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PlantEngineering.com

2019

Top Plant Raymond Corp.

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Also in this issue: • Food company cuts compressed air • Apply lean tactics • Pneumatic safety & IIoT

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DECEMBER 2019

SOLUTIONS 19 | Raymond Corp. excels as an innovator 24 | Early fire detection saves cost

19

Raymond Corp. assistant team lead, Rob Engel, with an associate on the order-picker assembly line at Raymond’s manufacturing facility in Greene, N.Y. Cover image courtesy: Raymond Corp.

Editor’s Insight 5 | Engineers love logic

INSIGHTS 7 | Clear constraints on bottling lines using simulation

SPECIAL REPORT: ROBOTICS SR2 | Robotics Special Report: Why you need robots SR3 | Buying, specifying robotics: Exclusive research SR5 | Save jobs by getting robotic help for the dull, dirty, dangerous SR6 | Grasp new robotic applications: Five ideal featues for robot grippers SR7 | Start today with these six mostcommon collaborative robot applications SR8 | Robots eliminate inconsistencies, cut cycle time 50%

26 | How air casters optimize factory flexibility 30 | Quality 4.0 is reshaping product development 32 | Applying lean tactics in the Factory of the Future 36 | Pneumatic safety technology and the IIoT 40 | Food packaging company cuts compressed air costs by $250,000 43 | Mitigate control panel security, safety risks

INSIDE: OIL & GAS ENGINEERING 4 | Machine learning at scale will be the norm 6 | HART increasingly used for quick diagnostics 8 | Develop a full understanding of riser system health 11 | Pumps that thrive under pressure 13 | Maximize production by monitoring erosion 16 | Products of the year: Award winners recognized 19 | An immutable ledger enables multiparty operations

PLANT ENGINEERING (ISSN 0032-082X, Vol. 73, No. 10, GST #123397457) is published 10x per year, monthly except in January and July, by CFE Media, LLC, 3010 Highland Parkway, Suite #325, Downers Grove, IL 60515. Jim Langhenry, Group Publisher /Co-Founder; Steve Rourke CEO/COO/Co-Founder. PLANT ENGINEERING copyright 2019 by CFE Media, LLC. All rights reserved. PLANT ENGINEERING is a registered trademark of CFE Media, LLC used under license. Periodicals postage paid at Downers Grove, IL 60515 and additional mailing offices. Circulation records are maintained at CFE Media, LLC, 3010 Highland Parkway, Suite #325, Downers Grove, IL 60515.

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PLANT ENGINEERING

December 2019

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CONTENT SPECIALISTS/EDITORIAL KEVIN PARKER, Editor KParker@CFEMedia.com JACK SMITH, Managing Editor JSmith@CFEMedia.com AMANDA PELLICCIONE, Director of Research 860-432-4767, APelliccione@CFEMedia.com KATIE SPAIN NAREL, Art Director KSpain@CFEMedia.com SUSIE BAK, Production Coordinator SBak@CFEMedia.com

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD H. LANDIS “LANNY” FLOYD, IEEE Life Fellow H.Landis.Floyd@gmail.com JOHN GLENSKI, President, Automation Plus jglenski@processplus.com SHON ISENHOUR, Partner, Eruditio LLC sisenhour@EruditioLLC.com DR. SHI-WAN LIN, CEO and co-founder, Thingswise, LLC Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) board member shiwanlin@thingswise.com JOHN MALINOWSKI, Senior manager of industry affairs (retired), Baldor Electric Company DAVID SKELTON, Vice president and general manager Phoenix Contact Development and Manufacturing dskelton@phoenixcontact.com BILLY RAY TAYLOR, Director of commercial and off-highway manufacturing The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Billytaylor@goodyear.com LARRY TURNER, President and CEO, Hannover Fairs USA lturner@hfusa.com MARK WATSON, Senior director, manufacturing technology, IHS Markit Mark.watson@ihsmarkit.com

CFE MEDIA CONTRIBUTOR GUIDELINES OVERVIEW

Content For Engineers. That’s what CFE Media stands for, and what CFE Media is all about—engineers sharing with their peers. We welcome content submissions for all interested parties in engineering. We will use those materials online, on our Website, in print and in newsletters to keep engineers informed about the products, solutions, and industry trends. * www.plantengineering.com/contribute explains how to submit press releases, products, images and graphics, bylined feature articles, case studies, white papers, and other media. * Content should focus on helping engineers solve problems. Articles that are commercial in nature or that are critical of other products or organizations will be rejected. (Technology discussions and comparative tables may be accepted if non-promotional and if contributor corroborates information with sources cited.) * If the content meets criteria noted in guidelines, expect to see it first on our websites. Content for our enewsletters comes from content already available on our Websites. All content for print also will be online. All content that appears in our print magazines will appear as space permits, and we will indicate in print if more content from that article is available online. * Deadlines for feature articles intended for the print magazines are at least two months in advance of the publication date. Again, it is best to discuss all feature articles with the content manager prior to submission.

Learn more at: www.plantengineering.com/contribute

INSIGHTS

By Kevin Parker, Editor

Engineers love logic Engineers should know more about the philosophy of science, which is said to be concerned with the foundations, methods and implications of science.

Because Thomas Aquinas was at the end of the 19th century recognized as the philosophical wellspring of all Roman Catholic theology, elements of Aquinas’ philosophy were taught in Roman Catholic grade schools in Chicago in the 1950s. It’s too bad that didn’t continue. Philosophy puts things in context.

Biology, chemistry and physics might be more compelling school topics if, to start, their insights were placed in the context of knowledge itself, what it is and what’s it for.

In the 4th century, the soon-to-be Roman emperor, Julian, nephew to Constantine the Great, and a young man interested in philosophy, was plucked out of school and introduced to the Gallic legions as their new commander.

Edmund Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, goes on to tell the story as follows: “When he [Julian] awkwardly repeated some military exercise which it was necessary for him to learn, he exclaimed with a sigh, ‘O Plato, Plato, what a task for a philosopher.’

“Yet even this speculative philosophy [says Gibbon], which men of business are too apt to despise, had filled the mind of Julian with the noblest precepts, and the most shining examples; had animated him with the love of virtue, the desire of fame and the contempt of death. The habits of temperance recommended in the schools, are still more essential in the severe discipline of the camp.”

Logic leaps

Admittedly, love of virtue isn’t a scientific concern, but it or its lack may greatly impact progress of an engineering career.

More apropos, perhaps, is that the science of logic first developed by Aristotwww.plantengineering.com

le, whose scientific efforts were primarily astronomical and biological, culminated (based on advances made by mathematicians, logicians and philosophers of the late 19th and 20th centuries) in the computerization that has a grip on today’s world like nothing ever before.

How ironic that a disc ipl i ne s o ar i d t hat it would exhaustively consider whether a=a, would end up empowering the forging of tools that beat us at our own mind game. Not only, but the idea of philosophical logic has ended up being such a prominent meme in popular culture, starting with Star Trek’s Mister Spock and extending to The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon, ending with some kind of bipolar cultural contrast between the inter-galacticals gridlocked by reason and the primitives overwhelmed by feelings and instinct.

The truth is, primitive men may have been much more logical than we, as their lives depended on adhering to the necessity of logic.

Logic ladders

For engineers working with process control systems, the connection with logic has been explicit for a long time.

With the advent of PLCs, the ability to understand ladder logic diagrams became a necessary skill. There is a book in my Kindle library, The Logician and the Engineer : How George Boole and Claude Shannon created the information age. Shannon is known for having founded digital circuit design theor y in 1937 w hen he wrote his thesis demonstrating that electrical applications of Boolean algebra could construct any logical numerical relationship.

As machine learning and artificial intelligence gain increasing influence as powerful technologies, their incorporation with logic and with different kinds of logics will continue to unfold. PE

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December 2019

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INSIGHTS A GLIMPSE AHEAD

By Creighton Fearrington

Clear constraints on bottling lines using simulation Insights ascend to the counter-intuitive when consumer goods manufacturer boosts productivity

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hen decisions are made in desperation and without line intelligence, it is often reactionary and based on guesswork and hope, rather than verifiable outcomes. Left unchecked, this can surface as companywide inclination to patch problems rather than implement reliable and replicable solutions that will have a dramatic effect on overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and productivity.

Bottlenecks on bottling lines

A well-known global consumer goods manufacturer had several bottling lines that were underperforming. Pressure was increasing for the company to make upgrades and improvements to meet its key performance indicators (KPIs), mitigate investment risk and address growing market demand. Its lines needed to operate more efficiently and profitably. Its goal was always clear: Increase production The manufacturer decided to pilot changes on one line before universally reconfiguring the others.

Prior to Polytron’s engagement — and fixated on line speed and throughput — the client determined that one of the machines on its line needed to be replaced as the culprit of poor performance and limited capacity.

The new machine had the capacity to run at 300 bottles per minute (bpm), when coupled with improved bottle handling, but would that be enough to achieve the output goal?

Without clarity, the problem-solving turned myopic as the client focused on line speed. What was needed was to clearly see that the breadth of the issue extended across the entire line.

Polytron was hired as an industry expert that not only knew the business, but also understands bottling line operations and can demonstrate with strategic certainty how the desired business outcomes can be achieved.

Starting with a comprehensive line audit, Polytron’s engineers observed and assessed the line while collecting baseline performance data. Then, an exact 3D www.plantengineering.com

simulation model of the production line reflecting the existing conditions and inefficiencies was created.

This digital twin mirroring the one on the plant floor allowed testing of nearly any imaginable scenario. It was a pre-visualization of how well the line could run when optimized.

Not only was it clear what had to be done, the simulation suggested some surprising and even counterintuitive insights, prompting a roadmap of next steps.

The model created confidence to make the right decision for the business.

Counter-intuitive insights

Polytron’s PolySim is a 3D animated simulation of a line (see Figure 1). This visualization predicted that, after replacing the culprit machine with one with a higher throughput, problems would arise elsewhere on the line.

• Anytime one machine in the line faulted, it almost immediately stopped all upstream machines, creating “micro stops” and significant performance losses.

• Each machine on the line was operating as an “island of automation,” being stopped and started Figure 1: Shown is a three-dimensional animated simulation of a bottling line. Image courtesy: Polytron

PLANT ENGINEERING

December 2019

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INSIGHTS

A GLIMPSE AHEAD

arbitrarily based on line faults and backup conditions governed more by the instincts of the operators, and less by good information.

• The breadth of the compounding issues was becoming clear.

The new machine could run at 300 bpm and was enlisted to increase the overall pace of the line. Along with the blow molder, it could oversupply the filler when set at 250 bpm.

Subsequently, attention turned to the machines downstream of the filler. They needed to be set at progressively increasing bottling rates, with the capability to modulate speeds based on bottle population.

Finally, Polytron engineers suggested adding two minutes of post-filler bottle accumulation. This would buffer downstream hiccups and keep the filler, which was the line constraint, running optimally. Without the modeling, it would have seemed ridiculous to slow the line down to increase throughput.

When slower means faster

By adding two minutes of buffer to the line, integrating machine, conveyor controls and modulating

machine speeds around a target filler speed of 250 bpm, the client could achieve twice the OEE and a much higher output of the line — more than two times what they were achieving. How? Surprisingly, by slowing the line down. The client’s vice president of Global Engineering and his team were shocked to realize that slowing the line down increased output.

To everyone’s surprise, the changes made to this one line would be so effective that one or two of the other lines previously needed to meet market demands could be moth-balled temporarily. Shutting down these lines would reduce operational costs and eliminate, or at least postpone, the need for a multi-million-dollar capital expansion. PE Creighton Fearrington, PMP is a project manager at Polytron Inc. with 20 years of electrical engineering experience in all phases of manufacturing project management, leading teams to innovate and implement solutions in the consumer products, pulp and paper, beverage bottling and medical device industries. He has been with Polytron for 10 years and has a BSEE from North Carolina A&T State University.

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SPECIAL REPORT

ROBOTIC S Exclusive research and more

Robots can save jobs in dangerous environments Grasp new robotic applications: Five ideal features for robot grippers Start today with these six most-common collaborative robot applications Robots eliminate inconsistencies, cut cycle time 50% Is training addressing the risks?

Exclusive Robotics Research Report summary, advice 9% ƂPF WPCEEGRVCDNG UCHGV[ TKUM CUUQEKCVGF YKVJ TQDQVU 56% don’t think those involved with robots get enough safety training 4% of respondents said a robotic safety risk isn’t being addressed Robots boost throughput and quality; optimize robotic investments today with more online: Research Report; eBook; Robotics page; Webcasts on creating TQDQV URGEKƂECVKQPU YGNFKPI VQQNKPI CPF TGVWTP QP KPXGUVOGPV COVER IMAGES from left: At Darex in Oregon, a collaborative robot erects a box, placing the product into box, and pushes it through the tape sealer, courtesy Universal Robots; A new gripper designs allow robots to grasp, move, sort, and pack a wider diversity of products (radial gripper shown), courtesy Festo; Fanuc robot at Fabtech, courtesy Chris Vavra, CFE Media and Technology.

SPECIAL REPORT: CONTROL ENGINEERING, PLANT ENGINEERING

December 2019

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SR2

SPECIAL REPORT

ROBOTICS

Buying, specifying robotics 2019 Robotics Research Report: Respondents to the Control Engineering and Plant Engineering 2019 Robotics Research survey identified use, trends, and purchasing habits of industrial robots and related hardware, software, peripherals, robotic safety, training, installation, integration, and maintenance.

I

ndustrial robots and related hardware, software, peripherals, robotic safety, training, installation, integration, and maintenance were among topics covered in the 2019 Control Engineering and Plant Engineering 2019 Robotics Research survey. Summary survey results appear below; see the full research report at www.controleng.com/research and www.plantengineering.com/research. This is critical information for those interested in increasing throughput, quality and staying competitive. It’s not a question of if you’ll be buying and using the latest industrial robots, it’s a matter of when.

Robots, robotics, integration About 70% of respondents buy or specify robots.

Many other products and services include robot or vision sensors (64%); robot grippers (59%); robot software (52%); robotics as part of a larger machine system or workcell (50%), robot control panels and enclosures (49%). More than another dozen related products or services are noted.

M More ANSWERS

The diversity of robotic software, training, and components shows the need for a wider engineering effort when working on robotic specifications. More respondents are doing their own integration (45%) than hiring others to help (34%). It seems robot manufacturers, like other automation providers, are making their offerings easier to set up, program, and operate, perhaps because time to productivity has become a more important metric with demographic pressures and the skills gap. Robotics experts can help shorten that time, whether on staff or from a robotic system integrator involved in the project.

Articulated robots are the most common robot type (72%). Other common types (double digits) include robots applied or modified for collaborative use, collaborative robots (by design, speed or force limiting), Cartesian robots, gantry robots, mobile robots, and selective compliant articulated robot arm (SCARA) robots.

For open-source robot programming software, 27% said they use or would use; 31% said a control-

KEYWORDS: Industrial robots, robotics research Robots, robotics, integration Purchasing, safety, training Robotic advice from survey respondents.

CONSIDER THIS How can robots increase your throughput?

ONLINE If reading from the digital edition, click on the headline for more resources. www.controleng. com/research www.plantengineering. com/magazine

www.controleng. com/webcasts

SR3

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Q: Which robotic devices, systems or services do you buy or specify? Check all that apply. (N=118) Seventy-one percent of respondents said they buy or specify robots, while 64% said they specify robot sensors or vision; 59% specify robot grippers; 52% robotic software; 50% robotics as part of a larger system; and 49% robotic control panels and enclosures. All graphics courtesy: Robotics Research Report, 2019, Control Engineering and Plant Engineering, CFE Media and Technology

December 2019

SPECIAL REPORT: CONTROL ENGINEERING, PLANT ENGINEERING

ler from a third-party manufacturer guides robot movement.

Forty-seven percent of respondents have material handling/conveying applications; 34% said they have pick-and-place applications.

Three types of machine vision are highlighted: machine vision, visible light (31%); machine vision 3-D (13%); and machine vision, infrared (10%). Machine vision can be involved in quality control, palletizing, pick-andplace, assembly and other applications.

Robotic safety, training

Q: What are reasons behind your next robot purchase? Check all that apply. (N=86) Sixtyfour percent of respondents said that the reasoning behind their next robot purchase was to increase throughput, and 52% said it was to increase quality.

Just 9% find unacceptable safety risk associated with robots; 4% of respondents said a robotic safety risk isn’t being addressed. More than half of respondents (56%) don’t think those involved with robots get enough safety training.

Of that, 14% could use a lot more. Respondents were clear they’re not receiving enough robot safety training.

Consultants provide the most training (54%), compared to other robotic trainers (24%), RIA-certified integrators (21%), RIA online (17%), and other robotic system integrators (13%). Depending on position, 53 to 70% receive a sufficient or above average amount of robot training; 17 to 36% receive minimal or poor training, with robot maintenance staff receiving the least of the four roles at 36% receiving minimal or poor training. Robot safety training varies according to position, with robot maintenance staff (36%) and robot operators (27%) as the two positions getting least training. Improvements are needed here.

their robot purchase, and 32% said “Maybe,” for a total of 75% that might switch vendors.

Robotic purchasing

Survey respondents’ advice

Just 12% have one or more predetermined robotics vendor. Extremely and fairly important decisions for purchase or specification include safety devices (88%), throughput (87%), avoiding downtime (86%), and quality (86%). Throughput (64%) and quality (52%) are the largest purchasing reasons. Financing and justification are top obstacles to purchasing (42% each). More than half expect their next robot purchase within a year.

One-third of respondents said their next robot purchase is within the next six months; 4% within a year. Forty-three percent of respondents said they would be willing to consider a different vendor for

Survey respondents were asked to provide robotic advice to peers. General robotic advice includes the following (see much more specific advice with this article online): Be familiar with your system. Ensure you understand the robot capabilities before you purchase. Robots are helpful if you get it right. Standardize. You need to have a geometrical mindset. ce

SPECIAL REPORT: CONTROL ENGINEERING, PLANT ENGINEERING

Q: What obstacles are there in your next robot purchase? (N=77) Forty-two percent of respondents said that financing and justification are obstacles in their next robot purchase; reliability, maintenance, safety and integration are the next obstacles; 9% foresee no obstacles.

Mark T. Hoske is Control Engineering content manager, mhoske@cfemedia.com; Hemdeep Kaur is CFE Media audience database technician; and Amanda Pelliccione, CFE Media and Technology director of research.

December 2019

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SR4

SPECIAL REPORT

ROBOTICS

Robots: Dull, dirty, dangerous Robots can handle dull, dirty and dangerous jobs humans shouldn’t be doing.

They can improve efficiency, reduce downtime and lower risk for humans.

W

hen discussing the subject of automation, it’s common to hear someone say that robots will eventually take all the jobs. Is that true? Can robots do all the jobs? No. Robots are doing the jobs humans shouldn’t have been working on in the first place. These are known as the dirty, dangerous, and dull jobs.

Unsanitary, hazardous, repetitive jobs

Robots are doing the dull, dirty, dangerous jobs humans shouldn’t be doing in the first place, as shown at Fabtech, a metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event, in Chicago, in November. Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media and Technology

Dirty jobs are often unsanitary or hazardous work that can impact human health. Even though these jobs are unfavorable, someone has to do them. They include waste management, livestock nurturing, and mine exploration. The robot can take away the risk from humans and keep them safe from harm.

One example is the need for sewer scrapers. When there a sewer pipe has a problem, a crew shuts it off, digs to access the pipe, then fixes the infrastructure.

A robot can clean, map, and inspect pipes before the problems arise. Robots can collect data like distance, pressure, temperature, and composition to get visibility of pollutants, infectious diseases, and drug use.

Dull, low-interaction, high-repetition jobs require very little human thought. They often include processes that have a sole objective of efficiency and output. Robots can work around the clock to streamline dull jobs. This saves businesses money and frees up human capital for tasks that have an element of variety and a need for critical thinking.

With the growth of e-commerce, there’s an

increasing need for fulfillment centers. These centers must move a high volume of small, multiline orders to turn a profit. Workers must walk long aisles, find an item, scan it, put the item in a cart, and push the item back to the staging area. But robots can be used to increase order-to-delivery times, reduce errors, and minimize the burden on human workers.

Dangerous jobs put humans in harmful situations.

To prevent the loss of human life, robots can be used.

They are able to measure and detect variables beyond human perception. Robots can defuse bombs, traverse distant planets, and inspect unstable structures.

Robots are being used to inspect bridges. A high degree of expertise, risk, and cost is associated with bridge inspections by humans. Multi-rotor drones are able to completely remove humans from dangerous situations. They inspect hard-to-access areas with advanced speed and maneuverability.

Humans still have plenty to do if robots take these dirty, dangerous, and dull jobs. Technology advances have brought change throughout the history of industry. Robots are no different.

Humans are better off doing the variable, dexterous and cognitive work. Humans will be able to choose the work they’d rather do. Workers can gain knowledge and skills. This increases their value so that they earn a higher income and can live a more rewarding life. ce This article originally appeared on the Robotics Online Blog. Robotic Industries Association (RIA) is a part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate editor, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

M More ANSWERS

KEYWORDS: robotics, robots, machine safety Robots can handle jobs with safety or hazard concerns.

As a result, humans can handle dexterous and cognitive work, which they are better-suited for.

ONLINE See more on robots at www.controleng.com/robotics.

CONSIDER THIS What dull, dirty or dangerous tasks would you like to see robots take over soon?

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December 2019

SPECIAL REPORT: CONTROL ENGINEERING, PLANT ENGINEERING

SPECIAL REPORT

ROBOTICS

5 ideal robotic gripper features The ideal robotic gripper should be flexible for multiple applications and easy to use. Robotic grippers can help with their long-term data needs.

F

rom 2014 through today, industrial robot sales have nearly doubled worldwide according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Many industrial robots include an end-ofarm-tool (EOAT) for gripping.

There are two broad classes of grippers — those that grasp and those that attach. Mechanical grippers grasp while vacuum-suction-cup and magnetic grippers use air pressure or magnetism, respectively, to temporarily attach the workpiece to the EOAT. Mechanical grippers are driven by electrics or pneumatics and are designed to grasp various parts having similar shapes and sizes. Two new classes of electric- or pneumatically-driven grippers are adaptive, which can conform to varied shapes; and soft, which can be used with fragile products (fruits, vegetables and other foods). Look for five qualities in a robotic gripper.

1. Easy to integrate with the robot The ideal gripper will integrate with the hardware and software of the robot. This is one of the reasons robotics manufacturers now offer pre-integrated gripper programs. They want to lower engineering overhead and decrease time to market for their customers.

2. Easy to teach

Soft grippers gently conform to delicate objects. Images courtesy: Festo

A high level of flexibility is often better in operations with frequent product changeovers. This is true for attachment, mechanical, adaptive and soft grippers. Flexibility is why so many research and development projects involve grippers that work like the human hand.

4. At least as good as an

application-specific gripper

An intuitive human-machine interface can make it easy to teach the gripper its functions. If it is difficult and time-consuming to configure a new motion then look for a better gripper.

3. Flexible Shorter product lifecycles indicate the gripper will not be gripping the same things in the same way for long. In the collaborative sphere, it is mandatory that one gripper be able to grasp or attach to many items.

Mechanical grippers grasp show a sectional view of a radial gripper.

SPECIAL REPORT: CONTROL ENGINEERING, PLANT ENGINEERING

Robots have been deployed in many unusual applications, and many application specific grippers have been produced.

Determine if an unusual handling problem has been solved with an optimized gripper. If so, see if the gripper meets the ideal of being easy to integrate and teach, and is flexible.

5. Supports data integration For operations moving toward IIoT and Industry 4.0, grippers that provide operational data have an edge over those that do not. ce Michael Guelker, product manager — cylinders and grippers, Festo. Edited by Chris Vavra, associate editor, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

Adaptive-shape grippers are able to conform to radically different shaped objects.

M More ANSWERS KEYWORDS: robotics, robot grippers Many types of robotic grippers fit specific applications.

Regardless of type, a robotic gripper should be flexible and easy to use and integrate.

Robotic grippers should support long-term data integration goals.

ONLINE Read this article online at www.controleng.com for additional articles from this robotics special report.

CONSIDER THIS Which feature is most important to when choosing a robotic gripper?

December 2019

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SPECIAL REPORT

ROBOTICS

Collaborative robots: 6 ways

Six most common collaborative robot applications are pick and place, machine tending, packaging and palletizing, process tasks, finishing tasks, and quality.

M More

ANSWERS

KEYWORDS: Collaborative robots Most-common applications Plug-and-play effectors ease set up.

CONSIDER THIS

Have an easy first application?

ONLINE From the digital edition www.controleng.com/magazine click on the headline for more advice and links to: The ROI of collaborative robots Plug-and-play peripherals for collaborative robots Collaborative robots are now skilled welders, what’s next?

T

he field of collaborative robotics has expanded in 10 years and is the fastest-growing global industrial robotics market segment. Leading that expansion are six application areas: pick and place, machine tending, packaging and palletizing, process tasks, finishing tasks, and quality inspection. A collaborative robot (also known as a cobot) is a robot with the ability to safely work alongside human workers to complete a task.

Technology accessibility through ease of deployment is similarly integral to the collaborative robot definition.

Online, see more on each of the six applications and advice on how to implement a collaborative robot into the application, what accessories are required, and programming advice.

1. Pick and place: A pick-and-place task is one At Darex, a manufacturer of drill and knife sharpeners in Oregon, a UR5 handles the packaging cycle. Courtesy: Universal Robots

in which the robot is required to pick up a workpiece and place into another location and or orientation.

The handling of the workpiece is the key action rather than any other process. In the simplest instance products will be presented to the robot in a uniform layout tray or pallet or on a conveyor in predictable position, where in more complex cases a vision system may determine product orientation. A pickand-place task is an excellent first collaborative robot

automation application because it's repetitive.

2. Machine tending: Machine tending is another common application task. Machines being tended include computer-numerical control (CNC) machines, injection molding machines, laser engravers and metal-stamping presses.

3. Packaging and palletizing: Before any product leaves a factory or facility, it is likely it needs some form of packaging before shipping.

Packaging and palletizing tasks could involve packaging a product by placing it into a shrinkwrapping machine, picking packaged products from a conveyor and collating them into boxes, or placing these boxes onto a pallet for shipping.

4. Process tasks: For process tasks such as gluing, dispensing or welding, the key details are the same: The robot moves a tool through a fixed path while the tool interacts with the workpiece.

In each of these process tasks, it takes a significant amount of time to train a new employee to control numerous variables required to attain an excellent quality finish. If this control can instead be copied directly from one robot to another, the process becomes more straightforward.

5. Finishing tasks: A finishing task requires the robot end-effector to apply a force across the surface of a workpiece to remove a certain amount of material. Polishing, grinding and deburring differ in amount, form and location of material to be removed, but the robot’s requirements are essentially the same.

6. Quality inspection: Quality inspection involves full inspection of a finished product, especially one that is the result of a precision engineering process, often requiring high-resolution images to be captured from many angles to confirm all of the surfaces and dimensions conform to the required specifications. ce Joe Campbell, senior manager, applications development, Universal Robots. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

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SPECIAL REPORT: CONTROL ENGINEERING, PLANT ENGINEERING

SPECIAL REPORT

ROBOTICS

Using robots for success How year-round automation eliminated inconsistencies on stock products and boosted output by cutting cycle time by 50%.

A

pplication note: A custom robotic workcell using vision-guided robots helped increase consistency and throughput in a welding application with a 50% drop in cycle time.

1. Describe the project and goals.

A producer of wire partition products, WireCrafters LLC (Louisville, Ky.) sought to implement a custom robotic workcell to maintain consistent and cost-effective production of 20 stock Style 840 partition panels, optimizing production and meeting the seasonality of customer demand.

The manual manufacturing of 20 stock Style 840 partition panels was difficult to maintain during peak seasons. The established MIG welding process for one-foot increment panels (ranging from 1- to 10-in. wide, in heights of 4- and 5-in.) required one to two skilled workers using a fixture table to complete all angle frame and mesh welds manually. While an effective method for fabricating stock partition panels, hiring temporary workers to help fill the uptick in seasonal demand for the product grew expensive, and the manual fabrication of the panels resulted in product variation for weld quality and lot sizes.

2. What automation was used?

The custom robotic solution featured six robots: four long-reach 20-kg payload capacity robots with power supply for welding, and two high-performance 50-kg payload capacity handling robots.

To equip the system to detect variance in the weld target location, each welding robot was equipped with a 2-D vision system with vision application software and a camera. The combination of hardware and software enabled the robots to return critical X- and Y-axis information to the robot controller for the strategic management of required complex vision issues.

3. What were challenges?

Aside from the need for a robotic vision, the prime hurdle, perhaps, was the time spent waiting for technology to catch up to the concept the customer had in mind. In the 12 years spent searching and testing various technologies to help create smaller batch sizes and gain better inventory returns, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) came to fruition, prompting the development of highly-capable and SPECIAL REPORT: CONTROL ENGINEERING, PLANT ENGINEERING

Featuring six high-performance Yaskawa Motoman robots, this automated welding workcell robotically welds angle frame components and mesh to angle frames for the fabrication of stock partition panels, improving efficiencies and levelizing production at WireCrafters LLC. Courtesy: WireCrafters LLC

affordable robots, as well as the exact 2-D machine vision system needed to address the variance in weld target location.

4. Please share positive metrics.

Overall, implementation of the custom-designed automated panel welding system has improved efficiencies and leveled production. Cycle time for the manufacturing of stock panels had been reduced by 50%, and the workcell has eliminated seasonal production challenges, creating a consistent schedule to meet year-round customer demand. The workcell operates 20 hours a day, four days a week to maintain regular production. Fridays are used to fill extra demand when necessary. Requiring minimal personnel investment, only two operators are needed per 10-hour shift to manage the welding system and its subsequent part transfer.

Robotic automation has delivered flexibility needed to adapt to market fluctuations, and it has contributed to the company’s strategy for future success. ce Josh Leath, product manager, welding at Yaskawa America Inc. — Motoman Robotics Division. Edited

by Chris Vavra, associate editor, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

M More ANSWERS

KEYWORDS: Robotics, grippers, robotic automation A robotic workcell maintains consistent and cost-effective production.

Vision-guided robotics helped improve production consistency and make operations more efficient.

ONLINE Read this article at

www.plantengineering.com

for more photos and case study advice, with links to other robotic case studies.

CONSIDER THIS How can robotic automation improve operations at your facility?

December 2019

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SR8

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2019 Top Plant RAYMOND CORP. | GREENE, NEW YORK

By Kevin Parker

Raymond Corp. excels as an innovator From introducing wooden pallets to incorporating Lithium ion batteries, near-100-year-old Raymond Corp. moves the materials that define the e-commerce era

W

hen Americans think of Raymond Corp. of Greene, NY, they probably think of it as a premier maker of electric lift trucks.

Nevertheless, although Raymond Corp. has been around since 1922, its biggest moment might have been in 1939 when the company designed and patented what we know today as the double-faced wooden pallet. On November 7th of that year, George Raymond, Sr., and employee William House were granted a patent for the first hydraulic hand pallet truck, to be used in unison with the double-faced wooden pallet.

Today, as a total warehouse solution provider, Raymond Corp. is both part of history and the future, having introduced the first powerdriven narrow aisle material handling truck in 1951; the first microprocessor-controlled lift truck in North America in 1986; and, in 2017, Raymond Corp. introduced the first lift trucks powered by the Lithium ion battery.

Plant Engineering magazine is pleased to recognize Raymond as its 2019 Top Plant.

Raymond Corp. also is part of Toyota Industries Co. In partnership with its Columbus, IN, sister plant it produces both Raymond- and Toyota-branded product for North America.

Raymond Corp. began its near century-long journey in 1922 when George Raymond Sr. purchased a foundry in Greene. Raymond’s production facility at corporate headquarters today encompasses more than half a million square feet. Production strategies include the Toyota Production System, including Kaizan lean manufacturing and maintenance strategies. www.plantengineering.com

Nearly 1800 employees work at the headquarters and production facility, near 800 of them dedicated to production, more than 100 exercising maintenance functions, and about 150 in management.

Finally, e-commerce has become such a force in the purchase and delivery of goods, warehousing square footage keeps growing. So much industry growth challenges the material handling industry to do more.

Raymond collaborates with leading e-commerce companies to provide intralogistics solutions that meet their ever-evolving needs, said Michael Field, chief executive officer, Raymond Corp.

“We’ve responded with innovations that use the forklift as a platform. Our automation solutions drive productivity and our energy solutions power the equipment. The intelligent forklift is an enabler of material handling and labor related information. It determines that the right person is driving the right forklift at the right time. It knows how they’re driving and how the truck is wearing with the usage.”

Make-to-order paradigm

Speaking with Field, and with Tony Topenick, Raymond Corp. director of operations, it’s clear they are proud of the company and its success. They and their teams execute a modular, make-to-order model, that might potentially produce millions of different equipment combinations.

According to Topenick, 2D wireframe computeraided design (CAD) was introduced in the engineering department in the early 1990s. But it was in the mid-1990s that cutting and other machine tools, PLANT ENGINEERING

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2019 Top Plant

RAYMOND CORP. | GREENE, NEW YORK

Figure 1: To get an idea of how electric lift trucks are evolving think where the general automotive industry is today.

All images courtesy: Raymond Corp.

coupled with 3D parametric CAD, led to a real paradigm shift “in terms of directly creating machine tool paths and minimizing downtimes, as well as increase in yield and minimization of scrap.”

Orders are entered into Raymond Corp.’s enterprise resources planning (ERP) from the dealerships where the equipment is sold.

On the plant floor, “We balance the system by scheduling for welding and assembly. After kitting it’s a fully pull system.

The details of parts requirements are executed using electronic Kanban to replenish in real-time.”

Field adds, “It’s a very lean, clean environment for make-toorder and make-to-demand production, approaching single-piece flow manufacturing.”

Given the Greene, NY, facility’s size and production growth, some of the challenges it faces, the company says, include the following: • Larger departmental head count results in coverage challenges for management • Varying skill and experience levels among team members, a challenge that diminishes over time as members stabilize • New production processes, equipment, materials, procedures and quality requirements emerge due to technology advances and customer demands • Volume/throughput goals pressure production space and cycle times.

The vision thing

According to Field and Topenick, Raymond Corp. set a plant vision for 2020. The vision for manufacturing was to optimize the truck build process and develop fundamental automated structures that deliver improved product quality and reduced man

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• December 2019

PLANT ENGINEERING

hours per truck (improving both throughput and overall plant capacity). With an eye toward innovative developments in the IT space, the process would ensure any new equipment was Internet of Things (IoT) ready.

Progressive total productive reliability would be enabled to improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) dynamics. To this end, the business created a strategy that would increase Raymond's capability to internally process sheet metal components and access fiber laser technology, automated machining, offline programming systems and, in order to maximize these investments, automated material handling.

These investments have delivered, or will deliver by the end of 2020, a 30% increase in rail machining capacity, have improved the capability to insource previously outsourced production hours of plate and sheet component production and have enabled a 30% increase in the time press brakes bend parts. This is a huge advantage in terms of expansion and capability.

Automation of the repair process has reduced machine downtime, providing for even more throughput speed and reducing product time to market.

Similar themes factor in the implementation of a new mast rail manufacture process, which encompasses an automated rail machining line, automated mast weld fixturing and an automated robotic weld cell. This process represents about $4.2 million of expenditure and has resulted in the ability to grow capacity for manufacturing in order-picker trucks by 100% over the manual processes in place prior to the installation. Through the re-visioning of our plant and realigning our cell footprints to this 2020 vision, plant capability has grown to 125 trucks per day.

Maintenance & quality

Raymond Corp. has implemented total process reliability (TPR), with operators performing smaller, frequent routine maintenance tasks to avert large, time-consuming failures and repairs. In piloting this process, OEE for one CNC lathe machine was increased by 20% within four months. Facilities maintenance implemented infrared testing on critical equipment to save facility downtime by detecting loose electrical connections, elevated bearing temperatures and other failing electrical components producing excessive heat.

A computer maintenance management system (CMMS) is used to request and purchase production machine consumables and maintenance parts, track equipment history, generate preventive and predictive maintenance work requests, track and record equipment downtime, log history of equipment failures and track facility assets. www.plantengineering.com

Environment & utilities The Raymond Corp. is committed to building quality products while providing and maintaining a comfortable operating environment for its employees. This commitment reduces risk for personal injury and property damage through the promotion of employee safety awareness, responsibility and emergency preparation. In addition, Raymond focuses on building the confidence of its lift truck operators by reinforcing desired behaviors. Raymond also maintains environmental and security systems for the protection of all employees, property, equipment and the environment. Health and safety programs develop and train managers, supervisors and employees on safe working practices and procedures.

Topics include hazard recognition and control, hygiene, general housekeeping, and off-the-job safety and wellness. Training begins with the New Employee Orientation (NEO) program and is enhanced through Safety Dojo interactive training, detailed, on-the-job training, communication from our Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) team, and on-going safety training. Each month, the EHS team hosts safety meetings with supervisory personnel at various levels, to share safety information from the prior month. Risk assessments are conducted by reviewing standard work instructions, observing employee performance and Figure 2: Raymond Corp. strives to recruit the best talent to fill welding and manufacturing positions and is committed to developing a strong workforce through continuous training.

Top Plant 2019 award winner Raymond Corp. strives to preserve and protect the environment in all aspects of its business.

The Raymond Corp.’s manufacturing facilities in Greene, New York, and Muscatine, Iowa, are ISO 14001 Multi-Site registered.

Overall energy use in 2018-2019 fiscal year was such that greenhouse gas emissions at the Greene, New York, manufacturing facility were increased by 4.3% (measured as quantity emitted per unit produced at the facility). The manufacturing facility in Muscatine, Iowa, reduced greenhouse gas emissions 19%.

• Percentage of operating budget spent on energy in 2018: 3% • Percentage of operating budget spent on energy in 2019 to date: 2% • Percentage of energy expense saved in 2018: 18% • Percentage of energy savings forecast for 2019: 2%

Electrical & lighting Recent events related to sound management of electrical power and lighting include the following: • Re-lamping projects increased the efficiency of energy use for lighting at the facilities • Computer-controlled heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems guarantee efficient use of energy • Parking/walkway lighting upgraded to high-efficiency, long-life LED bulbs and fixtures, reducing Kilowatts per hour by 25% • Factory lighting upgrade - elimination of fluorescent lamps in favor of LED technology thereby reducing energy consumption • Equipment power management – instituted a program whereby significant energy consuming equipment is reviewed for energy savings opportunities, and placards are affixed to equipment to assure proper on/off management.

Water use • Reduced water use by < 1% in 2018-2019 fiscal year gallons of water used per 100 direct-labor hours worked at Raymond Greene. This measurement method accounts for both "personal" and "process" use of water • Reduced flush volume on 138 fixtures by 10%, saving approximately 1,035 gallons per day or 269,000 gallons per year • New building additions were equipped with water saving toilets and fixtures and some existing lavatories have been remodeled with water conserving fixtures • Chemical products used in the powder paint system washer, and for general maintenance cleaning, are mixed via metering resulting in both chemical and water savings • Where appropriate, process wastewater that ultimately is discharged to the village sewer system is reused for flushing commodes, average 9,247 gallons/month reused.

Compressed air Over the past several years, the air compressors and associated air supply system have been reengineered with state-of-the art variable speed compressors to promote conservation of electricity and reduce associated greenhouse gases from the electric utilities

www.plantengineering.com

PLANT ENGINEERING

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2019 Top Plant

RAYMOND CORP. | GREENE, NEW YORK discussing the activities with line management and support groups. Each identified hazard is scored and corrective action is recommended.

Part of a community

Raymond Corp. pays attention to manufacturing safety and education issues as they define and represent its role and standing in the community. Raymond implemented robust safety training and management processes to address the challenges. To measure its progress, Raymond developed a comprehensive data collection, reporting and recognition program for achieving safety milestones. Program elements include: • Monthly environmental, health & safety (EHS) meetings for management groups, from assistant team leaders to executives • Metrics that include comparisons among divisions within the company and against current national standards for similar companies • Ergonomic continuous improvement recognition and awards, whereby, the monthly drawing winner receives a certificate and cash award.

Raymond strives to recruit and identify the best talent to fill positions ranging from administrative and executive roles to welding and manufacturing positions. Raymond is committed to building and maintaining a strong, dynamic workforce through continual training and development. All new hires participate in an employee orientation program, with additional training provided depending on the employee's position and role.

Figure 3: Tony Topencik, director of operations, and Joe Fiori, manager of quality assurance, in Raymond's Asiachi room where production proceses are reviewed and discussed.

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PLANT ENGINEERING

Raymond believes that education and training are vital to the growth of the company. Its employees believe their success is a tribute to its distinctive corporate culture, which emphasizes and values customer focus, innovation, professional excellence, teamwork and taking a global perspective.

Training for Raymond employees comes in a variety of ways: • Safety and compliance training is ongoing and occurs at regular intervals. This training may include anything from a truck operator, fire extinguisher, crane and hoist training to codeof-conduct training.

• Development training courses are open to all employees to assist in increasing their skills and knowledge for their current position, as well as to provide guidance for career advancement.

• Individual departments sponsor special training sessions to develop the unique skills and knowledge required for their specific department, such as computer software skills, machine operation or production and inventory management.

• Leadership and mentoring programs are offered to individuals who demonstrate leadership potential.

In addition to internal training opportunities, Raymond offers a generous tuition aid plan that allows the employees to pursue a college education with little cost to the employees, other than their dedication and time.

The education angle

Raymond also uses several next-gen learning tools including the Raymond virtual reality simulator.

The Raymond virtual reality simulator makes it easier for lift truck operators to more readily understand what a material handling job entails, by providing early exposure in a virtual environment on a truck using the actual controls. The opportunity to learn through virtual reality is especially timely as e-commerce demands show no signs of slowing down — and those demands skyrocket leading up to the holiday season.

This type of education is especially helpful during a time when there are more manufacturing jobs available than there are workers to fill those positions. The instruction also is pertinent for seasonal and temporary employees who may have no prior experience and need to learn as quickly as possible.

Raymond Corp. works closely with various colleges, trade schools and high schools to www.plantengineering.com

Energy solutions will define our futures recruit local talent. Additionally, Raymond Corp. attends the SkillsUSA National Competition each year, promoting careers in manufacturing. Raymond Corp. also hosts National Manufacturing Day, Engineering Day and Raymond Day events at corporate headquarters each year, inviting students from the STEM fields to tour the facility and partake in learning experiences. Raymond also works closely with local organizations to find the best talent for available positions. Raymond recognizes the value in such partnerships, which benefits the business and the industry.

Among Raymond's partners: • Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), for Raymond's apprenticeship program • Binghamton University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Clarkson University and SUNY Broome Community College, among others, to work together with engineering schools on master's projects, collaborate on a Capstone Design course, and more.

• Local and regional job fairs, including collegespecific job fairs • Greene High School in Greene, New York, to sponsor STEM events, on-site tours • Co-op program • BOCES welding program Raymond also recruits in a variety of other ways, including: • Recruitment at a military job fair at West End Avenue Armory, Binghamton, New York • Offer in-house information sessions for veterans employed by Raymond. Topics have included educational, health and counseling resources available to veterans and their families • Sponsored a four-part luncheon series, at Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, on the issues and challenges veterans face when returning home from active duty overseas and from combat theatres • Hosted plant tours and information sessions for veteran's representatives from Broome and Tioga counties regarding employment opportunities at Raymond. PE Kevin Parker is the editor for Plant Engineering. www.plantengineering.com

Industry challenges, such as the need to work more efficiently to meet ever-increasing consumer demands, have left today’s organizations seeking alternative energy solutions to support the entire customer experience. In the past, traditional energy solutions made it difficult to address these around-the-clock demands.

However, between improved energy consumption measurement and next-level transparency, the plant of the future will provide game-changing alternative energy solutions and allow for optimal energy efficiency among distribution systems.

Revolutionary power management devices implemented throughout material handling equipment and connected either via ethernet or the Internet of Things will provide real-time data on the facility’s energy consumption. These devices provide operators with a complete picture of the battery’s health and state of charge, including the status of amps, voltage and truck’s power factor.

Telematics as truth teller Operators will have a clear view of these metrics for each phase and current directly displayed on the truck’s telematics interface — allowing the operator to track overall energy usage throughout the truck’s shift. If a specific piece of equipment is not running efficiently, operators will be empowered to locate the inefficiency and make adjustments accordingly.

The next era of electric lift trucks will embrace an abundance of power solutions.

Lithium-ion batteries, which offer the highest energy densities (about triple the capacity of a similar lead-acid battery), will gain popularity within plants as management aims to increase truck battery life in order to lift higher and heavier loads. The lithium-ion battery will also accommodate the workforce of the future through its advanced charging capabilities. In many applications, a single lithium-ion battery could be used with the proper method of charging or what we would call “opportunity charging.” This allows operators to take advantage of breaks, lunch hours or shift changes to recharge in the truck (no battery removal/replacement) and maintain battery performance throughout their shift. Centralized battery rooms will become a thought of the past, and opportunity charging stations will pop up throughout the plant.

Additionally, the high voltage architecture (80, 96, 144v) traditionally seen in the automotive industry will begin to migrate into the lift truck industry. As with the automotive industry, we expect this will help lower the initial cost of many alternative energy solutions the same way we saw costs rapidly decline within the electric vehicle market.

Automotive points the way As clientele grows, it can seem to be nearly impossible to have a grasp on the functionality of all customer plants. Telematics technology will enable a “virtual battery room” to help management stay updated on plant performance in real time.

The virtual battery room will include remote access, data collection and reporting tools, providing plant leaders with advanced insights. Within one tool, management will be able to identify energy inefficiencies and implement the right solutions.

Material handling organizations are creating alternative energy solutions that will allow lift trucks to operate better and smarter. We expect these energy sources to serve as the vital link between what lift trucks make possible and the marketplace’s increasing demands for speed. As we look into the future, alternative energy solutions will create a smart plant that will grow with customer demand and the future of e-commerce.

The plant of the future will enable material handling organizations to do what they do best: keep products moving along the supply chain — throughout 2020 and beyond.

Damon Hosmer is product manager, energy solutions, with The Raymond Corp.

The automated stacker is a tool for picking loads off the ground or at heights up to 72”.

PLANT ENGINEERING

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SOLUTIONS FIRE PROTECTION

By Michael Daub and Torsten Welz

Early fire detection saves cost Effective improvement of preventive fire protection

O

n the premises of a tank farm in Bavaria, Germany, defects were found in the fire extinguishing equipment. The operator commissioned TÜV SÜD Industrie Service to draw up a fire-protection concept for the refurbishment.

Deviating from the technical regulations, a more cost-effective variant was proposed, coordinated with the responsible authorities and implemented. Early fire detection with thermal imaging cameras was introduced as an essential part of damage control.

Fire protection must achieve protection goals. But not all measures that appear reasonable from a technical point of view are necessary. What is considered a "generally recognized rule of technology?" What must be considered when renovating existing buildings? The central challenge in fire protection is to coordinate reasonable engineering services with the application of law and develop and implement a conclusive and economically justifiable fire-protection concept. At the same time, fire protection requires a high degree of technical knowledge and legal know-how.

Figure 1: Thermal imaging camera PYROVIEW with weather-proof housing Image courtesy: DIAS Infrared

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Classification under building law

Tank farms are facilities of special kind and use. Their operation is associated with the handling and storage of materials with explosion or increased fire hazard. As with other special structures, preventive fire protection plays a central role in technical safety. Protective measures and safety precautions are therefore not only the responsibility of the operator but are also of public interest.

For this reason, the local building code (BayBO) contains, among other things, material requirements, which serve as "general clause of fire protection" for the protection objectives defined in Article 12. According to § 3, para. 1, however, deviations from the technical building regulations may be granted if an alternative solution meets the general requirements of paragraph 1 to the same extent. This means that if the generally recognised rules of architecture and technology are observed, the requirements and regulations laid down in law are deemed to have been complied with.

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For the redevelopment planning of a tank farm in Bavaria, an engineering office presented a catalogue with extensive measures for the renewal of the fire extinguishing equipment. Total volume: 1.7 million euros.

Independent TÜV SÜD engineers validated the plans.

The part of the tank farm in need of rehabilitation and located on a harbour basin comprises 24 tanks with a capacity of between 600 and 2,000 m3, which serve as interim storage facilities for highly flammable liquids with a flash point (FP) of < 21 degrees Celsius according to the hazardous substances legislation.

At the time of the assessment, the following fire protection infrastructure existed: a non-automatic foam extinguishing system with a total foam agent supply of 10,500 litres, two submersible pumps in the harbour basin with a capacity of 180 m3 per hour each for the extinguishing water supply as well as the shell and roof sprinkling of the tanks, manual triggering of the shutoff valves and a separate transformer station with feed from the regional energy supplier. Emergency power supply was provided by the fire brigade.

Complete renewal of system

During the assessment of the proposed renovation concept, the TÜV SÜD engineers noticed that the engineering office's catalogue of measures was, in fact, geared towards the complete renewal of the fire extinguishing system. It demanded a DIN-compliant solution, which provided for the mobile installation of three extinguishing agent centres in container form. These were to ensure remote irrigation and foaming of the tanks. This also included the necessary electrical, operating and control systems for the remote-controlled operation of the extinguishing agent control centres and the installation of new pipeline routes from the fire extinguishing control centres to the extinguishing equipment in the tank fields. For the three extinguishing agent centres alone, including the complex infrastructure, approx.

1.2 million euros were estimated.

Due to the large number of identified defects, TÜV SÜD engineers drew up a list of priorities with essential measures to be implemented about the protection goals. The main parameters for achieving the protection goals with the alternative solution were the three sets of measures that are described below: • Installation of an early fire detection system consisting of a fully automatic infrared measuring system from www.plantengineering.com

Figure 2: Example scenario 1 of incipient fire fighting: intact power supply and free access to the tank farm. Image courtesy: TÜV SÜD

DIAS Infrared, which detects a possible fire event via temperature changes on the surfaces of different materials even before a fire can occur. In particular, the safety devices of the tanks, various pumps and motors, as well as the refuelling systems on the factory premises are monitored. The system consists of seven thermal imaging cameras mounted on pan-tilt heads. If a certain temperature value is exceeded, this is immediately reported to the control room of the tank farm and to the local fire brigade. The cameras are surrounded by a weather-proof housing with ventilation and heating (Figure 1). Thus, they are well protected against external influences. This set of measures also includes remote triggering of the extinguishing agent supply from the control room and automation of safety equipment.

• Refurbishment of the piping system of the foam extinguishing and sprinkler system by replacement of leaky and corrosive pipe sections. In addition, three permanently installed foam extinguishing systems in the form of foam monitors shall be integrated for fire fighting. Additionally, a mobile and thus flexible foam monitor must be provided.

• Securing the power supply for early fire detection and fire fighting: According to the regional energy supplier, the maximum duration of a power failure is at least 30 minutes. As redundancy, an independent emergency power supply shall be provided for a period of two hours in the form of battery buffering and additionally by means of a dieselpowered emergency power generator.

budgeted refurbishment costs – while still achieving the protection goals and the same safety level. PE Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Michael Daub is fire protection planner, expert for preventive fire protection, TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH, electrical and building services engineering, Mannheim, Germany.

M. Sc., Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Torsten Welz is project head for early fire detection systems, specialist planner for preventive fire protection, DIAS Infrared GmbH, Dresden Germany.

Figure 3: Example scenario 2 of incipient fire fighting: power failure and blocked access to tank farm by freight train.

Image courtesy: TÜV SÜD

The alternative fire protection concept was agreed and implemented with the operator of the tank farm, the responsible municipal authority and the local fire brigade. Early fire detection with thermal imaging cameras in conjunction with additional measures to optimize the fire protection infrastructure is now a central component of damage control. The operator is thus well equipped to face possible fire scenarios early and effectively in cooperation with the professional fire brigade — even in the event of a power failure and blocked access by a freight train (see Figure 2 and Figure 3).

Around one-third saved

Existing weaknesses in the fire protection infrastructure could be compensated with the help of the here presented measures. Compared to the previous, the TÜV SÜD fire protection concept with the fully automatic early fire detection of DIAS Infrared saved the tank farm operator around one third of the originally www.plantengineering.com

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SOLUTIONS MATERIAL HANDLING

By Cole Miller

How air casters optimize factory flexibility Integrated air bearings make it possible to implement a reconfigurable system to improve or supplement manufacturing floor changes

I Figure 1: Integrated air bearings, or air casters, help adapt equipment to ever changing manufacturing configurations.

All images courtesy: AeroGo Inc.

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n a plant environment, the ability to move machinery to optimize floor space or flex for lean manufacturing is essential for increasing productivity and profitability. To accomplish that goal, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have turned to embedding integrated air bearings or air casters into their machinery and other heavy or oversized equipment for adapting and adjusting to everchanging manufacturing configurations (see Figure 1).

Having reconfigurable manufacturing systems, tools and equipment improves manufacturers’ responsiveness to changing demands or circumstances, such as unexpected surges in product demand or equipment failure. That capability offers another important positive: a significant increase in throughput.

Other reconfiguration benefits

Today’s plant floor is more dynamic than ever. If manufacturers expect to maximize productivity and efficiency in an often-unpredictable market, they need to consider the benefits offered by reconfigurable manufacturing systems and compare them with the positives and negatives of dedicated manufacturing lines.

Dedicated lines offer exceptionally high throughput, but practically no flexibility or scalability to adjust to changes in demand. Worse, the failure of a single piece of equipment could potentially necessitate the shutdown of an entire complex production system until completion of repairs.

What’s missing here is “mobility” — the ability to move machinery on the fly, which is the reason for implementing a reconfigurable system to easily and

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immediately improve or supplement necessary changes to the manufacturing floor, such as swapping outdated machines for replacements or quickly configuring entirely new production lines. None of this can happen if it’s prohibitively difficult or logistically unfeasible for operators to move or replace machinery.

Mobilizing a manufacturing plant

“Flexibility has to be built, or programmed, explicitly into machines,” wrote industry consultant McKinsey and Co. in “Optimizing production in the age of the machine.”

Companies are increasingly making use of designto-value techniques to optimize the lifecycle costs of machines. This is a proactive mindset and good advice for OEMs. Perhaps the best example of this type of thinking and its implementation is embedding air casters to design machinery that does more than perform its needed function. It also solves several key problems for manufacturers, such as the need to adapt quickly to changes and to eliminate the potential risks and impracticalities inherent in other material handling methods. Among the examples of these issues and their resolution are: • Ease of movement. In addition to weight that often exceeds thousands of pounds, manufacturing machinery can be shaped and sized in unconventional forms rendering it unwieldy, especially for relocation. Manual equipment movement may be impossible and even if feasible, risk of damage to the machinery, the floor or potential injury to employees may be too great.

• Protecting floors. Traditional equipment that relies on wheels is often impractical, requiring too much mechanical force or human energy likely to damage the floors during load movement. The risk multiplies when a heavy load moves on a downward slope. The wheels may subject the machinery www.plantengineering.com

to potentially harmful vibration, jarring motion or a sudden collision with a wall or other obstruction.

• Eliminate the need for bulky and expensive forklifts. In many cases, space is limited and so is the ability of operators to maneuver equipment. On a tightly packed plant floor, inches matter. Forklifts, as useful as they are in certain situations, are not the best resource for precise positioning of large, unwieldy pieces of machinery. Extensive training is often required. Worse, their time in use and the serious disruption on the shop floor caused by their operation can offset whatever benefits might have been gained from moving the machinery.

Making heavy machinery hover

Embedded air bearings excel in making manufacturing machinery mobile. Using compressed air, air bearing systems can lift and float heavy machines, structures and tooling with their own footprint. Like a puck on an air hockey table, air casters eliminate friction by hovering heavy loads above the floor without causing damage to the surface.

Specifically, air casters are aluminum plates. Donutshaped bags underneath them inflate with compressed air and when fully inflated, the air casters lift the machine. A layer of pressurized air between 0.003 and 0.005-inches thick — about the thickness of a credit card — floats the machine or equipment. Movement of the machinery is virtually frictionless (friction coefficient of less than 2%), rendering extremely heavy objects easily maneuverable in virtually any direction.

Air casters embedded into a piece of heavy, unwieldy machinery allow operators to attach an air hose, inflate the air bearing system and reposition it with minimal energy requiring only 5 to 25 pounds of force to move as much as 5,000 pounds. Air casters sit within the machine’s own footprint and move omni-directionally, which is why positioning is so precise. At the target location, operators simply deflate the air casters. Air loss is not instantaneous, so the machine gently settles onto the floor.

Repositioning takes only minutes instead of the hours required for other load movers, enabling unprecedented mobility and safety. Generally, a single operator with minimal training can safely move a 5,000-pound air caster-equipped machine on a typical shop floor with a 0.25-inch slope more than 10 feet.

Risk of the object falling from a height or suddenly slamming down onto the operator has been virtually eliminated. Since only minimal force is required to move the object, another risk — that of strain injury — is minimized or even eliminated.

Since the load floats, air casters usually can accommodate slight inconsistencies in the floor, so the movwww.plantengineering.com

ing machinery is not subject to potentially damaging vibration or jarring. The load can be moved in any direction, including swiveling within its own footprint.

Unlike the limitations with forklifts, air caster-moved loads can be slipped into much tighter spots without striking neighboring objects.

Design considerations

OEMs have understood the advantages of embedded systems for years. Thanks to newer technology in the form of an air bearing system kit with models, engineers who design functional but hard to move equipment can integrate systems into their designs.

That is good news for customers who no longer need to employ a rigging contractor or lease an expensive, heavy-duty forklift to move heavy machinery. An embedded air bearing system permanently mounted into the tool, machine or structure serves as its own permanent rigging gear (see Figure 2).

OEM engineers can incorporate embedded air caster designs into their own machines by accessing downloadable engineering models. The system requires OEM designers to determine the number of points of contact required — typically four to six — and then use standardized models that either already fit standard tooling and equipment footers or under wheeled casters. Designers also will need to include space for an integrated control console, which allows operators to adjust air control to individual casters for offset loads. The console is small but does require some space for connecting wiring and hoses. Once designed, OEMs can order the appropriate standardized parts and then simply bolt, weld or screw the tooling footer to the top of the embedded air caster.

This system enables designers to integrate a readily available, adjustable and easy-to-implement mobility option into their machine design, thus sparing their customers the necessity of having to contract with expensive outside service providers.

Figure 2: An embedded air bearing system permanently mounted into the tool, machine or structure serves as its own permanent rigging gear.

Making manufacturing systems fly

OEMs can assist manufacturers seeking to implement a partial or fully reconfigurable system by embedding air PLANT ENGINEERING

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caster systems into their machinery to solve real-world operational issues for their end users. With embedded air casters, adjusting production capacity is simply a matter of attaching an air hose, moving machinery to where it needs to be and putting the production line back in operation in a matter of minutes.

The advantages are layered, but straightforward: 1. Operators can reposition heavy machinery or equipment without a lengthy or expensive move process requiring partial or full shutdowns 2. The movement of such loads can be completed more easily and precisely by just one or two people 3. Operators can reposition the machinery or equipment more easily and more safely than with other solutions like fork trucks, cranes or manpower.

Embedded air casters enable flexible response to external changes such as demand for a current product or the rising demand for a new one, and an internal change: i.e., moving or replacing a machine requiring service into or out of the production line.

Here are four cost-effective options and benefits facilitated by air caster technology:

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1. Optimize existing layout for increased production or insert new equipment into the existing production line.

2. Reorient equipment into an entirely new production line.

3. Relocate equipment inside the plant or into a different facility.

4. Easily accommodate automation or robotic technologies in production lines.

For OEMs, embedded air casters enable designers to engineer and build a better machine at very little cost for additional design or manufacturing time.

Air casters generate genuine return-on-investment by incorporating a mobility system that requires no additional equipment other than an air hose and turns on and off with one switch. PE Cole Miller, M.E. is an engineering lead for AeroGo Inc. Headquartered in Seattle, AeroGo manufactures load moving equipment using wheels and hovercraft technology for moving heavy, awkward or delicate loads.

input #20 at www.plantengineering.com/information

SOLUTIONS PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

By Scott Reedy

Quality 4.0 is reshaping product development Adopt a more connected, or product-centric, quality management system approach

M Quality 4.0 trends require smarter, connected strategies to ensure a company not only keeps pace with rapidly evolving technologies, but leads the way. Image courtesy: Arena Solutions

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anufacturers need to stay ahead of the competition and leverage artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), augmented reality (AR), the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and other technologies aimed at improving how people, data, and devices interact.

Quality 4.0 arises from Industry 4.0, also known as the fourth industrial revolution. Today’s fourth industrial revolutionary change is driving new quality paradigms, processes, and technologies.

Digital transformation

Industry 4.0 represents the dawn of digital transformation. The impact of digital data, analytics, connectivity, scalability, and collaboration are the drivers empowering this fourth industrial revolution and informing Quality 4.0 strategies. As we connect to people, devices, and data, the democratization of technologies is introducing transformative capabilities in analytics, material science, and computer science.

For highly regulated companies in high tech, consumer electronics, and medical device industries, such technologies empower a quality transformation of culture, leadership, collaboration, and standards.

Quality 4.0 is reshaping device designs, functionality, manufacturing processes, supply chain strategy, customer service, and the methods of maintaining quality systems that are compliant with regulatory bodies like the FDA and ISO. Intelligent and connected technologies are rapidly becoming more widely used as manufacturers seek an advantage to introduce inventive products to market and leapfrog existing competitors.

Digital transformation trends have helped define Quality 4.0 strategies to eliminate reliance on disparate paper-based quality management systems and processes. The move away from

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manual systems reduces errors, silos, collaboration barriers, and traceability issues. Furthermore, the digitalization and automation of design and production processes enables small and global companies to scale their design and supply chain processes quickly. In one example, RefleXion Medical, which provides biology-guided radiotherapy systems for cancer treatment, knew they needed to implement a completely connected QMS that could scale to support their path to digital transformation and improved compliance. They required a flexible platform that could grow with their team, products, and path throughout the quality compliance process.

Manufacturers’ ability to leverage Quality 4.0 technologies will be key to market success in the years ahead.

LNS Research sees Quality 4.0 — the application of Industry 4.0 technologies to quality initiatives — as following in IoT’s path. And industry experts are seeing a huge drive in quality improvements coming from digital transformation. These same technologies are being used to design and deliver products. What does this mean for the manufacturing community?

Development gets more complex

Modern manufacturers rely on distributed teams and supply chains, including design partners, contract manufacturers, and tiered component suppliers to speed product development and launches. Companies that have embraced new technologies and cloud-based systems understand the unique benefits that digital transformation technologies can bring to a device manufacturer’s product requirements, product capabilities, and regulatory compliance objectives.

In the life sciences realm, digital therapeutics, medical diagnostic equipment, implantable devices and disposable devices are just a few of the wide array of devices that strive to be problem-free while delivering higher throughput and maintaining compliance.

Consumer electronic, medical device, and equipment manufacturers must overcome many challenges as they move from early concept and design through commercialization. Taking advantage of Quality 4.0 technologies can help at every stage of the new product development www.plantengineering.com

(NPD) and new introduction (NPI) process to deliver high-quality, safe devices and equipment. However, manufacturers are finding that Quality 4.0-influenced designs and quality processes can only be achieved by adopting a newer and higher standard for quality that is driven from leadership and embraced by everyone involved during the product realization journey.

Connected quality

To meet the demands created by Quality 4.0 trends, companies should adopt a more connected, or productcentric quality management system (QMS) approach.

As complexity of products increases with AI, IoT, robotics, and related 4.0 technologies, quality teams must have a unified system to identify issues, address audits, and resolve quality incidents.

Older, antiquated document-centric QMS approaches create too many blind spots. Product-centric QMS is founded on maintaining the full, complex product design comprised of electrical, mechanical, and software components in a single system. This foundation allows for complete, connected quality and corrective action records with direct linkage to every aspect of the underlying product design. This connected methodology provides increased visibility and transparency as teams collaborate through each phase of NPD and NPI. Benefits from a product-centric QMS can be realized in areas such as audit readiness, requirements, design controls, training, supplier quality, and integration to upstream and downstream systems (e.g., CAD, ERP, CRM).

Furthermore, companies will gain competitive advantages by having more intelligence-driven product and quality process insights. This, in turn, will lead to better data-driven decisions and cross-functional visibility with quality, engineering, operations, and supply chain teams. These Quality 4.0 transformational technologies add complexity in meeting strict requirements.

To ensure compliance, a product-centric QMS solution makes it possible to: • Create a completely connected quality and product process • Establish quality product processes to avoid audit issues • Ensure traceable design and change controls • Manage product bills of materials (BOMs) linked directly to quality records • Drive closed-loop quality and CAPA processes to faster resolution • Improve quality compliance and supplier management processes.

The last point about supplier management process is essential because the right QMS solution can unify quality and product record management to provide complete control and traceability, simplify audits, and decrease risks. www.plantengineering.com

Product-centric QMS

In the case of satellite and communications provider Kymeta, they were able to improve their product quality with a connected quality system. Their complex products bring connectivity to cars, planes, boats, and much more — requiring multivariable analysis of product change processes across the global supply chain. Kymeta placed a priority on visibility of processes to better measure progress against company priorities. The ability to connect product and quality processes laid the foundation for further analysis. Using the Analytics capabilities, the team gained enhanced insights of all their quality and corrective action preventive action (CAPA) activities, particularly product change analysis during the critical new product introduction timeframe. With those added metrics and analysis, Kymeta has been able to drive continuous improvement during their new product introduction processes and reduce the time to launch new products.

And Swan Valley Medical, manufacturer of surgical instruments and accessories for application in the field of urology, implemented a product-centric QMS solution because they were burdened with inefficient paper-based manual processes that resulted in potential compliance exposure due to misplacing critical documentation. During audits, when missing or inaccurate information was found, it was difficult to recover and could take a couple hundred hours or even several months.

With a cloud-based product-centric QMS solution, accelerated root-cause analysis and risk management observation processes were implemented. This enabled different processes to call the other ones by having linked product and quality records to support audits with cross-linked evidence chains.

Innovation requires quality

As organizations embrace newer technologies like IoT, AR, and robotics, technology for product development and quality strategies needs to keep pace. Both large, established organizations and smaller innovators are racing to improve functionality by connecting people and data to deliver better-performing products around the globe.

The advances made with Industry 4.0 have helped drive Quality 4.0 technologies and strategies to improve quality compliance. The ability to align complex product development and quality processes is critical to compete in today’s global economy. PE Scott Reedy is the senior director of marketing at Arena Solutions. Scott spent a decade working in engineering and manufacturing and has helped drive new product development and introduction processes for global manufacturers.

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SOLUTIONS LEAN MANUFACTURING

By Thomas Brown and Rodney Rusk

Applying lean tactics in the Factory of the Future

T

oday’s manufacturing plants are undergoing a major evolution/revolution as Industry 4.0 technology is rapidly being adopted across many industry segments. This technology will form the foundation for a next-generation vision of manufacturing: the Factory of The Future. The Factory of the Future is an intelligent, flexible and highly agile production environment that equips plant operations and management with the real-time, in-depth information they need to maximize the value and performance of every machine and production unit.

Although the Factory of the Future may sound like a lofty concept, the groundwork for implementing this vision has actually been in place for some time. One crucial foundation in the journey toward the Factory of the Future is the concept and practice of lean manufacturing.

Developed decades ago as a method to improve productivity, lean manufacturing emphasizes eliminating

Manufacturers and plant operators have begun to appreciate the impact that Industry 4.0 technology offers their businesses.

However, the best way to maximize the potential of this technology is by also investing in and strengthening the application of lean principles and lean thinking to continuously address waste and error in their operations. Image courtesy: Bosch Rexroth

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waste, implementing continuous improvement processes (CIP) and improving the flow of material, people and information — both within individual production lines and across manufacturing enterprises.

These technologies are being engineered to achieve similar and essentially parallel goals: improving communications, capturing real-time and historic manufacturing data in an automated fashion, and applying intelligent technology to improve productivity, throughput and quality while reducing or eliminating wasted time, energy and resources.

Manufacturers and plant operators have begun to appreciate the impact that these technologies offer their businesses. However, the best way to maximize the potential this technology offers is by also investing in and strengthening the application of lean principles and lean thinking to the ways they address waste and error in their operations — otherwise, they risk wasting time and valuable resources on technology that will not really help them realize their own Factory of the Future.

Value and impact of lean

Lean manufacturing has proven to be a powerful, fundamental set of principles and processes for helping manufacturers become more productive, agile and able to deliver the highest quality goods while controlling costs and staying competitive.

Lean manufacturing provides a systematic way to identify waste and remove it continually. At its most elemental level, lean manufacturing is “pull” production, driven by customer or marketplace demand.

Lean production optimizes all of an enterprise’s flow in response to that demand: material flow, people flow and information flow.

Organizations that are successful at applying lean have invested time and resources in understanding how materials and information flow through their manufacturing processes. They focus on locating where in their workflows they may be experiencing one or more of the seven types of waste typically identified by lean practitioners: • Overproduction • Waiting • Defects and errors • Excess motion and movement www.plantengineering.com

• Excess inventory • Inefficient processes •Excess transportation

Lean meets Factory of the Future

It takes information to find and root out the sources of waste — and in the Factory of the Future, Industry 4.0 technology significantly increases and enriches the density of information about manufacturing systems. In the Factory of the Future, everything can be connected, from the individual machine components with embedded sensors and intelligence up through machine-level and plant-level communications architectures to a cloud-based solution.

Sophisticated software collects, transfers and processes data in ways that provide both production transparency and actionable answers to questions about production bottlenecks, inefficient workflows and equipment in need of preventive maintenance.

Industry 4.0 technology like this is making it possible for manufacturers to access vital information about their workflows in a more usable, real-time, trackable fashion. For example, real-time data on the condition of motors or indications that bearings are wearing out can be acted on much faster to prevent unscheduled downtime or damage to machines.

Along with real-time, actionable data, historical and trending data from a much wider range of inputs can be gathered and analyzed. This data can be gathered automatically and compiled according to lean principles in order to have a deeper and more cohesive picture of the performance of production systems which can help identify areas where continuous improvement processes need to be implemented.

Freeing personnel for value-added work

Another key benefit this technology offers is the ability to free up people who are normally tasked with monitoring and compiling lean-related data and reporting it throughout the plant. In many plants with mature lean practices, personnel must complete reports and post them to Kanban boards as their major task so that production teams can review data and make production decisions.

There are now advanced communications systems being offered that automate much of this work, much more accurately and faster. These interactive communications platforms process and visualize production data in real time, and can network with IT applications, such as production planning, quality data management and e-mailing throughout plants, to provide information as the basis for decisions and process improvements.

With these tools, it can be possible to free data-gatherers and report-makers to complete other jobs, such www.plantengineering.com

as implementing the actual continuous improvement processes — improving efficiencies versus just reporting what's happening.

Lean and Industry 4.0

One of the major challenges many companies are facing in the journey toward the Factory of the Future is intelligently managing the mountains of data these systems can offer. Companies that seek to upgrade their production systems, incorporating intelligence and sensors into multiple process points and connecting all these machines, will discover that they have no way of knowing what functions or process points they need to measure in the first place to make full use of their technology investment.

It is vital for organizations taking the next step toward the Factory of the Future to have well-established and effective lean principles and methodologies in place before they make the technology investments. Unless they understand how lean drives improvements in the business and operations, they run the risk that bad data will multiply the cost of their technology investment while making no measurable improvement in their performance or return on the investment.

It can be very easy (but detrimental) to go in and invest a significant amount of money before the organization realizes the need to take a close look at their lean processes and their lean methodology. This can ensure that their foundation is solid before they begin any significant investments.

For example, if a plant is monitoring production output or downtime on a production line, and it’s discovered that the line is down for 20 to 25 minutes per week, simply adding new sensors or upgrading the controls platform will not necessarily indicate the source of the persistent downtime. Instead, using sensors to collect the right data and then get it to the right individuals to analyze and assess that data are crucial steps that are dependent on good lean processes.

A new technology tool that is being introduced by industry suppliers such as Bosch Rexroth can help accomplish this improved information flow. Commonly called an i4.0 gateway or IoT (Internet of Things) gateway, these tools are designed to aggregate a host of sensor and machine data and provide intelligent methodologies to present that data for higher-level analysis. These gateways can be stand-alone systems or be integrated into PLC platforms; they can capture data from the PLC, machine drives and sensors monitoring a broad range of machine and manufacturing conditions.

Through these gateways, plant management can identify problem areas that normal human observation and evaluation of the lean process and lean work cell might not capture — everything from room temperature, PLANT ENGINEERING

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humidity, noise and vibration levels and other inputs — and present this data to higher-level analytical systems in ways that they can be more efficiently studied. These gateways are sophisticated enough to enable product performance management or product quality management to use machine-learning tools to compare similar applications across a plant environment, and even access and use cloud computing to compare performance factors across different plants in different global locations.

Although it seems like these tools set manufacturers up to be smothered by a mountain of data, by being disciplined in the use of lean processes it is possible to make sure these systems are capturing the right data and helping plant operators find the root cause of downtimes and other sources of waste or poor quality. Ultimately, it may also be possible to get useful data on the right kind of technology investment to eliminate wasted time — assuming that technology is actually the source of the issue.

Technology enhances lean in manual production processes

One manufacturing area that has been significantly transformed by lean is manual assembly and production systems. Lean processes have helped address many of the seven types of waste that at one time hindered manual production, including issues like waiting, defects and errors, and excess motion, movement and inventory.

This is an area where lean principles and Factory of the Future technology are combining to make manual and hybrid (combined manual and automated) workcells reach new levels of efficiency and flexibility. Delivery of workpieces and components to workcells can be more efficiently automated, driven by flexible conveyor systems that utilize bar code readers or RFID tags to keep a steady, intelligently staged flow of materials to workstations just as they are needed, and oriented in the right direction for maximum ergonomic efficiency.

By implementing smart workstations in a manual assembly area, and incorporating interactive digital assembly guides and vision systems, some further advances in error reduction can potentially be realized.

Worker-assist systems can be programmed to present information in the worker’s language of choice and automatically reconfigure to match the part being built.

The use of programmable tightening tools that document the amount of torque applied for each bolt tightened, and can automatically reconfigure torque and rotation setting based on the device being assembled (and log that data) can also reduce the potential for error and rework.

These tools can minimize downtime and wasted effort by reducing the amount of training or supervisor support/oversight with new personnel. They are also powerful tools for improving the final quality of every product being assembled. Newer systems are smart enough to assist and track each step of the assembly

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process, including notifying workers when they are about to make an error.

Smart assembly assist systems can help ensure that the right part is pulled from the right bin, preventing wasted time and motion as well as reducing the potential for assembled devices to be diverted for rework.

And since these tools are tracking and reporting each workcell’s assembly time, they provide a powerful tool to help address takt time and what steps could be taken to reduce the time spent waiting.

Digitizing lean for the Factory of the Future

The technology being introduced to create the Factory of the Future can help facilitate some of the fundamental concepts of lean: reducing waste and improving material, people and information flow — especially information.

However, it’s important to recognize that technology alone cannot implement lean. In many ways, unless a plant or organization is fully invested in lean principles and processes, there is the potential for wasted investment in technology. There are three elements that companies need to have in place to make the best use of technology: • A commitment to applying lean principles and practices to identify waste and its root causes • Real continuous improvement processes (CIP) in place that provide clear feedback mechanisms across the enterprise, so that inputs and observations from all personnel — line managers, production workers, maintenance staff, etc. — are captured and evaluated continuously, in the context of improving production • An agile methodology for implementing changes, based on the lean and CIP outputs, that ensures any improvements to be made are implemented.

With the advent of Factory of the Future systems, agility becomes even more critical: the real-time and historical trending data that systems can provide will supply actionable answers to questions about how to improve productivity, reduce waste and become more flexible and responsive to changing market conditions.

By applying lean principles to help understand the process and using CIP to leverage the newest ideas for improvement, and then using agile methodology to actually carry out the changes needed, the right technology investments can be made to intelligently move forward on the journey to the Factory of the Future. PE Thomas Brown is a sales engineer at Assembly and i4.0 Technology.

Rodney Rusk is a i4.0 Business Leader with Bosch Rexroth Corp. www.plantengineering.com

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Creating a “Culture of Challenge” Randy Breaux, President of Motion Industries

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ince my early years in the industry, I have been a very big proponent of the culture within a company playing a large part in a business’s success.

Knowing the culture you want and working every day to develop and protect it is big part of leadership. Personally, I like a “Culture of Challenge”!

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A great culture is intentional, worked on daily, nurtured and cherished by everyone in the organization, but it always starts or stops at the organization’s very top.

Randy Breaux is President of Motion Industries.

His career as a strategic leader in industrial manufacturing and distribution spans over 30 years, including 20+ years at ABB/Baldor Electric Company and the last eight with Motion Industries.

For more information, visit MotionIndustries.com/plantengineering or check out Motion’s On-site Solutions at https://tinyurl.com/y6mf2xv9

input #11 at www.plantengineering.com/information

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input #12 at www.plantengineering.com/information

SOLUTIONS PNEUMATIC SAFETY

By Jeff Welker and Enrico De Carolis

Pneumatic safety technology and the IIoT How IIoT principles, along with appropriate pneumatic technology, offer machine safety and operation enhancements

P

neumatic technology already encompasses several safety features and components to protect operators and equipment, prevent downtime, improve reliability and extend operational life. With the advent of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), pneumatics technology is becoming even more functional, with new capabilities in tracking and measurement providing even greater insight into machine operation and the performance of components and subsystems.

With this additional functionality comes a richer opportunity to also monitor machine safety characteristics and protect people and equipment from harm.

Pneumatics and safety

Machine manufacturers and end users have always used pneumatic devices to provide cost-effective and efficient motion and actuation on a wide range of systems; pneumatics also have provided original Figure 1: There are already some pneumatics products with edge gateway capabilities built into their electronics platform, and many manufacturers are developing Industrial IoT gateways that analyze various sensor signals and use the results to generate informative process information. All images courtesy: Emerson

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equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end users with reliable, lightweight and proven technology to improve the safety of their equipment. Pneumatics can be used to implement many important safety functions, such as ensuring a limited speed, reducing pressure and force, safely releasing energy and guaranteeing a safe direction of travel or blocking a movement.

Machine builders in every region of the globe are seeking to leverage a variety of alternative technologies to improve machine safety — and pneumatic motion is a big part of that trend. Meanwhile, the globalization of the machinery marketplace means that machines must satisfy various safety regulations. As an example, in the European Union, the Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) must be followed by law when a piece of machinery is put into service. The best way to satisfy the law is to follow the many global standards available.

The predominant regulatory standard that affects pneumatic technology in machine automation is ISO 13849, which outlines safety requirements and provides guidance on the principles for the design and integration of safety-related parts of control systems.

These regulations exist to help reduce the risk of personal injuries and help prevent damage to equipment. But, with regards to safety, companies have a huge financial stake as well. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Safety Council (NSC) estimate the direct costs of a fatal injury to be a million dollars or more, with indirect costs — like workplace disruptions, loss of productivity, worker replacement, training, increased insurance premiums and legal fees — running 2 to 17 times more.

Therefore, whether machines are made in Europe and shipped to the U.S. or vice www.plantengineering.com

versa, they need to follow safety standards. Pneumatic technology for safety helps machine builders meet the regulatory requirements.

The new factor: The IIoT

The emergence of the IIoT and related trends like Industry 4.0 are creating additional opportunities for pneumatics to enhance its contributions to safety.

IIoT is all about gathering data, opening new opportunities for tracking, measuring and reacting, thus gathering data that leads to informationdriven outcomes. These additional informationgathering capabilities offer new opportunities to enhance functional safety in manufacturing. One of the benefits of the IIoT revolution is a more predictable state of manufacturing, which leads not only to manufacturing optimization but also enhanced safety algorithms.

One of the key developments associated with the emergence of IIoT and Industry 4.0 is the expanding use of sensors throughout automation systems, including pneumatic components. Sensor technology has become smarter, smaller, more lightweight and easier to integrate into a range of pneumatic components, allowing measurement of temperatures, pressures, flow rates, cycle times, valve response rate and so on. Even the simplest devices may at some point be providing some crucial information. As a result, end users will be able to know much more about the performance of pneumatics in their machines and devices.

Data alone is not enough

The more intelligent a system is, the more data analytics the system will be able to offer. And the more systems a factory has, the more data it will produce. To keep all that data from becoming overwhelming, equipment manufacturers and end users need to determine exactly what information is needed to ensure the safe and effective operation of their equipment.

In a pneumatic system, it’s not unusual for a machine to have 15 manifolds with 10 or more valves on every manifold. If one simply monitors how many times the valves have shifted, the generated data would not only be massive but also have limited usefulness.

An alternative strateg y is to monitor the response time of a valve, a parameter that also is used to satisfy the requirements of the ISO 13849 functional safety standard. In the above example, the simple act of monitoring the number of times that the valves shift could not exclusively be used to predict the impact to the safety of the system.

For instance, the action of an automobile manufacturer boosting production on an assembly line from 60 to 65 vehicles per hour, also would impact the system cycle time and thus affect the valve shift cycles, but not the valve’s response time.

Therefore, the manufacturer’s goal should be to develop enhanced safety outcomes based on appropriate data, which, when correctly analyzed, leads to application-pertinent information. Simply generating a large amount of data, without a plan of how to use it and understand what it’s measuring, is not very useful.

Figure 2: To monitor the wear of a shock absorber in a pneumatic cylinder for example, the edge gateway would analyze the end-stroke sensor signals to evaluate the cushioning efficacy.

Mission time: A critical parameter Mission time, as defined by ISO 13849 specifications and calculated using the cycle rate, hours of operation, days of operation and component reliability, is a critical parameter for measuring machine safety performance. It

Figure 3: As a proven automation technology, pneumatics already offers many safety benefits. With the addition of appropriate sensors, analytics and connectivity options for IIoT applications, pneumatic technology adds even more safety enhancements that protect people and machines from harm. www.plantengineering.com

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assures end users that safety-related components are going to function safely for an established amount of time, after which they must be replaced, regardless of whether they are still functional.

Unlike useful life, mission time is a design decision that is documented in a safety requirement specification and the validation portion of ISO 13849 and IEC 62061 specifications. While mission time is important, new IIoT capabilities make other information available that will also be helpful from a safety standpoint. For example, suppose a machine had a safety light curtain controlling a valve and the valve response time changed from 30 milliseconds to 50 or even 70 milliseconds, before the device reached its mission time replacement cycle. This scenario could pose a severe safety hazard, because it would allow an operator to get much further into the motion area of a machine before a safety response event could be generated.

That decline in the valve response time (and the corresponding alert response time) is the kind of useful information that new IIoT capabilities would proactively capture and report.

Today, to keep systems and machinery safe, a scheduled maintenance plan must be in place and adhered to. It is this schedule that triggers the replacement or refurbishment of functioning safety-rated components in the machine or system. Autonomously monitoring the valve’s response changes over time makes the maintenance plan more in-depth and predictive. Thus, alleviating the need for scheduled maintenance altogether and still assuring that mission time is met. This “monitoring” of pertinent safety parameter changes can be done using IIoT principles and devices.

Whether it’s standard operational data or safety related IIoT data, the goal is to give actionable information. Different industries and production operations will have to determine what data is most relevant, and how to analyze and apply that data to improve their operations and safety systems.

The IIoT is here, now

Edge gateways are devices that translate data used by control applications into an IIoT format that can be used to connect to cloud systems. However, they

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also can be used for analyzing the data sent to them and thus are also considered to be edge computing appliances.

There already are some pneumatics products with edge gateway capabilities built into their electronics platform (see Figure 1). Many manufacturers are developing industrial IoT gateways that analyze various sensor signals and use the results to generate informative process information. To monitor the wear of a shock absorber in a pneumatic cylinder for example, the edge gateway would analyze the end-stroke sensor signals to evaluate the cushioning efficacy (see Figure 2). The system can intelligently route this information to the right people, without the use of the machine controller. This concept alleviates the need to modify the controller program which minimizes the risk of machine downtime and has

IIoT Monitoring of a typical pneumatic system Compressors: monitoring includes factors such as air temperature, pressure and moisture (potential dewpoints) and contamination levels (see Figure 4).

Filters, Regulators and Lubricators (FRLs): Sensors and monitoring are used to check for contamination, air temperature, pressure and moisture.

Manifold/Valve(s): Key items for monitoring include mission time, response time and cycle rate.

Cylinder: Cylinder speed, seal degradation and extend/retract times are other important factors to monitor.

Example: A linear cylinder extends out and pushes a box off a conveyor onto a pallet. As that cylinder degrades, there’s the possibility that it needs to be replaced. The stroke time from starting position to extended position may be established for a specific rate. If the readings drift outside that time window at some point, the system could issue an alert and provide actionable data to do something in response. The system could also monitor mission time with existing sensors. For example, if the manifold and valve are specified to run for six years, monitoring could be established to keep track of that timeframe, but also monitor valve response time and valve cycle rate. www.plantengineering.com

the potential to substantially lower operating costs by identifying failing components before they stop and cause unscheduled downtime.

System performance data can be gathered with existing components and sensors and analyzed to provide pertinent information of the safety device or system, as well. For example, it is possible to track mission time by using existing sensors already on the components. However, for more granular data, component manufacturers will probably add more sensors eventually — either externally or internally to the devices or systems.

Ultimately, there’s potential to monitor every level of a pneumatic system downstream of the compressor, including the safety-related parts (see the sidebar, “IIoT Monitoring of a typical pneumatic system”).

Figure 4: IIoT monitoring of a typical pneumatic system.

Looking ahead

One of the major benefits of the IIoT revolution is a more optimal and predictable state of manufacturing, but it also can be used to drive enhanced safety outcomes and safer manufacturing systems.

As a proven automation technology, pneumatics already offers many safety benefits. With the addition of appropriate sensors, analytics and connectivity options anticipated in IIoT applications, pneumatic technology adds even more safety enhancements that protect people and machines from harm (see Figure 3).

The role of component manufacturers is to work with end users to provide smart devices that deliver actionable, application-pertinent information that allows enhanced safety through informationdriven outcomes. PE Jeff Welker is senior project manager of Fluid Control and Pneumatics at Emerson.

Enrico De Carolis is vice president of Global Technology, Fluid Control and Pneumatics at Emerson.

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By James Figy

Food packaging company cuts compressed air costs by $250,000 IZ Systems minimizes equipment footprint and slashes energy requirements 45% by implementing PC-based automation and EtherCAT

W

Figure 1: Completing compressed air system upgrades at the Pactiv plant in Macon, GA, resulted in a roughly $250,000 annual savings in energy costs.

All images courtesy: iZ Systems

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hile many companies claim their products or services pay for themselves, iZ Systems proves it. Based in Macon, GA, the company provides clients across a range of industries with energy-auditing services and control systems that quickly deliver a complete ROI from the resulting energy reductions.

“Almost every system upgrade we complete is based on green initiatives to reduce energy consumption at plants,” said Dean Smith, general manager and technical manager for iZ Systems. “We guarantee these savings, and our technology platform proves that significant energy reductions are maintained in the long term.”

Since Smith founded iZ Systems in 1990, the company has expanded its product offerings and client base, gaining customers internationally as a division of its parent company Blake & Pendleton. iZ Systems has long performed audits and upgrades of compressed air and industrial vacuum systems, and it now offers these services for cooling water systems as well. With its standard control cabinets that include built-in humanmachine interface (HMI) displays, iZ Systems supplies eco-friendly technologies that measure efficiencies, support remote data acquisition and deliver insightful energy usage information to customers.

For seven years, iZ Systems has provided these services to food packaging manufacturer Pactiv at its Macon facility, which focuses on molded fiber egg cartons.

The partnership began with a project to replace the compressed air systems supplying low-pressure blowers, according to

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David Powell, maintenance manager for Pactiv. “With every blower we tested, the pressures would change too much even if a single nozzle was adjusted,” Powell said.

“The iZ Systems team promised a blower system that would not change in pressure, even if you shut off all but one nozzle, and their system has worked flawlessly.”

Open, transparent technologies

The system improvements for Pactiv resulted in unique technical specifications, highlighting the fact that greater system openness is increasing in importance across all industries. To guarantee that customers’ systems achieve peak performance, iZ Systems must be able to monitor data remotely and make adjustments whenever necessary.

However, connecting to clients’ diverse networks can be difficult, according to Allen King Jr., inside application project manager for iZ Systems. “The ability to access and analyze performance data with ease is very important,” King said. “To this end, we access data from systems across the globe using a common source and format.”

In addition to its thorough audits, the company accomplishes these goals through its turnkey iZ compressed air automation and data acquisition system, which combines the automation controller, I/O [input/ output] and HMI in a single control cabinet and uses custom software. This system must support an increasing number of connected devices — 50 compressors across a factory, for example — while reducing footprint, complexity for users, cost and, most importantly, unplanned downtime.

“Improved reliability is an ever-present demand from industrial clients,” Smith said. “A compressed air system that is not reliable has the ability to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost production and energy costs.

A reliable and well-managed compressed air system has www.plantengineering.com

the ability to save those dollars. Our iZ system has the ability to assist in maintaining those savings.”

Open controls maintain performance

The engineering team at iZ Systems accomplished its mission at Pactiv using PC-based solutions from Beckhoff Automation. Beckhoff and iZ Systems first partnered on projects about 15 years ago, because TwinCAT automation software helped the company establish remote monitoring of its compressed air automation and data acquisition systems. Smith explained that interfacing horizontally via Modbus TCP to diverse compressor control systems within plants and vertically via OPC UA are important features that exemplify the system openness of PC-based control technology.

“The TwinCAT software platform provides tremendous flexibility to the process of applying our iZ Compressed Air Automation and Data Acquisition System software to any system,” he said.

Visualizing the numerous compressors and equipment spread throughout entire plants can easily clutter HMI, so iZ Systems has standardized on the Beckhoff CP2924 multi-touch Control Panel. The 24-inch widescreen panel, which was implemented at Pactiv, is mounted into a control cabinet cutout to enable easy identification of field components, according to King.

“Our trending screens use the multi-touch zooming function, allowing operators to draw a square around the area they want to see in greater detail,” he said.

“However, we know there is the capability to implement much more multi-touch functionality, and we hope to add interesting features, such as pinch to zoom, in the near future.”

The go-to machine controller for iZ Systems is the DIN rail-mounted Beckhoff CX5140 Embedded PC, which features a four-core, 1.91 GHz Intel® Atom™ E3845 processor. The device provides 4 GB DDR3 RAM and the ability to add data storage with slots for microSD and CFast cards. With a compact form factor of 142 x 100 x 92 mm, the embedded PC reduces space requirements in the control cabinet, while providing advanced capabilities not available in traditional PLCs. “We standardized on the CX5140 because it supplies

www.plantengineering.com

the necessary processing power to meet the needs of today’s Smart Factory concepts,” said King.

As with other iZ Systems projects, EtherCAT industrial Ethernet technology enabled real-time communication across the Pactiv production facility.

EtherCAT and TwinCAT allow the automation system to identify any new compressor or other industrial component automatically, and BACnet/IP enables direct integration of building automation controls in the iZ Systems solution. In addition to a range of standard digital and analog I/O terminals, iZ Systems also uses EK1501 and EK1541 fiber optic EtherCAT Couplers along with EK1521 and EK1561 fiber optic junctions in most compressed air applications to communicate with field devices.

“Fiber optic wire provides absolute isolation between our system, the processor, the machine and the compressor,” Smith said. “Fiber optics by nature provides excellent immunity to electrical noise and interference, and the EtherCAT I/O hardware offered us a big step forward in this regard.”

Figure 2: To reduce energy requirements, iZ Systems implemented low-pressure blowers in place of more expensive compressed air.

Stratospheric energy savings

By implementing open, PC-based solutions, iZ Systems kept its promise to Pactiv. As a result of the blower equipment upgrades, Pactiv reduced its energy consumption for compressed air by 45%.

“By using blower air, we replaced nearly 400 horsepower of compressed air with 50 horsepower. This amounts to a cost savings of nearly $250,000 each year,” Powell said. “The improvements to our air compressor design have stabilized our pressure, and the remote monitoring has given us peace of mind.”

PLANT ENGINEERING

(Left and right) Figure 3: While Pactiv still uses compressed air in its production of molded fiber egg cartons, the iZ Systems upgrades reduced compressed air energy requirements by 45%.

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SOLUTIONS UTILITIES MANAGEMENT

The results are impressive by any standard, but they are not unusual for iZ Systems, Smith explains: “For some clients, we have reduced compressed air energy costs by more than 50%, and we can prove that we have maintained those savings ever since.”

More importantly, the systems with Beckhoff components achieve the utmost reliability. Secure communication with customer machinery via OPC UA allows iZ Systems to monitor any changes in performance that could require maintenance.

Powell said this, along with excellent support, has been crucial for Pactiv: “The system alerts me when there are any abnormalities with the compressors, but iZ gets the warnings as well and their engineers are usually working to address the issue before I call them.”

In addition to boosting reliability, iZ Systems has reduced control cabinet footprint by two-thirds on average by implementing Beckhoff controls. Previously, the company required two or more 36 by 48-inch cabinets, but now most installations require a single 36 by 36-inch cabinet.

“Our old cabinets were much larger because the previous PLC generated anlogo excessive amount of heat, increasing our For use in layouts where the will be placed on a dark color field such as technical cooling services gray.requireSILVER = C0.M0.Y0.K30 ments and enerLIGHT BLUE = PMS285 or C91.M53.Y0.K0 gy consumption.

With the Beckhoff hardware, heat generation is not a problem and we increased our own energy efficiency like we do for our customers,” King said.

Figure 4: The standard iZ Systems The flexibility and scalability of Beck- solution for compressed air autohoff components mation features a control panel allows iZ Systems to mounted to the control cabinet. build PATENTED and stock stanTECHNOLOGY dard control cabinets for future use, rather than designing a custom cabinet for each client.

By creating open systems that support multi-vendor architectures, iZ Systems has the unique opportunity to apply energy-saving solutions from one industry to another. For example, the blower solution implemented at Pactiv has also worked for clients in the steel casting industry, among others.

“In many facilities, we installed these low-pressure blower systems to provide cooling or control of fluids and coolants, and it basically produced a 25-to-one reduction in energy,” Smith said. “We try to make the initial acquisition cost attractive to the client while guaranteeing major energy reductions, and the Beckhoff platform has made a huge difference in our ability to meet these goals.” PE James Figy is senior content specialist at Beckhoff Automation LLC.

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By Michael Jammal and Marty Kronz

Mitigate control panel security, safety risks A review of relevant standards, including UL 1436 and NFPA 70E

I Figure 1: Vulnerabilities of the infrastructures are easily identified at the physical layers and extend to all aspects of the system. All images courtesy: Panduit

ntegrating security into equipment and enclosures is essential. It allows design/controls engineers to create multiple layers of security that work together to protect the network and equipment without retrofitting or replacing components. Physical security solutions save time and costs associated with security breaches, network downtime, repairs and hardware replacement due to theft.

Significant transformations are taking place in manufacturing. Having access to data and analytics throughout the product lifecycle, from inception to order management and fulfillment is key to Industry 4.0. At the base of the data access design model is the physical network or communication infrastructure.

Vulnerabilities are easily identified at the physical layers and extend to all aspects of the system.

With integrated factory systems access to almost all data is available in near real time. This is a blessing and a curse. A blessing that we have the possibilities of seeing lot information and origination records when we need them. A curse because accessibility implies open standards, availability of data at all levels of the enterprise with vulnerabilities, especially when the networks are not protected with security layers.

Securing the data infrastructure is not a goal that can be reached one time at the design stage and then forgotten. It is an ongoing process that must start with a solid network design that continues to live on throughout the manufacturing lifecycle.

Figure 2: Data ports are protected with physical security measures that include physical hardware keys to prevent tampering with network traffic.

www.plantengineering.com

Older systems are at a higher security risk as older control and automation designs did not account for, or plan on, security or vulnerabilities that continue to evolve with new applications. These older systems represent added risks for control engineers who are looking to adapt new technologies in brownfield, existing systems.

Production data flow and security

Production data originates at the edge device. Computing is done at the edge application layer, for real-time response to changes in nearby devices and sensors.

Post-processing and housing of the data is supported by the control application layer, which includes higherlevel functions, local reporting and recipe management.

Some data is stored and acted on locally by the servers, but most all higher-level functions are performed in the control layer of the architecture. Therefore, securing the edge layer from attacks is key to the secure functions of the overall system (see Figure 1).

Data flow from the factory network to the enterprise layer is selective and purposeful. Data sent to the enterprise layers (cloud or otherwise enterprise data centers) is destined for additional post processing, historical analytics, higher-level functions reporting, big data management and storage.

It is clear, that if data does not originate cleanly from the edge in a timely fashion, none of the higher-level analytics and big data management functions can occur in a timely and reactive way to improve corporate metrics such as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), materials resource planning (MRP), customer relationship management (CRM) and so on. At all levels of the infrastructure security concerns, product life cycle issues, data safety and a long list of vulnerabilities are analyzed and measured throughout the enterprise to maintain a delicate balance between productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction and safety.

Security is a main concern at all levels of the physical network, or infrastructure. All inputs are considered security threats in the data aggregation model. The system is as strong as its weakest point. Therefore, it is important to look at the vulnerability of a system during the design process and remove known PLANT ENGINEERING

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Figure 3: Colored data ports are keyed to prevent mixing network data flows.

weak spots by providing designed-in layers of protection. Security is considered the first line of defense that must be recognized, designed, built and later monitored to assure continuous security compliance. Absolute security is not a realistic goal as threats evolve continuously over time. Physical security solutions should Figure 4: Network aggregation points are secured with physical coded access entry keys that keep unauthorized personnel out of the network enclosures and data systems.

start at the edge of the network and be found throughout the physical network layers.

Physical security at the edge:

• Data ports are protected with physical security measures that include physical hardware keys to prevent tampering with network traffic (see Figure 2).

• Select networks, or all network ports, are locked at the insertion point to prevent network disruption by protecting the RJ45 connectors with patch cord lock-in devices.

• Colored data ports are keyed to prevent mixing network data flows (see Figure 3). Network segmentation of colored/keyed data-ports cannot be modified after the initial network design and deployment. Colored/ keyed ports with fixed IP addressing give the control engineers complete control over the network segments and data flow over the life of the control system.

• Network aggregation points are secured with physical coded access entry keys that keep unauthorized personnel out of the network enclosures and data systems (see Figure 4).

Some of these physical security measures can also be incorporated in existing brownfield automation and control systems to limit vulnerabilities of older control systems.

Media at the edge:

Choosing the right network media (copper, fiber, network enclosures and pathways) is another aspect of functional security and data safetythat plays a role early in the system design process.

• Fiber network segments are immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electrical noise and can be used for long network segments where systems are scattered over large fields (i.e., oil and gas refinery, water or wastewater sites, mining operations).

Fiber optic network lines also can be tamper proof or tamper evident. This means that fiber traffic cannot be intercepted or tampered with without affecting the traffic, hence affecting immediately the state and health of the data network. Fiber optic network lines are generally used in horizontal (permanent) network deployment runs for all these reasons.

• Copper communication cables are easier to deploy to edge devices, since most equipment providers have copper connectivity at the device level. The choice of the right copper cables and shielding can play an important role in securing the data at the edge. TIAinput #15 at www.plantengineering.com/information

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Figure 5: Cable management is a key consideration of the physical infrastructure for securing the cable runs, optimizing system reliability, effective space utilization and scalability.

1005-A M.I.C.E specifications are especially important considerations at this level of the network.

Mechanical, ingress, chemical and electromagnetics are all hazards that can easily affect the data flow and security at the edge. Protecting network systems from these hazards means complete system replacement of the network. The choice of network components including cabling, shielding and pathways is critical during the inception stages of good communication networks.

with clean UPS power, fiber and copper patching systems to allow connectivity to edge and system level servers in the control room and away from the edge devices. < ' 8)&/ $0..6/*$"5*0/ /&5803,4 "3& */$-6%&% */ 5)& industrial control enclosures where there are higher EMI noise levels and voltages that present a shock or arc flash hazards are present, qualified, authorized &-&$53*$"- 803,&34 4)06-% '0--08 5"/%"3% for Electrical Safety in the Workplace when accessing the electrical enclosure and control systems. Within 35*$-&

< "#-& ."/"(&.&/5 *4 " ,&: $0/4*%&3"5*0/ 0' 5)& physical infrastructure for securing the cable runs, optimizing system reliability, effective space utilization and scalability (see Figure 5). It is important to consider industry-leading cable routing systems as part of comprehensive, integrated data structured solutions to effectively manage and protect high-performance communication, com- Figure 6: Enclosures protect the puting and power systems. Well-planned network in many ways by mainoverhead cable routing system, which taining system integrity, especialcan include multiple layers of protections ly when network traffic is isolated against MICE environmental concerns, from power systems where EMI contribute to effective real estate usage, noise levels are at their highest. additional network physical security layer and network performance. Cable pathways provide network structural integrity and cable protection. The choices of cable conduit and pathways for the exclusive use of telecommunications equipment provide proper environment and adequate security to the data network.

Safety at the edge: < &5803, &/$-0463&4 "3& ."+03 $0.10 nents of the physical network security system. Enclosures protect against environmental and human hazards. These devices protect the network in many ways by keeping the system integrity, especially when network traffic is isolated from power systems where EMI noise levels are at their highest (see Figure 6). Some automation system designers integrate communication networks inside power enclosures like drive systems or power distribution closets. This approach is not advisable for reliable long-term system operations because of the EMI noise, which will ultimately affect network traffic, data integrity and system operations. The best network enclosure is independent from the automation and control system

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SOLUTIONS

SAFETY & SECURITY

the process of verifying the absence of voltage is defined as a qualified worker with a portable test instrument (voltmeter), using the required personal protective equipment (PPE), and testing for voltage on each phase conductor or circuit part to mitigate shock or arc-flash hazards. This traditional method of voltage verification

has the potential for human error and other limitations.

Consequently, in the 2018 edition, NFPA 70E Article 120.5 (7) Exception 1 was added to provide an alternate method of verifying the absence of voltage through a new product category: Absence of voltage testers (AVTs).

A line of AVT devices that are permanently installed in control panel and power distribution enclosures to test for the absence of voltage is now available. These AVT devices test for both ac and dc voltage and therefore will see when capacitive voltage is present. These UL1436/SIL3-rated AVT testers mitigate electrical risks associated with the task of verifying the absence of voltage by reliably automating the testing process without exposing workers to the electrical hazards.

Monitoring the edge

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input #17 at www.plantengineering.com/information

Physical security always must be maintained. To do so, telecommunications networks must be monitored and audited with regularity. Well-planned network design is a good start, but security concerns are always present and real.

Human operators and M.I.C.E-identified environmental hazards play major role in the health of the network over time.

Monitoring network software platforms are deployed to oversee the network operations in real time and can provide health reporting data 24/7. In ideal system operations, nothing should affect system operations, but factories run in suboptimal conditions; additional network components, foreign components and many external devices, find their way to open ports or unmonitored Wi-Fi channels on the network. Added devices are security threats need to be identified, monitored and prevented from accessing traffic bandwidth of normal system operations. Monitoring software applications can immediately identify these security threats and limit or remove them by blocking the affected ports and alerting system operators of the imminent threat to the physical communication network.

Michael Jammal is senior business development manager of industrial automation at Panduit.

Marty Kronz is manager of business development at Panduit.

46

December 2019

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47

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December 2019

PLANT ENGINEERING

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input #18 at www.plantengineering.com/information

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new.abb.com/drives/digital-powertrain-monitoring input #19 at www.plantengineering.com/information