xCoupler Applications

xCoupler Modules Help Improve Security in Drug Manufacturing Controlled substance medication manufacturers must track their products from the dose manufacturing process through several packaging and shipping operations within their facility. Keeping a close watch on thousands of pills, capsules and packages being processed every hour at breakneck speed is a daunting task.

Operations management needed to track the movement and production quantities on the production floor in real-time through an interface with the company’s Oracle database. Plant operations and IT spent time investigating the best method to exchange data between the database and the three Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PACs on the production floor that could provide the data needed.

After considering several multi-tier PC- and HMI-based options, they settled on xCoupler modules from Online Development. The xCoupler modules are not PC-based and provide a single tier method to exchange data from the ControlLogix backplane to the Oracle database to reduce complexity. The module also offers several security features to ensure data integrity. Its operation cannot be affected or changed without access through its WorkBench configuration tool, and the audit logs it generates during operation cannot be altered in any way.

The xCoupler module also has a store-and-forward capability to ensure data is not lost should the connection between the PAC and the database be interrupted. The module simply stores the data, sends out a warning via email that the connection has been lost, and then forwards the data once the connection has been restored.