• What data do you have about your process, plant or batch?
• What does your data tell you about your plant or process?
• Are you still collecting data the hard way on paper charts or even by hand?
• Can you rapidly compare ‘today’ against ‘yesterday’, ‘last week’ or ‘last year’?

Do you want just to collect data because you “have to”? Or do you want to collect it and put it to work helping you to analyse and improve your plant or processes. Data Historian software helps collect and analyse data to improve manufacturing processes and decision-making. They are a prime example of how to use manufacturing intelligence from the engineering level to improve the business as a whole.

A common Data Historian has the other advantage that it’s the single source of data allowing the complete data set to be available across all departments thus giving the complete picture. Multiple data sources that may hold differing data are eliminated so there is only one source of the ‘Truth’.

The information collected with a historian can be used to feed a “Plan” – “Do” – “Check” – “Act” iterative problem solving ‘Deming Cycle’. Data Historians are a very good addition to this process because you can compare the results from all iterations very quickly to check that you are going in the correct direction. In Six Sigma programs, the PDSA cycle is called "Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control" (DMAIC).

Data Historians were expensive tools for large companies but now that has changed. Options now exist for systems with very small data counts to very large systems holding data from multiple sites.

If you have specific requirements or regulations controlling your data storage, like the Pharmaceutical 21CFR part11 regulations, the right Historian packages can totally fulfil these requirements completely.

Normally as part of a Data Historian installation various reporting and data manipulation tools are available including the ability to extract data for use with common office tools like Microsoft Excel. Increasingly more ‘Web’ based reporting is used to allow the results to be widely distributed within and if required, outside a business.

Silchester Control Systems can help you chose the right packages for your application, connecting to your equipment and to grow with your business.