At the 2007 Tech/Plant Summit in Atlanta, a general session presentation on the potential of the data-exchange protocol XML got a consistent response from attendees: “This would be great, but I’ll believe it when I see it.” A year later, after another Summit general session presentation and a plant tour showcasing XML at work, operators’ perceptions began to change from “this would be nice” to “this is actually possible.”
 
There is little argument in the industry that a protocol for exchanging data between different types of systems in the plant would be beneficial. Textile service managers generally ...