Posted to News on 27th Nov 2011, 21:05
Schad opens UK office to promote mobile SCADA
Schad has opened an office in London, from where it will start to expand internationally across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the USA and Asia. Three new appointments have also been made: James Hannay is Senior Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing, and also Managing Director for Schad Ltd in the UK; Jorn Woywat is Chief Finance Officer; and Peter Lawn is Head of Pre-Sales Consulting International.
Schad's innovative product is Extend7000, an award-winning SCADA system that provides access to data via mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet computers. Not only does this provide access from anywhere within a plant, but it also enables multiple systems to be monitored and controlled remotely. Extend7000 includes intelligence that means, for example, an engineer will be notified who has the appropriate skills and who is close to the machine with the alarm condition. Alarms can therefore be responded to much more quickly, so downtime can be reduced and associated costs minimised. According to the company, unscheduled downtime can be cut by 38-60 per cent and service levels can be improved by 10-25 per cent.
Typical applications for Extend7000 include manufacturing plants, utilities companies, airports and others where PLCs are used for process automation. Extend7000 is compatible with Blackberry, iPhone, Android, Tablet PC and Windows mobile terminal devices.
James Hannay states: "Having specialised in supply chain industries for many years there was a huge opportunity for companies to introduce mobility to a completely new area of their workforces, namely the highly skilled engineers responsible for managing automated systems monitored by SCADA and controlled by PLC technology. Many companies already have a wireless infrastructure so it is a logical transition to put this to greater use with mobile applications."
Schad is currently finalising a series of strategic OEM partnerships with automation specialists and relationships with reseller integrators. The company's rapid expansion is possible thanks to $4.2million funding from M8, a firm of venture capitalists specialising in mobile technologies.
Follow the links for more information about Extend7000 and Schad GmbH.
