Thin clients and ThinMan Praim console ensure the company which operates in the handles and coordinated a reliable and robust solution to completely replace the fleet supplied
Praim, a leading provider of complete systems for the creation and management of business software and hardware Thin & Zero Client workstations, supports Ghidini Pietro Bosco Spa, a manufacturing company with a long history of handles and coordinated to provide reliable endpoint and without risk interruptions, to improve infrastructure management. The solutions already adopted by Ghidini are Praim Neutrino IoT with Windows Embedded and centralized management console ThinMan on Platinum, eliminating any detention of users in the operation.
Since its foundation in 1929, Ghidini Pietro Bosco Spa fits in the industrious artisan and industrial tradition that characterizes Val Trompia, immediately structuring its own internal research laboratory, the Ghidini Experience Office, for the development of new products and the definition of the most appropriate production technologies. Since 1950 the company has created new factories and introduced a constant process of technological innovation, while collaborations with qualified external designers began in the 1980s. The recent acquisitions that fall under the GHIDINI GROUP brand, such as GHIDINI ALUMINUM, a new brand in the production of aluminum handles; GM, for the production of handles and coordinated products for contracts and large industrial supplies; DE VENIERI, a production created with local artisans, have however imposed the organization of a larger production reality.
Ghidini Pietro Bosco is also divided into two locations: the headquarters in Brozzo di Marcheno, where the offices, warehouse and production plant are located, and a branch in Ponte Caffaro for the production of aluminum handles. Most of the applications are installed on the endpoints with the exception of some which are instead provided by the servers installed at the headquarters. Both locations are connected in MPLS and redundant by radio to guarantee continuity of service. The company's main challenge was to look for a solution that would replace the fleet of machines used, allow virtualization of the scenario and almost instant recovery in the event of an emergency.
"The stations were installed in hazardous environments: the wards passing vehicles and heavy materials and has already occurred in the past accidentally losing an endpoint whose restoration had cost the company time and resources," explains Matia Zanella, Senior IT Manager Ghidini Pietro Bosco.
The project began in the Cleaning and Grinding Department next to the Foundry, in the Brozzo di Marcheno plant, where several Kawasaki robotic islands are installed and where each robot is controlled by a dedicated console through which the various programs are programmed, executed, saved or updated . The saving and loading of each robot's programs took place on floppy disk through an old ThinkPad notebook with Windows 98 connected via serial cable to the console of the robotic island. The goal was to replace the ThinkPad with a virtualized solution where the operator could create, load or save Kawasaki programs on the company SAN, rather than on local floppies, and run the Kawasaki program remotely.
Ghidini Pietro Bosco was therefore looking for a reliable and robust solution that took up little space and that could be reinstalled in a very short time in case of accidental failure. The device also had to have a native COM port with Windows Embedded drivers in order to manage the Kawasaki drivers and the related control program.
"We are happy that the company has chosen our Praim Neutrino series with Windows IoT Embedded, whose devices are connected to the company SAN where the Kawasaki programs reside that the operator can save and recall for the processing phases - he underlines Jacopo Bruni, Marketing Manager di Praim -. Our Neutrino was considered an excellent device in terms of price/quality ratio, while appreciating its compatibility with Windows IoT Embedded and with the other software used in the plant.”
“The greatest advantage obtained was providing a solution identical to the one the operator used previously” – continues Zanella di Ghidini – “in fact, nothing has changed for the user in daily operations, now he finds the workstation switched on and operational as soon as it arrives and saves and runs programs from the corporate SAN. I believe this is the difficulty that distinguishes our work, trying to provide solutions that, although complex and detailed, are always User Friendly".
Ghidini has also implemented Praim's ThinMan centralized management console, in the Platinum version, using the functions of station grouping, planning, remote assistance and the installation of any HotFixes. Everything was implemented in less than two weeks, allowing a significant improvement in infrastructure management compared to the past, when you had to manage a Windows 98 system on obsolete and discontinued hardware.
"The goal we have set for ourselves by the end of 2019 is the virtualization of the two production plants in Brozzo di Marcheno and Ponte Caffaro." - concludes Zanella - "My vision of virtualization of plants also includes the programming of start-up and shutdown of devices in order to optimize not only energy consumption, but also the work of the staff, who do not have to take the burden of starting and shutting down the endpoints at the beginning and at the end of the work shift ".
