Wonderware Celebrates 30 Years of Innovation
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Over 750,000 installed licenses at over 100,000 industrial facilities across the globe
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Innovation continues with new cloud, mobility, IIoT capabilities and new subscription-based services
Today is the 30th anniversary of Wonderware. Started as a vision of Dennis Morin and Phil Huber, the Wonderware Software Development Corporation became a reality on April 1, 1987. For 30 years, Wonderware has been an internationally acclaimed software solution powering the industrial world.
“It is remarkable what Wonderware users have accomplished over the past 30 years. Our original vision was that operators could be more productive monitoring factory operations if we created software that was fun and easy to use,” explained Phil Huber, co-founder of the Wonderware Software Development Corporation. “That philosophy still holds true today – with a new workforce that has grown up with the Internet, smart phones and virtual reality. The limitless potential of Wonderware powered software continues to empower people and enable business transformation.”
From Human Powered to Empowered Humans
A philosophy that drives the future of Wonderware solutions is the belief in the limitless potential of technology to empower people and transform businesses. This strategy has resulted in a portfolio of world class Human Machine Interface (HMI), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Information Management and Analytics, and Manufacturing Execution System solutions. Staying true to the company’s vision, these solutions create better visibility and a superior user experience to engage workers and drive performance.
“Having been on this journey for over 20 years, I have witnessed an extraordinary level of accomplishment from both customers and employees to drive innovation and sustained operational excellence,” said Norman Thorlakson, Vice President, HMI and Supervisory Software, Industry Business at Schneider Electric. “Today, the need for innovation has never been greater. We still see extraordinary opportunities to build upon our rich history to continue to help customers drive further performance improvement through a new era of cloud, mobility and Industrial IoT-based solutions.”
30 Years of Wonderware
In 1987, Wonderware introduced the InTouch HMI, the first Human Machine Interface built on Microsoft Windows operating system, letting plant operators and managers better interact with and control factory operations. As a result, Wonderware became one of the fastest-growing software companies in the U.S. during the early 1990s.
Today, over 750,000 Wonderware software licenses have been installed around the world at 100,000 sites – a tremendous source of industry knowledge to drive continuous improvement.
More recently, Wonderware powered one of the industry’s first “Model-driven” Manufacturing Execution System, made possible with workflow capabilities . Industrial companies can now take a process-centric approach to achieve sustainable enterprise standardization of operations management.
Investing in the Future
Schneider Electric is aggressively investing in Cloud, Mobility and Industrial IoT technologies to drive innovation across engineering, asset and operations management. Our Online offering includes recently announced improvements to the cloud platform, turning industrial real-time data into powerful analytics for users and OEMs (see announcement).
The Wonderware Partner Community is the global network of automation specialists who are expert in adapting Wonderware solutions to the needs of specific industries. This community of over 4,000 partners will continue to be a critical component of the future of Schneider Electric’s operations and information management offerings.
Innovation continues with the soon to be available, next generation of offerings powered by the Wonderware brand. Features and functionality will include simplicity, flexibility and scope to HMI / SCADA management, Industrial IoT value enabling new user consumption models such as cloud and subscription-based services.
Customer satisfaction with Wonderware offerings remains high, as reported by TechValidate:
- 81% of respondents in a recent survey to manufacturing and industrial organizations found Wonderware Supervisory HMI Software increases quality by more than 6% (source)
- 74% of surveyed manufacturing and industrial organizations found Wonderware Supervisory HMI Software reduces system disruptions by more than 6% (source)
- 82% of surveyed customers reduced energy consumption by 5-10% or more using Wonderware Intelligence software (source)
Schneider Electric offerings powered by Wonderware operate across a diverse set of industries: Food and Beverage, Consumer Packaged Goods, Infrastructure, Mining, Minerals and Metals, Power Generation, Oil and Gas, Chemicals, and Water / Wastewater.
