aquatic life, and destroy tourist economies. 

If you were headed to Florida as a tourist in 2016 or 2018, you would have witnessed this devastation. Due to massive algae blooms, Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency and closed beaches on both coasts. The invasive, toxic blue-green algae choked many freshwater lakes, rivers, and residential waterways as well.

Faced with the ugly, slimy, stinky water, not just tourists but residents and business owners who did not have the ability to leave the area were stuck. The toxic slime threatened human health and devastated tourism-related businesses, as dead fish and aquatic life piled up along the shorelines.

Available solutions for HABs weren't ideal, so Dan Levy of AECOM put together a team to develop a new process for removing the algae. Read about the process, how they developed efficient algae harvesters, and what the harvested biomass is used for in this new case study.

Cost-effective automation and internet of things technologies save time and yield better control.

California-based Azcal Management farms a wide variety of crops in drought-prone conditions. Managing water use and monitoring pumps is crucial for their operations to succeed and means walking a fine line between providing just enough water, but not too little.

Azcal farm managers made the decision to automate their manual processes to keep up with demand and avoid costly breakdowns, repairs, or damaged crops. Finding a system integrator in the agriculture field market was challenging, but after meeting with John WIlliamson of Farm Data Systems (FDS), they realized the new edge technology that FDS offered could bring their farming operations into the internet of things.

It was time for an end-to-end field monitoring and automation solution for crop irrigation management.

ALTA Refrigeration achieves faster, easier product development and servicing with groov EPIC and MQTT.

What’s the secret to providing superior service and staying competitive in a changing market? Over ten years, ALTA Refrigeration transformed itself from a custom engineering services company into a scalable industrial equipment manufacturer. Read their case study.

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of James Cameron's historic dive to the Mariana Trench with the help of Opto 22 controls.

About this time 10 years ago, I got two emails about an hour apart. The first was from my wife saying my 16-year old son had fallen off his skateboard and taken a chunk out of his elbow. The second was from my son himself, asking if he could go back and find the missing bit rather than go to hospital to get stitches.

Today, we all have a bit of a laugh about it when we recall the story. But at the time, it was pretty stressful for each of us, mostly because I was away from home half way around the world.

In fact, I was a thousand miles out at sea working with the team that was preparing the Deepsea Challenge submersible that would end up taking movie director and deep ocean explorer James Cameron to the deepest point on the planet - the Mariana Trench.

Intrinsics Imaging’s AI-powered vision system uses groov RIO to connect the cloud to the edge.

Machine vision systems can recognize superficial aberrations in manufactured goods—like lines, spots, holes, color discrepancies, and more—that would typically require time-consuming manual inspection. California-based Intrinsics Imaging solves this problem with its Heijunka Vision analytics-as-a-service software. But when Intrinsics was approached by a customer hoping to integrate Heijunka directly into process controls, it looked to Opto 22’s groov RIO edge I/O for a way to connect the cloud to the edge.

Remote I/O over MQTT helps Rust Automation deploy affordable remote monitoring in a challenging environment.

Did you watch the Fall CODESYS Tech Talk virtual event that we shared with you last October? It demonstrated how the CODESYS runtime engine works and why it's included on Opto 22's groov EPIC.

Jared Bates, from OptoPartner Rust Automation & Controls, joined us for that presentation. He discussed a current water management application that utilizes CODESYS on EPIC, groov RIO remote I/O, and MQTT for secure data communications. 

Now, we've put the story of all that cutting-edge technology into a case study, so you can dig into all the details!

ICC 2021 Discover Gallery finalist, Perceptive Controls, talks about their continued success with the Waterford, MI Department of Public Works

In February of this year, we looked at a pioneering MQTT Sparkplug project at the Department of Public Works in Waterford Township, Michigan. Thanks to the work of system integrator Perceptive Controls, Waterford’s project went on to become a finalist in the 2021 Ignition Community Conference Discover Gallery and was showcased in the latest Sparkplug Working Group virtual meetup. Recently, I followed up with Kevin Finkler, software engineer at Perceptive, to talk about using MQTT in the real world.

Opto 22's YouTube channel is growing with more videos and subscribers.

What started several years ago as a platform to host a few Opto 22 product videos has now reached a new milestone. The Opto 22 YouTube channel recently reached 2 million views and is closing in on 20,000 subscribers.

Whether you're new to the industrial automation industry, or are looking for specific developer tips on using MQTT or Node-RED, the OptoVideo channel is your one stop for all things automation and digital transformation.