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How to create, configure and connect Assets in Thingworx Manuf Apps

gchopin
5-Regular Member

How to create, configure and connect Assets in Thingworx Manuf Apps

Hello,

 

I have installed the Manuf Apps 8.2, connected with Kepware 6.4.

I want to create Assets in order to represent the Devices that I have in kepware.

Unfortunately I have not found a step by step guide to show how create an asset and then connect it with kepware data. 

 

First I would like to know if my vision is good : one Device in Kepware = one Asset ? 

 

1. In the App Configure and Setup I have created Assets (screenshot 1).

2. In the App Configure and Setup I added additionnal attributes and managed to get my Kepware data (screenshot 2)

3. In the App Asset Advisor, my assets are displayed but are not connected... I don't know why ? Is the fact to retrieve a data from Kepware is not enough ? (screenshot 3)

4. In the Asset Management App I can see only one Asset, why (screenshot 4) 

 

Also why is there two apps "Asset Advisor" and "Asser Management" which are really different ?

 

Thank you

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Greetings @gchopin,

 

Thank you for the detailed explanation of the steps you followed, and specificity of your questions. Please find your questions/requests with answers included below, following (SM):

 

Unfortunately I have not found a step by step guide to show how create an asset and then connect it with kepware data. 

 

(SM): There are very helpful tutorials available that should cover what you're looking for and more, if you head to the "Get Started" section of the the Manufacturing Apps Dashboard of the Developer Community, here:

 

https://developer.thingworx.com/apps/manufacturing

 

First I would like to know if my vision is good : one Device in Kepware = one Asset ? 

 

(SM): The Manufacturing Apps are designed to be adaptable to the needs of the Manufacturing setting where they are implemented. One Device might equate to one Asset, but not necessarily.

 

In KEPServerEX (KSE), a Device is usually a virtual representation of one physical Device. However, the KSE Device instance might really be a gateway to other servers or PLCs; or one physical Device might be represented across multiple KSE Devices. It depends on the Device being connected, Driver being used in KEPServerEX, and the needs of the user.

 

Likewise, an Asset in the Manufacturing Apps might correlate 1:1 with a Device in KEPServerEX. Or, it might make sense to organize your Assets differently. For example, you might have multiple PLCs that control and gather data from a single palletizer, but you would like all of these Devices to constitute a single Asset.

 

 3. In the App Asset Advisor, my assets are displayed but are not connected... I don't know why ? Is the fact to retrieve a data from Kepware is not enough ? (screenshot 3)

 

(SM): I suspect if you follow the steps in that Tutorial, you will find you can adequately form the connection with KEPServerEX, create an Asset, and then bring tags into the Asset as properties.

 

4. In the Asset Management App I can see only one Asset, why (screenshot 4) 

 

(SM): I'm not immediately sure why the Assets you created aren't showing up. Please let me know if you still see the same after following through with the tutorial on the Developer Community.

 

Also why is there two apps "Asset Advisor" and "Asser Management" which are really different ?

 

(SM): I am not too familiar with Asset Management. Unless someone in the Community chimes in sooner, I will get back to you on this.

 

 

Best regards,

Steven M

 

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2

Greetings @gchopin,

 

Thank you for the detailed explanation of the steps you followed, and specificity of your questions. Please find your questions/requests with answers included below, following (SM):

 

Unfortunately I have not found a step by step guide to show how create an asset and then connect it with kepware data. 

 

(SM): There are very helpful tutorials available that should cover what you're looking for and more, if you head to the "Get Started" section of the the Manufacturing Apps Dashboard of the Developer Community, here:

 

https://developer.thingworx.com/apps/manufacturing

 

First I would like to know if my vision is good : one Device in Kepware = one Asset ? 

 

(SM): The Manufacturing Apps are designed to be adaptable to the needs of the Manufacturing setting where they are implemented. One Device might equate to one Asset, but not necessarily.

 

In KEPServerEX (KSE), a Device is usually a virtual representation of one physical Device. However, the KSE Device instance might really be a gateway to other servers or PLCs; or one physical Device might be represented across multiple KSE Devices. It depends on the Device being connected, Driver being used in KEPServerEX, and the needs of the user.

 

Likewise, an Asset in the Manufacturing Apps might correlate 1:1 with a Device in KEPServerEX. Or, it might make sense to organize your Assets differently. For example, you might have multiple PLCs that control and gather data from a single palletizer, but you would like all of these Devices to constitute a single Asset.

 

 3. In the App Asset Advisor, my assets are displayed but are not connected... I don't know why ? Is the fact to retrieve a data from Kepware is not enough ? (screenshot 3)

 

(SM): I suspect if you follow the steps in that Tutorial, you will find you can adequately form the connection with KEPServerEX, create an Asset, and then bring tags into the Asset as properties.

 

4. In the Asset Management App I can see only one Asset, why (screenshot 4) 

 

(SM): I'm not immediately sure why the Assets you created aren't showing up. Please let me know if you still see the same after following through with the tutorial on the Developer Community.

 

Also why is there two apps "Asset Advisor" and "Asser Management" which are really different ?

 

(SM): I am not too familiar with Asset Management. Unless someone in the Community chimes in sooner, I will get back to you on this.

 

 

Best regards,

Steven M

 

gchopin
5-Regular Member
(To:stmarchessault)

Hello Steven,

 

In fact the tutorials are great and fixed my issue, I just needed to configure the status of the asset.

 

Thanks a lot !

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