DuPont

DuPont has been a global leader in industrial innovation for over 194 years, with expertise spanning high-performance materials, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural products. With strong market presence in North America and Europe, and a growing footprint in Asia Pacific and South America, DuPont continuously invests in cutting-edge manufacturing technologies to remain competitive.

Over a decade ago, DuPont embarked on the development of a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to optimize their factory operations, particularly in the production of CORIAN, a versatile and durable solid surface material. The MES software, custom-built by DuPont's MIS group, was tailored to their unique manufacturing processes, monitoring critical operations such as inventory control, color management, and overall production workflows.

As part of their ongoing modernization efforts, DuPont aimed to migrate a component of their OpenVMS-based process control system to IBM Netfinity, running Windows NT. The application was originally written in VAX Fortran with some modules in C. To ensure the success of this migration, DuPont leveraged Sector7’s expertise and toolsets, which facilitated the conversion of Fortran and C code into a format compatible with Windows-based compilers.

One of the key challenges was maintaining seamless file sharing between the legacy OpenVMS systems and the new Windows-based environment. To address this, Sector7 implemented enhancements to its RMS file system emulation, allowing for smooth cross-platform file access. This ensured continuity in DuPont’s operations, with minimal disruption during the migration process.

• Migrated process control system from DEC VAX VMS to IBM Netfinity Windows NT.
• Converted legacy Fortran and C code to be compatible with Windows-based compilers.
• Developed and implemented RMS file system emulation for cross-platform file sharing.
• Enabled seamless integration between existing OpenVMS systems and new Windows-based systems.
• Significantly reduced project costs and risks while saving valuable man-hours through the use of Sector7's tools.

By partnering with Sector7, DuPont successfully modernized a critical component of its manufacturing infrastructure, enhancing system performance while reducing operational costs and risks. The migration enabled DuPont to maintain their leadership in innovative manufacturing processes, ensuring long-term competitiveness in a rapidly evolving market.