SIMATIC IT XHQ for the Continuous Process Industries

Everything moves rapidly in the process sector.  Strong competition is a given, and staying ahead of the game requires enormous effort.  The typical enterprise has invested heavily in systems that manage transactions, automate manufacturing processes, and in general execute the company's business.  These systems generate huge volumes of information that are typically available to only a few trained "power users."  Much of this information has tremendous value to the rest of the organization, and in today's business climate, it is essential for the wider organization to have access to this information in real-time.

"Perhaps our greatest untapped resource,"  says a VP of Operations of a leading company, "is the strong desire of the average employee to make a meaningful contribution to the goals and objectives of the company."  But this poses a challenge.  How do you truly empower them?  How do you aggregate, relate and present all of the combined operational and business data needed by a large user population in a useful format and in realtime?  In other words, how do you provide everyone in your organization with an up to the minute view of performance against individual and group objectives?  How do you present them with all of the information they need to make the good day-to-day decisions that will drive the organization to higher levels of achievement?

In subsequent sections, we provide answers to these important questions, including overviews of the SIMATIC IT XHQ Operations Intelligence solution and the SIMATIC IT XHQ Difference.  We'll describe key concepts that drive the design of SIMATIC IT XHQ, discuss XHQ in action, and chronicle how an XHQ solution is implemented and delivered.

More: Operations Intelligence