CALM THE HELL DOWN
american
PLANT MANAGER TOYOTA’S LESSON ON DOWNTIME pg 25
KCF TECHNOLOGIES
FALL 2019
AVOIDING CATASTROPHIC FAILURES
4 BLIND SPOTS
Expert Advice from David White,
THAT WILL
SABOTAGE YOUR PLANT
LEARN 'EM & BE THE HERO!
ECORE’S $20M SAVE
MANAGEMENT
|
BUSINESS
|
SUCCESS
|
TECHNOLOGY
8
678912 0 12345
Scott G e i b
08>
with
ISSUE 02 - KCF Technologies $10.00
NEW WAYS MACHINE MONITORING CAN TEACH OLD-SCHOOL DOGS NEW TRICKS
THE DI FFERENC E CAN BE NI GHT & DA Y
IMAGINE HOW QUICKLY YOU'D IMPROVE UPTIME IF YOU KNEW THAT YOUR NIGHT-SHIFT CREW WAS RUNNING YOUR EQUIPMENT THREE TIMES ROUGHER THAN THE DAY SHIFT.
Damage Accumulation® is the metric that our leading customers value more than any other. Damage Accumulation® is a finely-tuned algorithm that continuously measures in real time (and stores forever) two simple things:
1
2
The degree to which your equipment is running smoothly or roughly
Minute by minute, how quickly your equipment is “aging”
SCHEDULE AN ONSITE SURVEY TO DISCOVER YOUR DAMAGE ACCUMULATION DATA BY EMAILING SALES@KCFTECH.COM
1 (814) 867-4097 • kcftech.com 336 South Fraser Street State College, PA 16801 USA
CONTENTS
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us ed i n TH E U.S. A RMY 'S bl ackh aw k h el i co pters ca n n o w be us ed to d ra s ti ca l ly mi n i mi z e data- s cra mbl i n g w i rel es s s i gn a l s th ro ugh o ut a pl a n t's mach i n e mo n i to ri n g sys tems. co o l , h uh ?
HERO FROM THE EDITOR 02 DEAR AMERICAN
INDUSTRIAL HERO A letter to you
Wireless machine monitoring systems, like the futuristic SmartDiagnostics® system from KCF Technologies, offers second-to-none, plant-wide signal management.
EDITION
american INDUSTRIAL
Th e s a me tech n o l o gy
HERO FEATURES 04 AVOIDING
CATASTROPHIC FAILURES
10
04 KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
16
23
Q&A with David White, Nestlé Purina
E-CORE'S $20M SAVE New Methods of Monitoring Old-School Equipment
CHEW ON THIS 08 WORD FIND 09 ONE-PAGE TIDBIT
The Myth of the P-F Curve
25 LESSONS FROM TOYOTA
A Shockingly Calm Downtime Alarm
with Scott Geib, ECore
WIRELESS SENSORS 4 Blind Spots That Will Sabotage Your Plant What you need to know before you go wireless
WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
MAN-ufacturing? Uh, think again. Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
1
BE A HERO TODAY 2
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
FROM THE EDITOR DEAR AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL HERO, You are the hard-working, smart, red-blooded Americans who inspire my KCF Tech colleagues and me to wake up in the morning. We’re passionate about the backbone of the American economy— manufacturing, plain and simple. We were founded on the idea of giving the leaders in manufacturing (you, reader!) the tools they need to make plants more profitable, safer, and more efficient than ever. Our team has put together this selection of articles to help you revolutionize the way your plant does business. Whether you’re the plant manager, a C-Suite executive, or a shop floor worker, we want to inspire, empower, and support you in your fight for American manufacturing. From real-life case studies of people who are beating the odds in their factories to easy-to-implement insights on what’s making your factory lose valuable market share, you will find revolutionary insights between these pages. Forget the status quo! Make a change! Take your factory into the future! Beat the competition! Embrace the capitalistic nature of the game! Join the movement toward revolutionizing American manufacturing.
BEN LAWRENCE Vice President
5 THINGS YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS IS SUE 1
h o w to proacti vely
mo n i to r yo ur pl a n t W I TH N EW TECH N O L O GY
2
BI G-TI ME S AVES TH A T
O TH ER CO MPA N I ES H AVE A CH I EVED US I N G N EW TECH
3
BLIND SPOTS WE BET
YO U N E V E R K N E W W E R E SO DAMAGING
4
W H A T TO KN O W & W H A T
TO A S K A BO UT W I REL ES S MA CH I N E H EA LTH
5
BETTER WA YS TO
D EA L W I TH D O W N TI ME
TALK TO US COM ME N T S OF THE MONTH
american
PLANT
MANAGER
DON'T FORGET THE . I really liked your publication. The information was interesting; it is nice to learn the ways others are utilizing technology, and to commiserate with their problems. My only comment is...there ARE women in this business, granted, fewer than I would like, but could there be additional representation of ladies in the magazine as well? DIANE V., VIA EMAIL
Of course, Diane, we value all of the hardworking women in manufacturing just as much as we do the men, so be sure to check out later in this issue where we highlight some of our great women heroes!
QUOTE OF THE MONTH “On an investment [with KCF Tech] under $60K we’ve saved over $700K in the last year, and in the last nine months we’ve eliminated almost 70 hours of downtime.” Sawmill Unit Manager, USA
Please reach out to our customer service or contact us via our website to let us know how we are doing. We always welcome your comments and feedback.
Photo from KCF's 6th Annual Customer Summit – 2019.
Eleven industries, 23 states, and more than 200 team members are rooting for you, the backbone of America's Industrial Powerhouse. Cheers!
A Publication of KCF TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 336 S. Fraser Street State College, PA 16801 USA Telephone: 1 (814) 867-4097 Fax: 1 (814) 690-1579 www.kcftech.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright 2019
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
3
ARE CRITICAL TO US.
HERO FEATURES
THE ANSWER TO AVOIDING Q & A CATASTROPHIC with David White, FAILURES Nestlé Purina
Get with the future or sign over American Manufacturing to the Commies!
DO YOU HAVE A IGNORE FAKE NEWS! PLANTTAXDOESN’T TARIFFS?!? BREAKS!?!
IT’S YOUR Team's ability TO BRING ITS BEST EVERY DAY Chinadetermines will win and your plant will THAT America's Lossjobs orwillvictory. be closed, be shipped overseas, and then suddenly American Manufacturing—one of the shining examples of the American dream, democracy, and capitalism—will fade away.
4
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
SNEAKING SUSPICION THAT IF YOUR GET WITH THE TIMES, IT’LL BE LEFT BEHIND? Are you going to let that happen? Of course not. You don’t shy away from potential vulnerabilities and new technology. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a little intimidating, but it's nothing you can't handle.
David White, plant manager from Nestlé
David can now focus on bigger
Purina, could certainly handle it and
opportunities, such as plant optimization
he says he’s seen HUGE results since
and automation, knowing that his plant
implementing IIoT solutions in his plant.
is totally monitored and completely taken
He made the switch from a traditional
care of—no worries.
monthly data collection system to a
Read more about David’s experience
dynamic, wireless solution that allows him and his team to monitor his plant
next, in our exclusive Q&A. ›
24/7. You know what that means?
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
5
HERO FEATURE Q& A
with David White, Nestlé Purina
POW!
Take THAT YOU DASTARDLY FAILURE!
What problems were you having in your
What were the results of not
plant and why were you looking for a new
being able to monitor the machine
solution when you came upon KCF?
as much as you wanted?
I’ve always been concerned with one
A failure on one of those bearing
machine that’s critical to our operation.
units could be catastrophic. It could
It’s got 38 bearings, and they only run
cause major equipment damage and
at 3 RPM. We’re not able to really do
we could be down for weeks. Even
good monitoring on a monthly basis
with the bearings running at 3 RPM,
because they run so slow, and we’re
it could create other issues inside the
not able to do ultrasonics on those
machine that could lead to weeks of
either because of the way that they’re
downtime with millions of dollars of
guarded. So, I started looking around
costs if we lost one of these bearings.
for wireless and I came across KCF. I set up a trial with KCF. I really, really liked what I saw. More importantly, it was just a good relationship right from the very beginning. I could tell that they were customer service-oriented—the whole group at KCF. I went out to State College and visited with them. They came here and I showed them what I wanted to do. We did a small test with eight sensors, and then we’ve steadily grown from there. Right now, we’ve got about 75 sensors, and we’re hopeful to expand on that.
Did you consider moving to wireless monitoring a risk? I was originally looking at a wired system, but it was very expensive. I started looking at wireless and immediately hit a road block of IT security and firewall concerns. After talking with KCF and talking with the IT department, we saw that it doesn’t interface with our systems at all, so someone can’t reach in and grab it. Once those fears were put aside, we ran some tests and found that
THE DATA WE WERE GETTING & THE RELATIONSHIP WE WERE CULTIVATING WITH KCF WAS VERY PROMISING.
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american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
the data we were getting and the relationship we were cultivating with KCF was very promising. ›
David White (left) receiving from KCF President Jeremy Frank (right) an award for Nestlé’s success with continuous, wireless machine health monitoring.
Get with the future or sign over American Manufacturing to the Commies!
IGNORE FAKE NEWS! TARIFFS?!? TAX BREAKS!?! IT’S YOUR Team's ability TO BRING ITS BEST EVERY DAY THAT determines America's Loss or victory.
Did you face resistance from your
What advice would you give to other plants
team about bringing this new
considering a new monitoring system?
technology into the plant?
Go for it! Don’t let fear hold you back.
When I first started testing, I took it to my
Bring KCF in. Talk to them, bring
maintenance manager, and we were both
your management team in, and set
sold. We saw what it [SmartDiagnostics]
those fears aside. Start small and
could do, and we understand that
see what they can do for you. n
reliability and uptime are critical to us. Whenever a machine goes down, we’re
RELIABILITY, SAFETY, AND UPTIME ARE CRITICAL TO US.
not making profit and we’re not making product. And the safety factor—it’s a lot safer replacing something when we deem necessary rather than waiting for it to fail while in production mode.
Describe the results from working with KCF. How has your plant changed for the better? We’re capturing failures before they occur. So, we’re able to schedule our
Get with the future or sign over American Manufacturing to the Commies!
IGNORE FAKE NEWS! TARIFFS?!? TAX BREAKS!?! IT’S YOUR Team's ability TO BRING ITS BEST EVERY DAY THAT determines America's
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
maintenance prior to a failure and that makes it safer, gives you a higher quality product, and minimizes scrap waste. It saves a lot of money.
IT'S A LOT SAFER REPLACING SOMETHING WHEN WE DEEM NECESSARY RATHER THAN WAITING FOR IT TO FAIL WHILE IN PRODUCTION MODE.
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
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CHEW ON THIS
WORD FIND FOR AMERICAN PLANT MANAGERS K X G Z E C N A N E T N I A M P
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I O T S A V I N G S M Q C P O T F Y R E A C T I V E I R C A E
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A N C P T R G T A G A W R A L V E H I T A A T C T E O E T Y O S N A I T I T A U S R Z I S N G E D I O I S U N D F S O N N B O V N C U R E R O O B N N I
G E T R A M S N U E H R F E
M A N U F A C T U R I N G P P
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american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
CAVITATION
DANGER
MAINTENANCE
PENNSYLVANIA
FLUTING
IOT
BEAT
PRODUCTIVITY
TEMPERATURE
KCF
USA
VIBRATION
SENSOR
MANUFACTURING
PREDICTIVE
SENTRY
INNOVATIVE
PREVENTATIVE
SAVINGS
SMART
REACTIVE
DATA
DIAGNOSTIC
The Myth of the P-F Curve
CHEW ON THIS
This P-F Curve is a long-standing image the industrial world references to describe a machine’s life, from birth to death. This graph shows a machine slowly, gradually “aging” a tiny bit at a time until one day it finally rolls over and dies. The problem is this graphic is usually dead wrong, and believing what the myth represents may be leading you straight into more downtime.
EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENTCONDITION CONDITION
HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE Vibration Vibration Point where Point where failure starts failure starts to occer to occer
Temperature Temperature
Audible Audible Noise Noise
Hot to Hot to Touch Touch
EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT FAILURE FAILURE
BROKEN BROKEN
$ $
COST TO REPAIR COST TO REPAIR
TIME TIME UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE
The real life cycle of your machinery looks more like this: HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE
yours as a plant manager. Good days, bad days, stressful days, easy days…A roller coaster of health conditions that over time builds scars (and wisdom!) that are entirely unpredictable. The best thing you can do is continuously monitor the health of your machinery, so that you catch those random errors before they start to decrease your productivity. Then diagnose the root cause in a way that keeps the same failure from happening again.
EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENTCONDITION CONDITION
Your equipment’s life cycle is more akin to
Pump Pump Fixed Fixed New Parts New Parts
Installation Installation
Broken Valve Broken Valve Pump Cavitating Pump Cavitating
Forklift Forklift Accident Accident
BROKEN BROKEN
TIME TIME
Motor Motor Fixed Fixed
Broken Broken Motor Motor
EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT FAILURE FAILURE
COST TO REPAIR COST TO REPAIR
UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
9
HERO FEATURE
ITT’SARIFIGNOR BRI YO FS? E F THA NG IUR T!? TAAKE T d TS eam X B NEW LosetermBEST's abREAKS! s o ine EV ility S!? r v s A ERY TO ! icto mer DAY ry. ica's
AmfeuturGet w rica e o ith to n M r si the the anu gn Co mfact over m i e urin s! g
T h is is Scototo,l " he 's "o ld - smche aw es o
CREATING STANDARDS FOR MODERN EXCELLENCE THAT WILL LEAVE YOU FLOORED
ECore is a team of men and wom en mak ing sure your busin ess's floor ing is made in an Amer ican plant, by Amer ican hand s, with Amer ican values.
10
1962
1987
1989 - 2000
2008
2018
ECore hits manufacturing milestone producing 1 million square feet of cork floor tiles per month
ECore enters the arena of recycled rubber floor manufacturing
ECore achieves 20% compounded growth each year
ECore completes development of turf and lamination technology
ECore earns Top ROI Award from KCF Technologies with $20M saved from downtime and 200x ROI
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
ECORE’S $20M SAVE
NEW WAYS MACHINE MONITORING CAN TEACH OLD-SCHOOL DOGS NEW TRICKS with
L EFT: s co tt gei b a n d H I S tea m O F I N D US TRI A L W O RKERS a re keepi n g th ei r co mmun i ty a n d th ei r co un try s tro n g.
Scott Ge ib, ECore
Becoming truly badass at anything requires you to step away from the status quo and start looking for a greater destiny. Think Bon Jovi. Al Pacino. Tom Brady. You think they settled for the status quo? Heck, no! Scott Geib at ECore didn’t settle for the status quo, either. Every plant experiences average, everyday maintenance issues. While some might accept them as part of the job, Scott Geib did not. In fact, he knew his flooring plant was consistently losing valuable time to the same old issues, and that the ensuing firefighting was eating into profitability. KCF Technologies is honored to be a part of the solution ECore leverages to stay globally competitive. After Corporate Reliability Manager Scott Geib spent six months using a route-based monitoring technology that only captured a few minutes of data every few weeks, he embraced something new—KCF’s 100% wireless system and
As a self-described “old-school tech user” (we’re talking flip phone, people), Scott didn’t immediately jump at a cutting-edge solution. He stuck with what he knew—a combination of time-based maintenance and periodic "stethoscope" vibration readings. In hindsight, he says, he didn’t understand wireless systems and he was skeptical, maybe even a little afraid. Could he implement and oversee a wireless system he didn’t know much about? Would his team get on board or would they revolt? Would his job as maintenance manager evolve or
expert monitoring service. Find out
would it be obsolete?
more about Scott’s story in this feature.
Ancient machinery. Hard to source parts. Unplanned downtime threats. How closely does Scott's story relate to yours? ›
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
11
HERO FEATURE
THE MACHINE ECore manufactures cutting-edge products
A critical component on this machine
but they sometimes must do so with old
is its gearbox, which is lubricated via
machines–in this case, a powerful cutting
a difficult to reach pump system.
machine built in Germany in 1952. The
Historically, servicing this gearbox
machine is a workhorse, in operation for nearly seven decades (they don't make 'em like they used to!), but keeping the machine in tip-top shape becomes harder every year. As of Summer 2019, only 12 of these machines remain in the world.
12
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
includes a combination of time-based maintenance and occasional visual or "stethoscope" inspections. These methods, however, leave ECore vulnerable to failures that no one sees coming.
Ke eping a 195 2 Ge rman cu tti ng mach ine in tip -top wo rk ing co nditio n was be co mi ng harder and harder each ye ar .
HERO FEATURE
THE CATCH Scott Geib took a gamble. He invited KCF Technologies to his factory and installed a handful of wireless vibration and temperature sensors on this machine. Soon thereafter, one of those sensors began picking up unhealthy signals from the gearbox...holy schnikes! ›
6 Wireless vibration and temperature sensors monitor the gearbox 24/7
Over a 7-day period, damage sores on the gearbox rose quickly, so oil was added
( ABOVE) gearbox to eCO RE'S W O RKHORSE CUTTING M ACHINERY. THEY DO N’T M AK E ’EM LIKE THEY USED TO.
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
13
HERO FEATURE
Scott 's on ly reg ret ? “N ot getti ng the sy ste m in there faste r.”
THE BENEFIT No stress, no lost profits, no factory shutdown.
Based on the alarms and phone calls
Instead, Scott's team fixed a small leak in
that KCF made, Scott's team inspected
a lubrication pump and never missed a
Plus uninterrupted production and delivery of comfortable, safe, functional flooring to ECore's end-customer heroes!
the gearbox and discovered a leak in the
beat. No stress, no lost profits, no factory
lubrication system that, within days or
shutdown. Scott earned a promotion.
hours, would have run dry and destroyed the entire gearbox. Had Scott not stepped up with this cutting-edge solution, here's what ECore would've suffered: – Special order, emergency rush parts from Germany – Crane to remove old gearbox and replace with new one
14
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
Imagine if your company had avoided its most recent machine failure. How much did that incident cost you? What would the benefit be if you, like others, eliminated over 65% of your unplanned downtime? BOTTOM LINE: So many of the emergencies American industry faces related to downtime and inefficiency are
– Removal of roof to fit the crane
no longer necessary! Like Scott, consider
(ouch!)
24/7 machine health monitoring for your
– 26 weeks of downtime
key assets. n
THE FU TU RE I S NO W
GONE ARE THE DAYS OF MINDLESSLY PERFORMING TIME-BASED MAINTENANCE OR WANDERING THROUGH A PLANT WITH A STETHOSCOPE TRYING TO CATCH MACHINE FAILURES.
The high-tech tracking of today is done through one simple dashboard. Damage Accumulation® connects high-damage incidents with a root cause. Establish proactive best practices and train operators to maximize production, exceed quality, improve safety, extend machine life, and destroy the competition.
A $1 billion oil and gas company has tripled its EBiTDA in 18 months.
It all starts with a KCF Machine EKG Report, your simple, low-cost first step toward plant optimization.
Thanks to the KCF Machine EKG Report, these are the results our customers are seeing...
A paper company A $1MACHINE billion oil EKG INCLUDE? is enjoying a WHAT DOES YOUR KCF 300% increase and gas company • Invaluable Damage Accumulation® data on one of your key applications in the life of its has tripled its • Your current downtime metrics and KCF's baseline data pump systems. EBiTDA in 18 • Site assessment for site/system compatibility months. An auto manufacturer A paper company A $1 billion oil A $1 billion oil and Aispaper company An manufacturer is auto on the road enjoying a and gas company is enjoying a 300% will likely surpass gas company has to surpassing 300% in increase has its tripled increase the life production goals for tripled EBiTDA its production goals initsthe life of its of pump systems. the first time in years. in EBiTDA 18 months.in 18 pump systems. months. in years. An auto A paper SCHEDULE ANcompany ONSITE SURVEY TO DISCOVER 1 (814) 867-4097 • kcftech.com manufacturer is enjoying a 336 South Fraser Street YOUR 300% DAMAGE ACCUMULATION DATA BY is on the road increase State College, PA 16801 USA EMAILING to surpassing in the life ofSALES@KCFTECH.COM its production goals pump systems. in years.
HERO FEATURE Before You Go Wireless
4
BLIND SPOTS THAT WILL
Going to a wireless machine monitoring system can be terrifying. That’s why we’ve laid out all the risks and all the answers to your questions before you make the decision—so you can be informed and make the right call for your team.
SABOTAGE YOUR PLANT
LEARN 'EM & BE THE HERO! Be informed • Make the right choice • Don't blow it by David Kraige & Jacob Loverich
16
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
PR O ADV IC E
What to know before you go wireless We sat down with Dave Kraige and Jacob Loverich to get the answers you need to know. Dave is the director of Industrial Sentry Services and is in charge of the team that helps customers turn data into actionable information. Jacob is the Chief Technology Officer at KCF Technologies. He is responsible for all of KCF’s technology development,
w h at you ' l l l e a rn ab o u t w i r el ess 1
w ireless protocols
that w ork b est for
including wireless communications, sensor hardware, and software. (In other words, he’s the brains behind the operation. The Q to your James Bond, if you will.) Check out this quick guide to the four blind spots that could sabotage a wireless monitoring system in your plant.
Which wireless protocols work best in industrial or manufacturing environments?
1
dif fere nt environments
2
the importa nce
o f battery life when cho o sing a wireless system
3
In short, the one that’s going to a) steer clear of your other wireless systems, b) send complete, data-rich vibration signatures with every reading, c) transmit long distances through high-
w hat is wireless
density areas, and d) draw tiny amounts
Whether it was too much bandwidth, too much battery consumption, inability to travel long distances, or inability to transmit full data packets, no protocol met our customers’ needs. To be fair, these other protocols are okay if you’re talking about a handful of sensors on a few machines. But once you reach 3,000+ wireless sensors within one factory, which we’re now installing regularly across the USA, it’s
interfe rence a nd how it
of power to maximize battery life.
a completely different ballgame.
affects YOUR PLA NT
According to Jacob, who’s spent over
As a result, KCF spent years developing
4
a decade perfecting wireless protocols, band wid th a nd
battery limitations
“None of the existing protocols [Bluetooth, Zigby, Wi-Fi, etc.] were acceptable for high-density industrial environments.
the ultimate industrial wireless protocol, DART wireless. It checks all the boxes that industrial manufacturers need and is proving effective in over 1,000 sites across America.” ›
Radio Frequency Bands Of the three commercially available bands, SmartDiagnostics resides on the 2.4 GHz band. Why? It’s the best compromise of data volume, communication range, and transmission reliability for most efficiently and cost effectively communicating wirelessly in an industrial setting. SIGN
AL R
ANG
E
Ideal for infrequently sending tiny amounts of data over long distances
TA T
F DA
O SIZE
900 MHz
N
ISSIO
SM RAN
Ideal for sending machine health data in an industrial setting
2.4 GHz
Ideal for streaming video over a short distance
5.0 GHz Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
17
HERO FEATURE
Be informed • Make the right choice • Don't blow it
Before You Go Wireless
How important is battery life for sensors?
2
How long is it going to take to change sensors are placed in areas you can’t
Sensors are one of the
easily get to, or on machines that you
essential parts of a wireless
might have to shut down to change
system. Without them, you’re not capturing
them? Now we’re talking about possible
the data you need. So battery life is a
downtime to get in there and change
HUGE consideration–and an important
batteries and it’s become a pretty huge
maintenance task–particularly if you’re
task. That underscores the importance
talking about big installations. Dave
7
BATTERY LIFE (years)*
of battery life. You shouldn’t have to 6
explains, “Let’s say you have 50 sensors
change 5 the batteries on your sensors
at a site. You can change all of those
often,4especially if you’re trying to increase
in a day, so that’s not a big deal if they
3 efficiency and minimize downtime.”
only last six months. Now imagine you have several thousand sensors at a site.
BATTERY REPLACEMENT COST
BATTERY LIFE (years)*
4
SIGN
AL R
ANG
E
3 2 1 0
Ideal for infrequently sending tiny amounts of data over long distances KCF
Competitor SIONCompetitor
S
SMI
AN A TR
BATTERY REPLACEMENT COST
FREQUENCY
OF SIZE
$120 $100 $80
900 MHz
0
Competitor
The large majority of wireless protocols share a few common traits: 1) They are designed to win out over all
other wireless transmissions.
2) They’re bandwidth hogs.
They transmit strong signals designed
to overpower competing transmissions
3) They’re battery hogs.
Sending strong continuous
transmissions requires lots of power
Install your typical, off-the-shelf wireless sensor, in a wireless signal-rich environment like an auto factory and you’re creating an
$120
awful traffic jam. Best case scenario, your
$100
sensors cannot transmit their data. Worst
$80
case, these sensors WIN the bandwidth battle, Ideal for streaming video over a short distance KCF
Competitor
Competitor
Through KCF’s proprietary solution, its wireless sensor operates on a $5, off-the-shelf Duracell camera battery. Most other providers force you to buy a custom expensive battery—if you can replace the battery at all.
2.4 GHz
5.0 GHz
steal the bandwidth your driverless forklifts and automated robots need to do their jobs, and your entire factory comes screeching to a halt. NOT the outcome you want. So, what's a forward-thinking American Industrial Hero like you to do? Luckily, KCF has developed a special technology, DART Wireless, that eliminates these
$60
issues and makes wireless a simple,
$40
low-impact, and affordable option.
$20 $-
KCF
Competitor
AVAILABLE 2.4 GHz BANDWIDTH Competitor
Bandwidth consumed by 100 SmartDiagnostics sensors reporting every 10 minutes via the DART wireless protocol
Bandwidth consumed by continuously active Wi-Fi device
TIME 18
Competitor
$140
Ideal for sending $60 machine $40 health $20 data in an $industrial setting
*Based on one full D spectrum reading every 15 minutes, 24/7/365 AT $140
1
The Cost of Battery Replacement
7 5
2
KCF
Battery Life Competitor Comparison 6
3
all of those batteries? How many of the
To what extent will your wireless sensors interfere with the other wireless traffic in my plant?
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
Tiny Footprint, Tiny Duration Listen first. Speak ONLY if no one else is. Before transmitting data, SmartDiagnostics sensors “listen” for an opening on the 2.4 GHz channel. If the channel is busy, the sensor remains dormant, transmitting nothing. Only if there’s an opening will the sensor send its data.
PR O ADV IC E
What the heck’s a Bandwidth Hog?
If two wireless signals from competing protocols cross paths, they’re programmed to fight to the death. Their coding tells them to do whatever necessary to overtake the other and successfully deliver its data packet. This is great when you’re on a wireless phone call with an important customer. It’s also fine when you’re operating in an environment that has few wireless signals competing for space, such as a long-established machine shop where only a few wireless sensors are sending data. Step into a modern, automated factory, however, and these established wireless protocols are a recipe for disaster. Case in point: An American auto factory. Step onto the floor of a plant and you’ll see driverless forklifts, automated conveyors, and welding robots—all operating via wireless commands—while Wi-Fi networks abound for internet use.
What are the limitations of a Battery Hog wireless system? A serious limitation to many wireless sensors is battery life. Since their wireless protocols require so much horsepower, many vendors resort to one of three options: 1) “Forget it, let’s just stick with wires.” Knowing the battery issues
2) Big proprietary batteries
3) Energy harvesters
Many wireless sensors are nearly the size
In lieu of a battery, some companies
they’ll encounter, some vendors just stick
of a Coke can. That’s great because they
offer an energy harvesting device that
with wired sensors. Wired sensors are
pack a big battery but installing such a
powers the sensor via the heat and
terrific for some critical applications, but
large device on smaller assets is overkill.
vibration the machine produces. A
labor intensive and cost prohibitive for
An in many cases, the custom battery is
nice concept but again, makes for an
most applications.
expensive ($100+) to replace.
oversized sensor and adds lots of cost. ›
Jacob's blind spot PRO tip:
For a 3,000-sensor installation with an average battery life of two years, 17 sensor batteries will need to be replaced per working day. At 15 minutes per sensor, that’s 4.3 hours per day– potentially a loaded labor cost of $25-50k per year.
Jacob Loverich, Chief Technology Officer
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
19
HERO FEATURE Before You Go Wireless
4
Can your wireless sensor transmit full vibration signatures? BEWARE: Many wireless
vibration systems are missing your most important ingredient: Full Spectrum Data. Vibration falls into two main categories: overall or peak vibration, and full spectrum data . Overall or Peak Vibration - This is a simple metric that tells us how severely a machine is vibrating. It's common to assume the more severely a machine vibrates, the worse its health, and sometimes that's true. But not always! A motor, for example, may vibrate more as it speeds up or as it enters different stages of a production cycle. These increases in vibration are perfectly normal; they do not represent any problems or pending failures.
Example of a motor's peak vibration changing over time Is this motor healthy? Unhealthy? It’s almost impossible to tell from this chart alone (below). In comes the power of a full spectrum vibration reading (right)...
KCF's SmartDiagnostics and Sentry team sift through all your machine data, cherry pick for you the legitimate alarms, and guide your maintenance team toward guaranteed wins.
20
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
Full Spectrum Data - Best-inClass sensors pull full spectrum data with every vibration reading they take. Think of full spectrum data as the long, squiggly line one associates with a vibration reading or sound wave. In essence, this wave tells us not how much a machine is vibrating (of little importance) but rather in what way a machine is vibrating (of tremendous importance). The only way you or a qualified expert can determine whether vibration patterns are healthy or unhealthy is through the full spectrum data signature. Collecting and transmitting Overall Vibration is easy but of little value. Collecting and transmitting Full Spectrum Data is complex but of extreme value. Many sensors measure peak vibration ONLY, which means you're fielding false alarms every time the machine enters different running conditions. In our experience, these basic, peak vibrationonly sensors are nearly worthless. Our customers find that within a few days they're sick of the false alarms and unable to gain value.
A full spectrum reading, which KCF's sensors capture with every reading, includes more than 2,000 individual data points from that tiny moment in time. Vibration experts, either yours or KCF's, can look at this squiggly line and diagnose what–if anything–is wrong with your machine. (Bad bearing, misalignment, broken gear tooth, etc.)
PR O ADV IC E
Your Plant & U.S. Military Helicopters: What You Have in Common
DART Wireless: Designed for U.S. Military, Perfect for American Industry Something was needed to monitor in real-time the machine health of key helicopter components, but no viable product existed that met the U.S. military’s requirements. They needed something that was: Wireless The health sensors, attached to the aircraft’s rotor shaft and other rotating components, had to be wireless.
Extremely Low Interference The wireless protocol through which the sensor transmitted its data had to be extremely low interference–It could not interfere in any way with the radar, weapons systems, pilot communication devices, or other critical wireless transmissions all firing while the helicopter is in flight.
Long Battery Life U.S. Military helicopter maintenance is already expensive and time consuming. The last thing Uncle Sam wanted was constant battery swaps. 2.4 GHz RF BAND
Channel 1
Several years and over $8 million later, KCF cracked the code on a new wireless protocol that met the Military's requirements. Channel This new wireless protocol, along with the sensor technology using it, checked all Channel 11 of Uncle6Sam's boxes: 4 100% wireless solution that B C DdataE with captures fullAspectrum
that do not interfere with other wireless
with one $5 off-the-shelf Duracell
every reading and is rugged enough to
transmissions
camera battery
SmartDiagnostics DART Microchannels
4 Low Bandwidth Requirements
4 Up to 10 Years of Battery Life
withstand the extreme environments
(temperature, rain, etc.) a U.S. Military aircraft may encounter
Channels: The Path of Least Resistance 2.4 GHz RF BAND
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee are completely different wireless protocols. SmartDiagnostics uses none of them, instead transmitting over its own proprietary DART wireless protocol. Wi-Fi requires much more bandwidth and is usually a continuous transmission vs. the
Channel 1
Channel 6
Channel 11
short, tiny microseconds-long burst you’ll find with a SmartDiagnostics sensor.
Bluetooth also tends to transmit continuously and is constantly jumping across multiple radio bands. It requires 1,000% to 5,000% more battery power than SmartDiagnostics
A B C D E SmartDiagnostics DART Microchannels SmartDiagnostics DART wireless protocol transmits over a series of small micro-channels dispersed throughout the 2.4 GHz band. When a sensor “listens” and discovers one microchannel is busy, it automatically jumps to others in an attempt to find one that can accommodate the transmission.
DART protocol.
Zigbee does not have the same agile ability to adapt and avoid other communication that may exist in the same frequency band, meaning Zigbee transmission will “fight” your other wireless transmissions and possibly overpower them. ›
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
21
HERO FEATURE Before You Go Wireless
PR O ADV IC E
What to ask before you go wireless To make the best buying decision, be sure to ask your wireless sensor vendor these critical questions.
4 What type of battery does your sensor require, and what is the cost to replace it? 4 How long will your sensor last before I need to change the battery? 4 What type of wireless protocol does your sensor use to transmit data? 4 To what degree is your technology's wireless protocol trained to "yield"
to other data streams that are traveling throughout my plant?
4 How well will your sensor network perform if we install thousands of them within one
facility, or if we install a high concentration of them within one area of our plant?
4 Prove to me that your wireless network will A) operate smoothly in a high-density
Your plant's wireless network may not be as complex as a U.S. Military helicopter's, but we're kidding ourselves if we don't believe it soon will be. Smartphones, wireless sensors, Bluetooth headsets, and Wi-Fi networks are propagating faster than a colony of rabbits, and it's important that the wireless systems you install today are sustainable in tomorrow's factory.
22
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
environment, and B) not interfere in a high-density environment with my other
wireless transmissions. n
Women in Industry:
Heck Yeah We Can Do It!
HERO FEATURE
In MAN-ufacturing, things are primed for change...again.
Brittany Le Van
PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
From Rosie the Riveter to Girls in STEM, Women are Central to the Future of U.S. Manufacturing
50 % 29% OF ALL COLLEGE DEGREES ARE HELD BY WOMEN
OF THE U.S. MANUFACTURING WORKFORCE IS MADE UP OF WOMEN
*National Women’s History Museum **Delloite’s 2017 Women in Manufacturing Study
KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
DEGREE: MS, Engineering Management; BS, Chemistry; BS, Education KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: Proje ct Management, Data Analysis/ Manufacturing Processe s, Upstream and Midstream Operations, Directional-Gamma Certification PROUDEST CATCH: Helping Oil & Gas cust omers save millions of dollars on R&M costs over the last two years by empowering field workers with data -backed SOPs ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “Hire character. Train skill. You can’t teach attitude or work ethic. Hire a coachable leader who is willing to learn.” INTERESTING STUFF: “I started my oil and gas career with Baker Hughes as an MWD. Working on drilling rigs, gaining field experience, was a huge benefit when starting at KCF Technologies. I understood the culture and I knew the impact our sensors could make every day."
During World War II, women entered the
in the United States increased from
American workforce in unprecedented
27% to nearly 37%, and nearly one
numbers, especially in fields like
out of every four married women
manufacturing that had traditionally
worked outside of the home by 1945.
employed mostly men. Recruited by the
In all, 6 million American women
War Advertising Council’s ‘Women in War
supported the country’s industrial
Jobs' campaign and its iconic poster-
production during wartime.*
woman, Rosie the Riveter, women came
Today, American women earn more
from across the country to fill spaces on assembly lines in support of the war effort.
than half of all college degrees and hold more than half of all managerial and
Rosie led the shift in public opinion about
professional positions. Yet, they are
a women’s place in work, in particular in
one of the largest pools of untapped
manufacturing, highlighting the patriotic
talent in American manufacturing.
duty of women to enter the workforce and
In 2016, women made up 47% of
encouraging them to take on industrial
the U.S. labor force, but only 29% of
jobs. Between 1940 and 1945, the
the manufacturing workforce.**
percentage of women in the workforce Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
23
HERO FEATURE
Women in Industry
Heroes of industry at KCF Technologies. Yep, they're women. Times they are a-changin' and KCF is creating a culture to help empower women to be a critical element in the reinvention and the future of manufacturing. Meet a few of KCF Technologies’ “Women in Industry” and learn how they have affected companies like yours with their whip-smart, rock star ways.
Katey Glunt
DEGREE: PhD Biology
stical Analyses KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: Stati ing a U.S. PROUDEST OPTIMIZATION PROJECT: Help t in its most ghpu throu rd reco h reac Steel manufacturer critical tubular mill have to pick ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “If you rience.” expe one, curiosity is more important than
KCF SENTRY TECHNICAL ANALYST
skills –“My INTERESTING STUFF: Expert fine motor es, and quito mos previous jobs included dissecting ry.” roide emb one of my hobbies is
DEGREE: B.S. Petroleum Engineering KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: CAT II Certified Vibration Analyst
Tara Mars KCF LEAD ANALYST
PROUDEST CATCH: $20 million save at ECore on a large, one-of-a-kind gearbox that lost almost all of its oil due to a leak. This catch prevented their entir e process from coming to a halt for 26 weeks. ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “Try to recruit your smart friends.” INTERESTING STUFF: "I am from Houston. Go Coogs .”
Chalice Walther
KCF PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
DEGREE: Chemical Engineering KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: Certified Vibe 2 Analyst / High level knowledge in Pump operation, CNC machining and other automotive specific equipment PROUDEST CATCH: The first catch made at an Assembly Shop. “I had only worked for KCF for a few months and I identified a major bearing fault while still on site from the install. The plant instantly acted on our recommendation and we saved them over a million dollars before even completing the install.” ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “Staying true to our company core values of smarts, grit, and drive. I believe drive is what is most important. We need to have as much, if not more, drive than our customers to help bring them into the future and truly optimize American Manufacturing.” INTERESTING STUFF: My favorite thing to do in my spare time is travel and explore the world. A dream of mine is to someday be able to live abroad a few months a year, likely in Spain.”
Closing manufacturing’s gender gap is key to closing the skills gap that has limited businesses’ ability to evolve and expand. In addition to filling open positions, though, research shows that gender diversity benefits manufacturing firms by creating a culture that improves their ability to innovate and grow.* n 24
american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019
* Lee, Carolyn. "Women Are Critical to Manufacturing's Future." Industry Week , April 11, 2019, www.industryweek.com
CHEW ON THIS
CALM THE HELL DOWN
Toyota: Unconventional Methods, Extraordinary Results with Downtime BY BEN LAWRENCE I hadn’t heard the song in more than a
“Oh, yes!” replied one of Toyota’s
But what would happen if, in that shit-
decade but the moment it came on I was
manufacturing engineers, “That’s
hits-fan moment, we actually did the
back in my daughter’s nursery, placing her
our signal that we’ve encountered
opposite? What if instead of hitting
in her crib for a nap. She loved that song,
unplanned downtime.”
the panic button we pulled that string
a lullaby that my wife and I would play for
UNPLANNED DOWNTIME?!?!
on the back of my daughter’s toy?
“Holy crap,” I thought, “All hands on deck!
Toyota remains a world-class company
her by yanking a string on the back of her favorite stuffed animal. Nothing fancy, just one of those short, simple tunes you’d hear if you cranked an old music box. But I was far from my daughter’s nursery. I was in Toyota North America’s Texas-based pickup truck factory. This factory is massive: 2,000 acre campus, 2 million square feet, nearly 2,000 employees, and cranking out 200,000 vehicles/year. (That’s about one pickup truck per minute, 24/7/365!) In addition to being massive, it’s impeccable. If Disney were in the auto manufacturing business, this is what their plant would look like. Crisp lighting that rivals that you’d find in a Tiffany’s jewelry display. Floors that are spotless. Even bathrooms that Mickey himself probably cleaned. But lullaby music? There we were, surrounded by welding machines and grown men in hard hats, and on kicks my baby daughter’s crib music. “Excuse me,” I asked, “What’s with the music?”
Man your battle stations! DEFCON One!” If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last five years traveling North America’s industrial sector, it’s that unplanned downtime is a factory’s worst enemy. There’s no faster way to lose profits and threaten worker safety than to have production lines come to a screeching halt. Yet here we were, in a factory where downtime costs can exceed $50,000 a minute, and everyone around me remained calm, kept smiling, and enjoyed
for many reasons, but that lullaby incident was a more poignant illustration of their unique approach than anything else I’ve witnessed at their company. As a leader, how do you set the tone for calm amidst the storm? Take a page from the Toyota playbook: Next time you or your team is tempted to hit the panic button, reach for that little stuffed animal with a string on its back. Not only will you save yourself undue stress but you might get a nice nap out of the deal, too. n
a little lullaby music. And as quickly as the song came on, it turned off and the production line kicked back into gear. Now, let’s contrast that with how I’ve witnessed other industrial facilities respond to an unplanned downtime incident: Blaring sirens, angry bosses, scrambling workers, and the guilty party tossed into a pit of alligators. (OK, maybe no alligators but you get my point.) Human instinct is to up the tempo when things don’t go as planned. Lost on your way to a meeting? We drive faster and more recklessly. Behind on production goals? We ignore our fatigue and
...SURROUNDED BY WELDING MACHINES AND GROWN MEN IN HARD HATS, AND ON KICKS MY BABY DAUGHTER’S CRIB MUSIC.
muscle through. KCF Technologies • kcftech.com
Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER
25
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