Conjunction of a distributed control system based on IEC 61499 with a commercial batch management system

In order to succeed on the ever-changing conditions on the global market, industrial companies have to rely on flexible production systems. Concerning automation systems, distributed solutions offer more flexibility than rigid centralized control software architectures. IEC 61499 introduces suitable models for the design of flexible distributed control software. Evidently, it was not designed for realizing the functionalities of a batch management system that incorporates for instance the creation and maintenance of recipes. Therefore it is of importance to show its usability in conjunction with a batch management system. This paper presents the implementation of a distributed control system based on IEC 61499 in conjunction with the commercially available batch management system FactoryTalk Batch.