What’s New – Release Notes

3/7/2024

New SUSTAIN features:

• Updates to the SUSTAIN dashboard: we have created new ei³ Tag Types for defining which machine delta-value data points are relevant for material and total energy consumption, to drive the sustainability metrics for each machine. The dashboard summary page provides an overview for the location, with drill-down links to individual machines. Metrics include total energy, energy per unit material produced, total CO² emissions, and total SEI.
• New INSIGHTS badges for machines using SUSTAIN. The badges show the energy consumption, CO² emissions, and material produced by the machine. To utilize these badges, the machine must have requisite data points that report energy consumption and material output, with those points defined with the relevant ei³ Tag Types.

New PRODUCTION and DOWNTIME features:

• Users can now enter general notes or comments about the current shift production operations, downtime reasons, or for any other purpose, via the DOWNTIME Assign page. These shift notes will then appear in the PRODUCTION Shift Performance report.
• Downtime Summary reports now optionally include downtime details displayed for each shift, or for each team when teams are defined for shifts. This option is presented in the final step of the report wizard.
• Shift Performance reports have been updated to report the portion of material produced by each job that ran during the shift, as an addition to the material produced for the entire job, and the OEE shift productivity metrics reported.

New SERVICE features:

• To help with troubleshooting and network configurations, when green box Amphion networks use DHCP for internet connectivity, the associated DNS IP Addresses will be reported back to the Edit Network page for Admin users to see and use for troubleshooting if necessary.
• Expanded machine deletion functions for cases when a machine is retired or moved, or to facilitate network changes: When such machines contain data that were collected from the machine or data records associated with the machine owner or OEM users’ use of ei³ applications, such as SERVICE sessions, quality or productivity records, the user will be provided a list of the source of records that will be deleted with the machine, for user approval and confirmation prior to permanent deletion.
• Updates and clarifying improvements to the more flexible and powerful red box Amphion network configuration admin settings for v2 networks, specifically for its Shop Floor LAN interface: We’re adding a drop-down selection for this interface setting in the Edit Machine page that which, when “Default” is selected, will auto-fill the IP Address to align with the machine’s corresponding network settings. This is the proper selection for the most common case when both Amphions are on the same physical LAN. The “Custom” option is primarily for defining the Shop Floor LAN interface differently between the red and green boxes to account for different physical networks.
• A mandatory update to the ei³ VPN Service software used by all remote service users is coming this month, to update its security certificate. The update will be presented to all users who don’t yet have it, for download and installation on their computers.

1/18/2024

• SERVICE remote session users can access desired machine devices using either the Argo IP Address or now also the local IP Address. This applies to all existing and future networks. This change makes it unnecessary to use ei³’s Enodia software to reach the local IP Address of devices, but Enodia will continue to work as expected for users who have grown accustomed to it.
• Introducing version 2 of the ei³ Managed Secure “Argo” Network: several improvements for administration and use of SERVICE. For more information click here. 
  • Encryption of data traffic on the Shop Floor LAN between Amphion green and red boxes can optionally be enabled by SERVICE admin users, if the local customer installation requires it to be so. There’s a simple checkbox on the Edit Network page for version 2 networks to enable encryption.
  • All newly created networks will be created in version 2. You can create up to 99 machines on each network, and you can add an unlimited number of devices to each machine on a version 2 network.
  • Each Amphion red box and all its machine devices now use only one Argo IP Address on the Shop Floor LAN, no longer requiring a subnet block for the machine LAN. Hence, Shop Floor LANs as defined for the Amphion green boxes can be configured to use fewer than 256 addresses when a particular installation requires it.
• Introducing push notification alerts and our first two embedded links in our INSIGHTS Overview badges:  
  • Push notification alerts are now indicated in the Info icon of each badge, with a link to the Alert Center to see the alert details. Alerts will appear for any active product on the machine.
  • Machine Downtime badges contain links to take you directly to the selected downtime event in the respective machine’s DOWNTIME > Assign page.
• Navigation improvements have been added to the Alert Center. Users with access to more than one location can now select all locations, an individual location, or an individual machine to see all the relevant push notification alerts they have set up.
• SERVICE super admins have gained the ability to change a user’s username in the user profile. Until now, the username field was only editable when creating a new user profile.

11/16/2023

• More security and network access controls, and troubleshooting tools for Amphion installations, which extend our market leadership in remote service solutions with our managed secure network:
  • SERVICE admin users can tighten network security at the individual machine level, by managing the allowed ports for each Amphion red box independently alongside the master list that their super-admin defines for their fleet. This way different product lines’ unique requirements can be isolated from one another, and individual customer installations can be managed on a case by case basis with the added flexibility in the hands of admins. Allowed ports will also be honored in the existing machine template import/export functions.
  • Admins can define custom routes between devices on the customer’s factory location LAN, and individual machine devices or an upgraded Amphion red box’s UA server. This will allow factories, for example, to gather data directly from an Amphion that it reads from the machine and converts to UA, to feed it into the company MES system. All such routes created on the Admin > Network > Edit page can now allow traffic in either direction (factory LAN to Machine LAN, or Machine LAN to factory LAN), thus supporting a much greater array of use cases.
  • More network troubleshooting tools have been added and improved. An ei³ SERVICE admin can test port 443 connectivity for desired traffic from the machine LAN to check for deep packet inspection and blocked websites, and confirm if the target endpoint has a valid https server. In addition, more information is provided to users to explain what’s wrong with their corresponding network configuration when they are blocked from generating a new configuration file for Amphion red boxes.
• MONITOR is getting its own dashboard! The existing Data Dashboard provides real time graphs and charts of machine data with automatic statistics and recipe reference information applied when relevant. This user-customizable dashboard has been moved to our MONITOR app to group the machine data reporting and alerting together there, from PRODUCTION where it previously had been paired with the productivity dashboard. This move is part of our ongoing development roadmap which will be adding more features to the MONITOR and INSIGHTS dashboard functions.
• ei³ VPN Service update: for improved compatibility with the latest Windows 11 release, we are upgrading our remote service system with a user-optional update. New installations will download the latest ei³ VPN Service.

9/28/2023

• A QUALITY Material Review dashboard for tracking failed quality tests across all machines at a location. From the dashboard, supervisors can update the status (Further work required, Approved, Quarantine, Scrap) of the test unit, add notes related to the failure, and view any supporting documents uploaded by the person performing the quality checks.  In conjunction with the recently released material review API service, companies can now exchange failed test information between ei³ and their ERP system. 
• The simplified “Operator Mode” view in our new PRODUCTION Scrap Tracking module is now available as an independent app, optimized for use on tablets. Just click on the icon at the top of the Operator Mode page to launch it, or copy the web address into a tablet browser that can reach the internet.
• The selection of scrap codes in the user-friendly “Operator Mode” view of our new PRODUCTION Scrap Tracking module is now even easier to use with just one click needed to choose your code. The view now includes a dedicated panel that displays individual buttons for each scrap code, sortable by category. This improvement is tailored for operators who use tablets on the factory floor to enter scrap.
• Two updates are coming to the INSIGHTS data points badges. When the desired data point is part of a running recipe, it will be identified with an (R) icon in the list of points, and the badge will show the target, min, and max values from the corresponding recipe, as well as a message box indicating whether the point is in control. And for user convenience now when creating new data points badges you’ll be able to simultaneously select as many points as you wish to create a badge for each one.
• ei³ now supports Single Sign-On (SSO) login authentication integration with its enterprise customers. If this is of interest to your organization please contact CARE@ei3.com.
• All of ei³’s mobile portal native apps are being updated with support for preference of OEE evaluation method using max machine speed or combined target job speeds, along with some useability and performance updates.

8/29/2023

• A simplified, “Operator Mode” view for entering scrap data in our new PRODUCTION Scrap Tracking module. This user-friendly page focuses only on the current shift and job time period, for ease of entering scrap data as it occurs on the shop floor. To avoid confusion and cross-reporting of scrap data, the reporting time period is restricted to begin at the most recent of: the start of a new shift, the start of a new job, the end of a job when there is no current job, or midnight. In addition, users can now analyze the scrap data of the current or previous job with the Pareto tool.
• INSIGHTS now includes the ability for users to add charts of individual data points for machines with active data collection.
• All user API keys can now be reset by either admins or the users themselves. The SERVICE Admin Users and the Customer Portal – Settings – Admin Users page have been updated to allow admins to change the API key of a user account they are allowed to edit; when reset by an admin, the user will receive an email with the new key. The individual users’ My Profile and User Information page also provide the ability for users to change their own API keys.
• The new method for OEE evaluation based on combined target speeds introduced earlier this month is now supported in our native Mobile Portal apps.
• Three new APIs are available to return summary information about a machine’s downtime status and history. These provide for more efficient calls to determine duration of time the machine is running or not running, and summary information by downtime type, category, and code for a selected time period.
• A new material review API service for QUALITY providing information such as specific material review tests or a list of tests, and the ability to change the status of a test.

8/3/2023

• Two major new features: an all-new Scrap Tracking module in the PRODUCTION app, and a new system-wide optional method that uses only job-, product-, or tool-specific target speeds for evaluating OEE for daily, shift, or other calendar time periods, instead of only using theoretical maximum machine speed.
• The all-new Scrap Tracking module, being released in two initial installments, is a fully featured product for factory users to manage and analyze their scrap data on and off the machine, across all jobs and shifts. In the initial installment, scrap reported by the machine is provided as a starting point; from there, users can assign reason codes to machine-reported scrap, report additional scrap discovered off-machine, or report material that has been requalified as good for production. The interactive user interface will show the impact of user entries in real-time in a summary window for the time period selected before saving them, and the machine’s OEE productivity will automatically be re-evaluated upon saving the entries. A built-in Pareto analysis tool is provided, and scrap data can be exported via Excel file or to API. The second installment, coming soon, will include a second, simplified interface that focuses solely on scrap data entry in the current shift for machine operators, quality inspectors, or other factory personnel, and a unit conversion function for reporting scrap in units other than that used by the machine.
• The new method for OEE evaluation based on combined target speeds can be selected for any or all machines. It follows strict OEE standards, and instead of using the theoretical design maximum speed of a machine for evaluating the Performance component of OEE for all daily, shift, or other calendar time periods, it uses each of the target speeds entered by the Location admin for all jobs, products, or tools that have been run on a machine during the selected time period. Using whichever method is selected, all OEE productivity data for the machine will automatically show the evaluation results in all insights, charts, dashboards, reports, and exports, and the method used will be noted accordingly. This new method is being provided with hierarchical user preference controls, with initial default settings set at the OEM level, and an override capability to change from the default setting for an entire company, division, location, and ultimately the local machine owner in the ei³ Portal.
• An update to the optional routing features of the Network-level Amphion green box now makes it configurable by SERVICE admin users to allow network traffic from a device on the factory location LAN, such as a SCADA or MES system, to retrieve machine data directly from the red box Amphion’s Edge device OPCUA server on the Shop Floor LAN.
• Location (formerly Customer Portal) ei³ admin users can now adjust the number of decimal points used in displaying their data to meet their requirements, in the various charts, reports, dashboards, and mobile portal app. This function is added to the Settings cogwheel > Admin > Data Points.
• A new custom integration offering for ei³ partners is now available, in which ei³ can forward all partner-specific user application-related events securely over the internet to the partner’s own existing Syslog implementation.
• Two more machine communications protocols are now supported by ei³’s Amphion edge device, for Rockwell Micro800 and Milacron Camac machine controllers. Admin-level users can now administer their own data collection for machines utilizing these protocols with the latest firmware release of ei³’s Amphion edge device, by selecting the requisite ei³ Device Type when setting up the machine in ei³.

3/30/2023

• More major updates to our new and improved data visualization tools in the INSIGHTS Overview dashboards in the ei³ Portal.  Now ei³ users will be able to create new dashboards even faster by using a new option to add different badges for multiple machines at the same time, and the tool will watch for duplicates and warn you. You can also create and display your dashboards in a separate, standalone application, suitable for big-screen displays or trade shows, and we’ve added an “undo” button to aid in editing the dashboards. Click here to learn more about the new dashboard-related features.
• Searching in ei³ has been made easier. We have added popup help guides in all the search bars in SERVICE and some in the Customer Portal as well. Specific, searchable parameters available with some Admin search fields will be described in Knowledge Base articles linked from the in-situ popups. Users can just click on the new “?” icons next to the search bars to learn how to search more efficiently.
• Admin users will now be able to control the number of significant digits displayed for their machine data in the INSIGHTS Overview dashboards, the PRODUCTION Data Dashboard, and MONITOR data charts. Admins can uniquely set the number of decimal places to be displayed for each floating data type data point – and enjoy more logical and user-friendly dashboards and charts.
• Investigating reported downtime events has been made even easier. DOWNTIME users analyzing downtime pareto results can already drill down to retrieve details of individual category or code summaries simply by clicking a bar in the pareto chart. Now users can navigate from the individual downtime events in the Downtime Details table directly to the DOWNTIME > Assign screen where that event took place, by clicking the desired downtime event in the table. Then on the Assign page they can review the surrounding details of the queried downtime event and make any adjustments desired.
• Instead of average speed in units of cycles per hour, Productivity reports generated specifically for Injection Molding Machines will now show average actual cycle times reported by the machine for the reported time periods, and the target cycle times for the respective molds and products run on the machine, to better align with IMM customs. To fully enable this feature, the target speed for each mold must be set by the local ei³ user in PRODUCTION > Job Management > Operations > Grid View icon under the Action column, and a new ei³ Tag Type “Cycle Time” must be assigned to the machine’s respective data point. For additional reference, in ei³ when target speeds are entered for each machine and mold combination, then OEE Performance will be evaluated using the target speed instead of machine maximum speed for Job, Product, or Tool Performance reports. The default for any “Product” mold file target speed will use the machine maximum speed until updated by the local admin user.
• Lastly, a mandatory update is coming for the ei³ VPN Service software installed on all ei³ SERVICE users’ computers, that is required to perform remote service sessions. This minor update is required to update its security certificate. Users will be prompted to download and install the new version before proceeding with another service session. We recommend scheduling a few minutes to accomplish this required update before the next remote service session is needed.

2/2/2023

• Significantly improved and customizable data visualization tools in our new INSIGHTS Overview dashboards in the ei³ Portal.  The initial release of this big update includes multiple layouts, widgets and badges, and distinct view and edit modes. New features include a downtime badge option, line breaks, and control over information density with four different layout choices. Click here to learn more about the new dashboard-related features.
• We’re adding a new two-dimensional data visualization Heat Map charting tool in MONITOR. Alongside the single and multi-line time series charting tools, users will now be able to select the Heat Map option for relevant data sets.  The heat map may be used for display of vibration amplitudes measured by ei³’s Symphony devices across a spectrum of frequencies over time, as well as for other relevant data, such as temperatures measured in multiple locations across a machine. Click here to learn more about how heat maps work and how to configure them for your own data.
• Automatic OEE productivity reports, generated and emailed every time a job or recipe is completed on chosen machines. Productivity will be evaluated based on the target speeds set by the ei³ admin for each respective job, product, or recipe in PRODUCTION and RECIPE, and delivered after each job ends to make it much easier for factory supervisors and engineers to quickly obtain the data they need.
• When setting up notifications and alerts, email addresses with the latest, longer domain names are now supported. Got an address ending in .group, .graphics or .report? We’ve got you covered.

12/6/2022

• Push notifications are coming to the ei³ Mobile Portal apps. With this next version of our free mobile apps, we’re introducing the Mobile Portal Alert Center, to receive push notification alerts and quick links to the relevant data for them. The Alert Center will contain a log of alerts and notify the smartphone owner of new alerts as they occur. This update will be available once the app stores’ reviews are completed.
• To streamline reporting at the company level for all our customers, the newly expanded Remote Service Sessions report is now also available in the ei³ Customer Portal. Now our end customer location admin users can also run a report for their entire division or company, instead of just for a given location.
• To designate when devices of a machine are to be used for different purposes, ei³ SERVICE admin users can now create a duplicate device on a machine when the IP address is the same. The duplicate will not count toward the subnet limit of available IP addresses.
• Users can now select and copy text from badges in the INSIGHTS Overview To facilitate this update, we’ve added a dedicated “move” icon for moving the badges around to their preferred location. Users can still create and save their own dashboards for dedicated personal views such as lines, work cells, or problem machines.
• “Customer” is becoming “Location”. We’re further streamlining the new web user interface we introduced this year with the simplification and clarification of both our SERVICE and customer portal menu items and terminology. With the most visible change we are replacing the term “Customer”, which in ei³ designates the location site of our end customers’ factories, with “Location”.
• The next release of our beta SUSTAIN application: this is an app for sustainability tracking of manufacturing operations that will provide a visual representation of the energy used on the manufacturing floor. In this update, we’re integrating global electric grid data for proper calculations of carbon emissions.

10/18/2022

Included in this update are:

• The initial release of our new SUSTAIN application: this is an app for sustainability tracking of manufacturing operations that will provide a visual representation of the energy used on the manufacturing floor. ei³ will compute and display the environmental impact of your factory and report on its ESG metrics, such as energy and CO2 per manufactured item, trending analysis of compressed air leaks, and community social action measurements. Insights from SUSTAIN will also be featured in the user-customizable Overview page.
• A new super-admin SERVICE function to create and manage system-wide notification messages to all ei³ applications users, to let them know of new features, upcoming events, or other useful company or customer-related information.
• Yet even more troubleshooting tools to help you get Amphions online faster – this latest addition will warn you if someone left a USB drive inserted into an Amphion at a customer facility, so you can ensure when you remotely deploy the latest network configuration that it won’t be overwritten locally on site.
• A new Resources section for each of the Parts in our LIFECYCLE app, where admin users can keep a list of all the relevant documents and other resources for each part.
• New infrastructure for our planned Mobile Portal Alert Center, to receive push notifications and relevant data for them with the next release of our Mobile Portal apps.

9/1/2022

Included in this update are:

• The initial release of a new alert notification system, that will include a web and mobile push notification option for all alert types in MONITOR, PRODUCTION, DOWNTIME, RECIPE, QUALITY, and LIFECYCLE. The new system is starting with web-based notifications and a new Alert Center located in the main menu bar, where all the historical activities will be logged for alerts configured to use the new system. Push notifications can be added to existing alerts by simply adding a list of desired, valid ei³ userIDs to the alert setup.
• The initial release of a new LINKS feature, also available to all Customer Portal users in the main menu bar, in which users can add their own links for convenient navigation. Added links can point outside ei³ apps, such as to an internal company ERP or Sharepoint site, and be shared with other ei³ users within the same company. In addition, this feature includes a list of standard shop floor displays that are available for the user’s machines, with integrated links to launch the displays.
• A new standard report for our LIFECYCLE users, that provides the total number of predictions generated for each machine, by severity, and the quantity of preventative maintenance items performed, by location and by machine, along with PM item severity.
• A new INSIGHTS-Overview badge designed specifically for CNC Machine Tool machines, to reflect the more complex evaluation of those machines for productivity and performance.

7/14/2022

Included in this update are:

• An update to our remote service session reports to show when technicians are using either the ei³ VPN Service or our newly integrated Cisco VPN option for certain customers.
• Another update to our Enodia tool for compatibility with Unicode network adapters; here are our Enodia user guides.
• APIs for new quality test group resources to facilitate more automated use of our QUALITY application.
• Further enhancements to the machine moving functions within our SERVICE administration tools, that allow for moves between more complex network arrangements.
• Some ei³ mobile portal and backend updates to lay the groundwork for the coming addition of push notification options for all ei³ applications’ alerts.

5/19/2022

In this release, we’re providing a completely new user interface with a more modern look and feel to our Customer Portal and related data-based applications. In addition, access will now be provided for Admin users to manage their Amphion Edge data collection tools and for our end customer users to perform remote service functions on their own machines, prior to activation of any of the Customer Portal apps. The names of our products are shortened, with the OEE and productivity-related features of Customer Portal and Remote Monitoring combining into a new app called PRODUCTION, and the machine process data-related features from Remote Monitoring will now be found in a new app called MONITOR. ei³ users will also have the benefit of using an optional, brief guided video tour of the new user interface.

Also included in this update are:

• New APIs for implementing our MFA and enhanced password complexity rules in custom dashboards, Andon displays, and other apps where ei³ login authentication occurs.
• ei³’s Enodia tool has been updated for compatibility with Windows 11 and is now available for users to download directly from Remote Service > Help. For more details and the user guides for Enodia see Enodia guides.
• A new standard report in DOWNTIME for providing downtime details by teams, where teams are associated with the local production shift schedule.
• We’ve improved our error-checking tools to help our Admin users avoid mistakes when setting up or modifying Amphion networks in Remote Service, and added two new troubleshooting tools in the Amphion with additional details of the source and destination of network traffic that the Amphion sees.
• A convenient tool for ei³ Remote Service Admin users allows the export and import of machine devices from any machine to any other machine, with the flexibility to define desired actions on a device-by-device basis. This capability has been expanded to use full machine templates.

3/31/2022

ei³’s Enodia system enables IP address and port redirection during simultaneous remote machine connections over ei³’s Argo remote service network. It allows the user to always address the machine device by its local address on the Machine. With this release, we’ve updated Enodia for compatibility with the latest Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 operating systems.

ei³ has added more capability to our super convenient Move Machine tool again, to allow a machine moving within the same parent company to retain its lifecycle data, and to allow machines moving to new owners to be moved without the prior machine process data.

We’re creating a new, unconnected tool tracking option to supplement our powerful suite of Tool Tracking capabilities, which companies will be able to use to manage the location and maintenance of their valuable tools above and beyond those which get connected to ei³.

We’re introducing some additional user-friendly change management tools to help our partners implement Multi-Factor Authentication and more secure password rules across their user base, including:

• Custom, user-preferred language messaging on the login page to inform users of an upcoming implementation;
• Optional validation of user emails and mobile phones with in-situ profile update capability;
• Validation and forced update of existing passwords if they don’t meet new password rules;
• A new user report for Mother Company admins to evaluate the compliance of their users, and
• More password rule controls to differentiate rules between companies and access levels.

2/10/2022

ei³ system administrators and local factory site technicians now have a set of informative network diagnostic tools, available in Remote Service for ei³ admin users and directly in the Amphion S14 webUI. These tools will help users detect Amphion connections and potential IP conflicts, figure out what’s connected to Amphions when it’s not what is expected, detect connected machine devices, confirm firewall settings are blocking unwanted traffic, and note the assigned IP address for a DHCP-enabled RSSD.

For companies using Cisco’s AnyConnect security platform, we’re launching a new, integrated remote service solution that will work seamlessly in ei³ Remote Service. The integrated solution requires two-factor authentication controlled by the AnyConnect host company, with the same secure ei³ user interface.

We updated our powerful Move Machine tool to allow a machine moving within the same location to retain its downtime and productivity data, and to allow machines moving to new locations to be moved without the prior downtime and productivity data.

We’ve updated the data Accumulator function that we introduced in our Sept. release, such that when it is used in combination with an ei³ Tag Type used for material counting and a delta-value Scale Type, the Accumulator will sum only positive delta-values and ignore negative delta-values. This feature is designed to allow for creating total lifetime material counters where an operator may reset the counter on the machine, causing the delta-value to go negative which will then be ignored for the accumulating total material value. When not used in conjunction with a material Tag Type, negative values will be accumulated as well as positive values.

A new convenient tool for ei³ Remote Service admin users will allow the export and import of machine devices from any machine to any other machine, with the flexibility to define desired actions on a device-by-device basis.

12/9/2021

To keep ahead of the ongoing advances in worldwide cybersecurity threats, we’re introducing powerful new user login controls. Our partner system administrators (“super-admin”s) will be able to adjust the password complexity and multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirements for all of their users, with the ability to manage different sets of requirements for different user roles and different end customers, if desired. To assist with organizational change management we’re also creating integrated login page messaging to give users advanced notice to upgrade their profiles if needed, for planning purposes before the new rules are implemented by their administrators.

Another major upgrade for our Lifecycle app and tool tracking features that includes control of visibility of tool information to allow a tool owner to watch the tool use at a different company, tool productivity tracking across machines, and auto-recurring maintenance tasks.

The fourth and final installation of our new suite of powerful moving-related tools for our Remote Service administrators, is adding the ability to move machines within and across their universe of customers. This release provides a tool to move a machine with all its devices and data from one customer network to another.

We’ve upgraded our infrastructure to speed up the automated process of adding machines or devices to an existing, connected customer network. New devices will be connected now within one minute of adding them in ei³ and reconfiguring the Amphions using the configuration file deployment function.

9/23/2021

Another major upgrade for our Lifecycle app includes new abilities to track, monitor, and display tools moving across locations or companies, upgrades to the overview page for more than 25 machines, and added abilities to remove lifecycle group functions or install an existing part on a machine.

For ei³ users who want to add a lifetime cycle counter, total running hours, or other types of data counters to their machines or devices, we’re introducing a data Accumulator function. Available as a simple checkbox in the Edit Data Point page, this function will accumulate the sum of each value of data read from the designated data point of the device. When used in combination with a delta-value Scale Type, the Accumulator will sum only positive delta-values and ignore negative delta-values. This feature is designed to allow for creating total lifetime material counters where an operator may reset the counter on the machine, causing the delta-value to go negative which will then be ignored for the accumulating total material value.

To aid in monitoring critical device data on machines with more than one device, we’ve upgraded our data value threshold monitoring alerts with the addition of options to watch out for NULL, not NULL, changing, or not changing data values.

ei³ admin users will now be able to use the power of our Amphions to assign static IP addresses to DHCP-enabled devices on their machines, to securely control access to, and manage data traffic to and from those devices. This function is available as a simple checkbox in the Edit Device page, which will take the MAC address of the device to reserve the IP address.

This release includes the third tool of our new suite of powerful moving-related tools for our Remote Service administrators is adding the ability to move Amphion networks within and across their universe of customers. This release provides a tool to move entire networks, including all machines, devices, data, and historical records, from one customer location to any other.

ei³ admin users can now allow end customers to access the data directly from the Amphion Edge OPCUA server without requiring password authentication.

6/10/2021

This release provides the first of several new features for our Remote Service administrators, which enables them to be able to move customer entities within and across their universe of customers, and builds the foundation for additional move tools coming soon.
Remote Service admin users will now have more flexibility in swapping and upgrading machine Amphions, with added features and messaging to guide their choices.

We’ve expanded the job management features of our popular Downtime Tracking module and associated Tablet Mode app to include user-definition of the customer, product, and relevant machine operation associated with each job.
Additionally, all of our Downtime Tracking reports are now available in Excel format, providing easy access to other report formats for our users.

Our Lifecycle users can now enter custom messages when performing machine, tool, or component maintenance to enhance their records.

We’re also providing more infrastructure improvements for greater availability of our flagship managed secure network for Remote Service users.

4/21/2021

This release introduces the latest release of our Amphion Edge device and includes support for local Siemens S7 data collection. The Amphion S14 Edge device will instantly convert data collected via Rockwell, XML, JSON, OPCUA, and Siemens S7, and publish it locally in OPCUA.

We’ve added a more user-friendly administration of Amphion network and machine configuration setup, which includes an improved web UI that displays IP addresses leased by the Amphion S14 DHCP server.

The Remote Service platform now includes a new top-level super-user hierarchy for ei³ partner administration of global variables, such as default network port controls and device types, for clearer navigation purposes.

The Device Types section, available when configuring devices, now allows our partners to manage the administration of their own device standards. This includes more defined connection types, communication, and programming software options.

A new aggregate alerting tool for our Lifecycle users has been added, for administering email and text (SMS) alerts when any thresholds are met from any set of the predictions running on a machine.

Full user administration is now available for both odometer-based and now also complex data-based predictions for machine parts, components, and systems set up through the Lifecycle app.

We have also expanded the Amphion Edge Device fully user-administrable data collection catalog with the addition of JSON protocol. ei³’s users now have complete control of the data collection process for devices using JSON as well as OPC-UA, RSLogix, XML, and Bobst eWod. All other control systems protocols are still administered by ei³ Care support team upon request.

With this release, ei³’s VPN Service has been updated to v1.6.3 as an optional update for users. This release uses an updated, native Windows installer to enhance security and support changes made by Microsoft to Windows 7 and higher.

8/6/2020

ei³ is delighted to announce the release of a new, user-configurable data dashboard that has been added to all existing and future Customer Portal subscriptions.
The new, intuitive dashboard allows a user to set up, save, and modify an unlimited number of personal dashboards that will show time series plots of selected data for each machine. It uses “smart charts” that will reflect the type of data being shown, for example for statistics-enabled data points it will add statistical info based on either recipe settings configured by the user, or WECO rules if not configured by the user. The user can drag and drop the charts to order them in any desired format, and change the time periods shown; the system will remember the last dashboard settings when the user returns to them. You can read more about this new dashboard in this article.

We’ve always allowed ei³ users with Downtime Tracking administrative permissions to change a time period for a machine that was observed to be down, to instead have that time period reported as running (“up”) time. While this ability is not commonly used, we have enhanced our existing standard reports to detect such occurrences so that when it does happen, historical records are available for reference. We have also created a new standard report that will survey selected machines for a chosen time period to specifically provide a list of those instances when downtime periods were changed to runtime.

Based on customer feedback, we’ve modified our remote service system so that it is now easier for users to create and send secure remote service session keys to 3rd parties, particularly any user who doesn’t normally perform remote service sessions themselves.. For those users, we have removed the previous requirement that they have the ei³ VPN Service software installed on their computers to authorize a remote session key for a 3rd party. The 3rd party performing the session will of course still need the VPN Service software installed on their computer to securely connect and perform a remote service session.

We’ve added the capability for a user to access a device located on a factory’s Shop Floor LAN that is isolated from the machines on that LAN, when they perform a remote session to any of the machines. This update also provides for all the tools needed by ei³ administrators to set it up themselves and enable it, simply by re-configuring the network Amphion with a fresh configuration file.

6/18/2020

The Amphion Edge Device fully user-administrable data collection catalog is now expanded to include XML and Allen Bradley (RSLogix) protocols. ei³ users have complete control of the data collection process for these as well as OPC-UA.

ei³ administrators manage up to hundreds of their OEM company users. Because ei³ provides a highly secure platform for managing access to only those users who have the access rights to see end-customer data, there are multiple layers of security for admins to provide their users the proper access to the correct customers and machines. With this release, ei³ has created a simple one-click checkbox in the administration of users that will automatically provide access for that user to the appropriate end customers and machines as defined by the user permissions.

To improve the process of managing data tags for machines, we have added the ability to export and import data point files to and from machines using Excel files. Using Excel provides for easy data point editing, and the ability to copy and paste many data points in a single action. Read more about it here.

Building on our recently expanded product activation management tools, we’ve made the contract end dates that are displayed to our users smarter. In the Remote Service Machines landing page and in the Customer Portal’s Dashboard, the contract status dates shown on the page or in a web browser’s hover-over text now reflect the future date when the contract will end, will have to be renewed (for admins) or will be invoiced (for customers).

5/5/2020

Service Hours: This release includes new features to enhance our two-tier Remote Service product functionality. Some of our OEM users provide two tiers of remote service products to their customers, based either on regular office hours or on a full 24×7 around-the-clock remote service availability. To facilitate this, ei³ provides the ability for administrators to define their local service hours. This feature is now better integrated in the technician’s view when they are ready to provide remote service, so they can see if a customer is in their paid time window for service, and the system won’t allow for remote service outside of the customer’s relevant service tier.

Weekly Fleet OEE Summary Report: A new standard report is available for ei³’s machine builder OEM users, to provide them with on-demand visibility to the weekly OEE performance of their entire customer installed base in one view.

Amphion Models Report: Another new standard report is available for ei³’s machine builder OEM users, to provide them with on-demand visibility to their installed fleet of Amphions, based on models used for each network and machine.

Machine Data Charts Report: A new standard report is available for all ei³ users, to provide user-defined plots of selected data with statistics computed for the selected time period. These Machine Data Charts reports can be saved for regeneration on demand or for automatic scheduled email delivery.

Job Tracking UX update: Late in 2019, ei³ released its new Job Tracking tool for machine operators who want a simple way to track the productivity of their jobs or work orders. In this release, we’ve updated the user experience with a more intuitive visual display separating the job information from downtime event data on the same integrated Downtime Tracking – Assign web page.

Settings page refinement: To assist our OEM and end customer Remote Service users, we’ve updated the look and content of the network and machine configuration settings page, where end users can quickly access and download the configuration files for their Amphions, and verify the information used for their network configuration.

Improved On-boarding: several improvements were made in both the Remote Service administration and the Amphions to assist ei³ customers in troubleshooting and connecting their Amphions to the Internet. With these, ei³’s external DNS server addresses are now helpfully auto-filled in the Network Setup page for those users who don’t want to use their own settings, and now when a user enters a typo or invalid network subnet definition, the system will catch these errors and let the user know where the error is.

Productivity Trends Chart Update: We’ve updated the productivity trends chart in the Customer Portal Dashboard for Jobs and Recipes to read chronologically from left to right, for consistency with other productivity time-based charts.

With this release we’re setting up several new API methods specifically for greater production job / work order management, which will be fully implemented in our next update. These API calls will provide for greater integration with ERP and MES systems, and more flexibility in using ei³’s API tools to maximize their operational excellence.