USDATA Announces Support of Microsoft VBA 6.0 in Xfactory

USDATA Corp., a Richardson, TX-based industrial automation software supplier, announced support of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in its Manufacturing Execution System (MES) product, Xfactory

VBA enables users to bind together the business logic of various Microsoft DNA-based applications to create integrated manufacturing solutions.

"The multi-threaded capabilities of VBA 6.0 enable Windows DNA-based applications like Xfactory to efficiently implement user-defined business logic that can be executed in the middle tier, where it can be centrally managed and shared by all users," explains Neil Charney, group product manager, VBA and Office 2000 Developer at Microsoft.

"Imagine the way event-driven applications work. They respond to user actions based on user input. For instance, clicking a button causes an action to occur. This paradigm has proved to boost application productivity dramatically," says Tim Davis, VP of marketing for USDATA. "Now imagine the factory as a single ‘application' capable of responding to production events as they occur, anywhere throughout the enterprise. This is exactly what Xfactory provides."

According to Davis, Xfactory can effectively transform the entire enterprise to an event driven entity that can respond to real production events in real-time. "For facilities requiring high degrees of flexibility and agility, this capability is critical," he says.

Xfactory provides the ability to create VBA projects in its Configuration Explorer or any other ActiveX compliant environment. The projects are centrally stored using Microsoft SQL Server. Users can attach VBA macros to manufacturing events simply by dragging macro icons. Historically, applications, such as Word or Excel, have been event-driven, i.e. macros could be assigned to events such as a button click. Now Xfactory extends this event driven model across the entire manufacturing enterprise providing a simple means to respond to production events as they occur.

For instance, a simple macro could be assigned to execute as orders are completed, notifying customers their order is ready to ship. Another example would be to have the system page the appropriate engineer if yield begins to drop. This enterprise-wide event-driven model represents a critical step forward for the manufacturing industry as its performance requirements increase. It enables the plant to operate at maximum efficiency while retaining a high degree of agility.

Xfactory's open architecture takes advantage of all Microsoft Windows DNA technologies, including VBA.

According to the company, Xfactory is one of the first systems to provide distributed multi-user VBA services to the manufacturing enterprise. Xfactory's VBA services can be set to run locally or remotely with the click of a mouse. VBA on the middle tier provides the mechanism for users to bind together the business logic of various Windows DNA based applications into a consolidated Windows DNA n-tier solution. Enterprisewide event-handling and distributed VBA functionality removes the traditional costs associated with the extensive consulting and development services required by previous generations of MES systems.

"Xfactory allows our customers to build and maintain their own, fully customized Manufacturing Digital Nervous Systems," notes Mike Beaty, Xfactory marketing manager for USDATA. "Supporting user-defined VBA macros attached to manufacturing business objects in the middle tier under Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) has allowed USDATA to provide our customers with the flexibility, performance and scalability that the manufacturing industry requires."