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Manufacturing Intelligence
Latest News, Product Innovations, Fairs and much more
OCTOBER 2016
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index
LANTEK LINK is the magazine of Lantek Sheet Metal Solutions
COVER Azrieli Center bridge Tel Aviv ISRAEL
LANTEK MARKETING TEAM Patricia Ruiz de Sabando Editor Jesús Martínez Marketing Director
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EDITORIAL
04
MAIN TOPIC
06
SOLUTIONS
08
INTERVIEWS
10
TECHNOLOGIES
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INNOVATION
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NEWS
PARTNERS
Lantek integrates online shopping for sheet metal parts
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ISP Photonics and Lantek collaborate in Europe
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SERVICES
15
FACTS
Man in the mirror
OEE: Indicators for improvement in production
Manufacturing Intelligence
Adria Iles. Lantek USA Director
SUBSCRIPTIONS Marketing Department marketing@lanteksms.com
Combination plasma-waterjet cutting machines
Lantek Services Lantek Hint: Lantek Expert
Artificial vision
Fairs
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editorial
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Man in the mirror
very day, in our daily operations with cutting or punching machines, with CAD/CAM software, or with our enterprise management systems, we are generating thousands of data that will remain registered for the glory of their usage as historical data that we rarely will visit ever again. What would we discover if we face in a determined way what data has to say about us, about how we manage our operations, about how we serve our customers? What reflection will be revealed in that mirror? For sure, we would see great images of operational excellence and high performance. For sure, we would see snapshots that we would like to erase immediately. Those operations incorrectly sequenced that made us lose money just because of tool or material changes, or many other cases, where no one did anything wrong; but, where we would have acted differently without hesitation. And for sure, we would discover astonishing patterns that would make us reflect and seek an innovative way of facing the same circumstances. Do you want to look yourself in the mirror and know what you could learn about yourself that would make you improve? Lantek can help you with our professional team and with our manufacturing intelligence systems, a new world of unique software systems, aligned with all the rest of our software solutions for optimizing your factory and your machines. Make a change.
JesĂşs MartĂnez
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main topic
Manufacturing Intelligence In the digital transformation era we are facing, the key success factors will still be the ability to discover where we have to improve and the determination to act according to the actions derived from that analysis. Manufacturing Intelligence (MI) is a kind of software system used to bring a corporation’s manufacturing-related data together from different sources for the purposes of reporting, analysis, visual graphics, and transferring data between enterpriselevel and plant-floor systems. As data is combined from multiple sources, it can be given a new structure or context that will help users find what they need, regardless of where it came from. The main goal is to convert large amounts of manufacturing data into real knowledge and drive business results based on this knowledge. Knowledge that will help metal companies in the pursuit of their productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness goals. For the metal industry, this is a concept that is still being conceived and defined in different forums. Like a concept-car in the automotive industry, it seems that the main needs and applications are more or less clear; but, there is still ongoing research and exploration both on the limits and on how this should be applied to the different sectors. Some actors providing solutions in this area have concluded that MI should include the sensoring to obtain the data from all systems and machines involved in the manufacturing process so they have full control of the process of acquiring, processing, and analyzing data.
Others tend to ignore the specificity in the industries, although they have their own unique challenges and motivations, and affirm that productivity is central to manufacturing success across sector boundaries, no matter how different they might be. Lantek sees the need of exploiting all the data generated by CAD/CAM/MES/ERP systems and also by cooperating systems in a metal factory considering the special characteristics of this industry. Factories generate thousands of data a day and we could take very good advantage of them. Lantek sees MI as software systems processing the existing operation data into data able to be analyzed for the sake of productivity and efficiency. Lantek is shaping this future with a strong R&D effort in this arena, developing software platforms that enable all these systems and creating the internal competence to face the relentless pace of change of the new industry paradigm. What do we need to have this kind of intelligence in the metal industry? Lantek proposes the following four elements: • Capture the right operational data from the different sources
Prior to any capture, process, or analysis, data has to be correctly selected and defined, among all the different variables present in a steel service. All of them might be important for a specific business: cutting length, number of lead-ins, head-up movements, or any other metal manufacturing related variable could be the critical factor to unveil a potential space for improvement. Even environmental variables, not directly related with the production process, could be of interest: software version, weather conditions, location, etc. Data has to be captured in the right moment in a seamless cooperation with existing systems and machines. Lantek has the systems and the integration mechanisms required to collect all variables that have ruled the production process. Lantek offers openness to be able to gather any data generated and process it into the analytical data structure. In order to obtain the data from the operation, Lantek trusts machine tool manufacturers to take care of the best possible sensing elements, adequately integrated in their machines as they were conceived. Our long track of relationships with machine tool builders brings to Lantek the awareness and the knowledge about innovations and how they have been implemented in a specific machine. This helps us to extract improvements and new features for these systems and for analysis generated by MI systems. • Produce the right analytical data Once data is captured, we need to transform operational data into data able to be analyzed, both by analysis professionals and by MI tools. We have to consider that it has to be interpreted correctly in each context and that there could be variables that have to be calculated from existing data. Examples of analytical data are material consumption, remnant utilization, usual part shapes, utilization ratios, or OEE indicators. Analytical data has to be processed accordingly to generate a robust data structure ready to be analyzed. Thanks to the experience and organizational analysis run throughout the years, Lantek has the ability to discriminate which elements have bigger impact on the metal manufacturing operations. If we also include in the mix environmental variables, we could discover unexpected patterns that could lead us to a disruptive improvement. • Apply the right logic behind analytical data Analytical data can now be submitted to the procedures that are able to recognize existing
patterns behind the data, to apply Artificial Intelligence algorithms, to link events apparently disconnected, and to execute advanced data processing techniques. Market, customer, behaviors, or culture have to be considered also in order to contextualize the analysis. • Develop the right employee skills Last but not least, we need to have competent employees at all levels to be able to analyze the result of MI systems and to take the action required to transform the operations in the right direction. Lantek also foresees a new kind of employee in metal factories: talented professionals able to analyze the indicators shown and act accordingly based on company strategies, goals, and priorities. Lantek names this competence “analyst-transformer.” Industrial workers will have to improve their skills in this area to adapt to the new digital scenario. Lantek perceives several important benefits of using Manufacturing Intelligence software systems: • Detect our best practices. What we do right in our factory. • Analyze the root causes of rejections, low quality, etc. What we could do better. • Unveil hidden patterns that could lead us to innovation, disruption, and evolution. What we don’t know about our factory. • Provide advanced services to our customers based on the data available (quotations, production slots, logistics, etc.) • Integrate our providers into our supply chain, allowing them to know more about how they could serve us better. An example could be an advanced quotation tool that, on top of the traditional variables used for cost and time calculation, also considers manufacturing schedule, remnant inventory, customer location, or market prices, among many others. These ideas are already present in the industry (automotive and aeronautics industries mainly). There is an opportunity of using recent technologies (Big Data, cloud computing, advanced integration mechanisms) to be able to process automatically and in real time much more data, in less time and from different systems so users of manufacturing intelligence systems can obtain insights and results when they need it, not waiting for long analysis procedures. Manufacturing Intelligence will be the way any industry will work in the future. Now many manage their operations. In the near future, the will also manage the management of their operations.
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solutions OEE: Indicators for improvement in production
When a company decides to implement a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) solution, they mainly look to provide visibility for their manufacturing operations and to ensure that the latter are developed on all levels, for operators, supervisors and management. This visibility will make it possible to increase agility, flexibility and the ability to react to any type of event that may occur during day-to-day operations. Ultimately, it will be capable of analyzing how our resources and processes are optimized, so we discover how our organization can first gain efficiency and then effectiveness. There are two key objectives when implementing a solution of this type: defining what information will be recorded during each phase of the production process and ensuring that this information is accurate and completely reliable. This task will involve various types of specialists and systems that will generate vast quantities of information for storage in a database and possible review and analysis. We should not succumb to the false belief that by merely collecting data, this in itself will result
in an improvement. This is illustrated by the saying: “It’s just data. Until you use it”. One of the most powerful and direct tools for measuring and analyzing whether our resources and processes are achieving a desired level of optimization is to define the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are calculated from all the data collected. In order to define the KPIs appropriate for our purposes, we must take into account several factors: • KPIs must be used to measure the performance of those critical factors that demonstrate whether our business is operating as we expect. “More” is not always synonymous with “better.” Therefore, we must select very carefully which operations must be measured in order to obtain a clear idea of whether we are getting the expected results. • We must measure operational aspects that are genuinely under our control. This means those aspects for which we can implement mechanisms for improvement in case deviations from the expected performance are detected.
• The method for measuring these indicators must be completely reliable so we can be assured that the processes and systems that collect the information related to the indicators are appropriate and function correctly. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metric is one of the most relevant KPIs in production environments with intensive use of industrial equipment. This metric reflects the productivity of industrial equipment by using the information collected by the validation systems in the workshop. Calculations are performed using a formula that comprises three factors: • Availability: this measures the time for which our machines have actually been producing compared to their theoretical availability, usually defined by their schedule, first taking into account the time required for scheduled maintenance. Losses for this factor may be caused by breakdowns or unscheduled downtime. • Performance: this measures the production volume obtained by a machine compared to its theoretical nominal capacity. Losses for this factor may be caused by decreases in production speeds due to the incorrect configuration of our machines. • Quality: this measures the quality of our production, comparing the faulty units to the total number of units produced. It is important to carry out a more thorough investigation of this factor in order to find repeating patterns that help us identify the origin of these faults.
Combining the results of all of these factors provides a quick overview of the productivity of our workshop. However, data must also be analyzed separately and from different perspectives (for each different machine technology, specific time periods, work shifts, etc.) in order to identify training problems, malfunctioning equipment or the need to redesign certain processes that have a negative impact on each indicator. Lantek has sufficient resources on its software platform to provide systematic and reliable OEE indicators or any other type of defined indicator related to the data generated from the production of sheet metal parts, metal tubes or profiles that make it possible to evaluate our operation and make decisions at the right time and in the appropriate direction. Furthermore, Lantek can provide its clients with Business Intelligence (BI) systems that can be applied to the various operational areas of a metals company, which offer extraordinary power to analyze cross-sectional data that would be difficult to combine using a different method. Lantek is the best partner for providing software tools that can be used to learn the state of production, key performance indicators and behavior patterns that identify the specific characteristics of that production and improve competitiveness, efficiency and productivity in the production of pieces of sheet metal, metal tubes and profiles.
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interviews
Adria Iles Lantek USA Director
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 Advanced Manufacturing in the United States and Industry 4.0 in Europe are trending concepts for improving manufacturing through technology, system integration, and information coordination. We interview Adria Iles, a manufacturing solutions consultant and Director of Lantek’s US Division, to explain what Advanced Manufacturing, or Industry 4.0, means to our customers. Adria has 20 years in the manufacturing industry specializing in systems integration, interoperability, and manufacturing process optimization.
What are Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 and how will these concepts affect the future of manufacturing? Both Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 are rooted in the same concept: increasing the use of technology for improved production. A principal component of both Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 is the “Smart Factory.” This Smart Factory will be flexible, efficient, and have real-time manufacturing intelligence. Smart Factories will make production communication so simple we will take it for granted. How do these concepts relate to the Lantek Factory?
then presented to the people and machines that needed that part throughout the manufacturing process, automatically - without paper, data reentry, or complicated processes. Imagine having this functionality throughout the factory from design to shipping. This is Lantek Factory and this is possible today. Every installation of Lantek, whether for programming a single machine, or the global coordination of the entire manufacturing process at an enterprise level, is capable of interoperability. Software tools that work independently from the factory as a whole are isolated. What sets Lantek apart in industry is the fact that this capability of sharing data has always been possible, even before the trends in Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0.
Advanced Manufacturing in the United States and Industry 4.0 in Europe
To effectively implement technology, it is important to consider the factory as a whole and how it inter-operates, rather than addressing specific processes alone. We use “Lantek Factory” to conceptually explain the providing of solutions for the factory as a whole, rather than providing software tools for isolated tasks.
As different software tools are used for different tasks, islands of information are created throughout the factory. Finding and reusing data from these islands is as difficult as finding a piece of paper in a factory where measurements were recorded. We use all sorts of processes to solve this problem, but all of these work arounds amount to non-value rework, frustration and wasted time. Imagine if a CAD part were digitally stored and
How does Lantek make it possible for our customers to achieve Advanced Manufacturing? First and foremost, these are concepts that Lantek adopted very early and formed product research and development around for years. This is not something we will support in a future version, but something our customers have in place, around the world, right now. Lantek starts the discussion at the overall Factory level. We consult with our clients to understand their business and manufacturing processes, identify areas where software is needed and where data can be automatically reused between existing systems. This re-using of data and simple access to knowledge is at the heart of both
Advanced Manufacturing and Industry 4.0. Once implemented, Lantek solutions make knowing where parts are in process, what time they could be delivered, and how much the part costs to make not only possible, but easy. How does Lantek help large corporations, with multiple locations, achieve Advanced Manufacturing? If collaboratively looking at a single factory to make important top-down changes and integrate systems sounds challenging, imagine doing it across multiple locations or countries, with different currencies, languages, processes, products, systems, management groups, and cultures. Yes, it is that much harder; but, as with all economies of scale, it saves that much more. Of course, partnering with the right suppliers, ones that know what they are doing, have local support, and are interested in the longterm goal versus the short-term sale, makes it much easier. Analysis and pre-planning are very important; but, in my experience, even more important is gaining support from each factory and its stakeholders. On a project I am currently involved in, our customer made this a top priority. Instead of pushing change to each location in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion, they spent considerable time asking key people from each location about their current process, desired improvements, and show-stoppers. Lantek was asked to participate in brief, global online meetings several times per month in order to demonstrate and explain features. We followed up with individual factory meetings to review localized processes, questions and concerns. Not only did this priceless act of listening create enthusiasm and break down opposition to change, it started a very important dialog regarding opportunities for standardization across factories that has been very successful. There are methods to the madness as well. Standardization, especially for global or multi-location corporations, is critical for savings and ease of use, so considerable time is invested in this aspect. The team plans the project with key factors such as slow down periods, achieving incremental return on investment, and risk. Data security and IT groups play a considerable role and so every step is reviewed with them as well.
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technologies
Francisco PĂŠrez OEM Channel Director
Combination plasma-waterjet cutting machines
Different technologies have been developed over the years to cut materials, each directed at different market sectors. Each technology obviously has its advantages, but also its disadvantages and limitations. Although the use of certain technologies can overlap in certain sectors, the machines were generally developed around a single type of technology. The exceptions were the combination punch laser machine and the punch shear machine. Technologies are commonly grouped into thermal cutting and mechanical (non-thermal) cutting. Thermal cutting, i.e. cutting based on applying heat in order to separate material, encompasses oxyfuel, plasma, and laser cutting; while non-thermal cutting encompasses waterjet cutting, punching, milling, EDM, blade cutting, etc. Over the past few years, innovation has combined technologies as diverse as waterjet cutting (based on water-powered mechanical cutting combined with an abrasive) and plasma cutting (thermal cutting based on using high temperatures to melt or vaporize the material) in a single machine. Since the two technologies have historically competed in very different markets, they are jointly managing to carve a niche in certain sectors by addressing the shortcomings they each have with the capabilities of the other. • Waterjet cutting provides an excellent finishing quality without heating the material, but the
process is costly in terms of time. Waterjet cutting, even when combined with high pressure and an abrasive, is approximately 20 times slower than plasma cutting. • Plasma cutting is a fast process, but it is inferior in terms of quality, heating of the material, and tempering of cut edges. Mixed solutions are implemented, such as those of the new combined waterjet and plasma cutting machines when tempering of edges, among other things, that may generate problems with machining. This is particularly true when clients require parts to be made with a large exterior perimeter, without much need for precision, and highly precise holes, but require certain machining operations (tap cycles, counter sink cycles, etc.) to be performed at a later date. These machines will enable us to cut, within the same part, the exterior contour with high-speed plasma (approximately 10 times faster than waterjet cutting) and the inner holes, where high precision is required, with waterjet, thus benefiting from the advantages of both technologies. In addition to these combination cuts, the client will have a 100% operational cutting table for cutting simply with water or simply with plasma. It is true that the two technologies will continue to coexist separately in their usual sectors; but, this type of machine is carving a niche in a market where all operators are increasingly required to perform all tasks.
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innovation
Natxo Canto Software Engineer
Artificial Vision On any given day, you decide to take a selfie and you see a box on the screen that frames your face, as if your phone is telling you, “Hey! You’re there!” Hidden behind this virtual greeting is a complex system known as Artificial Vision: one of the key technologies of the new Industry 4.0.
learn where to deposit the load, considering that those codes may be crooked or not be entirely legible (due to their age or the dirtiness of the environment).
Artificial Vision is integrated into every production process, including traceability, quality control, and logistics. For example, it is used to receive Technically speaking, Artificial Vision is divided into raw materials and carry them to where they are three phases. First of all, the system uses image needed, to discard products that do not meet capturing devices that “observe” and try to get a clear quality requirements (the only role that Artificial picture of what they see. Computer Vision had until a few years ago) hardware receives this image and and to manage stocks of finished An Artificial Vision performs an analysis to identify the products and client orders. system must be objects found inside. Finally, and Since Artificial Vision systems can based on the objects that have been quick and efficient. work uninterrupted, they can be identified, the computer hardware It plays a key role in used to provide precise data at all activates a logic system that will Industry 4.0 times and to generate statistics for determine the actions that the both work in progress and finished industrial equipment (such as robotic products at any point during production. This arms, springs or autonomous forklifts) must perform. data is transmitted to the management system to An Artificial Vision system must be quick and provide comprehensive management of all of the efficient when analyzing images. Imagine a system manufacturing processes. that detects possible defects in metal parts in a Artificial Vision plays a key role in Industry 4.0 production line. That system must process several since it has become a fundamental component images each second, taking into account that the of the industrial automation processes, which parts are moving and that their sizes, shapes, and are indispensable when it comes to keeping our positions are not always going to be the same. The industry competitive. same thing happens with an autonomous forklift in a warehouse. It must be capable of reading the Smile! Your phone is watching. barcodes on shelves without stopping, in order to
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news Lantek integrates online shopping for sheet metal parts
Lantek, world leader in sheet metal technology, has developed new functionality powered by its CAD/CAM software, which integrates online shopping for sheet metal parts. With this new capability, Lantek’s customers can integrate with their own customers into a supply chain. These customers can reorder previously supplied parts or request quotations for the manufacture of new designs through each individual company’s website. By implementing this technology on their websites, Lantek’s customers will be able to work much more closely with their own customers, delivering accurate quotations even more quickly while checking for available capacity for manufacture, to offer realistic and achievable delivery times. When a request is received through the customer’s website, the Lantek system will first decide if the information is good enough to generate a quotation and delivery date automatically. Some of the elements considered are availability of material, available capacity, and quality of design data. If the information is acceptable, the system can continue automatically. If not, a workflow ticket is generated to involve a member of staff in clarifying the enquiry. Within the system, time and cost are calculated and estimated using the software libraries in the
system. The desired delivery date is then included within the algorithm and takes account of other jobs being manufactured in the same material and the status of machine capacity. It also considers material availability, delivery times for material, should it need to be ordered, and current material costs. With this information and where necessary, with assistance from a staff member, an accurate offer can be supplied extremely quickly and with little administrative effort, making it much easier to work in partnership with customers and be a valued part of the supply chain. For the manufacturer, the system delivers benefits in addition to improved customer relations and reduced administrative load. By looking at current capacity and parts made in the same material, the software will help to smooth peaks and troughs in production, filling available capacity more efficiently and thereby achieving improved machine utilization. Furthermore, the increased accuracy of the quotations will help to maximize profitability for each job produced.
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partners ISL Photonics and Lantek collaborate to deliver high efficiency laser cutting solutions in Europe machines to make full use of the capabilities of each machine and, with the advanced nesting in the software, achieve optimum material utilization. As well as offering advanced automated programming for the machines and high efficiency cutting cycles, Lantek has a suite of software that can control every aspect of sheet metal manufacture ISL Photonics has been supplying its machines with its Lantek Factory concept. to sheet metal manufacturers in ISL Photonics’ customers can Central Europe and works on the use this to maximize profitability principle of ‘less is more’ which ISL Photonics’ and efficiency to offer a superior serves as a basis for the design customers will and cost effective solution to their and manufacture of its fiber laser cutting systems. The aim of the maximize profitability customers. company is to create extremely and efficiency with Francisco Pérez, Director of OEM compact machines requiring this agreement Channel at Lantek says, “Our minimum working space, with partnership with ISL Photonics will high-tech components providing fit well with its ‘less is more’ philosophy where it offers high speed, accuracy, and high quality cutting high quality parts and equipment to its customers performance. in a compact package. Lantek is recognized as a world leader in its field and, by supplying its Lantek has 15 of its own offices worldwide and software with the three machine models, will bring a network of distributors in over 100 countries users the benefit of fast automated programming, including Bulgaria, which enable the company to highly efficient and accurate cutting, and cost provide local support for ISL Photonics and its and process control which will add significantly to customers. The Lantek Expert software will enable profitability and efficiency.” users of the Gladius, Maximus, and Optimus Lantek has reached an agreement with Bulgarian fibre laser cutting machine manufacturer ISL Photonics to supply its Lantek Expert system with the company’s Gladius, Maximus, and Optimus machines.
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services
If you are interested in any of these services, send us your contact data to sales@lanteksms.com and one of our sales representatives will be pleased to give you all the information you need.
Lantek Hint
Lantek Expert
Do you know that you can open a part from the sheet? Often, if something is required to be modified in a part that is already nested and there are several different parts in the job, it is difficult to find the part in the part view in order to be able to open it in the Drawing module. For this reason, it is possible to open a particular part that is located on the sheet by right clicking on it while pressing Control key.
Ctrl + right click
If you would like to find out more tips, send us an email at: marketing@lanteksms.com
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facts
Lantek has been certified as a centre of excellence in R&D, recognized for the capacity and preparation of its research staff. Asier Ortiz, CTO of Lantek has been commissioned to collect the diploma.
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Balancing and optimizing your production plans, purchasing procedures, warehousing, logistics, and many more aspects that you could imagine that could be shared in a multi plant company, is a reality with Lantek software solutions. Have a sense of belonging to the same factory though working even in different countries.
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