First of all, do not Panic! But, where to start?
My name is Davide, I am the Chief Automation helper at Bright IIOT, and today we are going to discuss current and hot topics. Share with me 5 minutes of your time.
The Factory’s maintenance, operation management are recently struggling with the following obstacles:
- Shortage of workforce
- Equipment renovation
- Demand and supply = throughput
But the question is, where to start or how to overcome at least one of the obstacles?
Shortage of Workforce
We all know that after these struggling times, it’s difficult to find and hire talents or attract them to come back to the market.
Let’s pretend that these people will work in your production lines, processes that are already in your plant/plants, but in this case, they are not available or you could not find any candidate willing to work with you.
The first question to ask is: in your existing process, which involves automation and automated equipment, is there anything that could be IMPROVED, manipulated, updated that could remove some manual operation or intervention?
Think about repetitive operations such as adjusting parameters each time some events happen, moving material from point A to point B, writing down reports, or needing to historize and mine data? Calculate how efficient is your process.
All of these things and more can be automated and let the workforce, you were able to keep with you, focus on dynamic tasks that really require human intervention. This is the aid of automation.
Machine and equipment renovation
I am going to change the tone here as I am pretty sure you have machines and equipment that you give constant maintenance and cleaning to keep them ready and precise for the next task.
The same applies to the automation that lets these machines run and operate in everyday tasks.
The automation devices will deteriorate over time and they are not reliable anymore, especially old PLC with EEPROM memories.
But more than that, it also depends on where these devices operate, is the control panel installed in a too hot, too cold, too acid environment?
Also, do you have backup copies of your source codes, spare batteries for the memory, spare I/O cards, power supplies, etc.?
Do you have old relay logic panels that you would like to improve and maybe modify the logic to accommodate another product, another function, etc.?
In other words, can you afford to stay down for more than 30 minutes in your plant? If the answer is NO, then you should lay down a maintenance plan and eventually retrofit your automation and improve exponentially the reliability.
Last but not least is demand VS Supply
As we are well known, the demand surged in the last months and no sight is going to normalize anytime soon.
My question is, what actions are you taking to keep up with these orders requests?
Is automation the right answer to the problem?
Probably yes, even though our industry is affected by the supply chain crisis, we can always utilize the hardware that is available in the market by selecting and mixing several manufacturers or going to find refurbished parts. Either way is possible.
With that being said, is the duty of the end-user to identify his/her system bottlenecks and unclog them with targeted actions which could intervene in the existing systems and add a couple of sensors or cameras or robot arms or could automate a line. The sky is the limit,
But more importantly, to be able to track the changes applied to the processes, the end-user should implement a metric system that will monitor and report each process, each machine, and also the overall plant efficiency.
This exercise is not only beneficial for high-rank corporate people but For the plant floor personnel as well, where they can constantly and real-time monitor the performance and reliability of every single machine. The OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) and MES (Machine Execution System) are the two methods widely used in our industry.
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Conclusions
In conclusion, as we said earlier, the sky is the limit, but you need to start somewhere if you want to keep with the competitors and stay on the edge of the innovation.
The technologies are moving faster than ever, and if you are a company that wants to stay in the game for a long time and want to be profitable and pay and treat your employees well, then you cannot afford not to take massive actions.
The digital transformation is here, and few companies are starting to realize that is time to make the next move, don’t be the majority that is sitting there and think that things will stay the same as 20 years ago.
If you are interested in talking FREELY about these topics, contact me, I would love to hear your feedback.
Thank you,
Davide @ Bright IIOT
“Changing the automation industry one signal at the time.”
Romans 1:16
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