The Common Operator Support System (COSS) was the origin of GEP and SEP, an error proofing system developed under contract from General Motors by Rockwell Automation. MicroCODE was subcontracted to do the overall design and much of the coding.
General Motors Global Error Proofing (GEP). An extension of the original COSS program and a direct upgrade of the Server, SQL Database, and PLC Code, and the addition of a Web Front-End and OPC Data Collector. This project was a joint jenture between IBM, Rockwell Automation, and MicroCODE.
General Motors Scalable Error Proofing (SEP). An further extension of the original COSS and GEP programs, again a direct upgrade of the Server, SQL Database, and PLC Code. This project was developed internally by MicroCODE for General Motors. This generation introduced the 'SEP Actions' Windows CE App as a stand-alone Station or User Interface for the Assembly line.
The Common Operator Support System (COSS), Global Error Proofing (GEP), and Scalable Error Proofing (SEP) systems were installed in thirty-three (33) General Motors Assembly Plants over the last twenty-three (23) years, an average of about 1.5 Plants per year. Fourteen (14) of those Plants were closed during the GM bankruptcy of 2008, leaving nineteen (19) still running the latest version... SEP.
Over twenty-three (23) years of one continous error-proofing system in use 24-7-365 in General Motors Assembly Plants world-wide. No site was ever left without a simple upgrade path to the current system. No Plant configuration database was ever corrupted, lost, or made obsolete by a software update. And every system—COSS, GEP, and SEP—was backward compatible with all the installed hardware and software configuration in the field.
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