PE_20_10 by Modiconlv

PlantEngineering.com

Fight stoppages and disruptions Also in this issue: • Know the EAM profit killers • Profiles in project management • Forklift safety fundamentals

and

Technology

Rated 4.8 out of 5

by customers just like you… Tens of thousands of high-quality, right-priced industrial automation components at your fingertips, 24/7/365 • PLCs & HMIs • Motors/Motor Controls/VFDs • Field I/O • Process Control & Measurement • Discrete & Analog Sensing • Motion Control

• Pneumatics • Pushbuttons/ Switches/ Lights • Circuit Protection • Power Products • Enclosures • Safety Components • Cable & Wire • And Much More!

Does your supplier know their customer satisfaction score? If not, then maybe you need a new supplier! “Whenever its time to start a new project the first place I go is Automation Direct. It’s incredibly easy to search for parts and I know that I’ll always be able to find what I need. I love Automation Direct!” Martin in EL DORADO, KS “Very happy with the products and service. Automation Direct is my 1st choice when purchasing automation components.” Arend in BONHAM, TX “The best customer and product support I’ve experienced with any type of supplier hands down. Product diversity, availability and value that is unmatched in the industry...” Paul in JACKSON, MI Check out our vast selection of over 25,000 high-value automation components and all of our customer reviews at:

1-800-633-0405

input #1 at www.plantengineering.com/information

the #1 value in automation

Anytime. Anywhere. Always here. Hose and Reel Accessories

MotionIndustries.com input #2 at www.plantengineering.com/information

Stressed out? Juggling too many motion control projects while trying to keep up with new technology can be overwhelming! It’s time to contact an automation specialist at SEW-EURODRIVE for help. Using the latest innovation, we provide a complete package from start to finish, including expertise, project planning, components, software, commissioning, and worldwide support. So relax . . . we got this!

seweurodrive.com / 864-439-7537 input #3 at www.plantengineering.com/information

OCTOBER 2020

SOLUTIONS 15 | Four common profit killers and how to avoid them Superior maintenance operations may just be the difference maker

19 | How to keep machines operating during stoppages and power disruptions Zoned safety and uninterruptible power supplies for control power offer enhanced machine control during stoppages and power disruptions Cover image courtesy: Emerson

22 | How to maintain material traceability in LMS-commissioned plants

Editor’s Insight 7 | The world keeps turning

Introducing manual processes in line management systems (LMS)-commissioned plants can harm material traceability

24 | Fundamentals of forklift safety

INSIGHTS 8 | How self-service analytics enable remote working Self-service analytics support efficient shift handovers, reduced time loss

11 | What engineers must know about data science Subject matter experts and enterprise analytics increasingly allied

Keep employees safe and productive by reinforcing these safety reminders

26 | Understand the capabilities of polymer 3-D printing 3-D printed bearings show increasing promise

28 | Grease chemistry is governed by thickener structure Know the kinds of grease and the laws that govern their use

PLANT ENGINEERING (ISSN 0032-082X, Vol. 74, No. 8, GST #123397457) is published 10x per year, monthly except in January and July, by CFE Media and Technology, 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 and Technology, LLC. All rights reserved. PLANT ENGINEERING is a registered trademark of CFE Media and Technology, LLC used under license. Periodicals postage paid at Downers Grove, IL 60515 and additional mailing offices. Circulation records are maintained at CFE Media and Technology, LLC, 3010 Highland Parkway, Suite #325, Downers Grove, IL 60515. E-mail: pe@omeda.com. Postmaster: send address changes to PLANT ENGINEERING, PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40685520. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: PO Box PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Email: pe@omeda.com. Rates for non-qualified subscriptions, including all issues: USA, $165/yr; Canada/Mexico, $200/yr (includes 7% GST, GST#123397457); International air delivery $350/yr. Except for special issues where price changes are indicated, single copies are available for $30 US, $35 foreign. Please address all subscription mail to PLANT ENGINEERING, PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Printed in the USA. CFE Media and Technology, LLC does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage and caused by errors or omissions in the material contained herein, regardless of whether such errors result from negligence, accident or any other cause whatsoever. Technology TM

www.plantengineering.com

PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

OCTOBER 2020

SOLUTIONS 31 | Propane storage capacity increased through rail-supplied terminals Rail terminals save money by minimizing distance and time

34 | How to connect air compressors to the cloud Distributed low-cost electronic data collection and communication devices monitor and control air compressors and driers

38 | How a chemical company improved R&D project performance Software brings Kanban methods to project management

INNOVATIONS 43 | New Products for Engineers

UPCOMING OCTOBER WEBCASTS OCTOBER 13, 2020: Improve industrial facility energy management: a process-based approach OCTOBER 22, 2020: Leveraging AI to maximize collaborative robot efficiency OCTOBER 27, 2020: Tuning servo systems for high performance (Part 2) OCTOBER 29, 2020: lloT Edge/Cloud series, Part 4: machine learning and pattern recognition To view all upcoming webcast for Plant Engineering visit

WWW.PLANTENGINEERING.COM/WEBCASTS

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

INSIDE: OIL & GAS ENGINEERING 5 | Think leak first How the oil & gas industry can mitigate catastrophic subsea leaks

8 | Vote for the best oil & gas industry products of 2020 Who will win the gold in 2020? Oil & Gas Engineering announces the finalists for its 4th annual Product of the Year competition

13 | Artificial intelligence identifies process abnormality causes When other methods fail, AI is a critical finding and solving tool

PLANT ENGINEERING (ISSN 0032-082X, Vol. 74, No. 8, GST #123397457) is published 10x per year, monthly except in January and July, by CFE Media and Technology, 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 and Technology, LLC. All rights reserved. PLANT ENGINEERING is a registered trademark of CFE Media and Technology, LLC used under license. Periodicals postage paid at Downers Grove, IL 60515 and additional mailing offices. Circulation records are maintained at CFE Media and Technology, LLC, 3010 Highland Parkway, Suite #325, Downers Grove, IL 60515. E-mail: pe@omeda.com. Postmaster: send address changes to PLANT ENGINEERING, PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40685520. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: PO Box PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Email: pe@omeda. com. Rates for non-qualified subscriptions, including all issues: USA, $165/yr; Canada/Mexico, $200/yr (includes 7% GST, GST#123397457); International air delivery $350/yr. Except for special issues where price changes are indicated, single copies are available for $30 US, $35 foreign. Please address all subscription mail to PLANT ENGINEERING, PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Printed in the USA. CFE Media and Technology, LLC does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained herein, regardless of whether such errors result from negligence, accident or any other cause whatsoever.

www.plantengineering.com

Engineering is personal. So is the way you use information. CFE Media delivers a world of knowledge to you.

Personally.

CFE Media is home to some of the most trusted names in the business.

www.controleng.com

www.csemag.com MAY 2017

www.plantengineering.com Inside: Technologies and technicians p8 The signal processing perspective p12

Supplement to Periodicals Publication

IFE1705_MAG_Cover_V2msFINAL.indd 1

4/26/17 4:35 PM

Reduce and Distance Plant Personnel while Boosting Output and Preventing Contamination with automated, enclosed bulk equipment and systems from Flexicon

Automated, sealed BULK-OUT® Discharger-Conveyor Systems replace multiple workers dumping hand-held bags manually, while preventing contamination.

Enclosed Bulk Bag Weigh Batch Systems feed a central weigh hopper mechanically, and remove weighed batches pneumatically, requiring labor only to attach/detach bulk bags.

Bulk Bag Discharging Systems can loosen solidified material and meter it into liquid streams (shown), screeners, size reduction equipment and continuous blenders—automatically.

Dual SWING-DOWN® Bulk Bag Fillers fed by weigh hoppers fill up to 40 bags per hour with only one operator connecting empty bags and one forklift removing full bags.

Flexicon Bulk Bag Filling Lines automatically dispense pallets, fill bulk bags, and disconnect/accumulate filled bags, minimizing operator involvement.

TIP-TITE® Drum/Box Dumpers seal, tip and mate a discharge cone to a gasketed hopper lid, open a slide gate and feed downstream processes— automatically and dust-free.

Flexicon automated equipment and systems can move your bulk materials at higher capacities with fewer personnel, cutting costs while distancing operators from one another. UK AUSTRALIA SOUTH AFRICA CHILE SPAIN FRANCE GERMANY SINGAPORE INDONESIA

+44 +61 +27 +51 +34 +33 +49 +65 +62

(0)1227 374710 (0)7 3879 4180 (0)41 453 1871 2 2415 1286 930 020 509 (0)7 61 36 56 12 173 900 78 76 6778 9225 81 1103 2400

See the full range of fast-payback equipment at flexicon.com: Flexible Screw Conveyors, Tubular Cable Conveyors, Pneumatic Conveying Systems, Bulk Bag Unloaders, Bulk Bag Conditioners, Bulk Bag Fillers, Bag Dump Stations, Drum/Box/Container Dumpers, Weigh Batching and Blending Systems, and Automated Plant-Wide Bulk Handling Systems ©2020 Flexicon Corporation. Flexicon Corporation has registrations and pending applications for the trademark FLEXICON throughout the world.

input #4 at www.plantengineering.com/information

II-0670

USA sales@flexicon.com 1 888 FLEXICON

PlantEngineering.com 3010 Highland Parkway Suite 325 Downers Grove, IL 60515 Ph. 630-571-4070, Fax 630-214-4504

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

and

Technology

INSIGHTS

By Kevin Parker, Editor

The world keeps turning Taiwan is home to one of the world’s largest electronics industries. Taiwanbased Advantech is one of the world’s largest suppliers of industrial computers, including IoT intelligent systems and embedded platforms equipped with Advantech’s edge intelligence WISE-Paas core. At a recent virtual press event, company executives shared with interested parties around the globe their impression of today’s dynamic industrial environments, simultaneously impacted by emergent IT and OT technologies, the Coronavirus and geopolitics. Founded in 1981, Advantech, according to Forbes, has revenues of about $1.6 billion. “We see a fly-wheel effect resulting from the pandemic, and real innovation coming from it,” said Jash Bansidhar, regional European head. “We see 5G being installed to better understand the possibilities of true real-time communications. Remote commissioning is a good example. Analytics using field data. These things would have happened anyway, but developments are quickening.”

Differentiating regions

In North America there is a shift away from globalization, said Jerry O’Gorman, Advantech regional N.A. head. “Yet jobs returning to the U.S. is dependent on automation and while the number of jobs in some categories may drop, other categories, driven by IIoT and AI, will grow.” Asked where IIOT technologies would grow fastest, Linda Tsai, Advantech IIoT Group president, answered, “We don’t know. All regions are doing it, but the focus could be different. It’s more advanced in semi-conductor industry, for example. China will have its own ecosystem. Europe is not one country so there will be diversified development.” In reaction to Covid-19, said Bansidhar, the EU is investing $750 billion. “A lot of startups are moving ahead with services. In France, $9 billion is being invested in vehicle production. In Italy, the food & beverage www.plantengineering.com

industry is highly automated and things like tracking and tracing continue to grow in importance.” Bansidhar warned that no one should underestimate the emerging economies of Eastern Europe. “These countries aren’t investing in traditional automation and are instead going straight to IIoT. These countries have the education system to support these efforts. This will keep Europe innovative and take advantage of the multicultural basis of European society.” It was the largest companies first in the U.S. and then in China that brought computing technologies to market because large unified markets were needed to underwrite those development efforts. “But industries today are segmented and differentiated by use. Each may be strong in certain industries,” said Allan Yang, Advantech CTO.

Developments ahead

Earlier this year, Advantech told its investors the firm was prepared to initiate further development of its globalization strategy and its intention to offer highly tailored services with domestic locally tailored features, including R&D, application development, and mergers & acquisitions, to enhance its competitiveness. “We want to enhance our development in smart manufacturing, energy and environment, and smart transportation industries, provide device-to-cloud solutions and accelerate the deployment of IIoT applications, including high-end edge computing systems, targeting intelligent video and edge AI industrial applications,” said Tsai at the time. Miller Chang, president of embedded IoT at Advantech, said, “At the core of Advantech’s boards and modules, the focus will be on extension services such as R&D resource integration and high value-added design-in services to optimize our overall product portfolio. Upstream, Advantech will continuously collaborate with major fabless houses to offer innovative embedded platforms and design-in services to enhance our influence in industrial applications.” PE

PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

INSIGHTS

MANUFACTURING IN A TIME OF COVID

By Edwin van Dijk

How self-service analytics enables remote working Self-service analytics support efficient shift handovers, reduced time loss

he year 2020 is ever fated to remain a point of reference for all of us, a point after which the world was different. For the manufacturing industry, the timeline for pervasive digitalization and use selfservice industrial analytics to work remotely will look remarkably different pre-, during-, and postCOVID-19. Before this global disruption took hold, process manufacturing companies were in various stages of their digitalization journeys. Many of these companies had yet to implement advanced industrial analytics tooling. Additionally, many companies lagged when it came to digitalization, being slow to evolve and adapt to new technologies. Regardless, working remotely was not part of any factory’s vision for the future. When the pandemic erupted, processing plants were faced with several new scenarios for their operations: shut down, pivot or scale up. Working remotely became a priority to maintain employee safety and productivity and keep factories running when possible. Now, as we glimpse a postCOVID-19 era, companies are seeing the urgency to complete the factory digitalization. They also understand the benefits of adopting advanced industrial analytics to increase plant efficiency and support remote working — achieved as part of efforts to sustain operations and prepare for the future and its myriad changes. The virus has greatly changed industry. The lockdown and safety measures implemented during the pandemic disrupted production and supply chains. To avoid any supply chain disruptions in the future, many companies are bringing their factories back home. They want to become financially and operationally ready to establish production in their domestic markets. It’s predicted that factories will be relocated to domestic markets, or as the new term indicates, they will be “reshoring.” Digitalization will be key to success in production reshoring, including being data-driven and using advanced analytics. These tools allow factories

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

relocated back to domestic markets to implement flexible work practices such as smart social distancing and remote working to ensure employee safety and productivity. Digitalized factories that use advanced analytics can run with a minimum of on-site personnel monitoring production through dashboards and production cockpits to solve production issues quickly, maintain assets and predict maintenance needs. The result is an increased adaptability to the COVID economy.

Pre-pandemic, before remote working

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industry 4.0, Smart Factories and everything associated with those buzzwords already existed pre-pandemic. Many manufacturing companies were on their way to realizing digitalization. Those front runners understood the benefits of adopting new technology: increased operational performance, agility and flexibility. They were early to implement IIoT devices to improve efficiency and make data more accessible via manufacturing software tools, such as advanced data analytics, that allowed engineers to analyze and interpret their plants’ vast amounts of processing data, without the help of data scientists. However, many other organizations were only thinking about the path towards digitalization and perhaps struggling with the best way to begin. Self-ser vice analytics streamline work, cut costs, and improve productivity. That said, the approach pre-COVID-19 work did not often involve remote working. In fact, such an approach was not considered viable. One reason, companies wanted data on-premises for security and accessibility reasons. Companies believed personnel needed to be on plant floors to monitor assets and processes, exchange process information face-to-face, solve production issues in real-time working next to each other and implement shift hand-overs in the traditional manner. Working remotely wasn’t an urgent need. COVID-19 changed all that. www.plantengineering.com

A viral disruption

The word that best describes how manufacturing plants adjusted to the virus is “scrambling.” Companies scrambled to stay afloat and secure the safety of their employees. Never had so many plants around the world shut down for health safety reasons or had to drastically rearrange work procedures to continue operations. The pandemic brought about three main industrial plant statuses: shut downs, pivoted productions, and continued but scaled-up operations. To safeguard the health and well-being of workers and reduce virus spread, plants that manufactured non-essential products had to shut down for a specified time period. However, some plants pivoted their productions to make essential goods, for example supplies needed for virus safety, testing and medical purposes. The third group, continued but scaled-up operations, were the factories that ramped up production due to increased demand. The market had shifted, and plants needed to produce more with less. New IIoT techniques, including advanced industrial analytics, became instrumental in helping plants maneuver through the difficult times. For plants that shut down, process experts had the time to analyze the plant’s performance and efficiency by studying its data. With easy-to-use, plug-and-play industrial analytics software, these process experts could use their historical time-series www.plantengineering.com

Figure 1: Web-based Production Dashboards allow personnel to monitor performance and investigate production issues remotely. Figure courtesy: Trendminer

data to not only analyze processes, detect inefficiencies, and resolve issues, but also to come up with new ways to improve operations. They could view the historical data, contextualize it (add information about the operating conditions at the time the data was captured), add comments, start discussions with other specialists in the organization, and even attach files for further clarification and instructions for issue resolutions. They could create and share complete overviews of the performances of production processes. And they could do all of this remotely. With the right self-service industrial analytics solution, they could work from home while at the same time collaborating with team members at other locations to brainstorm and discuss ideas to improve plant operations. Thus, the whole team was able to remotely leverage process data to understand how to maximize the manufacturing processes. They were able to maintain work productivity even when the plants were not running. Other companies switched to manufacture supplies needed for the pandemic. Self-service PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

INSIGHTS

MANUFACTURING IN A TIME OF COVID industrial analytics allowed teams to turn process data into actionable information to monitor and control the new production processes, solve problems quickly, optimize equipment effectiveness and performance, and reduce waste. They could solve issues immediately and leverage plant data to easily search for trends and question process data directly — without help from a data scientist. These analytics tools allowed teams to work remotely and collaborate with team members at different site locations around the world. As a result, plants quickly got up to speed, functioning optimally for the new production plans. It was the same for the plants that continued operating but needed to ramp up production. Due to market shifts, plants needed to produce more to meet increased demands and address the challenges associated with scaling upward. Again, advanced industrial analytics was key to managing this situation. Process experts could work remotely or at least adhere to work-distancing guidelines allowing for fewer personnel on the plant floor to monitor production. The tool also allowed users to team up to discuss and solve process issues remotely and then share this information with colleagues wherever they were working. Continuing production was streamlined and eased and at the same time employee health security policies were implemented, all enabled by the use of advanced analytics.

Moving forward

Given a sense of urgency, manufacturing companies now know that to survive the post-COVID period — whenever that may be — and to better face any future disruption, they must concentrate on digitalization and establishing smart factories. The issue is no longer whether they will embark on a path towards digitalization, but whether they will address this pressing task in time to survive. The pandemic has emphasized the need for change and the adoption of technology such as manufacturing software to fully exploit smart factories and the associated big data. Companies need to respond to disruptions with agility and develop resilience to cope with whatever difficulties come their way in the future. They simply must be prepared. Many people working in the process manufacturing industry now see the logic in digital transformation. Companies that were slow in implementing it had their reasons, one probably being that they thought they had time. The current situation tells them otherwise; they do not have time and must act now. With the future of the virus

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

unknown, companies must plan to continue operating by applying smart social distancing and must continue operating by applying remote working. Self-service industrial analytics allows for 24/7 process monitoring through dashboards that permit reductions in on-site personnel and establish a system to communicate and collaborate remotely. Process experts can gain important insight into production giving them data-driven information to base their decisions on. They can solve issues quickly and accurately, to better predict and manage maintenance. With new work distancing protocols, self-service industrial analytics allow for efficient shift handovers, reducing time loss and cumbersome exchanges of notes and information. Moreover, workers have access to all production information, breaking down data silos and increasing efficiency. Ultimately, self-service industrial analytics provide efficiency, continuity and support under work distancing and remote working approaches.

Final thoughts

COVID-19 is a game-changer, not just for all people and businesses but for the manufacturing industries as well. Today, we are in an unprecedented global health and economic crisis. It is unclear when the disruption of COVID-19 will end or how the rest of the year will play out. Industrial manufacturing companies that plan have a better chance of survival. This includes incorporating new ways of operating to stay competitive while ensuring employee safety. Companies can accelerate and innovate forward, using this period as a time to learn. Fundamentally, it is a matter of business sustainability now and for years to come. Companies can achieve this by establishing digital and technological resilience and agility to face any disruption, by implementing the needed work approaches to ensure employee safety, and by establishing the necessary efficiency, productivity and flexibility to compete in any market. Realizing plant digitalization and adopting selfservice industrial analytics are key for companies to weather the COVID storm and to survive future storms. This tool will allow process personnel to analyze and monitor production processes remotely especially with the help of production cockpits. Moreover, self-service industrial analytics will allow for global work collaboration and the leveraging of expertise from all over the world. PE Edwin van Dijk is a vice president with Trendminer. www.plantengineering.com

INSIGHTS IIoT WEBCAST Q&A

By Sam Fahnestock and Ed Kuzemchak

What engineers must know about data science Subject matter experts and enterprise analytics increasingly allied

ot long ago, the Plant Engineering and Control Engineering brands of CFE Media & Technology presented a webcast on “What engineers must know about data science.” Speakers on the webcast were Ed Kuzemchak, CTO and director of IIoT and embedded systems engineering and Sam Fahnestock, engineering manager and lead security engineer, both at Software Design Solutions (SDS), an Applied Visions Co. Data scientists and data engineers are among the fastest growing occupations in the manufacturing industries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet relatively few of these data professionals are familiar with the unique parameters relevant to manufacturing and process-production environments. One emerging tactic to fill this skills gap is that suppliers are introducing self-service applications, allowing engineers to take the initiative with minimum support from data engineers. Evidence indicates engineers and technicians are grasping the bull by the horns by further educating themselves in the details of statistics and modeling. In this webcast, you’ll learn what they’re learning and how they’re learning it. To view the webcast in full, go to the Plant Engineering or Control Engineering websites. At the end of the webcast, Sam and Ed answered questions from the audience. After its conclusion they put their heads together to answer the questions they didn’t get to. The questions and answers are found below.

Q: How much do today’s mechanical engineers need to know about data science? A: The most productive modern engineering

teams are moving in the direction of being crossdisciplined. The individuals on these teams often are experts in their normal roles but have some understanding and capability in other roles. Today's mechanical engineers would benefit from some understanding of data science, allowing them to better understand and improve their products

www.plantengineering.com

Q: Don’t most production industries share common characteristics when it comes to process control that make individual anomalies less important? A: Many industries do share common character-

istics in the types of data that may be collected, but each company will be unique in the specific return on investment that it can make for a specific IoT project. That is why it is important to start small and measure the return. Also, engaging a third-party vendor that is familiar with industrial IoT can save a lot of time and money by bringing to bear the best practices that are common to an industry.

Q: What industries have the capital to invest in upgrading facilities with emerging technologies? A: Often, the best strategy for starting an indus-

trial IoT project is to retrofit existing equipment with low cost and off-the-shelf sensors. Industrial equipment has long service lifetimes, and this is a challenge that is somewhat unique to industrial IoT compared to consumer IoT or even medical IoT. It is common for equipment to be in use for 20 or 30 years. Retrofitting existing equipment is more cost effective that replacing equipment with new IoT enabled equipment.

Q: What are the skills engineer’s need to master to take the data scientist's role? A: A basic understanding of mathematics and sta-

tistics is important to be able to take on the data scientist role within a team. There are many toolsets available that range from simple to complex; having the ability to use and understand some of these tools is also essential to taking on the role.

Q: You mentioned that the data scientist role can help the team better PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

INSIGHTS IIoT WEBCAST Q&A

design the product. What type of analysis should they be doing to improve designs? A: Pretty much any data

an a ly s is c an prov i d e insight to improving the design of the product. A good place to start would be analyzing what pieces of the system that users are using the most. By understanding the most Sam Fahnestock, engineering used features, the team manager and lead security engineer, gains an understanding Software Design Solutions (SDS). of the "backbone" of their application and can take purposeful steps to ensure those features are solid and high performing.

Q: We don't have any data scientists at my company. How can we get started investing in data science? A: Expanding a company's capabilities is not a

simple proposition. Often times bringing in outside help can help your company get moving on the correct path for long term success. A third party that understands, not only the ins and outs of data science, but the industry that you work in will guide you on what data to begin gathering and how to begin analyzing it.

Ed Kuzemchak, CTO and director of IIoT and embedded systems engineering, Software Design Solutions (SDS).

Q: What would incremental releases of an IIoT project look like? A: One of the most valu-

able lessons that I have learned in seeking to combine the agile mindset with IIoT projects is to take the time designing the hardware with future features in mind. It is often far easier to push out firmware updates to customers than it is to get them to switch out hardware. By adding a few extra sensors to the board

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

up front, you will be able to deliver new features to customers through software.

Q: What are some of the external factors that influence the success of an Industrial IoT sensor project? A: Industrial IoT is unique in that it combines

several environmental factors that are challenging for sensors. Often, sensors must be battery powered, and batteries may need to last for a long period of time. Also, sensors are often used in harsh environments, so the selection of ensors needs to take that into account. Finally, wireless communication is often used, but it may be a challenge due to the interference caused by the amount of metal equipment nearby. One way to address the last concern is an early prototype with off-the-shelf equipment to assess the wireless communication feasibility.

Q: What data visualization and analytics package would you recommend? A: At the start, we strongly recommend starting

small and simple. Stay with what you are comfortable with - that might be something as 'simple' as MS Excel. As your IoT project matures, the analyses that you need will make themselves apparent and this will help guide you to the proper data visualization or analytics platform. The one positive use of seeing demonstrations of visualization and analytics platforms early is to help bridge the 'imagination gap' that can hold back project stakeholders.

Q: Can you expand on the “imagination gap?” A: The imagination gap is the term that we use to

describe when someone does not know that something is possible, therefore doesn't even consider it when they look at options in the IoT landscape. Bridging this gap is important to help stakeholders see new opportunities and help define roadmaps of where the project might go in the future.

Q: Are there legal issues involved with collecting data for machine learning and data science purposes? A: As with everything legal, we recommend consult-

ing with your company's legal team to find out the specifics of what you can and cannot collect. This www.plantengineering.com

type of data collection often requires an agreement from the end customer, allowing the collection of usage data.

Q: How can we get started on an IoT project? A: Gather the stakeholders that were discussed, and

include a IoT engineering firm in that early meeting that can bring best practices, so you do not have to repeat others mistakes, and also help lay out an agile, phased roadmap that has incremental wins along the way. PE

Sam Fhanestock is engineering management & lead security engineer, Software Design Solutions. As engineering manager, Sam coaches team members across the company on implementing the agile mindset and practices. As the lead security engineer, Sam plays a vital role in incorporating security into projects across SDS. Prior, Sam spent nine years working in cyber security for the U.S. Air Force. He worked as an Air Force civilian at the Air Force Cyber Emergency Response Team

(AFCERT) doing vulnerability analyses, penetration testing, and managing the cyber defense team. At Booz Allen Hamilton, Sam built cyber defense software for the Air Force's 90th Information Operations Warfare squadron. Sam is an ICAgile certified agile coach. Sam blogs on cyber security and agile topics at SoftwareDesignSolutions.com. Ed Kuzemchak is CTO and director of IIoT and embedded systems engineering, Software Design Solutions, an Applied Visions company. Ed founded Software Design Solutions in 2003, focusing the company on embedded systems, machine-too-machine, and IoT software development. He led the growth of the company from inception to its acquisition by Applied Visions in 2016. Prior to founding Software Design Solutions, Ed was chief software architect for the digital signal processing (DSP) tools group at Texas Instruments and a member of Tartan Laboratories, which developed highly optimized compiler technology for embedded systems. Ed holds an MS degree in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of several patents on embedded systems software. Advertisement

Supplier Relationships Matter… Particularly During a Pandemic!

Randy Breaux, President of Motion Industries

f there is one thing we have learned during this COVID-19 pandemic, the relationships you have with your supplier matter. In today’s supply chain, products are being manufactured all over the world and then distributed to OEMs and end users in every industry you can imagine. For many suppliers that manufacture or source product from China, the supply chain and products supplied through distribution was immediately interrupted as coronavirus became apparent on the global scene. Not the case with Motion Industries! At Motion, our supply chain and supplier base is as strong as ever. The majority of our strategic supplier partners manufacture their primary products in North America, and those products or components that they do bring in from outside of North America are typically produced in their own local factories. This is key to having a sustainable supply chain during a crisis like the one we have experienced over the past six months or so. Another differentiator for Motion is that we are known for representing and distributing the best brands in the industry, or what many call Tier I brand products. Our reputation depends on providing the best solutions to our customers, and to do so, we need to sell and offer the best products in the industry. Whether it be a bearing, gearbox, electric motor, v-belt, hose or pneumatic actuator…you can count on Motion to supply the best products available. We don’t believe that “just good enough” is good enough for our customers!

Strong supplier relationships matter most during critical times. At Motion, we know that we can count on our strategic supplier partners during tough times…just as our customers know that they can count on Motion, when business isn’t business as usual! Motion Industries has annual sales of $6 billion in the distribution of bearings; mechanical power transmission products; electrical and industrial automation components; hose, belting, and gaskets; hydraulic and pneumatic components; process pumps; and industrial and safety products; as well as material handling products and systems. In addition, we offer many technical solutions related to the products above, as well as repairs and services. Let us be “essential” to you, as you are essential to us! 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 nine with Motion Industries.

Visit MotionIndustries.com or instantly see Mi’s quality product offering to aid in the fight against COVID-19: https://tinyurl.com/yxobsa2t

Lubriplate ®

ADVANCED, 100% SYNTHETIC

ULTRA HIGH-PERFORMANCE LUBRICANTS FROM A COMPANY ADVANCING LUBRICATION FOR 150 YEARS

QUALITY

150 years ago, our founders set out to make the highest quality, best performing lubricants available. In doing so, they helped pioneer the use of anti-wear additives that significantly increased lubricant performance through the years. Today, that innovative tradition continues with our newest line of 100% synthetic, ultra high-performance lubricants. Engineered from the ground up, they provide a wide range of benefits including: extended lubrication intervals, multiple application capability, reduced friction, extended machinery life and reduced downtime.

INNOVATION PERFORMANCE FOR 150 YEARS

Products include...

HIGH-PERFORMANCE SYNTHETIC GEAR OILS SYNTHETIC AIR COMPRESSOR FLUIDS SYNTHETIC HYDRAULIC FLUIDS HIGH-PERFORMANCE SYNTHETIC GREASES NSF H1 REGISTERED FOOD GRADE LUBRICANTS ECO-FRIENDLY SYNTHETIC LUBRICANTS SYNTHETIC SPECIALTY LUBRICANTS Call us today and put our 150 years of lubrication experience to work for you.

150

CELEBRATING

INCLUDED AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE

Lubriplate’s

ESP

YEARS

OF QUALITY, INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE

LUBRIPLATE LUBRICANTS COMPANY

NEWARK, NJ 07105 / TOLEDO, OH 43605 / 800-733-4755 LubeXpert@lubriplate.com / www.lubriplate.com

Complimentary Extra Services Package COLOR CODED LUBE CHARTS & MACHINERY TAGS PLANT SURVEYS / TECH SUPPORT / TRAINING LUBRICATION SOFTWARE / FOLLOW-UP OIL ANALYSIS

input #5 at www.plantengineering.com/information

SOLUTIONS MAINTENANCE AS PROFIT CENTER By Paul Lachance

Four common profit killers and how to avoid them Superior maintenance operations may just be the difference maker

bout 25 years ago, a veteran maintenance consultant posed to me the question, “What do maintenance people do?” My immediate initial response was “They fix broken assets,” a response typical for that era. The reality is maintenance technicians and their teams’ primary goal is to increase a manufacturer’s productive capacity and efficiency. In fact, maintenance is just as responsible for profitability as any other department for a manufacturer. Increased productivity is achieved by cost-controlling measures such as avoiding downtime, optimizing labor, avoiding stock-outs (e.g., missing a critical spare part when needed) and assisting in ensuring compliance and safety. These all promote profitability. Figure 1: Combining asset criticality with priority helps properly and accurately rank incoming work orders. In this example, a ‘medium’ priority work order out-ranks one labeled ‘high’ due to a more critical asset associated with the work order. Image courtesy: Dude Solutions

www.plantengineering.com

Fortunately, the dated perception of the grimy maintenance person only resurfacing once production resources are constrained is going away. Today these professionals are known for proactively keeping assets and facilities running smoothly and they often tie in with many departments — production, finance, engineering, safety and others. In many ways, they are the unsung heroes of an organization and they can have serious positive impact on profitability. It’s also the case that manufacturers who implement software, best practices and use consulting services consistently show even greater profitability potential.

Common profit killers

There are numerous “buckets” of profit killers that plague manufacturers, especially as it pertains to maintenance operations. Some at the top of the list include: Labor: overtime, improper balance of work, wrong people for job, ineffectiveness Parts: stock-outs, poor ordering, poor management, loss/missing/theft

PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS MAINTENANCE AS PROFIT CENTER

Assets: downtime, poor quality (scrap/rework), energy usage, premature retirement Compliance: fees/fines, insurance hikes, bad will. Each of these can be mitigated through superior maintenance operations, which will control costs and drive profitability. Organizations that use a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to help can experience operational efficiencies to include the following: • More than 28% increase in maintenance productivity • More than 20% reduction in equipment downtime • More than 19% savings in material costs • Nearly 18% reduction in maintenance, repairs, operation (MRO) inventory. Using software to control maintenance operations costs will ultimately drive profitability. A well implemented CMMS or solution for enterprise asset management (EAM) is key. When combined with methodologies like Total Productive Maintenance or Six Sigma, you’re on the path to continuous improvement and promotion of “lean” and efficient maintenance operations. All of this makes an organization more profitable.

Why software matters

Obviously, in today’s manufacturing maintenance environment, software is not just beneficial — it is essential. And in many compliance cases, it is mandatory. For example, ISO requires (among many other things) automated preventive maintenance. It is critical you have CMMS/EAM software that can help optimize your maintenance operations around asset management, work orders, parts and procurement, safety and compliance, reporting and analysis, and more. Many look to implement a CMMS to simply help automate manual tasks without realizing that the cost savings and profitability benefits will go well beyond their initial hopes and desires. The general benefits of CMMS include: • Asset preservation/longevity • Minimizing unnecessary downtime

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

• Producing better products/environment • Using less energy • Optimizing maintenance planning. All of these will ultimately drive profitability.

Avoiding the top profit killers

Let’s look at how each of these profit killers can be avoided. Labor: There are countless higher-than-expected costs impacting your team if not managed correctly. One of the key profit killers to avoid is around poor team planning. In good times and bad, it is essential that the right person be assigned the right job at the right time. Poor team planning, improper prioritization, under- or over-utilization equates to higher labor costs and an unhappy team. A CMMS helps with this. For example, proper prioritization of preventive and corrective maintenance work orders is essential, and you cannot just trust the legacy “priority” field. Say you have a broken toilet near the break room: a diligent team member will happily add that in as a request tagging “emergency” work order. We all want a functioning bathroom, but there is likely another restroom in the vicinity. “Priority” on its own is not good enough. You must combine with the “asset criticality,” so you can truly see where the work orders truly rank. Notice the work orders below. The “Calculated Criticality” (also known as a RIME index) level-sets this scenario. By combining asset criticality with priority, a proper prioritization accurately shows work orders need to be done first. In the case illustrated in the figure, a medium priority work order is outranking a high priority. This is appropriate as that asset is more critical to the organization. By properly prioritizing work orders, a team will get the most important jobs done first, helping to better organize staff and align maintenance priority with the assets that drive organization success (and profitability!). Another area where CMMS can help is having detailed instructions — including checklists, pictures and videos — to ensure the team can perform the maintenance tasks (PM and CM) correctly and efficiently. This will lead to reduced meantime to repair, reduced work order completion times and quality work. As we continue navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, this is especially helpful as some team members may be out of office more often. Videos showing how they perform tasks will help when they can’t be there in person. www.plantengineering.com

Assets: Downtime is the king (and queen) of profit killers. Most manufacturers can calculate down to the minute what unplanned downtime costs them. The impact adds up quickly and can have catastrophic impact on profitability. A good CMMS will mitigate downtime by identifying sources of chronic issues (root cause analysis) and ultimately stretch the life of assets due to better maintenance. Not only will this help reduce meantime to repair, it will hopefully avoid downtime in the first place. Promoting more preventive maintenance (versus corrective maintenance) will automatically promote more uptime. This is done with robust PM capabilities within your CMMS, including calendar and meter reading (usage) based PMs. Add an internet of things (IoT) interface to connect in real time with your assets and you will further help your profits. Now let's talk about stretching the life of your assets with a CMMS. Not only will they be more reliable and produce better quality products, longer lasting assets help push off capital expense to replace them. There is detailed analysis and reporting that shows repair vs. replace, identifies “bad actor” assets that need more PM, and other valuable information can reduce both operating and capital expenses — a major ROI for your CMMS investment. Parts/Procurement: There is nothing worse than getting an asset released from production to perform a critical PM, only to find out you are missing a spare part to complete the job. Even worse, unplanned downtime undoubtedly occurs and missing that spare part will extend the profitkilling downtime. Stock-outs are a big profit killer and need to be avoided. A CMMS can mitigate this problem in a variety of ways. Clear visibility into your quantity on hand, and most important, alerts when you run low are critical to avoiding a stock-out. Setting up automated reminders of low inventory can help ensure having the right parts when needed. Customizing alerts to appear on a dashboard, mobile device or delivered via email makes it easy to stay in control. And in today’s COVID19 reality, disruptions to the supply chain mean www.plantengineering.com

Figure 2: Dashboard views within your CMMS instantly show how many parts are at or below their pre-determined reorder point. A user can click through to see the actual parts and additional data. Image courtesy: Dude Solutions

it could take even longer to get that part and you may pay dearly for it. Another good helper in reducing parts-related profit killers is to optimize your quantity on-hand for parts using reorder points, min/max and partusage analysis. Turbo-charge this with “just-intime ordering.” Just be sure to consider the possible disruptions in the supply chain due to the pandemic. Striking a good balance of on-hand parts (especially to avoid previously discussed stock-outs) can be a challenge, but striking that optimal (but smaller) inventory always makes the finance department happy by reducing overhead and driving profitability. Safety/Compliance: A well-implemented CMMS system is essential to regulatory compliance and insuring a safe work environment for the team. Any manufacturer that has lost its regulatory certification can tell you the pain (and expense) that is caused through fees/fines, vendor and customer bad will/canceled orders, insurance hikes and other negative experiences. CMMS on its own does not ensure certification/compliance but makes the process tremendously easier and more effective while driving all the profit-killing avoidance discussed previously. Stronger with services and best practices: Software and technology are essential to helping identify your profit killers and turn them around, but they are greatly aided by services and industry best practices. Your organization may already be involved in “lean manufacturing” initiatives such as Six Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance, 5S or similar. 5S is an easy one: We are all likely doing 5S disciplines in our personal lives given the “stay at home” orders we have been forced into. 5S (sort, set-in-order, shine, standardize and sustain) is a centuries-old process (going back to 16th-century Venice shipbuilding) that is foundational to all lean PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS MAINTENANCE AS PROFIT CENTER

initiatives. I can tell you that my closets, garage and attic have benefited from 5S-like initiatives during this pandemic. To maximize the return on your CMMS investment, it is essential to focus on a quality implementation and team training. In more than 25 years I’ve been around manufacturers and CMMS, the most common root-cause of an unhappy customer is related to poor implementation, poor quality data or lack of training. Yes, quality software with appropriate features is important, but it won’t help if it’s not set up correctly or if the team is not trained.

Avoiding profitability nightmares

Profit killers are rampant, but they can be avoided when you’re armed with the proper software, best practices and services for the battle. Don’t be intimidated — rely on the CMMS vendor to walk you through how this can help. Start with baby steps, and continuous improvement and resulting profitability will eventually lead to big leaps and driving away those dreaded profit killers.

Lean manufacturing and maintenance is always in fashion. As we continue feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in every facet of our lives, one thing is for certain: continuous improvement efficiencies allowing us to “do more with less” is critical in all times. When the pandemic passes, those who took advantage of the amazing CMMS efficiencies, amplified solid best practices and methodologies, and leveraged services to get implemented will be well ahead of the competition. PE Paul Lachance has spent his entire career devoted to optimizing maintenance teams by enabling datadriven decisions and actionable insights. He wrote his first CMMS system in 2004 and has since spent his professional career designing and directing CMMS and EAM systems. A regular speaker at national tradeshows, he’s been featured at IMTS, Fabtech and SMRP as well as several industry magazines. He currently serves as the Senior Manufacturing Advisor for Dude Solutions.

FOCUSED ON PERFORMANCE Eliminate Nitrogen Gas Delivery

Generate nitrogen on demand Reduce downtime Lower operating costs

Parker NITROSource enables users to generate gaseous nitrogen on demand, increase productivity, and reduce costs. This reflects Parker’s commitment to the profitability of our customers and to helping solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges.

DISCOVER.PARKER.COM/N2PE 800.343.4048 input #6 at www.plantengineering.com/information

SOLUTIONS MACHINE SAFETY

By Mike Johnson and Enrico De Carolis

How to keep machines operating during stoppages and power disruptions Zoned safety and uninterruptible power supplies for control power offer enhanced machine control during stoppages and power disruptions

s packaging line machinery has become more sophisticated, it has also become more complex. This increased complexity, coupled with a high number of interactions between operators and machines, increases the potential for safety incidents. For example, in the packaging world, production lines may stop for manual loading 10 to 30 times per shift, each time necessitating some form of interaction that exposes operators to possible risk and increases the potential for a safety incident. Guarding against these risks isn’t easy. When changes are made to improve a machine’s safety, operations can become even more complex or more restrictive. These safety measures often incorporate time-consuming procedures to stop machine operation, isolate energy, resolve issues and restart processes, which translate into lost production time. Frustrated by these disruptions, operators may look to bypass safety measures to keep the line moving and meet throughput expectations, exposing them to unnecessary risk. The consequences can be significant. An operation can experience damage to equipment, unforeseen costs, loss of productivity from shutdowns, injury to its personnel and even loss of life. A recent study by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reveals manufacturing accounted for 26% of all reported hospitalizations and 57% of all reported amputations — the highest proportions for all industries. Clearly, safeguarding people and assets remains a challenge for end users and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that must account for a seemingly infinite number of variables, including machine complexity, operator interactions, workplace culture and individual attitudes. Despite these www.plantengineering.com

challenges, improving safety within a packaging operation is possible. By implementing the right technologies, OEMs and end users can create safer manufacturing environments that reduce risk to operators without compromising productivity. Specifically, innovative technologies such as zoned safety and uninterruptible control power solutions offer enhanced control of machines during stoppages and power disruptions. Providing operators with enhanced functional safety systems on their machinery helps minimize the impact of these events on operations and results in more predictable machines that improve operator safety.

Zones ensure safe operator interactions

When operators interact with machines, they can be exposed to increased risk. If something goes wrong, they can be hurt or damage can occur, which causes production to come to a grinding halt. This especially holds true for pneumatic control sections of machines in a packaging operation. Traditionally, ensuring operator safety of these machines has required employing discrete safety circuits with redundant dump valves, designed for lock out/tag out (LO/TO) applications, that shut off air supply, dump air and disable machine operation. In addition to wasting energy by repeatedly dumping all the compressed air in the whole machine and forcing operators to wait for extended periods as entire systems restart, this approach adds significant complexity and unnecessary cost to the machine design because it requires complicated control structures to be in place and more expensive components. Without these control structures, the sudden reintroduction of air into a pneumatic system can cause PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS MACHINE SAFETY

Figure 1: Zoned safety technology offers a better approach to machine safety during manual interactions while meeting the requirements of the Machinery Directive and ISO 138491. Image courtesy: Emerson

unintended motion of components, increasing the risk of damage to the machinery itself or cause the machinery to drop products resulting in spills, lost product and scrap. To avoid this damage and maintain their expected output, operators may allow some machinery to remain live at times when it shouldn’t be active, inadvertently exposing themselves and their operations to increased risk. Zoned safety technology offers a better approach to machine safety during manual interactions while meeting the requirements of the Machinery Directive and ISO 13849-1 (see Figure 1). Zoned safety technology simplifies the design of a redundant pneumatic safety circuit with a single manifold system that can be configured to shut down air and power to only the group of valves that controls the machine’s specific motion in the operator’s vicinity while the rest of the machine remains in operation. This ensures operator safety and allows the rest of the machine to keep producing even though these safety circuits are enabled. Multiple independent safety circuits and standard valve functions can easily and cost effectively be designed into a single pneumatic valve manifold. This reduces complexity and the number of safety system components by up to 35% while allowing multiple and independent safety functions such as stop motion, return home, exhaust air, unclamp, remain clamped, and so on. For equipment owners and operators, zoned safety manifolds simplify operations and reduce cost while optimizing machine safety and improving productivity.

Intelligent shutdowns and restarts

Power disruptions represent another critical area of concern when it comes to ensuring the safety of a

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

packaging operation’s people and assets. For operators who rely on electronically driven automated packaging systems, power disruptions can occur with little or no warning, and the sudden machine stops that result from these disruptions can be dangerous, time consuming and costly. In addition to potentially exposing operators on a packaging line to unsafe conditions, these stops can lead to damaged equipment, ruined product, material pileups and product backorders. These disruptions can be caused by a wide range of power issues, including voltage sags and surges, brownouts, power interruptions and lowand high-frequency voltage transients; no facilities are immune. Compounding the problem are aging plant electrical systems that provide power to advanced machinery with electronic control systems, which are highly sophisticated but also highly susceptible to the impacts of a disruption. Simply put, damaged control systems can plunge a line into a state of chaos, causing machines to act unpredictably, with components crashing into each other, products breaking and operators caught in the crossfire. Preventing this chaos — and the threats it poses to an operation’s safety and productivity — requires maintaining critical, electronic-based plant equipment during a disruption. Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) offer a means of achieving this by allowing machines to keep their field power supplies, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and communications devices functioning during an unexpected outage (see Figure 2). In the event of a power disturbance, a UPS provides immediate backup ac power so that processes can continue or be intelligently shut down without www.plantengineering.com

Figure 2: Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) help protect electronic equipment such as field power supplies, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and communications devices safe during a power disruption. Image courtesy: Emerson

causing unsafe conditions. These units also enable operators to safely control the restart of power without accidental re-energization of circuits before it is safe to do so. With the ability to provide status updates of the UPS while it’s running, these power supplies help operators prevent equipment issues that can lead to potential hazards. Outfitted with UPS technology, packaging lines can operate reliably and continuously and help operators stay safe.

The right thing to do

Ensuring machine and operator safety in today’s increasingly complex packaging lines will remain a growing challenge, especially as operations seek to maintain production standards and meet customer expectations. Those expectations along with the subsequent pressure felt by operators to keep the line moving aren’t going anywhere. Still, manufac-

turing companies must ensure the safety and health of their employees who are engaged in the installation, operation, adjustment and maintenance of production equipment. It’s simply the right thing to do, and technologies that offer enhanced control of machine interruptions make it possible. PE Mike Johnson is vice president of marketing at Emerson Automation Solutions. Enrico De Carolis is vice president of global technology at Emerson ASCO Numatics.

Driving

Innovation. Protecting the Planet. Water management is undergoing a transformation. U.S. Water, Fremont Industries and Tonka Water have now joined forces with the global power and expertise of Kurita to create Kurita America. Together, we’re changing the way water solutions are designed and delivered for good. We envision a better future for our planet. You should envision better, truly integrated solutions for your business. And settle for nothing less. Prepare for a change at KuritaAmerica.com/PowerInHarmony input #7 at www.plantengineering.com/information

SOLUTIONS MATERIAL MANAGEMENT By Oladeji Andrew

How to maintain material traceability in LMS-commissioned plants Introducing manual processes in line management systems (LMS)-commissioned plants can harm material traceability

Figure 1: Subinventory transfer is the transfer of material from one subinventory to another. Image courtesy: Niagara Bottling

arehouse space allocation is a fundamental aspect of any manufacturing facility. By necessity, optimizing space accessibility and maximizing it to store raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP) materials and finished goods is an ongoing and primary focus at manufacturing plants across various industries. Some plants may try to address their space constraints by moving materials to other locations within the plant. But for plants that are fully commissioned with line management systems (LMS), these attempts to optimize space must consider whether the warehouse management system in the proposed new location can communicate with the LMS. Moving materials to storage locations outside the boundaries of the LMS raises the risk of losing their traceability, which is a common pitfall when the plant is using a manual retrieval/put-away process in addition to its LMS. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines traceability in ISO 9000 as “the ability to trace the history, application, use and location of an item or its characteristics through recorded identification data.” Certain strategies can help mitigate that risk. What might motivate an LMS-commissioned plant to alter its material storage locations, and in doing so, eliminate the use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) for retrieval and put-away of the associated materials?

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

A common motivation is the desire to use first in, first out (FIFO), which is typically incompatible with warehouse management systems connected to LMS. The FIFO method is an inventory management concept in which the oldest stock is used first. In an LMS-commissioned plant using AGVs, the AGVs do not typically pick up products on a FIFO basis. If the plant prefers to implement FIFO, but their warehouse management system does not support it, one strategy is to use a storage location without AGVs and use manual forklifts instead.

Recognize the risk in AGVs versus manual systems

An LMS-commissioned plant that uses manual forklifts for material retrieval risks losing the material traceability provided by LMS when using AGVs. The warehouse management system on which AGVs operate communicates with LMS as material is moved across sub-inventories, for example, as in a subinventory transfer (i.e., a raw material sub-inventory to a WIP sub-inventory). Without AGVs, the plant loses the integration between LMS and the warehouse management system for those vehicles, thus necessitating an alternate procedure for the sub-inventory transfer. This typically entails a manual sub-inventory transfer process, which requires the forklift operator to scan the barcode on the container label and virtually “move” the container to the sub-inventory destination by scanning another barcode on a sheet of paper, which represents the destination for the sub-inventory (see Figure 1). To ensure accurate material traceability, LMS must be able to discriminate between each container of raw and WIP materials consumed at the production line. This is done by assigning a unique identifier to each container: typically, an alphanumeric code printed on a label affixed on the container. These labels are applied www.plantengineering.com

by an operator whenever a full container of material is produced at a WIP material production station, or by a receiving associate upon the material’s inbound delivery to the plant. Each container label printed via LMS software receives a unique identifier in its barcode. However, container labels printed outside the LMS software have barcodes that read something else — namely, the item, lot and quantity details used to perform a manual sub-inventory transfer. Thus, there are two different label types (with and without a unique identifier) for the two different sub-inventory transfer processes (LMS and manual). Therefore, in the effort to optimize warehouse space, an LMScommissioned plant that eliminates AGVs in favor of manual forklifts will lose traceability in the LMS for related materials.

How to restore materials traceability with a manual process

Two strategies can help manufacturing plants rectify the traceability problem that results from using a manual process: 1. Reformat the LMS-generated label so that it contains both the unique identifier in its barcode, and encode the item, lot and quantity data into a QR code on the same label (see Figure 2). The label thus becomes multi-purpose, retaining both features necessary for material traceability and manual sub-inventory transfer. 2. Use the LMS-generated label in its original format, as shown in Figure 3, but require the forklift operator to manually enter the details for sub-inventory transfer through a keyboard attached to a small, fixed-mount computer connected to the inventory software. Circumventing the scanning step would mean that the barcode on the label does not need to contain the item, lot and quantity data. The forklift operator would instead read that information from the text printed on the label to perform the manual sub-inventory transfer. Each of these strategies comes with unique caveats. In the latter scenario, a manual sub-inventory transfer becomes a much more involved process for the forklift operator, and it introduces the risk of mistyping the quantity or lot number for the given material when entering the data. In the former scenario, manufacturing facilities that are part of a larger network of plants (e.g., a company with nationwide operations) might face difficulties in adhering to standardization policies and practices. Changing the label format www.plantengineering.com

at one plant might impact the ability of another plant within the company to integrate those material containers within their own warehouse management systems if they are shipped over to support operations at the second plant. If an LMS-commissioned plant seeks to optimize warehouse space by altering its storage locations, ensuring that the new locations are mapped within the boundaries of the warehouse management system (which communicates with LMS) will help avoid loss of material traceability. If the objective is to implement a FIFO method, the LMS-commissioned plant should use AGVs on a warehouse management system platform explicitly designed to accommodate FIFO, so there is no need for manual sub-inventory transfers or forklifts. Losing the ability to automatically trace materials can delay production, require unplanned expenditures for replacement materials, damage customer relationships and ultimately impact a manufacturer’s bottom line. In the event of an audit, robust material traceability provides a valuable functionality that allows for determining the source of a defect anywhere along a product’s lifecycle. Because manufacturers must be able to minimize downtime and constraints on plant personnel, maintaining material traceability is paramount, and should be a focal point in any attempt to optimize warehouse space. PE Oladeji Andrew is a manufacturing technology lead project engineer at Niagara Bottling LLC, the leading manufacturer of private label bottled water in the U.S. He specializes in leading-edge composite plastic materials fabrication and LMS commissioning and troubleshooting, supporting existing LMS systems and developing new LMS installations at multiple Niagara Bottling plants across the U.S. Among his broad equipment and engineering responsibilities, including design, application and process improvement, Andrew is applying his expertise in production line automation, track and trace, material management and order management in his oversight of a four-line LMS commissioning project that is one of the company’s largest plant installations. PLANT ENGINEERING

Figure 2: Label with a unique ID in its barcode and a QR code containing item, lot and quantity data for manual sub-inventory transfer. Image courtesy: Niagara Bottling

Figure 3: Original LMSgenerated label with unique ID in its barcode. Image courtesy: Niagara Bottling

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS MATERIAL HANDLING/SAFETY By Matt McDonald

Fundamentals of forklift safety Keep employees safe and productive by reinforcing these safety reminders

ndustries around the world rely on forklifts to keep employees productive (see Figure 1). While known for enhancing efficiency, these integral pieces of equipment can introduce a variety of workplace hazards. Forklift-related citations are routinely among the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) top 10 violations each year. In a study analyzing forklift-related accidents, injuries and fatalities, OSHA found lack of training to be one of the top six causes. Other causes include operator inattention, forklift overturns, unstable loads, operators struck by load and elevated employees. OSHA has several safety guidelines in place for businesses regarding forklift operation, maintenance and required training. Businesses that adhere to OSHA’s guidelines, keep forklift operators up to date on training and fight complacency around equipment can help keep crews safe and ensure that business runs smoothly.

Forklift safety basics

Some forklift safety tips may seem obvious and simple, but those are often the tips that get easily overlooked. The following reminders can help keep operators safe: • Wear proper personal protective equipment (PPE). When working around forklifts and other heavy machinery, employees should wear personal protective equipment like hard hats, protective footwear and high-visibility clothing.

Figure 1: Industries around the world rely on forklifts to keep employees productive. Image courtesy: Propane Education & Research Council

• Buckle up. Overturned forklifts are one of the leading causes of accidents, which is why it’s important for operators to wear a seatbelt during operation (see Figure 2). In the event of an accident, wearing

• September 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

a seatbelt can save operators from getting crushed by the forklift’s overhead guard or roll cage. • Know the forklift’s lifting capacity. Operating with a load that exceeds the equipment’s lifting capacity increases the risk of tipping the forklift. • Watch the ramp. Operators should maintain a safe distance from the edge of ramps to prevent dangerous tip over. When descending a ramp with a loaded forklift, always travel in reverse with the forklift and payload pointed up the grade. When traveling up a ramp with an unloaded forklift, always keep the forks pointed downgrade. • Make some noise. Sound the horn at cross aisles and anywhere visibility of the forklift may be obstructed to avoid dangerous collisions. • Call it a day. When finished operating, set the parking brake, lower the forks and set the controls to neutral. Safely parked equipment reduces the risk of unintended movement. Many material handling professionals are familiar with propane, as it’s a mainstay energy source for forklifts (see Figure 3). Propane holds about 90% Figure 2: Operators must wear a seatbelt during forklift operation. In the event of an accident, wearing a seatbelt can save operators from getting crushed by the forklift’s overhead guard or roll cage. Image courtesy: Propane Education & Research Council

www.plantengineering.com

Figure 3: Propane is a mainstay energy source for forklifts. Image courtesy: Propane Education & Research Council

market share for Class 4 and 5 forklifts, according to data from the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). Businesses are choosing propane because it’s clean, it lowers costs and it keeps crews productive. But as with any energy source, there are specific handling and operating procedures to follow to ensure operator safety.

Propane cylinder safety fundamentals

• Inspect cylinders before operating. Check cylinders for rusting, dents, gouges and leaks (see Figure 4). Cylinders that show signs of wear or leaks shouldn’t be used and may need to be replaced, even if it’s within the cylinder’s requalification date.

• Secure the pressure relief valve on the cylinder. Ensure the pressure relief valve components on

cylinders are secure and pointing away from the locating pin. • When not in use, close the service valve on cylinders. This helps prevent potential injury around internal combustion engines and unintended fuel loss. PE Matt McDonald is director of off-road business development for the Propane Education & Research Council.

Figure 4: Before operating a forklift, check cylinders for rusting, dents, gouges and leaks. Cylinders that show signs of wear or leaks shouldn’t be used and may need to be replaced. Image courtesy: Propane Education & Research Council

MOTORS & DRIVES

PLANT FLOOR SAFETY

Sponsored by: Vacumax

www.plantengineering.com/ebooks 2020-PLE_eBooks_HalfHorizontal.indd 1

9/28/2020 3:28:52 PM

SOLUTIONS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING By Chris Johnson

Understand the capabilities of polymer 3-D printing 3-D printed bearings show increasing promise

Plastic bearing. Image courtesy: SMB Bearings

he science-fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, is credited with being the first person to describe the basic functions of a 3-D printer in 1964. However, the first 3-D printer wasn’t released until 1987 by Chuck Hull of 3-D Systems. 3-D printing technologies have evolved significantly over recent years, with much of the research effort expended in the materials science field. Along with industry pioneers, chemical companies are now entering the 3-D printing industry, accelerating the capabilities of this manufacturing process. This has enabled the development of a range of high-performance polymers with desirable mechanical characteristics similar to those of metal. The 3-D printing market is expected to reach a value of $63.46 billion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.48% between 2020 and 2025. Additive manufacturing (AM) has a wide range of industrial applications and plays a crucial role in automotive, electronics, aerospace and defense and health care industries. Prototyping, designing and tooling are among the most common industrial applications in the industrial printer market. However, AM is evolving from a prototyping tool to a functional part of manufacturing. While the high entry costs previously priced smaller manufacturers out of the market, a range of affordable 3-D printers are now available. Growing expertise, new materials, faster production, the ability to fabricate larger objects and innovative finishes makes this advanced manufacturing process

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

an attractive proposition for many manufacturers. But what are the bearing design development and production opportunities facilitated by 3-D polymer printing processes?

Design flexibility

Each AM process impacts a material’s microstructure, including size, shape and orientation of the grains or crystals. This presents various challenges and opportunities. For example, stereolithography (SLA) offers a smooth surface finish, but components tend to be less durable than parts produced with other additive technologies. As the 3-D printing process is more widely accessible and doesn’t require expensive tooling, bearing manufacturers have the opportunity to experiment with bearings that have customized elements and enhanced performance. This affords manufacturers and design engineers the flexibility to experiment with design features that wouldn’t have been economically viable using conventional bearing manufacturing methods. With the economic barrier removed, manufacturers can provide a cost-effective low-volume production service — even for orders as low as ten bearing units. In addition, bearing manufacturers can use an increasingly diverse range of materials. For example, 3-D printed reinforced polymers can match or be enhanced beyond conventional properties, which unlocks new design possibilities. Bowman International, a UK-based bearing manufacturer, used multi jet fusion (MJF) technology to produce a bespoke rollertrain retainer using PA11 nylon. The interlocking structure permits room for two to four more rollers, allowing for a 70% increase in load capacity, as well as boasting greater elasticity, durability and functionality. While 3-D printed mass-produced bearings aren’t yet commonplace, polymer 3-D printing is making an impact in the rapid prototyping world. For example, in a niche aerospace project, 3-D printing may be used to achieve fast and visually appealing prototyping. This would ensure the smallest of mechanical elements, www.plantengineering.com

such as the bearings, function in unison with the entire system.

Lightweight design advantages

In industries such as aerospace, automotive or medical technology, lightweight design can achieve better safety performance as well as vital cost savings. For low load, low-speed applications, plastic bearings offer excellent performance characteristics and are already five times lighter than their steel counterparts. Many industries may have historically chosen to rely on metal lightweight innovations, such as Schaeffler’s XZU conical thrust cage needle roller bearing. Another example is an aluminum wire-race 3-D printed bearing designed by German company Franke GmbH. This bearing had the requirement to have a maximum weight of 800 g, as it was destined for use in the bed of a rescue helicopter. However, by moving away from metal and using 3-D polymer printing processes, it is possible to design an even lighter component. These designs use honeycomb-like structures, which would be difficult and time-consuming to achieve with traditional machining processes. In addition, 3-D printed high-performance thermoplastics such as carbon fiber and polyether ether ketone (PEEK) offer a feasible alternative to metal. Opting for a 3-D printed retainer in nylon (PA66) or another polymer material, can help to reduce the weight of the whole bearing. Carbon fiber reinforced nylon is one of the most popular combinations for nylon printed materials. It offers many of the same benefits as standard nylon including high strength and stiffness, but it produces significantly lighter components.

Reduced friction

A 3-D-printed polymer cage also may reduce the wear on the rolling elements compared to a conventional steel cage. A 2018 feasibility study assessed the friction performance of a commercial deep-groove (6004) 3-D printed ball bearing. The bearing was fabricated using the MJP process using plastic material for the structure and fusible wax material for the support. The result demonstrated satisfactory durable life of the 3-D-printed ball bearing at low loads and speeds. More recently, Igus developed its iglide tribo-filament, which is up to 50 times more wear resistant than conventional 3-D printing materials and is the world’s first to be enhanced with tribological properties. This new filament integrates lubricant in the plastic itself, making it more durable in motion applications. This is particularly advantageous for bearings. If friction is not effectively controlled, high torque bearings can www.plantengineering.com

increase the power required to overcome the resistance and drive the equipment. This ultimately results in a greater cost to move the load and a greater energy output required to operate the equipment.

Quality control

Traditional plastic bearings. Image courtesy: SMB Bearings

As with traditionally manufactured components, 3-D printed plastic bearings must undergo the same rigorous testing procedures to make sure they are fit for purpose. This is especially important for components that are safety critical, such as bearings. Crucially, when experimenting with innovative new designs and enhanced material properties, it is essential that the final application environment is carefully considered, reaffirming the importance of bearing specialists in industry. Adopting standards to mitigate and control risks as well as allowing more consistent quality are important steps for the future of 3-D polymer printing. New materials that adhere to standards set out by organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and ASTM, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, are an important step, enabling a greater adoption of 3-D printed designs. While 3-D printed bearings aren’t commonplace just yet, evidence shows that they could be used extensively in the future to supplement traditional bearing manufacturing techniques, to offer rapid prototyping and enhanced performance characteristics. PE Chris Johnson is managing director at SMB Bearings. Having held this position for more than ten years, he is a specialist in bearing and lubrication services. PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS GREASES & LUBRICANTS By Jeanna Van Rensselar

Grease chemistry is governed by thickener structure Know the kinds of grease and the laws that govern their use

rease was first used on chariot axles more than 3000 years ago. Today more than 80% of bearings are lubricated with grease. Lithium soap greases, the most prevalent, were introduced in the early 1940s. Lithium complex greases, introduced in the 1960s, are becoming the most prevalent in North America. A soap is, by definition, a metal salt of a fatty acid. The National Lubricating Grease Institute defines grease as, “a solid to semi-solid product of dispersion of a thickening agent in a liquid lubricant. Additives imparting special properties may be included (1).” Grease making is a relatively simple timetemperature process: a one-pot batch method. For a soap grease, fatty acids are added; if it is nonsoap, the other constituents are put into base oil. Common acids include the high-molecular-weight fatty acids, stearic acid and 12-hydroxystearic acid and short-chain complexing acids such as tallow, azelaic acid and sebacic acid. Once the acid gets up to temperature (i.e., the fatty acid melts) the metal base is added. The process is called saponification

Figure 1: Greasing-making process: basically acid + base = soap + water. Figure courtesy: STLE

or soap making. So basically acid + base = soap + water (see Figure 1). Then, because there needs to be very little water in lubricants, all the water is removed. Once that is done, the material is cooled and gelled—this is the point where the mixture becomes a grease. Next the mixture is adjusted for consistency by adding base oil (additives might be added, as well). It may have to be reheated, recooled and tested several times to get the consistency that is required for the product. Most people think grease is primarily thickener, but in actuality it is mostly oil. Soap concentration in oil is typically 10%-20%.

Types of thickeners

The thickener defines the type of grease. There are three or four different types of materials that go into thickeners. The focus in this article is on organic thickeners such as lithium stearate, sodium dodecylsulfate and diurea. There are simple greases and complex greases, depending on the types of fatty acids used. • Simple soaps. The main thickener used in grease is a metallic soap. These metals include lithium, aluminum, sodium and calcium. • Complex soaps. Greases with complex soap thickeners are becoming more popular because of higher operating temperature and superior load-carrying abilities. Complex greases are made by combining the metallic soap with a complexing agent. The most widely used complex grease is lithium based, made with a conventional lithium soap and low-molecular-weight organic acid as the complexing agent. • Non-soaps. Non-soap thickeners make sense in special applications such as bentonite clay for high temperatures where it does not melt. Common thickeners include: Soaps (comprising about 90% of all greases used)

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

www.plantengineering.com

• Lithium. Because lithium soaps are ver y efficient thickeners, lithium 12-hydroxystearate greases are the most prevalent. Lithium greases provide good lubricity and have great shear stability, thermal resistance and relatively low oil separation. Antioxidants are added to improve oxidative resistance (See Figure 2). • Calcium. These greases have better water resistance than lithium greases. They also have good shear stability. However, they have lowdropping points, do not have good operating temperature range and can only be used in operating conditions up to 110 C (230 F). • Sodium. These greases offer high-operating temperature, up to 175 C (347 F) but are confined to operating conditions no higher than 120 C (248 F) because of poor oxidative stability and high oil bleed. They also are not very water resistant. However, they do provide good lubricity and shear stability. • Aluminum. These have excellent oxidative resistance and good water resistance. But they have a low-dropping point of only 110-115 C (230-239 F). Their usage is generally limited to operating conditions less than 80 C (176 F). When these greases overheat in bearings, they cause sharp torque increases. Non-Soaps • Urea. A polyurea thickener is a reaction product of a diisocyanate with monoamines and/ or diamines. This class includes diurea, tetraurea, urea-urethane and others. The ratios of the ingredients determine the characteristics of the thickener. Since polyurea thickeners do not contain metallic elements, they are ashless and, thus, more oxidatively stable. • Organophilic clay. These thickeners include minerals bentonite and hectorite. The minerals are purified to remove non-clay material—ground to the desired particle size— and chemically treated to make the particles more compatible with organic chemicals. Clay thickeners have no defined melting point, so they can be used in high-temperature conditions. • Other. Other non-soap greases include teflon, mica and silica gel. www.plantengineering.com

Figure 2: Thickener fiber/micelle structure of two grease compounds. Figure courtesy: STLE

• Calcium sulfonate. This is not strictly a soap but is a metal salt of a sulfonic acid detergent. These greases have a high operating temperature and good water resistance.

MICELLES

Thickeners all self-assemble into threadlike molecular structures, called micelles, that allow a compound that is normally insoluble to dissolve. Micelles form when soaps and detergents are added to water. The individual molecule has a strongly polar head and a non-polar hydrocarbon chain tail. When this type of molecule is added to water, the non-polar tails aggregate into the center to form a ball-like structure (micelle). This aggregation is due to Van der Waals Forces between the molecules (see Van der Waals Forces). Because they are hydrophobic, the polar head of the molecule faces outward for interaction with the water molecules on the outside of the micelle, while the tail faces inward (see Figure 3).

Van Der Waals forces

According to Wikipedia, Van der Waals Forces are relatively weak, short-range attractive forces that act on neutral atoms and molecules and arise because of the electric polarization induced in each of the particles by the presence of other particles. These forces include attraction and repulsion between atoms, molecules and surfaces, as well as other intermolecular forces. The forces result from a transient shift in electron density. As the electrons orbit the nucleus within an atom, the electron density may tend to shift more to one side. This generates a transient charge (i.e., an induced dipole) to which a nearby atom can either be attracted or repelled. When the inter-atomic distance of two atoms is greater than 0.6 nm, the force is so weak that it is not strong enough PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS GREASES & LUBRICANTS

the flow of water through sand beds. It is a simple mathematical statement that summarizes the following properties of water flow: • If there is no pressure gradient over a distance, the conditions are hydrostatic (no flow occurs). • If there is a pressure gradient, flow occurs from high pressure to low pressure. • The greater the pressure gradient, the greater the rate of discharge. Figure 3: Micelle concept showing ionic head/non-polar tail formation. Non-polar tails aggregate into the center to form the ball-like micelle structure. Figure courtesy: STLE

to be observed. When the inter-atomic distance is below 0.4 nm, the force becomes repulsive. Since lubricants are non-polar environments, these micelles are reverse or inverse micelles. The non-polar tails face outward and the ionic head faces inward. So it is the micelle structures in thickeners that allow the thickener to hold onto the lubricant (See figure 4).

Darcy’s law and oil bleed

In 1856 Henry Darcy first studied and published work on flow through porous media. Darcy’s law is an equation that describes the phenomenon. The law is based on the results of Darcy’s experiments on Figure 4: Reverse micelle concept. Since lubricants are non-polar environments, these micelles are reverse or inverse micelles. The non-polar tails face outward and the ionic head faces inward. Figure courtesy: STLE

• The discharge rate of fluid will often be different—through different formation materials or the same material in a different direction—even if the same pressure gradient exists in both cases (3). Darcy’s law can be used to understand oil bleed— a term to describe how grease is released from the thickener for the purposes of lubrication. One of the primary criteria for selecting lubricating grease is its ability to bleed oil—which is dependent on the microstructure of the thickener. There are a few ways to measure oil bleed. For the cone bleed test, the grease is put in a cone where it resides for 30 hours at 100 C (212 F) before measuring how much oil has dripped. The log of cone bleed is a linear function of the log of the percent soap.

Grease aging

The aging of grease follows closely with the aging of lubricating oils with the addition of the thickener reactions. The thickener structure contributes to the aging of the lubricants through oxidation and hydrolysis. When the thickener oxidizes, the hydroxy group can be oxidized to a ketone then ultimately to an acid group severing the chain. Thickener hydrolysis occurs when soap thickeners hydrolyze to the fatty acid and the metal base. The electrostatic effects that keep the reverse micelles stable are lost in this reaction. PE Jeanna Van Rensselar heads her own communication/public relations firm, Smart PR Communications, in Naperville, Ill. Reprinted with permission from Tribology & Lubrication Technology (TLT), the monthly magazine of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE), an international not-for-profit professional society headquartered in Park Ridge, Ill. STLE is a CFE Media content partner.

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

www.plantengineering.com

SOLUTIONS ENERGY DISTRIBUTION By Crystelle Markley

Propane storage capacity increased through rail-supplied terminals Rail terminals save money by minimizing distances and time

any company managements recall the 2013-14 winter, which challenged all to endure and, in some cases, address supply and distribution concerns and major price spikes. The winters that followed were relatively uneventful in terms of supply and storage discussions, but the end of 2019 brought the industry back to this conversation. Farmers faced a wet and cold harvest, causing substantial propane demand for crop drying, animal heat and residential space heating. The industry struggled to keep up. The problem in 2019, however, was not so much about supply, but rather storage and logistics. Over the past five years, midstream propane suppl i e rs an d re t ai l e rs a c ro ss t he c ou nt r y

This map depicts all 15 Superior Energy Systems propane terminals built within the last five years. Strategically placed rail-supplied terminals help stabilize prices for local and regional propane providers by reducing the distance traveled to procure transport loads of product needed in rural areas. Image courtesy: Superior Energy Systems

www.plantengineering.com

worked to increase storage capacity through the addition of rail terminals, allowing local marketers unfettered access to reliable propane supply. Rail is key to moving propane where it is needed, especially when end users are not located in proximity to a propane pipeline. Strategically placed rail-supplied terminals help stabilize prices for local and regional propane providers by reducing the distance traveled to procure transport loads of product needed in rural areas, including much of the U.S. north and Midwest, where agriculture and heating needs are often urgent and extreme.

How do rail terminals work?

In a rail-supplied propane terminal, including the 15 Superior Energy Systems has built in the past five years (see Figure 1), product that is primarily sourced from shale plays is offloaded from railcars using compressors, stored and then loaded via pumps into trucks that transport the product to bulk plants, which in turn load local transport vehicles like bobtails. O verall design and storage need to be addressed first when building a rail-based terminal operation. Distances and aggregate storage capacities (i.e., total storage available) can place limits on storage and rail capabilities. It is critical to assess necessary storage required to meet regional peak demand. The midstream supplier must assess past purchases, logistics associated with moving fuel from nearby refineries, and geographic needs based on historical data, and supply and demand.

PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS ENERGY DISTRIBUTION

In a rail-supplied propane terminal, product is offloaded from railcars using compressors, stored and then loaded via pumps into trucks that transport the product to bulk plants, which in turn load local transport vehicles. Image courtesy: Superior Energy Systems

The keys to success

The most critical part of building an advanced railcar-supplied propane terminal lies in efficiency in both rail switches and the unloading of propane tank railcars. The responsibility of the rail switch falls on either the midstream marketer/terminal owner or the railroad operator. When a rail terminal is built, many logistical motions come into play related to the movement or addition of track, the amount of railcar storage and the necessity of separate The efficient unloading of (on- or off-site) railcar storage tank railcars affects the sites. The efficient unloading of entire terminal operation, tank railcars affects the entire determining the speed that gas t e r m i n a l o p e r at i on , d e t e ris unloaded and subsequently, mining the speed that gas is the number of tanker trucks unloaded and subsequently, that can be loaded in a the number of tanker trucks given amount of time. Image that can be loaded in a given courtesy: Superior Energy amount of time. Compressor Systems size and unload pressures make

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

a crucial difference in offload speed, as does the process used to remove the propane. Top connections are used to remove liquid propane, due to the nature of the fuel. Vapor removal and recovery is a significant detail that must be accounted for as well, to avoid losing potentially thousands of gallons of fuel. Also important in rail terminal efficienc y is the truck transport loading process. At the truck loading rack, truck-metering skids are calibrated for accurate custody transfer. Automation is also key; bill of lading management, the programmable logic controller (PLC), tank level system and terminal management software all come together to benefit both the propane retailer and the end-user customer. Additional automated features, such as a lockable gate control system, must be installed to meet National Fire Protection Association NFPA 58 code, the industry benchmark for safe propane gas storage, handling, transportation and use.

Location is everything

One of the newest propane rail terminals is owned and operated by Tri Gas & Oil, which operates as an affiliate of Mid-Atlantic Rail Services (MARS). (See Figure 1.) Conveniently located just north of Baltimore Harbor off Interstate 95, the terminal allows trucks access to bulk propane product. Fuel transport trucks in Maryland are prohibited from entering the tunnel system, typically traveling over bridges instead. The strategic location of MARS allows for the convenient use of the Francis Scott Key Bridge when accessing from the south of Baltimore. The new terminal, served by Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads and opened early fall 2019, provides 120,000 gallons of propane storage, along with a four-position rail rack and two truck loading racks. Double-acting compressors quickly unload and recover vapor from railcars. Turbine pumps allow for loading rates of 550 gallons per minute, with capability to load up to six trucks per hour, at an average rate of 18 minutes per truck. Local daily switching service from the Canton Railroad provides up to three switches a day in the peak of winter. This translates to product delivered into as many as 36 trucks per day when it is needed most. www.plantengineering.com

Crucial to rail terminal efficiency is the truck transport loading process. At the truck loading rack, truck-metering skids are calibrated for accurate custody transfer. Image courtesy: Superior Energy Systems

For the Northeast

Crestwood Services also brought a new propane terminal online in fall 2018 in Montgomery, N.Y., that plays a crucial role in efficiently delivering propane to strategic and previously underserved markets in the U.S. Northeast. The facility, one of the largest in the country, occupies 20 acres and is equipped to store more than 280,000 gallons of propane. The terminal helps reduce wait times for transports/marketers by allowing them to drive less distance to acquire product and wait a shorter time to load it. There was a clear need for additional propane resources in the northeast, specifically in New York and the New England states. The terminal is conveniently located right off Interstate 84 and provides reliable supply to thousands in the area. Maximizing the number of offloading stations while maintaining speed of extraction and accuracy provides economical savings to both Crestwood and its customers. The Montgomery facility was complete with 16 rail offloading stations on a continuous platform paired w it h hig h p er for mance vap or compressors, which eliminates volume loss. The design provides two switches per day and ensures a capacity of approximately 100 trucks per day, or a volume of 1 million gallons. The four-spot truck rack with turbine pumps will load four trucks in 17 minutes, resulting in reduced wait times and efficient turnarounds. The facility is designed to exceed even the toughest winter supply challenges.

addition, rail terminals save money for propane suppliers by minimizing the distance and time spent to acquire transport loads. That’s a winwin for everyone. PE Crystelle Markley is marketing director for Superior Energy Systems in Columbia Station, Ohio.

Efficient. Reliable. Customizable.

Final words

Making sure propane gets where it needs to be both quickly and safely is the reason so much strategy goes into the development of railsupplied propane terminals. This benefits the end user, especially in rural areas where agriculture and heating needs are important. In October 2020

•

Premium Efficient Oil-free Rotary Screw Air Compressors

Heavy Duty Rotary Screw Air Compressors & Vacuum Pumps

rogers-machinery.com input #8 at www.plantengineering.com/information

503-639-0808

SOLUTIONS AIR COMPRESSOR CONTROL By Ron Marshall

How to connect air compressors to the cloud Distributed low-cost electronic data collection and communication devices monitor and control air compressors and dryers

newly developed compressed air monitoring and control system developed by Ecoplant, a compressed air technology company based in Israel, has recently been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Israel’s Ministry of Energy (MoE) under the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) energy program. The approved project is a joint partnership between Ecoplant and Louisville, Ky.-based Atlas Machine & Supply, and will focus on applying compressed air system monitoring and control to improve the efficiency, air quality and reliability of selected U.S.-based food and beverage companies. Unlike typical programmable logic controller (PLC)based compressed air system monitoring and control systems, the Ecoplant design uses distributed low-cost electronic data collection and communication devices to monitor and control air compressors and air dryers. Using cloud-based data analysis and control, this design communicates directly with compressed air components in the device’s native communication protocol (e.g., Modbus). Directed by Figure 1: An Ecoplant data processing and artificial intelliinstrumentation plan for gence (AI), the system is dynamically a chemical manufacturing controlled and has the capability of customer. Courtesy: Marshall automatically adjusting control charCompressed Air Consulting acteristics based on changing con-

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

ditions, rather than using inflexible preprogrammed algorithms common to traditional PLC-based systems. This dynamic characteristic ensures the system is always optimized, even with no outside intervention by service personnel.

Background

Atlas Machine & Supply, a fourth-generation company founded in 1907, is one of the largest heavy-capacity industrial machinery engineering, manufacturing and remanufacturing centers in the U.S. The firm also designs and repairs industrial compressed air systems, compressors and related equipment and offers full compressor rebuilding, rental and engineering services. “We have customers throughout the United States, as well as in other countries,” said Richard Gimmel III, Atlas Machine and Supply president. “We’ve developed a solid reputation that dates back to the 1940s as a distributor of compressed air products and associated services. We offer a comprehensive line of compressor products and perform engineering and optimization services for compressed air systems.” “I have been in the manufacturing world since I can remember,” said Aviran Yaacov, CEO and co-founder of Ecoplant. “Since the age of 10, I’ve heard my dad, one of the company's founders, talking about how much he had saved and improved compressed air efficiency for industrial plants. The story would always begin with, ‘This week, I saved $100,000 for the factory after I lowered their air pressure, identified leaks and turned off a compressor, and they didn’t feel it at all.’” Yaacov has leveraged 15 years of information technology (IT) experience and hundreds of data processing projects into a unique optimization tool for compressed air systems. Noticing in recent www.plantengineering.com

Figure 2: Dashboard showing key system parameters. This system specific power is poor compared to an optimized system, therefore there is a high potential for energy savings. Courtesy: Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

years that cloud solutions that use artificial intelligence have become simpler and more accessible, he recognized these capabilities could be used to collect hundreds of key compressed air system parameters, interpret what these indicators were telling and use this information to make the system run more efficiently and reliably, while producing cleaner and drier compressed air. “Four years ago, when we founded the company, we felt that there was a huge opportunity and potential in the market to make a real revolution — a revolution that looks after the customer’s real needs, avoiding wasting of energy and unnecessary maintenance costs and most important, giving peace of mind,” Yaacov said. “It is important that the customers know that they can produce their compressed air while minimizing unplanned downtime. We’ve assembled a bunch of industry-leading people, along with brilliant tech minds, to produce the product called Ecoplant, which enables data access, real-time alerts and the most advanced AI-based dynamic control capabilities to help the customers meet their needs.” We are highly interested in the Ecoplant product because the product represents one of the few remaining opportunities to innovate in the compressed air space, said Gimmel. “Most current compressor airend designs [the airend is the part of the machine where the actual compression takes place; it is the heart of the rotary screw air compressor] are already well optimized from a mechanical perspective, so we think the data and analytics space is where we will see the most industry innovation in the coming years. We want to be leaders in that.” The strength of this partnership, and the promise of ground-breaking innovation, has persuaded the BIRD Foundation to grant a significant investment in this www.plantengineering.com

product. The BIRD Foundation works to encourage and facilitate cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies in a wide range of technology sectors.

Low-cost system hardware

The most important aspect of the Ecoplant system is the unique data collection and control modules. Unlike most readily available compressor control systems, the Ecoplant design uses a system of interconnected industrial grade mini PCs called EcoBoxes located within the plant and situated at every major system component. These devices are used to collect information and to send control commands, should that capability be desired by the customer. The EcoBoxes are inexpensive and flexible; they can be used to integrate with any make and model of compressor and air dryer and interface to any electronic instrument with an output signal to measure pressure, flow, temperature or dew point, among other parameters (see Figure 1). The Ecoplant system needs no expensive central PLC. The main data processing takes place in the cloud, making installation affordable. “The system is built on the cloud and designed so it can scale to any size system,” Gimmel said. “And you are not going to have the inherent static issues that you have with a hard-wired central controller. Ecoplant has a much lower upfront cost than our in-house Atlas Control Energy Solutions (ACES) system. It offers us a lot of pricing flexibility to be able to go onsite to a customer, install it, let them pay for it monthly and if they are not happy with it we can use that same hardware somewhere else if we want. “Worst case, we are out a couple thousand dollars, not $25,000 or $30,000. We put it in for you, we will monitor, simulate and let you know what the savings will be and if you want us to flip on the control module PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS AIR COMPRESSOR CONTROL

Figure 3: A sample chart of system data. Left part of the chart shows higher power consumption (orange line) because an extra compressor was running unnecessarily. The customer was informed, and this was corrected. Courtesy: Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

of the system, you can start paying for it past the trial period. And if you ever find out you are not realizing those savings, or getting value out of the solution, then let us know and we can come and pull it out and figure out how we can get better to keep your business and add more value.”

System benefits

The Ecoplant system has many proven benefits, the first of which is providing real-time monitoring of the compressed air system with data collection. Most compressed air systems have a limited set of generic monitoring points, mostly tracking system pressure and compressor temperatures. Some do not even save data for future analysis. It is rare to see power or flow monitoring capability installed in the average plant, meaning the system operators are usually operating blind to the real system efficiency and operating costs. The Ecoplant system collects key system data and places it into a database. It also displays selected important system parameters on a web-based dashboard, allowing system operators to view current system status, and immediately see system pressure and system efficiency with the click of a mouse (see Figure 2). Using power and flow data, the system tracks pressure, power and flow and then calculates the system specific power, an indicator of how much compressed air is being produced for every kilowatt consumed. The parameters are shown on the dashboard along with a comparison of where each parameter fits within a range of normal to abnormal conditions. System alerts are set up based on rules set for any parameter or set of parameters collected by the system. Whenever any monitored parameter varies beyond a certain threshold, an alert can be sent by text or email to predefined contact personnel so they can investigate and make corrections.

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

The Ecoboxes communicate digitally with any brand compressor controller in the controller’s native communication protocol. This gives the data collection system access to the available variables stored within the controller, enabling it to be used for predictive maintenance and alarming. For example, using lubricant temperature monitoring from a compressor controller, the Ecoplant system was able to alert a customer to an abnormal condition caused by a clogged lubricant filter. Once the filter was changed, the system was used to confirm correction of the problem when the lubricant temperature returned to normal. Using data taken from within the compressor controllers, the system builds an equipment profile and stores it in the database, assessing which compressors and dryers are the most efficient to use under certain conditions. The profile helps to identify anomalies in the system where one or more compressors in a system may be poor performers and should be subject to repair or replacement. Should the system control module be activated, this information is used to select the proper combination of devices for optimal operation under varying conditions.

Baseline optimization

Typically, the system is installed in a one- to two-day time period and immediately starts collecting data for a baseline. Data is captured for a sufficient period of time to form a reliable base against which future measurements will be compared after optimization takes place. In this period of time, the system learns about the system characteristics and creates the equipment profiles. Then, with permission from the customer, the optimization module will be turned on, and the EcoBoxes will send automatic commands to the compressor controllers to alter the characteristic response so that the compressors work better together. For example, the system might change the order of compressor operation, or shut down a compressor if it is not required to support system pressure. The system will control the system pressure on any desired pressure signal, for example, if the operating pressure at a certain critical machine needs to be at a certain level, the system will monitor the remote pressure transducer and control the compressors in a way to keep the pressure constant, but as low as possible to save energy. Once the optimized system runs for a sufficient period of time, the system energy consumption for this new mode of operation is compared to the initial baseline to prove the savings (see Figure 3). To date the Ecoplant system has been responsible for significant savings in the 30% range for existing customers. www.plantengineering.com

Should communication be lost to the main data server, the EcoBox controllers maintain autonomous local control until a connection is restored. This enhances reliability for the system so that optimum efficiency can always be maintained.

filters. Plans are to develop air quality monitoring and system rules that will raise alarms or even automatically switch out equipment to alternate components if a problem is detected.

Looking ahead

Air quality module

“Based on our strong partnership with Atlas, we expect the use of our technology will reduce our customer energy spend by 30%, eliminate the air contamination incidents to near zero, reduce systems maintenance cost by 20% and improve overall system reliability by 50%,” said Yaacov. “We expect to quantify and verify these values based on our fully developed cloud-based continuous monitoring and control platform and reporting tools. The system will monitor the compressed air system baseline and continuously compare it to the ongoing optimized system. We expect to see major improvements. After the initial pilot and installations, we expect to scale up and fully deploy our solution to the service area and beyond.” PE

The focus of the BIRD funding is the development of a new air quality module. Air quality is important in food and beverage manufacturing plants because compressed air often contacts or comes near food products. “One of the biggest challenges facing food and beverage factories is the quality of air the compressed air system produces,” said Yaacov. “Oil or moisture leakage into production lines can contaminate the production operation and even disable an entire plant in some cases. Many food and beverage production processes are required to meet strict air quality standards defined by the FDA.” To ensure high quality moisture, oil, particle and germ-free air is supplied to critical locations, sensitive instruments will be used to monitor the level of contaminants on the downstream side of the air dryers and

CFE

Ron Marshall is chief auditor of Marshall Compressed Air Consulting.

Edu

Committed to providing continuing education to engineering professionals. Whether enrolled students need a refresher course on a particular topic or need to know more about the latest engineering industry issues, CFE Edu offers courses that touch on a wide variety of topics.

Want to drive your career forward with CFE Edu? View the course catalog at:

cfeedu.cfemedia.com

2020-CFEedu-General_HalfHorizontal.indd 1

Our course catalog is RCEP Accredited, as well as certified by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for continuing education. AIA CES credits (learning unit hours) are earned for each course upon completion. After finishing each course, participants will receive a certificate of completion. Each course will educate and test participant knowledge via a mix of reading, video clips, and interactive elements.

5/5/2020 9:10:41 AM

SOLUTIONS KANBAN IN R&D By Dimitar Karaivanov

How a chemical company improved R&D project performance Software brings Kanban methods to project management

Figure 1: A management workspace coordinates work. All graphics courtesy Kanbanize

he pigments and coatings industry is a regulation-heavy sector, defined by long innovation cycles and multiple development and testing stages before products are approved for commercial use. As shorter iterations and frequent experimentation can be costly, use of waterfall models and phase gate processes represent the traditional approach to projects in this field. Schlenk is a leading manufacturer of metal powders, pigments, and foils. It focuses on markets for metal foils, coatings & plastics, printing & graphics, building materials & chemicals and other materials industries. In the recent past, Schlenk began exploring ways to better manage and execute projects and thereby strengthen its business processes. Schlenk was already using stage-phase processes to structure and plan work, including internally developed formulas and sheets to support their operations. The company’s resources include global production sites in Europe and the U.S., technical application & service departments in Germany, the U.S., China and South-East Asia, and a global sales and service network. Identifying Kanban, a term typically applied to production manufacturing in factories, as a suitable project management approach, Schlenk looked for a tool that enabled a high level of transparency into projects and across teams, including identifying related work items and process bottlenecks.

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

Kanban is a is a lean method to manage work in factories. It turns out the methodology associated with Kanban use can also be applied profitably to other type processes. Schlenk’s team considered a project with a consultancy company to automate its use of phase gate processes, including Gantt diagram functionality. However, based on their previous experience, it saw several downsides including methods deemed too bureaucratic, time consuming and costly. Furthermore, using phase gate for efficient planning and execution of innovation projects, as well as planning and processing work in big batches posed several challenges. It failed to create a link between the different teams and project phases, sometimes leading to inefficient handoffs, limited transparency on related work or process blockers, and work often piling up and waiting between stages or departments. It also required extensive planning of milestones and deadlines for project stages, but often lacked up-to-date information on project status or performance. This limited the ability to optimize the work process and improve efficiency over time.

Searching for project efficiencies

Forming a new team, Schlenk’s management explored alternative methods for the management of innovation projects. The goal was to get past the shortcomings of the traditional approach and to gain a competitive advantage. Looking for ways to improve the cross-team coordination, increase project transparency, and unlock optimization potentials, they came upon the Kanban method. Schlenk identified it as an effective way to connect all project stakeholders and create an efficient workflow in their future projects. Schlenk started by applying core principles and practices. They decided to skip the set-up of physical boards and work with digital boards from the start, so updates on project work and progress will be accessible from everywhere. www.plantengineering.com

Using Kanban boards, Schlenk was able to reach a new level of transparency that allowed everyone to easily check what is in progress, whose work depends on it and what comes next in the pipeline. Visualizing the workflow and all items processed uncovers process blockers and dependencies, for better understanding of the relevance of different tasks. Looking at Kanban metrics such as cycle time, throughput and flow efficiency to evaluate the performance of a project or a team provided Schlenk with in-depth insights into its work processes. It also revealed when teams or projects were slowing down. That way, they aren’t merely checking if deadlines are met, but a continuous flow of work. With actionable metrics and favoring incremental, evolutionary change, Kanban also opened the door for continuous process improvements. Choosing Kanban as their tool for project management, Schlenk’s next step was to decide what Kanban-based project management software best matched their needs. After evaluating several professional Kanban tools on the market as to ease of implementation, level of workflow transparency created, and responsiveness of the provider they moved forward with Kanbanize.

End-to-end project flow

Being able to structure work in several hierarchical levels through the parent-child card linking option, Schlenk introduced Flight Levels to manage research projects. It could visualize the end-to-end flow of project work and interlinked the work from different project management levels and from various departments in one place. The Flight Level model is a general-purpose model for organizational development from Klaus Leopold. It is an instrument of communication that reveals the effect of specific improvement steps at different levels and finds the most useful starting point within the organization to inaugurate improvements. The Flight Level metaphor relates to flight altitude. Flying high, you have a broader overview with fewer details; flying low, you see more details, but not the entire landscape. Making use of the functionalities and automation of Kanbanize, Schlenk created an overview of their R&D process portfolio status in real-time. Users immediately see the big picture without losing sight of the details. To visualize and keep track of its initiatives on a strategic level, Schlenk created a Portfolio Board that represented its pipeline and the highest flight level in the organization. Here users see visualizations of initiatives and related sub projects. www.plantengineering.com

The next flight level was dedicated to coordination between the different teams (Engineering, Laboratory Work, Analytical Department, Application Technology, Sale, and Marketing). (See Figure 1) Here Schlenk created a Management workspace, to easily coordinate and manage work across the multiple teams contributing to one project. Going further down to the operational level, a Kanban board was created for each team, and all boards connected to the Management board, to support a better overview. On the team boards, the teams broke down the work for each project into tasks they visualized and managed through their workflow (See Figure 2). By using the children -p arent card lin k, Schlenk interlinked tasks on the operational level up to the initiatives on the Portfolio board. In Kanbanize, the status of parent initiatives is calculated based on the number of children cards linked to them, and the status of these children cards. Applying this logic from the operational level onwards, the progress of the R&D initiative was updated automatically, based on the status updates of the tasks related to them. Through the Fight-Level structure and the linking of work items, Schlenk’s Portfolio board became an automated real-time st atus rep or t. This allowed a more probabilistic agile approach to planning and provided that big picture, without losing sight of details (See Figure 3). Wi t h m o re t h a n one team contributing to one project, optimizing the workflow beyond the team border was essential for improving the project PLANT ENGINEERING

Figure 2: Team boards broke down work in each project

Figure 3: Flight level structure.

Figure 4: Block-card function.

October 2020

•

SOLUTIONS KANBAN IN R&D

Gain visibility across projects

Figure 5: Cumulative flow data

Figure 6: Optimization steps.

performance. Through the described work breakdown and linking structure, Schlenk connected the work of different departments into one project flow and unlocked optimization potential on the coordination level, by improving cross-departmental synchronization and removing process bottlenecks. With everyone using Kanbanize, different departments had a direct link between each other, and all project stakeholders had the full picture in front of their eyes. A particular benefit of the shared work environment was noted in the improved coordination between the Research and Analytics departments. While previously, the Chemistry team had to ask and wait for a status update from their coworkers on how the processing of lab results was going, now Kanbanize automatically visualized any updates. When work items were ready for the next work stage, everyone immediately saw it, reducing waiting times and supporting a stable workflow on and above the team level. Another feature that helped Schlenk optimize the workflow beyond the team border was the "block card" function. It allowed team members to visually signal to everyone that their workflow had stopped. (See Figure 4).

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

In Kanbanize, if one child card on the Team board is blocked, this is visualized on the parent initiative and on the dashboard of the workspace. This allows managers to quickly spot where the project progress is hindered and to identify urgent matters. With Kanbanize Schlenk created a smoother flow of information, reduced waiting times between process steps, and gave users insights into how work flowed beyond the personal and team levels. Visual signaling of workflow blockages helped resolve bottlenecks faster and enabled a better flow of work, regardless of the departments the blockers occurred in. Besides reducing waiting times between teams and supporting a stable flow of work, Schlenk also managed to reduce cycle times significantly and increase throughput, resulting in improved project performance. Focusing on flow management and optimization, Schlenk used the analytics of Kanbanize to identify optimization potentials in workflows that can lead to better project performance. Two diagrams they extensively used to identify optimization potentials in their workflow are the Cycle Time Scatter Plot and the Cumulative Flow Diagram. Looking at the Cycle Time Scatter Plot diagram, they analyzed the outliers to identify what caused delays in the specific tasks and to define optimization steps, based on their findings. This way, they could systematically tackle process bottlenecks and remove blockers from their system. Monitoring their Cumulative Flow diagram (CFD), they analyzed process stability of the process and overall cycle time trend to see if more work is coming in than exiting the system (See Figure 5). It was noticed one team was processing most of its work shortly before a review meeting. In the time between review meetings, work was not flowing smoothly, leading to an increase in cycle time, which again dropped before the next review meeting. As a result, the switch was made to smaller and more regular meetings to stabilize the workflow and reduce the team's cycle time. This is a prime example of how the Kanban principle, “Start with what you do now,” helps companies improve performance with evolutionary processes optimization steps (See Figure 6). Despite structuring deliverables in larger batches, due to the nature of work in the chemical industry, applying Kanban techniques and metrics helped Schlenk’s teams achieve a smoother workflow. www.plantengineering.com

Another process optimization that led to shorter cycle times and improved project performance was the introduction of WIP limits. Limiting the number of task items that a team is currently working on is a key practice for Kanban. In one case, it helped Schlenk to reduce the cycle time of one team from 110 days to 44 days (at the 85% percentile). Allowing fewer tasks to enter the system simultaneously speeded up their execution and led to an increase in the throughput (See Figure 7).

How the teams use it

With the analytics module in their hands, teams also used the data to gain a better overview of performance. The ability to extract information on how much time they spend on different task types allowed the Analytical department to use Kanbanize when reporting to upper management. The need for data collection and time spent preparing documents is reduced. Focusing on cycle time, throughput and flow led to continuous improvement efforts. Work processes became more efficient over time. Tasks were processed quicker, more work items exited the system and a stable work process on a project level was achieved, resulting in an overall improvement of the project performance (See Figure 8). A few months after the initial introduction of the tool, Schlenk sent a survey to its users, asking for feedback. Some of the benefits of Kanban and Kanbanize they named were: • Excellent overview of workload • Easy top-down synchronization of priorities • Just in time information • Just in time recognition of bottlenecks • Excellent idea management (backlog) • Optimization of workflow • Easy transfer of work between part time workers.

Associates even encouraged others to use Kanbanize more actively. Even better, users said that, compared to other tools, where benefits seem to be only for the management, here every user recognized benefits in their work. This led to high acceptance and wide usage of the tool. Seeing the benefits Kanbanize brings for their teams, SCHLENK went a step further and invited a supplier to collaborate on their Kanban boards. By integrating the external company in their workflow, they managed to improve the coordination and communication and to streamline the exchange of relevant information. Next, Schlenk plans to further expand the use of the tool and to also invite a customer to collaborate in their workflow. PE Dimitar Karaivanov, CEO and Co-founder of Kanbanize, is a lean-thinker and a Kanban practitioner with a solid background in the areas of software development and process improvement. His expertise was gained through more than 15 years of career development at companies like Johnson Controls, SAP and Software AG. He has proven that Kanban can be used for product development and not just change management activities. Dimitar is a keynote speaker and author of ‘Lean Software Development with Kanban’. He is an active member of the Lean / Kanban community and supporter of initiatives, which aim to promote it.

Figure 7: Throughput improvements

Figure 8: Project performance improvements.

Respondents said they were able to visualize work. Kanbanize gave them an overview of their colleagues' tasks, so they felt more informed about work items that they depended on. www.plantengineering.com

PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

webcasts Plant Engineering’s webcasts cover the latest engineering topics that affect your industry and operations. Join the expert panelists and attend our webcasts at your desktop or mobile device of your choice. Discover the latest on topics like:

• Arc flash

• Compressed air

• Electrical safety

• Power distribution

• Plant safety

• Energy management

• Maintenance

• Asset management

• IIoT

• Safety management

www.plantengineering.com/webcasts

INNOVATIONS

NEW PRODUCTS FOR ENGINEERS

Stainless steel friction hinges The dual-function 301 stainless steel torque/friction hinge variants from FDB help regulate door opening/closing with a torque or friction function. These 85-millimeter hinges feature constant torque/friction with temperature stable characteristics in a “gull wing” design, which raises the pivot for easier operation. Installation is accomplished by 6.3-millimeter predrilled holes with hinge pins sealed by polyethylene caps. FDB Panel Fittings Ltd www.fdbonline.co.uk Input #200 at www.plantengineering.com/information

Clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeters Clamp-on Ultrasonic Flowmeter series from AW-Lake fastens on the outside of vertical or horizontal pipes ranging in size from half inch through 48 inches. Housed in a water- and dust-tight NEMA 4X polycarbonate enclosure, the flowmeters are compatible with a range of metal and plastic pipe materials and difficult liquids such as chemicals, viscous liquids and abrasives. The flowmeters use the “different transit time” ultrasonic measurement principle to measure flow from the outside of pipes by calculating the time of flight difference for ultrasonic sound pulses transmitted between two sensors placed on the measuring tube. AW-LAKE Co. https://aw-lake.com/ Input #201 at www.plantengineering.com/information

High-speed historian Hyper Historian from ICONICS is an advanced 64-bit high-speed, reliable and robust historian. Designed for mission critical applications, its high compression algorithm delivers performance with efficient use of resources. The historian integrates with the latest Big Data technologies including Azure SQL, Microsoft Data Lakes, Kafka and Hadoop. Historian tags can be created quickly and easily from the asset database in a few clicks. This integration allows historical data to be associated within the context of your ISA-95-compliant asset hierarchy. Ensure no data is missed with redundant logger and remote collector functionality. ICONICS https://iconics.com Input #202 at www.plantengineering.com/information

www.plantengineering.com

PLANT ENGINEERING

October 2020

•

INNOVATIONS Green controlled marked receptacles

Simplified motion series Simplified Motion Series integrated drives/actuators from Festo are ideal for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who are looking for an electric alternative for simple movement and positioning tasks. Control via digital input/output (I/O) is easy and similar to controlling a pneumatic valve while the alternative connection via IO-Link provides highly flexible control as well as additional functions. End position feedback is integrated as standard, with its functionality corresponding to that of a conventional proximity sensor. Commissioning is quick and easy without the need for software, computers or other accessories because all parameters can be manually adjusted directly on the drive. Festo www.festo.com Input #203 at www.plantengineering.com/information

Eaton has expanded its controlled receptacle color choices, offering additional solutions to help minimize energy usage in commercial environments. The straight blade receptacles cover the full range of residential, hospital, industrial, construction and commercial grades to meet any application. Choose from decorator or traditional styles, multiple colors, tamper resistant solutions and weather resistant products for exterior installations. Eaton also offers special solutions for complex environments including corrosion-resistant, severeduty insulated and watertight products. Eaton www.eaton.com Input #205 at www.plantengineering.com/information

Inventory system The ENTIS Inventory System from Honeywell is built on the company’s Experion platform. The system is designed to help operators manage their liquid inventory and support decisions to improve performance and drive down costs. The ENTIS tank management and custody transfer technology helps reduce inventory uncertainties, increase operator efficiency and reduce product losses. The system features real-time visualization of tank inventory calculations in compliance with the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). It also features intuitive alarms and event management to protect personnel and assets. Honeywell Process Solutions www.honeywellprocess.com Input #204 at www.plantengineering.com/information

• October 2020

PLANT ENGINEERING

www.plantengineering.com

EDUCATION for ENGINEERS

October 13, 2020 11AM PT | 1PM CT | 2PM ET

Improve industrial facility energy management: a processbased approach Attendees are eligible for a certificate of completion. Sponsored by

E B O O K | FA L L E D I T I O N

Motors & Drives Sponsored by

ONLINE COURSE: IIoT Series: Part 4: Machine Learning

One (1) certified professional development hour (PDH) available for all attendees.

Course runs until January 27, 2021 www.plantengineering.com/webcasts | www.plantengineering.com/research | www.plantengineering.com/ebooks | cfeedu.cfemedia.com

October 27, 2020 11AM PT | 1PM CT | 2PM ET October 22, 2020 11AM PT | 1PM CT | 2PM ET

Leveraging AI to Maximize Collaborative Robot Efficiency Attendees are eligible for a certificate of completion.

Tuning Servo Systems for High Performance (Part 2) Attendees are eligible for a certificate of completion.