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CONTENT SPECIALISTS/EDITORIAL

KEVIN PARKER,

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

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INSIGHTS

By Kevin Parker, Editor

Who knows what to expect?

In late July, the New York Times said supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic will extend well into the first half of 2022. Shipping containers are reported backed up in China’s ports, on ships waiting to dock in U.S. ports, in temporary storage on the west coast and in rail yards in Chicago.

For automation and IT suppliers, everyone wants to get going again but the return to live events has been hesitant. In the meantime, virtual events and Zoom calls make up the difference.

Solutions for condition monitoring are coming from all directions: equipment and device makers, automation and software companies, and even bearing technology suppliers. Schaeffler Group USA manufactures highprecision components and systems for powertrain and chassis applications, as well as rolling and plain bearing solutions.

Schaeffler’s OPTIME consists of wireless, battery-powered vibration sensors, a cellular gateway and an app to visualize the resulting data. This information captured by sensors is analyzed using proprietary algorithms that draw on Schaeffler’s technical expertise, its extensive library of physical models developed and refined over decades, and the experience in condition monitoring Schaeffler gets from its bearing servicing operations.

Slicing and spicing

Monte Zweben is the CEO and cofounder of Splice Machine. Splice Machine bills itself as the real-time AI company. Years ago, at the end of the ERP boom, Zweben was chairman and CEO of Red Pepper Software, a pioneer in the category of advanced planning and scheduling, which was eventually bought by PeopleSoft.

What’s different today compared to back then, Zweben recently said, is the

power of distributed computing. “With Red Pepper, all the data was brought into memory. Today, with cloud computing, enormous computational resources are available much more elastically.”

On a recent Voices in AI podcast, Zweben explained how Splice Machine is distinct, saying that operational AI requires three fundamentally different computational workloads. It requires machine learning algorithms, including deep learning. Good data, cleansed and transformed, is needed so machine learning algorithms can make sense of it. You also need operational computing workloads running the applications.

Splice Machine brings all three together in one integrated data platform, Zweben explained. A SQL relational database management system can run applications at petabyte scale, integrated with analytical workloads that can analyze data — even in real time. Instead of taking data out of the data platform and sending it to machine learning algorithms, Splice Machine puts the machine learning algorithms in the data platform natively.

Whole lot a shakin’

Plant Engineering recently attended the virtual launch of the Fluke 3562 vibration sensor system. With the possibilities inherent in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the importance of vibration analysis to machine condition monitoring is a big topic.

To get beyond route-based maintenance inspections, said Tyler Evans, director of product management at Fluke Reliability, “connected reliability is what’s needed.”

Together, the Fluke 3563 Analysis Vibration Sensor and the 3562 Screening Vibration Sensor offer a total vibration monitoring solution for all a company’s machine assets, wirelessly and with battery-less technology. PE

Reduce and Distance Plant Personnel while

Output and Preventing Contamination

By Dr Gareth Fish PhD CLS CLGS

How the NLGI HPM speci cation facilitates grease selection

The basic property needed for a lubricating grease is to separate the moving surfaces. This reduces friction and energy consumption, prevents wear from occurring, and gives components excellent durability. All greases should offer this basic protection provided they have the correct base oil viscosity. Other necessary properties are oxidation resistance, rust and corrosion protection, and good structural stability. A grease that breaks down or collapses and runs out of the bearing will not offer long-term protection, requiring shorter intervals between re-greasing and resulting in increased operating costs. The benefit of using a grease certified to National Lubricating Grease Institute’s (NLGI’s) new High-Performance Multiuse (HPM) grease specification is the grease will have other necessary properties built into the grease that are currently lacking in the GC-LB specification requirements.

Background

In 1989, the NLGI launched its new specification and industry certification program for automotive service grease used for chassis application and universal joints (LB), wheel bearings (GC), and multipurpose (GC-LB) service greases. With the growth of sealed-for-life applications in vehicles, the need for automotive service greases for passenger cars and light trucks has declined dramatically. Grease marketers have used the GC-LB certification as a sign of a superior quality for higher performing greases and the specification has become more of sign of quality on any grease for industrial or automotive applications.

When launched, GC-LB approved greases had higher performance than the typical greases in use in the late 1980s. Over the next 25 years, it was

Figure 1: Comparison of NLGI GC-LB and HPM core grease properties. Courtesy: NLGI

Proper selection can be challenging as multiple criteria must be considered when selecting a lubricating grease

slowly recognized that in many areas of performance, GC-LB greases lacked certain performance characteristics needed for more modern industrial machinery applications. In addition, better performing raw materials were used in grease formulations. GC-LB later became the minimum performance requirement with many desired lubricating property requirements unmet as shown in Figure 1.

elastomer compatibility for the HPM specification is modified and compatibility is tested on a more representative elastomer (nitrile rubber) at a moderate and more realistic test temperature of 125°C (257°F) for a duration of 168 hours.

With respect to rust testing and water resistance, the new HPM specification has both requirements enhanced. The limit on water washout is tightened to a more realistic requirement for industrial applications and the grease is required to pass static and dynamic rust tests.

When running under higher load or in a stop/start condition where it is difficult to keep the mating surfaces fully separated, enhanced wear and load carrying are essential properties of any high-performance grease. The new specification requires passing results in both of these areas. The increased weld point as measured by the 4-ball extreme pressure test also brings the grease into line with international standards.

Looking ahead

HPM specification objectives

The aim of the new NLGI HPM specification, introduced in November 2020, is to fill the gaps in the performance profile that GC-LB greases lack. The current GC-LB specification does not adequately cover the structural stability of the grease and it does not cover higher temperature oil bleed. Concerns over softening due to shear and higher temperature oil bleed that can be present in current GC-LB grease are mitigated by the new HPM specification that includes both shear and roll stability requirements. In many pieces of industrial machinery, yellow metals such as brass or bronze can be used for bushings or bearing cages. The yellow metal components are prone to corrosion. The new HPM specification includes the requirement for the grease to have low copper activity that would prevent yellow metal corrosion from occurring.

The current GC-LB specification requires the grease to have a very wide temperature range from -40°C to 160°C (-40°F to 320°F). The wider range adds cost to typical grease formulations, requiring a high temperature thickening system and a base oil blend with low temperature capabilities. For most industrial applications, the required limit is -20°C to 120°C (-4°F to 248°F) and normal temperature thickeners and base oils can be used, along with appropriate specified testing requirements. The

Because a user must consider how the grease is to be delivered to the bearing or mechanism, a softer grease is typically chosen for use in a centralized grease distribution system. Assuming that the equipment is to be lubricated with grease from a hand grease gun or an automatic lubricator, a lubricating grease certified to the new NLGI HPM grease specification would be a good choice.

Adopting a grease meeting the new NLGI HPM grease specification should give the user the additional piece of mind that the gaps in the GC-LB specification have been plugged. Better performance, longer life, and extended re-greasing intervals should be delivered by greases meeting the new NLGI HPM grease specification. The use of the NLGI HPM specification does not eliminate the need to consult with a lubrication expert to make the correct base oil viscosity choice and other special requirements. PE

Dr. Gareth Fish is a technical fellow in the Industrial Additives Division of Lubrizol Corp., where he has worked since June 2007, employed initially as grease technology manager. He is a chartered scientist, Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE)-certified lubrication specialist (CLS) and NLGI certified lubricating grease specialist (CLGS). Fish has written more than 60 technical papers on grease and tribology, three book chapters, holds four U.S. patents, and has held 80 public classes on grease and tribology.

that in many areas of

“ The aim of the new NLGI HPM specification, introduced in November 2020, is to fill the gaps in the performance profile that GC-LB greases lack. The current GC-LB specification does not adequately cover the structural stability of the grease and it does not cover higher temperature oil bleed. ”

INSIGHTS

CASE IN POINT

By Mario A. Talavera Sr.

Young Living Farms gets steam generator system upgrade

Young Living Farms, headquartered in Lehi, UT, produces high-quality essential oils. Fueled by a growing demand for topquality essential oils, it has offices in Australia, Europe, Canada, Japan and Singapore — and farms located around the world (see Figure 1). Young Living sells its products through a global network of member distributors, so maintaining inventory and controlling costs is imperative.

while about switching from a firetube boiler to a steam generator from Clayton,” Packer said. “He told me it worked more like on-demand steam and is much safer and more efficient.”

Figure 1: Fueled by a growing demand for top-quality essential oils, Young Living Farms, headquartered in Lehi, UT, now has offices in Australia, Europe, Canada, Japan and Singapore—and farms located around the world.

Courtesy: Young Living Farms

The older firetube boiler Young Living had been using at its Highland Flats Distillery in Naples, ID, was not nearly as efficient as it needed to be for a global leader in essential oils. This was due to the ratio of having to heat 3,000 gallons of water to 70 psi of steam pressure from a cold start, which took five or more hours. Plus, the firetube boiler required an additional hour to bleed off the steam at shutdowns to leave it in a safe, depressurized, risk-free state.

Boiler replacement time

The time came to replace the boiler, and Brett Packer, executive director at Young Living Farms was eager to put a steam generator from Clayton Industries to the test. “A Canadian colleague, Cory Howden, who managed our Northern Lights Distillery in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, had been talking with me for a

Young Living replaced its single 500 hp firetube boiler at the Highland Flats Distillery with two Clayton 150 hp steam generators. When the new steam solution went online, efficiency increased rapidly, and energy savings followed, because with rapid on-demand steam they can now go from totally cold to full-steam output in roughly five minutes.

“Switching to Clayton steam generators resulted in more than 32% reduction in the cost of fuel and utilities per kilo of oil, which is the unit we use to measure production. We also gained significant production efficiencies. Clayton generators reduced our operators’ hours by 10%,” Packer said.

A two-generator advantage

With both steam generators fitting in the same footprint as the 500 hp firetube boiler, Young Living gained another advantage: It could have one generator running and one generator for backup (see Figure 3). “If there would ever be a problem, having a backup allows us to keep production going while we take time to identify the issue and correct it,” Packer said.

Being able to adjust to harvest changes within minutes supported Young Living’s need for flexible manufacturing. Increased efficiency through rapid on-demand steam operation and low emissions levels were key reasons why the company chose to install Clayton generators. Production flexibility was another critical advantage.

Packer said with Clayton generators, Young Living Farms could adjust steam pressures as needed in just seconds depending on the material demand and stages of production. In contrast, the old boiler had a 90 minute or longer time window to fire up or shut down.

Meeting quality goals

The quality of steam from Clayton steam generators helped Young Living Farms increase its yields and meet quality standards.

The transition to rapid on-demand steam, resulted in signi cant production ef ciencies

Young Living is committed to providing pure, powerful products infused with their essential oils’ life-changing benefits and has designed and built the largest, most technologically advanced essential oil distilleries in North America.

“Distilling pure essential oils is a meticulous process,” Packer said. “The quality of the steam from Clayton steam generators is 99.5% dry, so it’s ideal for steam extraction and has increased our yields.”

In the steam distillation of essential oils, steam is directed into food-grade, stainless steel extraction chambers containing biomass (aromatic plant or trees). The steam is applied directly to the surface area of different types of biomass. The direct steam causes the biomass’s volatile molecules to get directed to a condenser where non-contact cooling water condenses the steam with volatile molecules into a liquid form called distillate. The distillate gravity feeds into a separator where the less dense molecules float to the top and are collected in a funnel that leads to a tap. The amount of oil yielded varies depending on the biomass used and the species of plant or tree.

“The many positive aspects of the Clayton Industries’ steam generator have improved our ability to keep up with inventory demands,” Packer said. “Ever since the Clayton install at the Highland Flats Distillery, we’ve been able to supply all needed inventory levels of the oils from three conifer species we provide to our distribution center. These oils get blended into hundreds of Young Living finished goods, one of which is a top-10, best-selling product out of all of Young Living’s product lines.”

Safety a priority

Maximizing employee safety and protecting them and the plant from a catastrophic event was another top priority when choosing a replacement steam system.

When it comes to safety, the simple question is this: “Do you want a boiler that has the potential to explode or one that doesn’t?” Packer said one thing that sold him on Clayton generators was that they present a lower risk of an accident than a residential water heater.

Since as far back as 1930, when Clayton Industries began, there has never been an explosion in a Clayton steam generator. That’s due to two Clayton design features.

Figure 2: With a fast reaction time, steam could be produced on demand for morning production. That resulted in an immediate energy savings of more than 32%. Courtesy: Clayton Industries

The first is low water content. With a firetube boiler, a massive amount of water is brought to temperature at the same time. It’s contained in the same boiler shell and all of it is pressurized. In the event of a rupture, all of this energy is released simultaneously and can be catastrophic. Clayton’s design keeps

Figure 3: The two I50 hp steam generators fit in the same footprint as the single 500 hp firetube boiler they were replacing. Young Living Farms could now have one generator running and one generator for backup. Courtesy: Clayton Industries

POINTCASE IN

a low water volume in its generators, which minimizes explosive potential.

The second safety feature is coil design. Even in the unlikely event of a

leak in a Clayton heating coil, it cannot instantaneously release the energy contained within the steam. It would be like a cut in a garden hose. The steam would have to travel through the coils

Figure 4: The steam generators installed at the Highland Flats Distillery enabled Young Living to keep up with inventory demand for oils from three conifer species that get blended into hundreds of its finished goods. Courtesy: Young Living Farms

to reach the source of the leak, which would emerge as a slow trickle. It’s not like a firetube boiler where all of the energy would be released at once, potentially resulting in an explosion. Plus, with a steam generator, the coil is contained inside the generator’s welded steel shell. Any released energy would harmlessly exit through the exhaust stack and into the atmosphere. There would be no harm to personnel or the plant.

Brett Packer has been impressed by the results. “Two more Young Living Farms’ distilleries are in the process of conversions to steam generators,” he said. “I’m working on system proposals to begin Clayton installs at Ecuadorian and European Young Living distilleries.”

PE

Mario A. Talavera Sr. is western regional sales manager at Clayton Industries.

SOLUTIONS

CASE STUDY: AUTOMATION UPGRADE

By James Figy

Productivity increases with Cloud-connected IPC

Each instance of every product in restorative dentistry requires lot-size-one manufacturing, including for dental prostheses (restorations) such as crowns, bridges or dentures.

For Glidewell Dental, producing tens of thousands of patient-specific devices each week requires intensive engineering efforts. Glidewell’s investments in automation and Cloud-connected systems, particularly in its factory for BruxZir Zirconia restorations, is a big part of those efforts.

“We do business with some 60,000 dentists each year — or nearly 50% of all practicing dentists in the U.S. restorative market,” said David Leeson, VP, engineering at Glidewell. Flexible automation provides a decisive advantage in an industry that still relies heavily on skilled artisans executing manual processes.

Dentists either mail impressions of a patient’s oral anatomy to Glidewell or laser scan and upload 3-D digital impression images to the company’s proprietary material requirements planning (MRP) digital platform, CloudPoint, built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud.

Proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology generates a custom prosthetic design to match the impression and turns the CAD file of each restoration into a unique NC

Figure 1: Ultra-compact Industrial PCs provide a gateway for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Internet of Things (IoT) Greengrass, increasing data insights to boost machine performance. Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation

project. The BruxZir factory assigns a case with the prescribed characteristics such as tooth size, shade, and thickness, and selects an unrefined block of zirconia material (milling blank) of suitable size, shape, and color.

A robot transfers the zirconia blank to a milling tower for detailed anatomical shaping, after which the restoration undergoes glazing for a more natural surface appearance. Barcode scanners track the case throughout the process, and if an operator removes the case for any reason, a vision application follows the technician and case.

“To make this a closed-loop process, optical scanners generate a 3-D geometry of the finished product, and an algorithm compares it to the design file. The dental implant must be within 50 microns to pass quality inspection — and most often, it’s within 20 microns,” said Kunal Patil, automation manager at Glidewell. “Performing just the glazing by hand could create variances of up to 150 microns. PC-based automation helps us achieve much higher precision.”

Glidewell Dental used exible, scalable automation, EtherCAT, and IIoT solutions to modernize prosthetic tooth factory

SOLUTIONS

STUDY:

However, it was not always this way. Jim Glidewell founded the company in his apartment in 1970 using traditional, painstaking hand-fabrication techniques. As his clientele grew, so too did his need for additional labor and supporting services, giving rise over the years to a highly diverse and selfsufficient manufacturing chain.

Today the Irvine, CA.-based company produces everything from raw materials to final restorations and other medical devices and employs more than 4,300 Glidewell professionals around the globe.

Following dentistry’s CAD revolution in the early 2000s, Glidewell evolved quickly to today’s Cloudbased production. “Now we are creating heavily connected systems and leveraging data from the

more than 10 million individual patient designs we store in the Cloud,” Leeson said. “Our vision is to keep extending up and down the value chain to improve our current products and create new ones.”

The woes of an installed base

The machines update the Cloud database when a case moves from one production step to another, monitoring the time between steps and communicating the consequences a management dashboard.

“Since our products are produced on-demand, we always have a customer waiting for anything we make, and we cannot replace products from stock like other companies. If an order sits for too long, the system automatically adds it back to the queue. We don’t try to track the product down; we just make another,” Leeson said.

From the beginning of the BruxZir factory build, the Glidewell engineering team knew that all automation technologies needed to be flexible, scalable, and industrial hardened. The machine controllers and motion components would need to adapt to constantly changing recipes.

Glidewell soon needed to scale up from a single milling tower of four mills to five milling towers in a system and, eventually, to a second complete system of five towers, totaling 40 mills. Finally, the components needed to withstand significant amounts of abrasive zirconia dust.

As Glidewell began to implement the BruxZir factory’s first milling tower in 2018, the engineering team soon realized its standard machine control technologies were not up to the task. “We struggled with many issues involving synchronization between robots and multiple controllers, debugging, and real-time communication, while using a familiar controller,” Patil said.

Then a decision was made. “We switched to Beckhoff, ” Patil said.

Glidewell worked closely with the local Beckhoff Automation team, including regional sales engineer Charles Usher and applications engineers John Helfrich and Lauren de Rosset. Within a week, the team proved the concept using PC-based control systems. Within a month, a newly operational mill met all Glidewell’s production requirements.

Cloud-connected manufacturing

The BruxZir factory

(IPC) and TwinCAT 3

multiple Industrial

solutions from Beckhoff. A C6015 ultracompact IPC, an AWS-certified device, serves as the Internet of Things (IoT) gateway, delivering NC programs from the Cloud (see Figure 1).

A C6930 control cabinet IPC is the main system controller, communicating with multiple robots, vision systems, field devices, and machine controllers at the milling towers (see Figure 2).

Each milling tower relies on a CX5140 embedded PC to run 4-axis motion on four mills — i.e., 16 axes per controller — using TwinCAT NC I (see Figure 3). Working in concert, the PC-based controllers provide connectivity, processing power, and scalability to automate 20 mills, with 80 axes of motion, in one standard system (see Figure 4). According to Patil, the controllers also meet requirements for costeffectiveness and durability.

Another advantage was the ability to install Windows-based cybersecurity tools and custom application programming interfaces (APIs) for Cloud communication directly on the machine controllers. Beyond the application-specific considerations, the BruxZir factory needed to meet California IoT regulations that took effect in 2020.

“In the past, we avoided putting antivirus software on real-time systems as it harmed performance. Isolating machines on the network was still a risk, and it complicated connectivity,” said Leeson. “With Beckhoff IPCs, we can run approved antivirus software in the Windows environment. This solution meets cybersecurity demands without affecting performance.”

TwinCAT 3 provided a flexible, comprehensive engineering and runtime environment for Glidewell. Patil said his team took advantage of the capability to program the standard machine control logic, advanced CNC programs, and APIs in C# and .NET in one software platform.

“When we first started using Beckhoff technology, I had worked on just a few PLC projects, but TwinCAT made implementation easy with its Microsoft Visual Studio integration. Also, TwinCAT NC PTP follows PLCopen standards while allowing us to solve complicated tasks.”

The BruxZir milling system sends production data to the AWS Cloud for analytics, troubleshooting, and predictive maintenance using Beckhoff solutions. TwinCAT IoT and the C6015 IPC — which interfaces with AWS IoT Greengrass, the open-source edge runtime, and Cloud service enable easier data insight discovery to boost

Figure 4: Glidewell has implemented two complete prosthetic tooth manufacturing lines with 20 mills each in its factory for BruxZir Zirconia restorations. Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation

machine performance. “Our analytics constantly monitor the average load on the motors, communicating from the milling towers to the Cloud,” Patil said. “As a result, we see if motors are performing well or if tools are beginning to wear down.”

These insights, combined with a modular system design, enable operators to quickly swap one mill for another that has been refurbished with new router bits.

Boosting milling capabilities

While TwinCAT and PC-based control enable Cloud connectivity, the EtherCAT industrial Ethernet system makes high-performance production of the dental implants possible. EtherCAT offers real-time communication rates for the plant floor, up to 65,535 nodes on one network and TwinSAFE functional safety. This fully integrated, TÜV-certified safety technology supports communication over the standard EtherCAT network and programming in the TwinCAT environment.

“With so many concurrent processes, we do not want every mill to stop if someone presses an E-stop for a particular mill. TwinSAFE allows us to stop specific mills and safety zones, and we can create that logic entirely within one project,” Patil said.

Glidewell used a wide range of TwinSAFE and EtherCAT input/output (I/O) modules in DIN rail and machine-mounted form factors (see Figure 5).

The functional principle of EtherCAT — processing on the fly, distributed clocks, free selection of topology, etc. — makes it an ideal motion bus. AX5000 servo drives from Beckhoff power the pickand-place robots that feed new cases to the milling towers (see Figure 6). In the mills, AM8000 series

SOLUTIONS

STUDY: AUTOMATION UPGRADE

“If the motors deviated even slightly, our final product would not match the design file, or the material could chip and show defects even from minor vibrations,” Patil said. “Maintaining the required high precision is no problem for EtherCAT and the Beckhoff servo motors. We run the motors at a cycle time of 250 microseconds, which we could actually cut in half if needed.”

Replaced legacy controllers

Each mill completes a case in roughly 10 minutes, maintaining round-the-clock production. Following the success of the first line with PC control and EtherCAT, Glidewell completed another line of 20 mills. The company is now implementing a third full line, reaching a total of 60 mills.

Glidewell scaled production without sacrificing performance or quality. Data from each mill is sent to the Cloud every two seconds, which allows the company to eliminate downtime through predictive maintenance and continue to act on valuable production data to enhance products.

servo motors and EL7211 servo motor terminals offer compact form factors and the flexibility to execute varying NC programs. The EtherCAT I/O modules further reduce machine footprint with One-Cable Technology (OCT), which combines power and feedback. Constant direction changes put substantial stress on the servo motors, but the AM8000 components offer robust operation with reliable precision.

PC-based automation cut the number of components required, according to Leeson: “Our previous controllers could only handle a single mill each, where the Beckhoff controllers operate four mills each. In addition, to achieve the same data acquisition and Cloud connectivity, the previous controllers would have required a separate PC.”

Patil said other control options Glidewell explored cost nearly twice as much to achieve the advanced functionality standard in the Beckhoff IPCs and did not have native support for Windows. In addition, each of the EL7211 and AM8000 servo components has exceeded 100,000 hours of nearly continuous operation without failure.

Working with the local Beckhoff team allowed Patil and his engineering staff to get up to speed quickly with EtherCAT and TwinCAT. They continue to evaluate new Beckhoff technologies, including Gigabit communication with EtherCAT G and TwinCAT HMI software, to further enhance their solutions. “Glidewell and Beckhoff have similar histories, starting with a single owner, and charting rapid growth through a passion for innovation,” Patil said. “So, we don’t see Beckhoff as our vendor. We see them as our partner.” PE

James Figy is senior content specialist at Beckhoff Automation.

Figure 6: Servo drives and servo motors power the pickand-place robots that feed new cases to the milling towers.

Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation

Figure 5: The BruxZir factory uses a variety of EtherCAT I/O Terminals in IP20 slice and IP67 Box formats. Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation

system integrators...

Control Engineering and Plant Engineering’s annual System Integrator of the Year Awards

Who should enter?

Class of 2020, and Class of

of the

What’s in it for the winners?

SOLUTIONS

POWER DISTRIBUTION

By Doug Moore

How to spot the top three track busway qualities

What to look for in a track busway power distribution system

Overhead power distribution by means of track busway systems is rapidly becoming the solution of choice in data centers, industrial and manufacturing plants and other facilities that require continuous uptime and faster adaptability. With a track busway system, power is supplied by forming a custom electrical grid above the production floor (see Figure 1). Plug-in units can be inserted at any location along the busway channel to provide the required power at the point of use where the electrical load needs it.

Track busway systems offer numerous advantages over traditional power systems. Suspended or mounted track busways eliminate the need for a remote power panel (RPP) in data centers or pipe and wire electrical distribution in other facilities, providing flexibility and scalability for electrical reconfiguration.

A busway system provides visibility over the power distribution system, making it easier to do maintenance and troubleshooting. Unlike traditional power systems, electricians don't have to shut down the entire system to change out a single circuit breaker. Using plug-in units (a.k.a. tap-off boxes), which are inserted into the busway’s open channel and connected to the internal busbars, users can safely swap out old circuits and replace them with new ones quickly.

Four elements make up a busway system: track busways, joints, plug-in units and power monitoring. But not all busway solutions are the same; some busway systems work better, last longer and require less maintenance than others. In evaluating a busway solution, look for the following qualities and how they apply to each of these elements:

• Reliability: An effective busway system provides reliable and efficient power distribution, a maintenance-free joint design and a long useful life to ensure continuous uptime for critical equipment.

• Flexibility: An effective busway system provides flexible design and power distribution options,

allowing users to build out, scale up and adapt production equipment according to changing power and facility needs.

• Safety: The elements of a busway system should guarantee safety for workers, equipment and the facility.

Reliability

Track busways. When evaluating a busway system, look for several features in the track busway sections that contribute to reliability. Each section should be made of high-grade engineered materials with a lightweight aluminum housing and either 99% pure copper or copper-contact aluminum hybrid (for higher-power delivery) roll-formed busbars. The bottom should be an open, continuous access slot that runs the length of the busway section, allowing use of the total available space to insert plug-in units.

The best design is a U-shaped busbar, which provides a continuous receptacle fitting for two types of connections: (1) a compression-fit joint to link busway sections together, and (2) a compression-fit electrical connection for the plug-in units in the busbar.

Finally, look for a busway that offers longer track busway sections, i.e., 3 to 6 meters (10 to 20 feet) in length. Since joints often are the main failure point in traditional busbar systems, having longer busway sections reduces the number of joints. Also, longer busway sections enable users to hang more plug-in units in a single busway section.

Joints. A compression-fit joint is the most reliable type of busway joint available. Failures of this joint type are virtually unknown. The compression-fit joint is 100% maintenance free. Once it has been installed, no maintenance is required to preserve the joints between busway sections.

When the joint is installed, the “knife blade” compression fit forms a solid electrical connection between busbars, and “wipes away” any oxidation that might interfere with electrical conductivity,

producing a 100% reliable connection every time. Unlike other busway joints, a compression joint does not require copper grease to improve busbar conductivity or prevent oxidation.

Plug-in-units. A plug-in unit should have a robust design with minimal moving parts and the fewest electrical connections possible to deliver power to the critical load. The fewer moving parts, the more reliable it will be.

Also, a plug-in unit should have a simple paddle assembly as its electrical connection. When one inserts this paddle into the busway, and turns it, the paddle’s terminal stabs form a reliable compression-fit joint connection with the busbars. The plug-in unit should not rely on accessory mechanisms with springs and clips to make its electrical connection.

Power monitoring. Look for a busway system that monitors and tracks power and temperature data over time. It should have revenue-grade metering to ensure readings will be accurate and correct. This type of monitoring allows users to verify busway runs are working properly, joints are intact and equipment is operating at optimum power levels.

Flexibility

Track busways. A track busway system should offer flexibility of design, allowing users to create system layouts that help make full use of equipment.

The busway system should use not just straight busway sections of different lengths, but also elbow and tee sections. (Not every busway solution has these.) Also, the system should offer flexible options for where to place power feed units, including “end feed” units, which are installed on the end of the busway run, and “above feed” units, which are installed along the topside of the busway. In some cases, using tees and elbows can reduce the number of end feed connection points required.

Look for a solution that offers busways with a wide range of amperage options, with plug-in units being interchangeable between ranges. A good range for continuous track busways is from 40 to 1,200 amps. This will enable scalability of power delivery options as power needs change over time.

Joints. Joints are an essential element in flexibility of busway design, allowing users to link together track busway sections to form a busway run. It is important to have a strong joint that works in tandem with the other elements to form a durable and dependable busway system.

Plug-in-units. A busway solution should offer a wide range of plug-in units to handle different power demands and topologies. Plug-in units should be customizable to unique power requirements and should support the integration of multiple electrical components into a single unit such as circuit breakers, meters, duplex/quad receptacles and cords.

Power monitoring. A critical power monitoring system should offer flexible data reporting options through wireless Ethernet (802.11), wired Ethernet and/or serial communications. It should be able to simultaneously use all reporting protocols. It should offer an embedded web page for access to system configuration or data, or easy integration with a building management system (BMS) or data center infrastructure management (DCIM) system.

Safety

Track busways. Look for a busway system that includes multiple provisions to deal with potential arc flash scenarios. The solution should have the following:

• Certifications from nationally recognized test labs

• Selective coordination of fuses, which, in the event of a power surge, allows the busway system to lower potential incident energy to negligible levels

• Arc flash certifications that include operator and equipment safety

• Short circuit ratings

• An ingress protection (IP) safety rating of at least IP2X (“finger safe”) and, if possible, options for IP3X (“tool safe”).

Courtesy: Starline

Figure 1: With a track busway system, power is supplied by forming a custom electrical grid above the production floor.

SOLUTIONS

POWER DISTRIBUTION

Also, look for a busway system that provides multiple ground path options:

• Standard (protective) ground system: The busway’s aluminum housing provides the system’s ground conduction.

• Isolated ground system: The ground conductor and the housing ground are isolated from each other in all components.

• Dedicated ground system: The ground conductor and housing ground are bonded together at the end power feed.

Joints. The housing couplers in the joints carry ground conduction through the aluminum housing from busway section to section. It is important to find a busway solution with reliable, well-designed joints to maintain the ground conduction system.

Plug-in-units. Safety of plug-in units is a primary concern, especially for facility engineers who often need to install tap boxes on live busways. At the most basic level, every plug-in unit from any vendor will have a grounding tab or device, which automatically grounds the unit prior to the electrical connection of the conductors into the busbars. However, look for a busway solution with additional safety features.

First, the design of the busway itself contributes to safety where plug-in units are concerned. An asymmetrical U-shaped busbar design makes it impossible to install a plug-in unit incorrectly. This, in turn, makes it impossible to cross live phases or ground paths when installing the plug-in unit into a live busway.

Also, look for a busway solution where the plug-in units come with optional safety accessories. These might include:

• “Floor operable” electrical connections

•

•

• Infrared (IR)

Power monitoring. A power monitoring system should have the ability to send out preset alarms in the event of a failure or emergency. For example, if a busway end feed rises to within 10 degrees of an unsafe temperature (i.e., around 85°C), the power monitoring system should have the ability to send

an automatic email alert, or to provide that data to a BMS or DCIM, to warn that a cable installation is potentially overheating and may cause a fire.

The monitoring system also should offer breaker-position sensing, which allows users to monitor whether plug-in units are operating correctly. Again, the system should allow users to preset alarms, so if, for example, a plug-in unit suddenly shuts off, users will receive an automatic email alert, indicating equipment may have overheated and triggered the breaker.

What to look for in a busway provider

In choosing a track busway system, evaluate the provider using the following criteria:

Experience. A busway provider should have years (preferably decades) of experience in busway design and manufacturing. The provider should be able to demonstrate longevity of product, that is, they should have a record of installing busway systems still operational after years of use by their customers.

Also, the provider should have a list of clients from a variety of different industries such as data center and colocation providers, Fortune 500 companies, government organizations, industrial and manufacturing facilities, banks and investment firms, universities and hospitals.

Quality ratings (metrics). A busway provider should have a series of quality ratings. If the provider can't give you the following ratings for its company, you may want to look elsewhere.

• Six Sigma. The company should be able to provide its Six Sigma quality rating.

• Shipments versus return material authorization (RMA). The provider should have a high number of overall busway shipments versus an extremely low number of returns due to product failure.

• Mean time between failure (MTBF). The busway provider’s products should have a long average time between failures. The higher the MTBF, the more reliable the product is.

Custom-designed busway solutions. A busway provider should offer a range of highly configurable products and services. It should be able to help identify busway designs that will fit the layout and needs of a specific facility. For example, it should be able to provide color-coordination of busway, which can help to reduce or eliminate downtime due to human error.

Also, a busway provider should be able to engineer and manufacture customized products on demand according to specialized needs. Engineers should be available worldwide to help design custom plug-in or end feed enclosures and busway systems that meet specific electrical ratings or size requirements. The provider also should have a production lead time that fits the schedule and should be able to complete orders in accordance with deadlines.

Post-sales technical and onsite support. A busway services company should provide the following:

• A g lobal network of experienced sales representatives who can answer easy questions about its busway products

• A g lobal services team of factory-certified technicians who can help with onsite installation, commissioning, troubleshooting and routine maintenance

• A g lobal eng ineering team ready to support specific projects

• 24/7 availability of technical support.

Conclusion

The goal in selecting a busway system should be peace of mind. Users want the certainty and confidence that their power distribution system will always be able to deliver the power they need to their equipment. A reliable busway system is not just a power solution. It provides a competitive advantage, allowing facilities to stay operational. This ensures companies will always be productive and able to deliver products or services to their customers. It is essential to select a busway system that will g uarantee the safety of workers, with the flexibility to adapt to the layout and changing power needs of the facility. If users evaluate the elements of a busway system based on reliability, flexibility and safety, and look for an experienced and hi g hly-qualified provider who can also be a reliable business partner, they can choose a busway solution that will effectively serve their power distribution needs over the long run.

Doug Moore is industrial product manager at Starline, a brand of Legrand. He is responsible for development and management of the Starline product portfolio, supporting various global industrial sectors, such as manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, biomedical, education and distribution. Moore has more than 18 years of experience working in the electrical industry in sales, marketing and product management roles within power generation, transmission and distribution, and component manufacturing.

SOLUTIONS

INDUSTRIAL ANALYTICS

By Doug Beach

How to quantify latency in batch processes

Delays in batch processing operations result in reduced throughput and decreased profitability. The combination of concurrent and independent steps can lead to bottlenecks, causing the process to pause and wait for a downstream operation to finish before the preceding steps can move forward. This introduces latent time to the cycle and lengthens the time required to complete each batch, leading to reduced overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and higher costs.

Understanding and measuring this latency can be an impactful project justification metric, as well as a critical key performance indicator (KPI) when measuring operating performance. When viewed individually, each of these waiting periods may seem brief or unimportant but totalizing all of them into a single number often tells a more meaningful story.

Lost time analysis for batch processes can be easily completed with advanced analytics software, such as Seeq, using just a few point-and-click tools. Once these periods are identified, advanced analytics can be used to find the root cause and solution for each delay, resulting in reduced batch cycle times and increased throughput.

Identify batch cycles

The first step for identifying batch cycles is defining capsules, a Seeq feature used to identify time periods of interest to represent each batch. If a process historian is present, it may have an available signal to track the batch number or ID. If

so, the “.toCondition” function in Seeq Formula can be used to create a definition of the batches, and each new batch will get its own capsule when the batch ID changes.

If there is a “Batch_ID” type tag in the historian, chances are there are also tags for individual batch processes/operations/phases. Taking the analysis a step further for specific portions of a batch can help zero in on unit constraints within each batch, providing added precision when quantifying and addressing bottlenecks.

If the historian doesn’t have a clear signal for each batch, more creativity is needed to identify batch cycles. Any batch process has repeatable parameters— such as tank levels, temperature signals, agitator amp readings, valve open/close status, etc. — indicating the end of one step in a batch and the start of another. Using advanced analytics software, it is easy to create capsules representing each batch. This can be done using tools such as Seeq Value Search, which can be used to create capsules based on a signal’s relationship (above, below, equal, or not equal) to a prescribed value.

Another alternative is creating a simple timer created within the Seeq Formula tool using the “.TimeSince” function. If the batch phases are more complicated to define, Formula has options for calculating derivatives, timers, and other values.

Taken as a whole, using process parameters to define the batch isolates the steps such as cooling down, heating up, or charging a reactant. If there is a period of the batch that doesn’t fall into one of these operations, it may indicate latency. These gaps, once identified using these same steps, could be the basis for a separate process investigation or an OEE project. With spreadsheets or other general-purpose tools, it is extremely tedious to scale batch definitions across time, but this is as simple as expanding the “Date Range” in Seeq.

Once each batch is identified as a unique capsule, the duration of each capsule may be viewed in the

Here’s how advanced analytics software nds the root cause of, and the solution for, operational delays in batch processes

Figure 1: Sorting capsules by duration.

Courtesy: Seeq Corp.

Seeq Capsules Pane, shown in the lower right corner of the display. Batches can be sorted by duration to identify the one with the shortest cycle time (see Figure 1).

Once batches are sorted by duration, nuances among batches can be explored to find the causes for the differences in batch times. Some batches will inevitably be shorter or longer than others, but why is one batch faster than the rest? For this batch, what factors set it apart as the fastest? This requires further investigation, but for the time being, the analysis can be simplified by only considering the duration. Advanced analytics software makes visualizing the distribution of batch times easy using a histogram tool (see Figure 2).

The histogram provides context to subject matter experts (SMEs), process engineers, and others with experience and expertise in the system, showing them where a particular batch stands with respect to the others. It helps to answer the question: “How fast or how slow was this particular batch?”

Benchmark the batches

Once each batch has been identified, the next step is to select a benchmark. One way to do this is by selecting the fastest batch, but some OEE and operational performance guidelines suggest benchmarking using the 85th percentile because this may be a more realistic target than an outlying batch with a short cycle time. In this case, the target batch time will be just longer than the slowest of the 15% fastest batches.

Again, the Seeq Formula tool may be used to execute this step, with the fastest batch selected or the benchmark batch duration in mind, then the “afterStart()” function can be used to create a best batch condition that starts when the batch capsules start. The desired batch duration is determined using the fastest batch time or the selected benchmark. Results can be monitored with visualizations in near real time.

To this point, the analysis should show conditions presented as two layers of capsules that start at the same time. Most, if not all, of the batch capsules should be longer than the target batch time capsule, since the target batch was set at the 85th percentile. Identifying, isolating, and aggregating these differences in batch duration will constitute the remainder of the analysis.

Isolate batch processes

Using the “Composite Condition” tool in Seeq, an SME can isolate this difference and create another condition for it. There is built in logic in Seeq for creating a new condition based on the two conditions already created. For this case, one would select the

outside logic (i.e., a time period of interest outside a defined time period of interest). Once identified as a condition, this new measurement of duration versus the 85th percentile duration will be generated if the batch is over the target time.

Aggregate batches

Aggregating the newly minted condition for lost time provides visualization of the total latent time in the batches over the course of the display range (see Figure 3).

Creating this metric is accomplished using the Seeq “Signal from Condition” tool. This will take the lost time condition and create a single number showing the total lost time over the given time range. By changing the time range or period of interest, one can visualize the amount of process latency.

For example, setting the time range to a year will immediately totalize the lost time for the year. Then using process knowledge and subject matter expertise, the lost time can be translated into a dollar amount using the “Formula” function.

Turn batch process insight into action

Latent time for a single batch may seem inconsequential, but aggregation will create a concise metric showing the total latency over the entire time range. This value can be used to calculate the total opportunity in terms of potential increased production and OEE.

Often, SMEs are aware of the issues holding back production because they know the bottlenecks. However, the exact nature of these issues has previously been difficult to quantify using a general-purpose tool, such as Excel. The data has always been there but accessing it in a meaningful way was challenging.

Advanced analytics software addresses this issue because building any type of analysis is quick and simple. The resulting findings may be used to create project justifications, return on investment calculations, or other metrics that plant leadership needs to see before greenlighting the capital spend required to address the bottleneck. In the best case, improvements might only require changing code in

Courtesy: Seeq Corp.

Figure 2: Batch time histogram.

Figure 3: Aggregated process latency.

Courtesy: Seeq Corp.

a controller, correcting an instrument’s calibration, or performing maintenance on a control valve. In other cases, new equipment might be required such as an improved heat exchanger.

In addition, Seeq Chain and Capsule views may be used to compare and contrast signal profiles across batches, highlighting anomalies negatively affecting batch durations, and helping determine what sets best

batches apart from the rest. SMEs often have an idea of what the constraint is, but advanced analytics software empowers experts to make data-driven decisions.

Once the lost time has been identified in a batch process, identifying the cause of the bottleneck requires a deep dive. What is the distribution of times for each of the individual constituent parts the batch? Is the process heating or cooling limited? Is the feed rate or filtration time delaying the batch? SMEs are best positioned to ask and answer these types of questions, preferably using advanced analytics software to speed and simplify analysis. PE

Doug Beach is a data strategy consultant for Seeq Corp., with a background in specialty chemical process engineering and capital projects. He was previously employed by Syngenta Crop Protection in the agricultural chemicals space, working in both batch and continuous environments to create process improvements.

SOLUTIONS

IIoT

By Brian Harrison

5 steps for jumpstarting a successful IIoT program

If the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is in your organization’s future, here five expert tips to help give your company a chance for success.

1. Focus on the proper IIoT change management implementation

IIoT and condition-based maintenance (CBM) alter the way we identify, assign and complete work. The shift requires us to validate the concept through strategic and tactical know-how. While working with a client on a past IIoT initiative, I recall the organization’s management identified resisters first and sought to go around them for pilots. Circumventing personnel can create distrust and friction. A better way to gain support is to enlist help from change advocates and influencers within the team.

Figure 1: Start deployment readiness planning well in advance of technology implementation.

Courtesy: Fluke Corp.

A person’s job and maintenance experience can significantly influence their perception of an IIoT program. Welcome opposition and their questions and address their concerns. Stress that IIoT does not eliminate jobs but rather enables teams to focus on what they do best while automating monitoring equipment functions.

Answering questions about why the company wants to change, why data is essential and how it will impact personnel must involve cross-departmental teams, communication plans and checkpoints. This level of cross-team communication should span the life of the pilot.

Work to ensure people feel invested and engaged in the outcome (see Figure 1).

2. Steer clear of project silos and disorganization

Articulate the desired outcome and the role that IIoT plays in your organization. Fluke Reliability previously worked with an organization whose electrical engineering and reliability

group accidentally discovered it was competing for budget dollars for duplicate pilots to collect the same data—from different assets.

During a cross-departmental meeting, it became apparent that the two departments were working on the same initiative. The groups determined they could make a more strategic decision by defining a set of slightly broader standards.

Although the awareness disrupted the original schedule, it allowed the organization to position for a more effective selection process and pilot. A onesize-fits-all doesn’t exist when it comes to technologies, data and applications (see Figure 2). Try to know what other groups are doing and determine if the outcome was an eagle or a bogie. Ask:

• What did the deployment look like?

• How was the vendor support?

•What did the data look like, and where did it go?

• Could it have an impact on other areas or departments?

3. Plan and execute an IIoT pilot program

A pilot is an experiment, an agreement to try IIoT together and to test against expectations. Investing too much too soon in new technology can be risky.

Figure 2: Departmental, process and data silos are common; in this example, data is not universally accessible across the four different maintenance specialties. Courtesy: Fluke Corp.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and condition-based maintenance alter the way we identify, assign and complete work

SOLUTIONS

4. Avoid IIoT stagnation and lethargy Day-to-day responsibilities must continue during a pilot. They are generally led and monitored by subject-matter experts (SMEs) and/or reliability leaders.

Once a pilot launches and the early excitement fades, it can be challenging to maintain interest while everyone juggles conflicting priorities (see Figure 4). Here are seven ways to stay focused:

Figure 3: Suggestions for a successful technology pilot strategy. Courtesy: Fluke Corp.

Large investments mean higher and more diverse expectations. In some cases, even a win can be seen as a failure due to incorrect assumptions. Establishing requirements and determining how a “win” looks will reduce project misjudgments (see Figure 3).

Most organizations view maintenance as overhead that is usually the last to secure a portion of the budget. Putting too many eggs in one basket can heighten the risk. Consider deploying IIoT connectivity technologies such as Connect2Assets and Fluke Mobile as trials to experience their benefits without fully committing to the investment.

• Identify a group of assets to pilot.

• Develop a small project plan.

• Schedule meetings at relevant intervals.

• Plan touchpoint, gate check and milestone meetings.

• Maintain key stakeholder involvement.

• Envision a finish line.

• Determine your next steps for when the pilot ends.

5. Select the right IIoT partner

The IIoT journey is unique to each organization. Companies investing their time and money should nurture partnerships that go beyond the typical vendor relationship. Providers should be able to deliver a blend of real-world expertise, technical innovation and continuous support.

Thousands of companies attempt to sell some version of artificial intelligence (AI) and IIoT. When making your decision, be aware there are some things certain technologies do that differentiate themselves from others.

Figure 4: The most successful implementations typically extend their project planning through to the sustainment phase. Courtesy: Fluke Corp

Take steps to protect any venture into new technology wherever possible. A launch failure can hinder future chances to innovate. Common ways to manage the risk and cost of an IIoT pilot include:

• Planning a strategic, phased and prioritized launch

• Finding a partner invested in your success

• Determining if there’s an inexpensive proof-ofconcept option

• Concentrating on scalability

• Possessing transparency, including weaknesses.

Do the various technologies and functionalities fit into a broader, cohesive vision? Have they built something that doesn’t address the needs of the customer (i.e., you)? Do they start with technology or customer experience?

Other critical questions to ask before choosing your IIoT partner include (see Figure 5):

• Does their vision align with yours?

• Do they have a history of successful partnerships?

• Do they have longevity, and are they stable?

• What does their roadmap look like?

Figure 5: Four qualities to look for in a technology partner.

Courtesy: Fluke Corp.

Now you know why certain IIoT pilot programs will fail and have some strategies for achieving success with your plan. Learn more about IIoT pilot programs. PE

Brian Harrison is the industry lead for IIoT at Fluke Reliability, a division of the Fluke Corp. He is a certified reliability leader with more than 10 years of enterprise asset management experience.

SOLUTIONS

MATERIAL HANDLING

By Christian Dager

Smart conveyors streamline wet wipes packaging challenges

Smart conveying solutions enable high-speed throughput of delicate wet wipes

High-speed automation for folding, wetting, cutting and piling wet wipes presents throughput challenges when fragile stacks of newly produced wipes are transferred to downstream primary and secondary packaging machinery operating at lower throughput speeds.

There is little worse on an automated production line than an interruption or cessation of throughput because of equipment failure, product spillage or product jam ups. The costs of machine repair, product damage and clean up, and added labor are marginal compared to the loss of revenue from slowed or stopped throughput. In high-volume manufacturing facilities, throughput interruption can exceed tens-ofthousands of dollars of revenue lost per hour because of slowdowns, shutdowns and jam ups.

Consequently, manufacturers closely manage their product line operations to maximize uptime. Technology plays a critical role. As new and improved technology becomes available, operational performance, safety and maintenance are streamlined for better output, optimized equipment utilization and system longevity.

Smart conveying solutions enable high-speed end-of-line throughput of delicate wet wipes while maximizing uptime, minimizing product damage and maintaining industry standards for cleanliness.

Wet wipes production bottleneck

An industry sector where automation has made a significant improvement in throughput uptime is the primary and secondary packaging of wet wipes. Wet wipe consumption has nearly tripled in the past decade, according to Smithers Pira (formally Pira International), the worldwide authority on the packaging, paper and print industry supply chains. The appeal of sanitizing wipes, baby wipes, diaper liners, feminine hygiene and cosmetic wipes, and cleaning cloth products comes from the advantages they offer consumers in effectiveness, cleanliness, convenience and ease of use. Adding to this tremendous growth, the demand for sanitizing wet wipes has exploded with COVID-19, pushing manufacturers' wet wipe production demands beyond previous expectations.

Wet wipe manufacturing automation can produce up to 500 stacks of wipes per minute, in counts ranging from 20 to 100 single-ply sheets per stack. At these high throughput levels, downstream systems for primary and secondary packaging like shrink wrappers and case packers cannot handle the volume of product flow unless it is split into multiple packaging machinery lines.

Whether one packaging line or multiple lines are employed, the need to handle the fragile wet wipe stacks gently to minimize damage or deformation is a key concern. Transporting the stacks of wipes carefully from manufacturing through primary packaging with high throughput and near-zero product damage is of critical importance. But many wet wipe manufacturers are plagued with conveying systems that are inadequate for moving these fragile stacks through the packaging processes.

When positioning stacks of wipes for infeed into primary packaging machinery like shrink wrappers as well as handling containers of packaged wipes for infeed into secondary packaging systems like case

Figure 1: The demand for sanitizing wet wipes has exploded with COVID-19. Courtesy: Shuttleworth

SOLUTIONS

surface. It is powered by a continuous chain to control the drive force of the conveyed wipes. When the wet wipes stop on the conveyor surface, the segmented rollers beneath also stop, generating low back-pressure accumulation, and minimizing product damage. It is the weight of the wet wipes being conveyed, combined with the coefficient of friction between the shafts and the inside diameter of the rollers, that provide the driving force. As the weight of the conveyed products increases, there is a corresponding increase in the driving force supplied.

Courtesy: Shuttleworth

packers, too often the conveyors handling these wipes are not designed to adequately stage the products for precise registration for infeed. The same can be said for labeling, and particularly date stamping, where the products may have to be rotated on the conveyor to a precise location for stamping.

No matter how efficient shrink wrappers, labelers and case packers may be, if the wet wipes packaging line does not use conveyors adequately designed for the handling of fragile products like wet wipes, and precisely stage these products for infeed, the product quality, throughput speed and cost-efficiency of the entire production and packaging line will be compromised.

Having the right conveyor systems that adequately address these conditions minimizes line stoppages, and significantly decreases opportunities for product jams and damage. Designing the wet wipes packaging conveyor system to function as an uninterrupted and smooth-running operation increases efficiency, throughput and profitability for the entire primary and secondary packaging line.

Smarter conveyor technology

Three technology developments have contributed to enhancing high-performance conveying for wet wipes packaging: Slip-Torque roller technology, dynamic accumulation and SmartFeed. These were developed by Shuttleworth, a designer, manufacturer and integrator of conveyor solutions to solve material handling challenges — specifically, conveyor systems that accumulate, flip, stack, rotate, push, divert, combine or index products for manufacturing or packaging processes.

Slip-torque and dynamic accumulation. SlipTorque roller technology uses individually powered, stationary rotating roller shafts covered with loose, segmented rollers, which become the conveyor

Slip-Torque’s low line pressure provided throughout the conveyor, and its continuous-motion dynamic accumulation allows precise product placement on the conveyor while it continues to take product flow from an upstream line for a period of time, where other conveyors would have stopped well before. A low backpressure accumulation buffer absorbs irregularities in the production flow and provides a smooth, even flow on the line. A servo-controlled guide provides efficient lane changing of incoming wet wipes, eliminating product backlog at the point of entry.

The system allows the same conveyor to be split into multiple, independently operating lanes if desired. For example, the middle lane can accumulate, while the right lane and the left lane can both convey, or even operate in opposite directions. Each lane can act independently, if needed, but is powered by only one common motor, which also reduces energy usage.

Conveyors with Slip-Torque have the ability to modulate the speed of different sections of the conveyor via a centrally controlled programmable logic controller (PLC) and human-machine interface (HMI). As wipes are moving down the line, the rollers at the back end of the conveyor can be moving faster than the ones at the front end. The products can be moving at variable speeds on different sections of the conveyor as dictated by throughput requirements. This controls the wet wipes spacing on the conveyor, keeping these delicate products separated and equally spaced from each other to minimize product contact and facilitate infeed into packaging equipment such as shrink wrappers.

The Slip-Torque surface also can be used to minimize product contact while steering products into desired locations such as employing rollers with herringbone patterns to orient products without the use of guardrails or setting up a series of sequentially smaller roller heights to direct food products into the center of the conveyor for packaging induction without touching any other conveyor parts. Slip-fit rollers with tapered corners can be used to maintain product orientation as it is transported through 45-degree and 90-degree conveyor turns.

Figure 2: High-speed automation for wet wipes folding, wetting, cutting and piling presents throughput challenges.

Because of the unique features of Slip-Torque rollers, the conveyor system is a safe environment for workers who work near and interact with the wipes being carried on the conveyor system. The roller contact surface is designed to stop immediately if a hand is placed on it, thus maintaining a safe working environment.

SmartFeed. Nowhere in the wet wipes packaging process is the handling of these products more susceptible to damage than with infeed into the primary and secondary packaging machinery. Inaccurate infeed contributes to high defect rates, lessened throughput and increased production costs. This is common particularly with shrink wrapping where mis-wraps can easily occur, jamming the line. When shrink coverage does not completely cover the product, it can go unnoticed until later when the product has become contaminated due to exposure. Improper sealing is caused primarily by poor infeed and mis-registration.

To achieve a consistent level of infeed registration, Shuttleworth developed a series of automatic wrapper and case packer infeeds. Working in combination with Slip-Torque conveyors, SmartFeed links machine infeed to upstream product flow. It is designed to dynamically accumulate and synchronize the release of products for infeed without stopping the production flow.

The infeeds operate by timing the release of product into the flighted infeed with a pneumatic/electric gate, or a servo-controlled variable-speed surface. With a speed-up zone near the discharge end of the infeed, one product at a time is placed onto the infeed of the packaging machine. The spacing is precise, with a tolerance of 0.25 inch to 0.5 inch. The infeed is in synchronization with the machine using encoder feedback. A sensor identifies each product’s location, and the conveyor will either accelerate or decelerate the product to place it into position on the machine’s flighted infeed.

The system operates in four speed-registration zones to manage the infeed of products:

1. The first zone accepts the product from upstream wet wipe manufacturing or upstream packaging systems, or a staging point, then conveys it downstream.

2. The second zone closes the gaps between the wet wipes, running the products backto-back.

3. The third zone increases the spacing between the products equal to the pitch flight on the packaging machine.

4. The fourth zone positions each wet wipes stack, canister, tub or flexible package into the gaps between the flights.

The packaging machine and smart infeed are always talking to each other and reacting to whatever products are moving through the line. When there is a delay with an item, SmartFeed tells the machine that no item is in position, and to slow down or stop. When the next item is in position, it tells the machine to start, providing there is accurate product indexing. System controls installed upstream regulate the line speed throughout directed by input from infeed. In this way, it creates an integrated system monitoring the flow of product up to and into each primary packaging and secondary packaging machine on the wet wipes line.

Several versions of the system can be integrated for handling both primary and secondary packaging of wipes:

• Gated SmartFeed and high-speed gated SmartFeed use a product stop to synchronize the release of the stacks of wipes and containers or wipes to the flighted infeed of the wrapper or case packer. The combination of the low-pressure queue area, speed change and the product stop provides jam-free operation. Gated infeeds operate at rates of 20 to 80 wet wipe stacks or packaged wipe containers per minute. The high-speed infeed can reach rates of 120 units per minute.

• Multi-Packer SmartFeed is designed to release a pattern of multiple wet wipes stacks or containers

Figure 3: Wet Wipes can be moving at variable speeds on different sections of the conveyor as dictated by throughput requirements.

Courtesy: Shuttleworth

SOLUTIONS

higher level of positioning accuracy with more positive product handling. The product control devices include:

• Blade stops and brakes that enable on-demand stops and starts of production flow

• Lift-and-transfer, lift-and-rotate, side transfer and turntable devices that are used to provide a smooth and accurate product transfer at a 90-degree angle to the original transport direction, or to change the orientation of products on the conveyor

• Product positioners that accurately position or rotate products for a particular process such as for scanning bar codes in labeling

Figure 4: Wet wipes can be moved from one conveyor traffic lane to another traveling in the same or the opposite direction.

Courtesy: Shuttleworth

in time with a flighted or belted infeed. A product stop, combined with an adjustable overhead brake, controls the number of products released.

• Servo SmartFeed combines buffering and indexing into a single-source solution for infeed of wet wipes stacks and containers without the use of devices. This system monitors production flow and delivers this information to the wrapper and case packer for speed modulation. Servo SmartFeed automatically synchronizes to the packaging machine so that the wipes are precisely and consistently placed on the infeed of the wrapper or cartoner.

Flexible product control devices

Many conveyors used in manufacturing enable the adaptation of product control devices such as product stops, pushers and clamps that can be used to modify the flow of conveyed products. Most conveyors bring these devices in from the side or even over the top such as would be found on belt conveyors, plastic link conveyors or table-top chain conveyors. Side-mounted devices are limited in their flexibility to control product flow because of their side-only mounting locations, and top-mounted devices are considered even less desirable by manufacturers because of safety and product contamination concerns.

Conveyors equipped with Slip-Torque roller technology function differently with product control devices. These conveyors use the space between rollers to allow these devices to be mounted below the surface, reaching up between the rollers to affect more precise and flexible product motion control without interfering with the line flow.

Product control devices can be more specifically located on conveyors equipped with Slip-Torque compared to conventional systems and bring a much

• Pushers to push products perpendicular from one conveyor traffic lane to another traveling in the same or the opposite direction, into or out of operator workstations or off of the conveyor system completely

• Single-row combiners that combine wet wipes in multiple lanes into one single row

• High-speed telescoping and custom product diverters and laners can direct the product flow to a particular lane for efficient buffering or line balancing.

Inadequate product control on packaging conveyors will cause product defects. Material handling systems not designed specifically for handling wet wipes can cause product marring, defects and misalignment of wet wipes stacks by not providing adequate product control while on the conveyor system. Conveyor designs that allow the wet wipes to come into contact with side rails or fail to adjust adequately to velocity changes around curves will inevitably introduce unnecessary random product movement on the conveyor, increasing the possibility of wet wipes damage.

Efficient conveyor technology for wet wipes packaging lines

Wet wipes manufacturers now have smarter conveyor systems specifically designed for the precision and flexible needs of their primary and secondary packaging lines. These systems incorporate the necessary automation and product handling devices that enable manufacturers to achieve more productivity, increased versatility, decreased product damage and realize a more profitable bottom line. PE

Christian Dager is sales engineer at Shuttleworth, division of ProMach.

SOLUTIONS

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

By Dr. Mathias Bach and Stefan Vorndran

Active piezoelectric shims improve machine precision

Due to the piezo element’s high resolution down to the nanometer range, active shims cover applications in classical mechanical precision engineering as well as the alignment of optical components in astronomy, semiconductor manufacturing and in materials research employing beamline instrumentation

Precision machine tools, laser processing equipment, and optical apparatus are often complex assemblies of different component types. The alignment of these components is critical for the overall precision and function of these systems. If a target dimension between two components changes, readjustment may be unavoidable. That can be the case when a machine is put into operation after delivery and tolerances are out of spec due to initial setting processes.

Figure 1: Aligning parts that have become misaligned due to stress, creep, or settling processes is an application for active shims, when sub-micron or nanometer precision and stability are required.

Courtesy: PI

Moreover, long-term creep or temperature changes can have the same effect. Optical measuring facilities, astronomical devices, wafer processing machines, chip holders, or positioning systems for heavy-precision industrial applications are frequently affected by these issues. Differences on the order of a few microns, or less, can exceed limitations.

The classical solution to fix such differences is to use shims ground exactly to the required tolerances. The fact that they must be installed — often in hardto-reach locations — can be a time-consuming and expensive disadvantage. This type of adjustment is not infinitely possible, and once the dimension has been fixed, it can be very difficult to change it afterward.

Engineers may often have wished for the possibility to change the thickness of such shims remotely to bring the system back into perfect alignment. With the advent of a new technology, this is no longer wishful thinking. In such cases, piezo-based, active shims, or spacers, are a practical solution for the adjustment process. Once installed in a machine,

active shims can readjust the gap between two components at any time with nanometer precision (see Figure 1).

Active shims such as the PIRest piezo-based shim, from Physik Instrumente

Figure 2a: Built into the machine during its construction, programmable shims can be manufactured in any geometry and size. Courtesy: PI

Figure 2: Piezo-based shims. Courtesy: PI

SOLUTIONS

Figure 3a: A large variety of standard shapes and sizes of PICMA multilayer piezo ceramic elements are available. Courtesy: PI

(PI), are a novel alternative, simplifying and speeding up the adjustment process considerably. Due to the piezo element’s high resolution, down to the nanometer range, it covers applications in classical mechanical precision engineering as well as the alignment of optical components in astronomy, semiconductor manufacturing, and in material research such as conducted with beamline instrumentation.

High-load capacity

Rover for several years, after passing 100 billion cycles of a NASA test program without failure. The piezoceramic active element — a monolithic block, whose active layers are made up of thin ceramic film — are protected by an all-ceramic insulating layer to keep environmental influences and humidity out. The durability of this multilayer piezo ceramic technology was proven regularly in industry, life sciences, microscopy, medical technology, and research (see Figures 3 and 3a).

The concept of a piezo ceramic actuator is well understood: Displacement depends on electric charge, and by changing the drive voltage, the actuator expands or contracts in real time (see Figure 4). While drawing negligible power in steady-state operation, the actuator will slowly recede to its “zero” position when the power source is removed.

High-resolution, stable active shims

Figure 3: The allceramic insulation of PICMA multilayer piezo ceramic elements protects them from environmental influences. Courtesy: PI

The piezo-based spacers are installed in the machine during its construction. They are available in virtually any shape and size, such as plates, rings, and cylinders, and can be designed to hold heavy loads of several tons (see Figures 2 and 2a).

The electro-ceramic core of the piezobased shim is manufactured using a patented PICMA multilayer piezo actuator process proven in many earthly applications, as well as working successfully on the Mars

Displacement of PIRest is programmed with a specific control tool, and remains after disconnection from the power source, comparable to a self-locking screw type actuator, but at much higher precision and without the creep.

A voltage connector for programming is provided with the active shim; it only needs to be connected shortly for each respective adjustment. The necessary cables can be considered during machine design and become a permanent part of the system. After adjusting, the desired position remains stable without power and the power supply can be disconnected. The displacement stability only depends on the change of ambient temperature. Long-term tests in an environment within ±1 K temperature change using an actuator with 10-micron nominal adjustment range, indicated a position drift of less than ±100 nm, regardless of the displacement. As an option, the active shims also can be equipped with a temperature sensor. Skillful combination of the active shims makes it possible to adjust in up to six degrees of freedom.

If required, active shims also can be combined with classical piezo actuators. Typical applications for these types of hybrid systems include dynamic vibration compensation, readjusting the focal plane during an optical measuring or scanning process, as well as controlling a laser beam in metrology systems or materials processing. PE

Figure 4: Conventional piezo actuators: Typical displacement curves (left) of traditional open loop (no position feedback) piezo actuators, and basic design thereof (right). Displacement is roughly proportional to the electric field and when the drive voltage is removed, the displacement will recede to zero once the element is fully discharged. Courtesy: PI

Dr. Mathias Bach is Head of Piezo Systems at PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P.

Stefan Vorndran is vice president of marketing at PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P.

SOLUTIONS

INDUSTRIAL CONTROL SYSTEMS

By Damon Purvis

PLCs improve predictive maintenance

Pulling vital information from eld devices and transmitting it to the enterprise boosts maintenance practices

Maintenance practices on the plant floor in the past were purely reactionary, with many responses to issues or trouble along the lines of, “Something just happened; let’s get out there and fix it.” Even with scheduled preventive maintenance, a common refrain could be, “The schedule says to go out and work on it, so let’s go.”

information on the condition of devices, machines, and the overall manufacturing environment (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Modern PLCs can perform their traditional control roles, while communicating OT data

IT

Courtesy:

and Cloud

Reactionary and unnecessary maintenance behaviors are quickly going the way of the fax machine because with today’s advanced technology and increased Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity, the understanding and planning of maintenance activities is easier and more cost effective. A strong predictive maintenance program can come to the rescue.

One way to start is by employing IIoT-capable programmable logic controllers (PLCs). PLCs can connect with field input/output (I/O) and operational technology (OT) protocols that tie into myriad deployed sensors, and then communicate seamlessly to enterprise information technology (IT) services via the Cloud to provide

There is no doubt PLC technology is already strongly established on the plant floor. However, by embedding IT protocols, Cloud connectivity, and security features into today’s PLCs, it is possible to gather data that may have existed idly and use it to provide a much stronger idea as to what condition devices and machines are in to prevent unplanned downtime.

Avoid unplanned downtime

Unplanned downtime is the bane of any manufacturer’s existence. By drawing raw data from the plant floor and promoting it to Cloud resources, a PLC can make it available for plant personnel to review and act upon to avoid unscheduled production stoppage.

A modern PLC can pull data from OT sources and push it—in proper context—to IT-based enterprise and Cloud services, effectively bridging the manufacturing floor to the business enterprise (see Figure 2).

Any effective predictive maintenance model is based on collecting and analyzing machine data over time. With that data readily available, it will be possible to detect patterns and interpret when a machine could go down. This way, it is possible to schedule a maintenance session before an unplanned event can occur.

The goal is to know when the equipment needs repair or replacement. This way, operators or plant personnel are not gambling with their process, and they have relevant data that puts any issue in context, so it is possible to decide on a solution.

Getting the data quickly and securely is key to the success. To garner plant floor intelligence for predictive maintenance in the past always meant hardwiring sensors to PLCs and then to a PC and then to a network, then to a server and then to the Cloud.

Today, it is much simpler because some PLCs can communicate directly to the Cloud in addition to their traditional roles of controlling equipment, operating complex process loops, and supporting a humanmachine interface (HMI). Or a PLC may need not

perform any control function at all, and it can act solely as a direct data bridge over intermediate network layers. Some small or medium PLCs are even certified to link to Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Platform, assuring designers the device can work with this Cloud infrastructure.

Cloud benefits

To perform useful analytics, and eventually machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI) objectives, a comprehensive and consistent data set is needed. Most organizations looking to implement a predictive maintenance system quickly discover they need more data to feed the ML model to get an accurate prediction, and they need flexible ways to distribute the information to users (see Figure 3).

Traditional PLCs could communicate data, but the content was largely unstructured and required significant programmer effort to propagate communications from the plant floor up through many layers of systems. This can be very costly to configure, deploy, and maintain when using intermediate gateways and classic architectures.

Modern PLCs, on the other hand, can gather OT raw data, preprocess and aggregate it to an extent, and send structured data with context directly to IT systems and the Cloud. This is a more direct and less complex connection than traditional solutions, improving responsiveness and reducing the upstream costs for storage, visualization, and computing. It also makes for a smooth data transition between OT and IT and modularizes and simplifies repeatability of a solution. IT can collaborate with OT to add data points as needed right at the source. This allows OT to maintain ownership of the application and to gain insight on IT technologies.

PLCs working with Cloud platforms like Azure make it even easier to connect data processing and storage closely with the data source, enabling fast, consistent responses with reduced dependency on intermediate resources. Azure tools allow an organization to build its own custom predictive application or use an off-theshelf solution. Azure offers multiple IIoT capabilities to help users visualize and optimize operations, including:

• Machine learning and analytics to build advanced predictive models that can aid in a maintenance program

• Cosmos DB for data storage

• Power Apps for easily building low code solutions

• Web and mobile visualization.

Two significant benefits of using Azure are scalability and security. Azure provides the infrastructure to scale from a single device to millions of devices without rearchitecting the solution. Azure also enables

Figure 2: By incorporating the most popular IT and OT protocols, and providing Microsoft Azure certification, a family of PLCs provides the plant floor data needed by Cloud services to create predictive maintenance solutions. Courtesy: AutomationDirect

an organization to aggregate data from multiple locations geographically into a single data store to get a complete picture of how operations and maintenance are performing across the whole organization. Best practices for IT security are applied for applications and communications, and the data store can be redundant.

Data is important, but information provides operational wisdom. For building ML models to predict machine/component failure, Azure offers multiple tools (Jupyter Notebooks), frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, and scikit-learn), and languages (R, Python). These models can be applied to one piece of equipment and scaled to address similar equipment throughout an organization.

Increased connectivity throughout the manufacturing enterprise and up to the Cloud delivers benefits that manufacturers have talked about for years to help them boost productivity and profitability. The catch, though, with that increased connectivity comes a heightened security risk. That is why there should be an enhanced level of security with any new connections through devices. Users need to understand the days of air-gapped systems and networks are gone and increased connectivity is here to stay.

Modern PLCs with IT/OT capabilities should employ built-in security features, which include:

• Not allowing requests from the outside the network

• Storage of username and password credentials should be managed by OT personnel; no default passwords

• IP sharelisting to control which applications are approved for use

• Secure communication over TLS when possible.

In addition, a good idea for any organizations is to allow for greater visibility, which can show what is going on over the network. When it is possible

Figure 3: IIoT technologies and PLCs using direct Cloud connectivity supply the data necessary to enable effective predictive maintenance systems. Courtesy: AutomationDirect

to observe the current level of traffic, understand what the baseline network activity should look like, what is normal, what is abnormal, users may be able to find any anomalous behavior. In short, it is important to discover and be notified about traffic that doesn’t conform to what a normal situation looks like.

Many other measures and technical controls are important such as authentication, endpoint protection, backup, and network segmentation, in addition to the right processes and the right governance.

Troubleshooting a problem

Increased visibility not only works to enhance security, it also aids when, despite all predictive maintenance planning, an incident occurs, and

plant personnel must troubleshoot the problem.

When a problem occurs, a PLC can quickly address it when configured with built-in troubleshooting tools that indicate issues based on real-time trending data. This way, it is possible to pre-process diagnostic data and make it remotely accessible at any time.

Logging data and being able to understand what happened and when—and why—remains a vital and often misunderstood element to troubleshooting an incident. By enabling greater accessibility and understanding of plant data, users are empowered to undertake predictive maintenance efforts that let them take action to avoid failures and minimize incidents.

Modern IIoT-capable PLCs can be a more active conduit for a user to implement a strong predictive maintenance program that can lower costs and unplanned shutdowns, and improve any plant’s performance. PE

Damon Purvis is the PLC product manager at AutomationDirect.com. He has more than 22 years of industrial automation experience.

SOLUTIONS

ANALYTICS

By Silvia Gonzalez

Industrial analytics from the edge up

Whether a manufacturer runs a few automated machines at a single location, or a fleet of equipment across many sites, there is always a need for better visibility, data, and analytics. Without access to the source data, and a way to analyze it, these companies are mostly operating based on experience.

For many reasons, manufacturers may be wary about commencing even basic analytical efforts. Their core systems are already operating and there may not be a clear understanding of the potential payback. There also can be great concern around the hardware, software, and integration needed to obtain any type of meaningful analytics.

However, these companies may be surprised to find they can build analytics by starting small at the edge instead of jumping into a large effort at the enterprise. By gathering many sources of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) little data at the edge, and then processing it into Big Data, if necessary, users can create valuable and actionable information. Edge computing hardware and software are making this possible.

Analytics: Bottom-up instead of topdown

Many manufacturers may understand analytics initiatives to be enterprise-wide endeavors, in the domain of a massive manufacturing execution system (MES). These companies may be concerned about the resources, timing, and cost required for a big information technology (IT) type project, especially when their skillset and focus may be more oriented toward plantlevel operational technology (OT).

Another option exists, enabled by modern edge controllers, industrial PCs (IPCs), and OT-focused software suites. End users, systems integrators, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of all types can build practical analytics systems bottom-up from the edge of the machine, instead of top-down from the enterprise. Edge analytics can offer immediate returns such as delivering overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) metrics, and they can also provide deeper analytics with the capability for scale-up into the enterprise.

Know the machine

Shifting computational capability from the enterprise to the edge makes a lot of sense for many reasons. Most of the most relevant data is available onboard

Figure 1: Analytical software can run on edge computing platforms, where it has the most responsive access to high-fidelity data and can produce insights right where operators can access and act on them. Courtesy: Emerson

Industrial manufacturers are using edge controllers and industrial PCs to implement practical analytics initiatives from the edge up

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the machine itself, although smart sensors and other external systems in the area also can be incorporated. While transmitting and storing hundreds or thousands of high-fidelity data points to the enterprise level for eventual analysis is possible, it can be expensive and often impractical.

This is because when traditional automation systems are used in this role, every new sensing point signal must be manually configured with context and engineering units and mapped through multiple communication links and systems to reach the enterprise level. Important signals can lose timeliness along the way, while unimportant signals consume bandwidth and storage.

For the most responsive results, important metrics such as the following are best processed at the edge, where the data originates (see Figure 1):

• OEE (availability, performance and quality)

• Runtime hours

• Throughput and scrap

• Energy consumption

• Machine status.

Users can access the raw data and resultant calculations directly and transmit the consolidated results up to the Cloud for eventual higher-level analysis. Edge processing in this way is ideal for understanding each machine, which is a high-value initial step, and then expanding the analysis to a production line or fleet of equipment.

Because end users often operate many machines, often distributed across many sites, any machine-level

IIoT solution must be scalable to the plant and then the enterprise.

Machine to plant to enterprise

Traditional programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and human-machine interfaces (HMIs) can certainly perform some edge computations and higherlevel communications, but they are much more focused on providing realtime control functionality. Therefore, end users often need edge computing options with better processing capability, support for more OT and IT communication protocols, and software tailored for analytical tasks.

Edge controllers and IPCs are two approachable platforms to help users build IIoT and edge analytics into new machines or add them to existing operations. Edge controllers include PLC functionality, but they also provide a second independent but integrated onboard operating system able to execute advanced visualization, analytical, and communication duties.

IPCs are full standalone computers that can perform these tasks also. Both types of edge computing platforms are specifically designed to withstand the high temperature and vibration environments where they would be installed on machines and in factory control cabinets at the edge.

What sets edge controllers and IPCs apart from standard PLCs and HMIs is their ability to run software applications and suites to act in one or more of the following roles (see Figure 2):

• IIoT data connectivity to controllers, smart sensors, and condition monitoring equipment

• Communication gateway to other peer or higherlevel systems

• Visualization and dashboarding of machine status and analytics

• Analytical computations for OEE and energy sustainability.

Whether the end user is an OEM building a machine or technical staff at an operating plant adding IIoT, the right visualization and analytics software will speed their efforts. These users should look for software suites offering a wizard approach for the most common tasks, such as creating OEE metrics, to reduce time and cost of implementation. The software should be suitable for starting small on a local per-machine basis, but it also must provide more advanced analytics and be scalable from this granular level up to a plant- and then enterprise-wide level.

Figure 2: Standard PLCs and HMIs have their roles for industrial automation, but more comprehensive platforms and edge controllers and IPCs can provide complete visualization, communication, IIoT, and analytical solutions. Courtesy: Emerson

IIoT-enabled machines

Most HMI software packages connect to one or more types of PLCs, but more advanced versions can connect to other edge-located sensors using protocols like EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, and OPC UA. HMI software that is IIoT-capable should also support the message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol for Cloud connectivity. These software platforms often provide additional features such as remote and mobile connectivity.

While HMI software may include some fundamental analytical functions, it is often necessary to use complementary software packages with extended features for providing plant-level analytics and energy efficiency evaluation. This is the reason why an integrated platform delivering IIoT, local HMI, distributed HMI and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and analytics is the best approach to enable scalability (see Figure 3).

Connectivity, communication, visualization, and analytical software are available individually or in a suite of products, and sometimes pre-loaded for convenience on edge controllers and IPCs. With the right hardware, HMI software, and analytical software in place, any machine can be IIoT-enabled.

Applying edge computing

Companies involved with industrial packaging and containers, and also manufacturers of a diverse mix of specialty products, have benefited from implementing OEE at their facilities. Edge computing solutions have allowed them to optimize their overall productivity by monitoring production flows in real time and calculating the OEE, without stopping production.

These users have relied on configuration wizards, enabling them to create in minutes projects to calculate key performance indicators (KPIs), OEE, and downtime. Wizards are tools providing a step-by-step procedure guiding users to import specific information and parameters needed to create an entire OEE application. Operators use dashboards to visualize production, recipes, machine information, number of units produced, total running time and downtime, and estimated versus actual cycle time. This information is kept in a database and detailed reports can be created. The results have brought great advantages for production line operators and managers that focus on achieving a set performance goals.

Some companies decide to keep their analytics local so they can make decisions

at the plant level, while others require the information to be available via the Cloud so it can be incorporated with other data sets or analyzed at the fleet level. An open, modular, scalable, and flexible platform is ideal to implement IIoT and to deliver various deployment scenarios.

Machine IIoT from edge to enterprise

Industrial analytics may seem esoteric, and many companies may believe it is beyond their immediate grasp to implement any kind of meaningful IIoT initiatives. The cost and complexity of starting a top-down ITcentric project can be intimidating.

A new generation of edge computing hardware, networking, protocols, and software has changed this thought process. Vendors with deep OT experience have introduced edge controllers and IPCs tough enough to withstand the factory floor and onmachine environment. Wired and wireless Ethernet, combined with communication protocols like OPC UA and MQTT, permit users to tap into any edgelocated data source, and to send information up to higher-level systems.

These essentials let users collect many data sets at the machine, production line, manufacturing, and facility levels. With the right source data available, users can employ OT-focused HMI and analytical software specifically designed to scale from a single machine up to the enterprise. This approach is a realistic way for end users to start with IIoT-enabled machines as they build up to an enterprise-wide information intelligence system. PE

Silvia Gonzalez is a solutions development leader for Emerson’s machine automation solutions business.

Figure 3: End users often find it most efficient to rely on an integrated portfolio of software solutions running on a variety of controllers and IPCs from a single vendor.

Courtesy: Emerson

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WATER & WASTEWATER

By Kevin Parker

Water treatment chemistries and equipment evolution, post-COVID

Integrated solutions and managed services address challenges facing global water industry

Water has always been precious. And for some time now it’s been apparent that water is a finite global resource. Visit any water-related industry trade show and it’s clear that technology solutions are a big part of society’s response to global water challenges.

Plant Engineering recently sat down with Kevin Milici and Greg Becker, both of whom are executive vice presidents of technology and marketing with Kurita America, a company that exemplifies the global nature of today’s water technology markets.

An edited version of the interview follows.

Looking at the global water market, what portion of it is most of interest to Kurita?

Kevin Milici: Our fundamental philosophy as a company is to study the properties of water, master them, and create an environment in which man and nature are in harmony. We translate that philosophy into our everyday practices, our offerings and our behaviors. It’s vital we do so, not just for today, but for tomorrow. When you look at, for example, the projections for the year 2050 as to what percentage of the world will be in water-stress; it’s a scary proposition.

It is inspiring to participate in a business focused on sustainability, the health of society and the health of the planet as a whole.

What was the strategy behind Kurita’s acquisition of U.S. Water and Fremont Industries?

KM: Kurita is a significant global player, but up until about six years ago, its focus outside of Asia was limited. The company decided to change that and made serious investments to expand its footprint geographically, including in Western Europe and the Americas. In North America, Kurita was fortunate to have the opportunity to acquire Minneapolis-based

Fremont Industries. A couple of years later, that was followed by the acquisition of U.S. Water Services, also Minneapolis-based. This created the critical mass that's able to penetrate the North American market.

Where do you see innovation when it comes to industrial water treatment, in terms of new processes or new solutions or in the distribution model? Are you seeing real increases in managed services that you need to provide to your customer?

KM: It’s recognized in the U.S. that we have a skills gap, with the demographics of the workforce shifting. The percentage of the workforce that’s within 10 years of retirement is significant. So, as that group of experienced people retires there are real challenges finding ways to fill the gap left behind. Our customers are often finding it’s not easy.

Technology can play a role in that, in the form of the Internet of Things (IoT), and advances in sensory technology and control devices used at the edge, or in other words, at the point of application. Wireless communications make it easy for customers to get data into the Cloud, without unnecessary security concerns. Another important ongoing development is Cloud computing, as well as being able to apply analytics to that data and then share it with the users who need it, in the form they need it and when they need it.

Personnel that previously may have taken a long time to develop their knowledge and skills to operate a water system can now become competent and capable faster because the technology is there to support him or her.

Greg Becker: There are a lot of exciting things being worked on right now in our industry. This includes innovations on the chemistry side and other technologies as well. For example, our customers require more precise measurement of many relevant

parameters and quick reaction time. Digital solutions are more important. Our task is packaging those solutions for our customers. Customers want an integrated system solution and the simplicity associated with that.

However, the challenges addressed to get there can be complex. That's something that we feel Kurita excels at providing. It requires not just expertise in biology and chemistry, but also in plumbing and the engineering disciplines to make the whole system work effectively and economically for a customer.

KM: One of the legacy companies of the new Kurita America was U.S. Water Services. U.S. Water was formed around the 20 years ago around the notion of integrated solutions.

However, those words mean different things to different people. They’re bandied about in the marketplace kind of loosely. When we say integrated solutions, that means we look at a customer’s challenges as the first of a four-step process, to dive deeply into their current landscape and also give thought to what the future might look like five or 10 years down the road. We need to design solutions that not only address today’s need but the anticipated challenges of the future as well.

Our offerings include both equipment-based systems and chemistries, and the services and engineering that go along with that. What does that mean from a practical point of view? When we look at a problem, it doesn’t matter to us whether it’s a chemical or an equipment solution. We try and find the best solution, one that meets customer needs and desires today, and as I mentioned, includes a vision for the future as well. We’re not concerned about pushing a particular technology. In most cases, a blend of technologies and services result in the best solution with the lowest total cost of operation.

When we say integrated solutions, that's the DNA of the North American organization. Kurita has a similar philosophy and approach. It too is an equipment, chemical, engineering and services company, on a large scale. About two-thirds of Kurita’s revenue comes from equipment and related services businesses. The other third is chemicals. The breadth and depth of technologies that we can bring together has gone up many-fold now as part of Kurita.

The first time we visited Kurita after being acquired, a team of our executives toured one of

its major Global Technology Centers outside of Tokyo. The depth of the core science being invested in for chemistry, equipment systems, and the IoT was beyond impressive. I’ve been in this business a long time and I had never seen anything like it.

GB: From a sales perspective, joining Kurita has been a huge blessing for our organization. As Kevin mentioned, the Kurita technologies allow us to provide real solutions for our customers. I’ve been in this business over 35 years and there were times when I didn’t feel I was bringing true differentiating technologies to the table. It is wonderful knowing that is not the case now.

Kevin may have mentioned this too, but Kurita has an extremely robust R&D program. This commitment leads to innovations like Kurita’s family of digital sensing solutions. One in particular improves wastewater treatment performance substantially, and it is unique. I could name quite a few others.

Courtesy: Kurita America

Is it safe to assume that with the combination of companies brought together, it’s going to facilitate a process of offering wider-ranging solutions to your customer base?

What do you see as the greatest challenges that face the users of your water technologies? Is it regulation? Is it cost? Is it, again, the skills gap?

In future, industrial customers will want to harvest data from multiple sources related to water quality and management and combine it with other types of information.

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cited for a discharge violation, again, it’s not helpful to the local brand equity that you've built up with regard to social responsibility and environment.

The skills gap we talked about is a persistent, escalating issue. A lot of businesses are being asked to do more with less. Not everyone can afford the luxury of having people focused on a water-based utility system. Companies have, in some cases, eliminated roles for internal corporate water management experts and they’re looking to outside resources to fill that gap.

This is a great business we are in. Even though we’re a relatively small portion of the operating budget of most industrial operations, the impact we can have is incredible. Every dollar spent on water or process treatment solutions can have a manyfold return in terms of energy, labor costs and asset preservation.

GB: The challenges are well-documented, and the regulatory environment is certainly one of them. One thing sometimes overlooked is the challenge to our customers in making the cultural changes within their own organizations to support environmental and social responsibilities.

Water and water treatment expertise encompasses biology and chemistry, but also the engineering disciplines.

Not to mention things like plumbing.

Courtesy: Kurita America

KM: The regulatory environment is certainly challenging. One example would be cooling water treatment. Phosphate-based materials have been the mainstay of corrosion control in cooling water systems. But now, if you take, for example, the Mississippi River basin and all the agricultural runoff that occurs along that basin, and industrial discharges as well, you’re putting a lot of contaminants into that body of water. Nitrogen and phosphorous wind up in the Gulf of Mexico where they enable the proliferation of harmful algae and “dead zones” that wreak havoc on marine life.

As a result, work continues to be done to come up with alternatives to using phosphate for corrosion control, which is no easy trick. Some states, for example, the state of Wisconsin, have rigid controls on phosphate amounts that can be discharged from an industrial plant. We have ways to manage corrosion in the absence of phosphate. We call that particular commercial product PhosZero. Another regulatory challenge at the local level is discharge violations. They can be extremely costly, and not only because of monetary fines. With brand reputation being so important, anything that negatively impacts a company’s image or perception with its customers, communities and investors is certainly to be avoided. When it shows up in the Sunday paper at the local level that a plant site was

And I think that challenge is a balancing act of what is environmentally and socially responsible and responsible to your bottom line. We work with our customers to adopt new ideas, such as using gray water or harvesting rainwater. Things that we didn’t really think of before. Being open and changing the cultural environment, I think, is a real challenge for our customers too, but progress is being made.

Electric power generation is the biggest user of gray water, and huge amounts of water are contaminated in the upstream oil and gas industry. Is there anything that industrial water solutions can do to make us all more effective in tackling those kinds of challenges?

KM: Just think about it. Wastewater streams that were previously considered “impaired,” waste, unfit for use in industrial systems are now viewed differently. Those same sources can be economically conditioned to be re-used, moving from “wasteto-value” thereby minimizing the consumption of freshwater at the front end of a plant.

Gray water, for example, is certainly on the upswing in terms of where and to the degree it’s being used. The power industry is the biggest

Are there industries where you find water challenges particularly acute?

consumer of it right now, but the “purple pipe” phenomena that you see in California with secondary effluent from municipal water plants is finding its way to more and more non-power industry users. When you’re using a water like that, the tolerance for making a mistake is lower, so that’s where all these tools and technologies come into play to bring awareness and visibility to an emerging issue at its incipient stage and before it becomes a serious threat to asset integrity, efficiency or environmental compliance.

Enabling more and more people to use impaired waters through chemical or equipment-based technologies is a big deal. The sources of impaired water come from outside the fence, for example, municipal gray water, but it’s also possible to search for and find waste streams inside the plant that can be reconditioned for a fit-for-purpose use. You don't need to take every gallon of a waste stream and convert it into potable water to drink, but it may be good enough to be used effectively in a cooling system.

GB: The technology exists to treat these waters to take almost all of them back to drinking water quality. In many cases, you don’t need to do that. There’s a social acceptability issue with some of that also, depending upon which water you start with before taking it back to drinking water quality. The technologies are basically available now. I think it’s a matter of doing that cost value equation. In some cases, it’s not cost effective to do it, but it may be socially responsible to do it.

I think we're still struggling as a community to find that balance, but the technology exists. In upstream oil & gas, if I’m not mistaken, you’re using somewhere between three and 10 gallons of water for every gallon of oil. While a lot of improvements have been made, in my opinion, there is still opportunity.

Was there something I should have asked you about that I haven't?

KM: What is the competitive advantage in the future going to be? Is it because a provider has the best chemistry out there, the best piece of equipment, the best service model? Or is it something else?

All of these technologies and tools are great unto themselves, but a dominant point of competitive advantage in this industry is going to be how we help customers integrate those components and use data to their advantage.

We're able to harvest data from a multitude of sources, including our own systems, plus other

physical and chemical operating parameters measured inside of a plant, and to bring that data together in unconventional ways. There are insights to be uncovered that are not visible otherwise. Those insights will translate to operational improvements with economic, environmental and societal benefits. No matter how good today’s performance is believed to be, in partnership with our customers, we can all be better tomorrow. That’s where our digital future is going to be.

Kurita is investing in the chemistry, equipment solutions and IIoT related capabilities that manufacturers will need,” said Kevin Milici, a vice president with Kurita America.

Courtesy: Kurita America

GB: If we look at things globally, it’s estimated that 80% of wastewater goes untreated in the world. There are still many people without access to quality drinking water. Industry often gets tabbed the bad guy, and industry does use a lot of water, but a lot more water is used for agricultural purposes throughout the world. The more interesting thing to look at is, what is industry doing to help the situation? Besides innovations, what are we doing as partners to help address some of these larger, bigissue problems in the world from a water standpoint?

At Kurita we are taking action on sustainability. We are one of 10 companies on the Water Resilience Coalition Leadership committee. The WRC is a group highlighting major water basins in the world that are under stress and organizing communities, NGO’s, government, and industries around solutions. While we certainly are a business, and we want to be profitable and grow, we take our responsibility as environmental stewards very seriously. PE

“Our customers require more precise measurement of many relevant parameters and they want quick reaction times,” said Greg Becker, a vice president with Kurita America. Courtesy: Kurita America

SOLUTIONS

THE

MANUFACTURING ECONOMY

By John Felix

Four ways manufacturers can grow post-COVID-19

2020 was unlike any other year in recent history; the world felt the seismic effects from the pandemic including production declines, forced shutdowns and bankruptcies.

While the effects of the pandemic will be lingering for the foreseeable future, the manufacturing industry looks ahead as vaccine rollouts and economic results gain momentum. In a recent survey from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), optimism among manufacturers hit its highest point in two years and increased investments in manufacturing are likely on the horizon. Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in February with the overall economy notching a ninth consecutive month of growth.

As companies prepare for a state of normalcy, there are a few ways to grow during the recovery and take advantage of what has been learned during the pandemic. These lessons can help manufacturers “future-proof” operations through diversification and flexibility.

consider unregulated or alternative lenders, such as private credit funds, as a source of capital. This lender group has the flexibility to advance more aggressively against receivables, inventory and equipment. They can also examine and normalize performance anomalies resulting from COVID-19 or other extraordinary events such as ice storms, malware attacks or labor strikes.

Many alternative credit providers are adept at reconstructing historical financial performance, absent a disrupting event. Identifying the immediate to medium-term financial impact of an extraordinary event allows a lender the ability to look back and evaluate what the financial performance would, or could, have been if the anomalous event never occurred. Further, taking any investments or adjustments that have been made gives the lender a clearer picture of what to expect going forward.

2. Identify vulnerabilities and implement strategies to protect the supply chain.

As the country emerges from the pandemic, capital projects – whether maintenance- or growth-oriented – will be scrutinized by prospective lenders in light of a company’s 2020 performance and many companies will be penalized for underperformance during the pandemic. This may seem unfair, but due to regulatory oversight, many bank lenders have no choice but to “average down” the last three years’ earnings when making their credit decision resulting in lower loan amounts.

The pandemic-fueled underperformance and the inability to borrow as much from bank lenders will leave many manufacturers capital-starved and unable to pursue their desired capital expenditure programs. Under this scenario, companies should

What manufacturers have learned from the pandemic, as well as other recent events including ice storms and labor strikes is everyone is vulnerable, whether it is through raw material price spikes, transportation gridlocks or employee attraction and retention. Every manager needs to ask themselves, what could or should they have done differently?

From the outside looking in, it appears much of this disruption could have been somewhat mitigated through diversification in the supply chain, facility location and distribution channels. Diversification provides a number of benefits that protect existing operations and provide capacity to meet increased product demand.

Similar to having multiple facility locations, a diversified supply chain allows companies to shift between vendors when a preferred supplier introduces an unexpected price increase in an attempt to pass on increased operational costs they are

1. Don’t let an existing lender limit the ability to pursue capital projects that were placed on hold due to the pandemic.

Manufacturers remain resilient and strong in the pandemic’s wake, but there are steps to take to prepare for the next anomalous event

encountering. Shifting to an alternative supplier and applying a bit of competitive pressure might help keep costs down and ensure continued supply of key materials.

3. Develop a benefit program for employees for future disruptions.

Whether it’s a pandemic, extreme weather or a malware attack that shuts down a facility, management should think beyond the initial financial impacts to the stakeholders and ask, “How would such a disruptive event impact employees?” As the broader manufacturing industry gains more momentum and unemployment figures decline, it is going to become more important to attract and retain qualified employees.

To do that, it is crucial to understand the emphasis the company places on employees and their families along with new measures and policies surrounding job safety, employee security and the general well-being of their families. Current and future employees will look for companies that have invested in futureproofing against unforeseen disruptions along with those that keep benefits or compensation enhancements as a part of the recruitment and retention process.

4. Reevaluate financing options. Traditional sources of capital such as regulated

commercial banks are getting more difficult to turn to as a reliable financing source, especially if performance has been negatively impacted by the pandemic or other disruptive events. It is crucial for companies to think creatively and strategically for fast and flexible funding sources. Non-bank lenders are an attractive alternative as many banks are pulling back from lending in the current COVID19 environment.

Broadly speaking, investments fall into either protective/defensive or growth/offensive categories. As companies now focus on a recovery period, it would seem intuitive that management would look to protect the supply chain, production/operations, as well as distribution channels to ensure if another major disruption occurs, the risks are somewhat mitigated or hedged. Further, as with many periods of economic uncertainty, investment in facility expansion or upgrades and/or M&A activities can lead to increased opportunity. Such investments require capital and tailor-made solutions from creative lenders that provide a flexible capital structure that lets companies better navigate the unexpected. PE

John Felix has served as managing director of White Oak Global Advisors, LLC (WOGA) since 2017 and has been actively investing in middle market companies for more than 20 years.

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Effective solutions for variable speed challenges

In a world that is constantly changing, we understand the need to have information for your business at your fingertips. ABB is offering a webinar series that will address today’s industry challenges and opportunities along with solutions and tips on how to overcome them.

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When running motors with VFDs, motor selection is critical to reliability and motor life. This workshop will provide tips on proper motor selection to ensure proper performance when powered by a VFD.

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In this workshop, Rick Kirkpatrick discusses tips and guidelines for choosing the right motor for your variable speed application beyond speed, torque, power and voltage.

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video training course encompasses various levels of training from entry level programming to advanced PLC functions, and is available 24/7/365 so you can learn at your pace and at your convenience.

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Safely Collecting and Containing Combustible and Toxic Dusts

Camfil APC is the world’s leading manufacturer of industrial dust and fume collection systems.

Combustible Dust Collection

Camfil APC compliance experts can recommend dust collectors with explosion venting and isolation equipment that satisfy all OSHA and NFPA guidelines. Camfil offers a full range of technical services to test dusts and analyze specific operating conditions.

Toxic Dust Collection

Many industries including food, pharmaceutical, chemical processing and metalworking require systems that can safely collect dusts. Dusts that are dangerous to workers include toxins, allergens, potent compounds and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Key Products

The company’s flagship product is the Gold Series X-Flo industrial dust collection system. It handles all kinds of toxic and combustible

dusts/fumes, including fine, fibrous and heavy dust loads, and features high capacity filter cartridges that are safe and easy to change out. Gold Series Camtain® collectors are ideal for high efficiency filtration that doesn’t require re-use. They protect workers from exposure and combustible dust risks.

Quad Pulse Package collectors are compact enough to be placed on the production floor or suite. It includes a secondary HEPA filter and uses a segmented cleaning process to keep the primary filter cartridge operating continuously.

Replacement Filter Cartridges

In addition to equipment, Camfil APC offers a full range of replacement filter cartridges using HemiPleat® technology

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Manufacturing Excellence and Testing Services

The corporate headquarters in Jonesboro, Arkansas includes a state-of-the-art test lab to simulate full-scale testing, including ANSI/ ASHRAE Standard 199 testing.

This testing provides comparison data on emissions, pressure drop, compressed air usage, energy consumption and emission readings, taking the guesswork out of equipment selection to help identify the best dust collection equipment, size and design for each specific application.

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Moving bulk material?

Understand the fundamental differences between Flexicon Flexible Screw Conveyors, Tubular Cable Conveyors and Pneumatic Conveying Systems

Flexible Screw Conveyors, Pneumatic Conveying Systems and Tubular Cable Conveyors from Flexicon offer unique attributes relative to individual requirements.

Several conveyors can move your bulk material, but only one is likely to offer the greatest efficiency, dependability and cost effectiveness for your requirement.

Flexible Screw Conveyors can move the greatest diversity of bulk materials, including those that pack, cake or smear, with no separation of blends. Economical to purchase and maintain, they convey at any angle over short to medium distances in low to medium capacities. The removable inner screw is the only moving part contacting material, and is driven above the point at which material exits the conveyor, eliminating contact with seals.

Tubular Cable Conveyors gently slide fragile food and non-food products through smooth stainless steel tubing routed at any angle over short or long distances in low to high capacities using low-friction polymer discs attached to stainless steel cable.

These conveyors are available with single or multiple inlets and outlets, prevent the

separation of blends and evacuate material from the tubing circuit, preventing waste and allowing rapid cleaning.

Dilute-Phase Pneumatic Conveying Systems with single or multiple inlets and outlets move bulk materials vertically and horizontally in low to high capacities over short to long distances using pressure or vacuum generated by a blower. Material enters the system through rotary airlock valves, pick-up adapters and wands (vacuum systems), and is separated from the airstream using filter receivers or cyclone separators. Material exits the system through rotary airlock valves or fill/pass valves, or discharges directly into process vessels—with no residual.

While these generalizations may help narrow your conveyor choices, Flexicon recommends running your material in its test laboratories equipped with full-size conveying systems and upstream/downstream equipment to simulate your process.

+1 888 353 9426 sales@flexicon.com www.flexicon.com

Information on Industrial lubricants for your plant operations

Log on to our website and find all the information you need about industrial lubricants. From mineral based greases and oils to the latest high grade synthetic fluids, the data is compiled in our Lubriplate Lubrication Data Book that you can download at no cost to you.

Also available in digital format are important specification and product information sheets on H1 Food Machinery Lubricants, Environmental Lubricants and more.

Complete data on drop points, cold tests, viscosity indexes, ISO grades, AGMA numbers, etc. is included. There is lubricant information available regarding compressor fluids, hydraulic fluids, bearing lubricants, power transmission fluids, specialty lubricants, high grade greases and more.

If you have a specific question you may also talk with a lubricant representative at 1-800 733-4755 or e-mail lubeXpert@lubriplate.com

Educating Engineers

Simple,

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Engineering talent is in high demand, and the war for talent is real. Would you be interested in a simple, cost-effective manner to improve the engagement and retention levels of your engineers?

I am willing to bet the answer is an overwhelming “Yes!” Possibly the most effective solution is offering continuing education opportunities for all levels of your engineering staff, and these opportunities come in many forms.

One of the easiest educational programs to establish is a formal mentoring program. Match your younger, less-experienced engineers with seasoned veterans to exchange ideas and drive knowledge transfer. The lessexperienced employees will soak up what the veterans have to offer,

and you might eliminate the potentially damaging situation where one person has tribal knowledge that is critical for a specific process or piece of equipment. The seasoned veteran will appreciate the opportunity as they might become aware of newer technology or equipment the new employee learned about in school.

Both participants will feel valued and grateful the company took the time to establish a program to aid in their development or share their expertise. In either case, everyone wins.

Lunch and learns also offer a great opportunity to share valuable experiences and technology. One example is to choose an employee each month to make a small presentation during a company-paid lunch. Longtenured employees could present on their areas of technical expertise, and newer employees could highlight the newest trends. Those preparing to teach will sharpen their skills during their research, and any information passed along to the group is a bonus.

Both opportunities are easy to implement but will yield real results.

Want to learn about engineering topics pertaining to gearmotors? We have the information at your fingertips!

Tired of looking up multiple sources for answers to common engineering questions about gear units or gearmotors? We have the solution.

SEW-EURODRIVE’s online Technical Notes can be a real life-saver when you need answers. Technical Notes provide quick access to many engineering topics such as how to properly mount a torque arm, how to determine and design for inertia, or how to properly design your machine to use a hollow shaft gear unit.

Need answers on how the speed, mounting position, environment, and duty cycle can affect the thermal rating of a gear unit and how to protect against too much heat? That’s one of many in-depth documents you can find by visiting www.seweurodrive.com and clicking Technical Notes.

Whitepaper

Our technical white paper, Maximizing Gearmotor Speed Range shows you how to operate VFDs above 60Hz to widen speed range, improve stability and reduce cost.

In this white paper, you’ll learn why it can be a good idea to operate gearmotors above 60Hz. Through a common example, we will show you how to select the proper gearmotor that will significantly enhance performance in the following ways:

• Increase stability by reducing inertia mismatch

• Widen the available speed range

• Eliminate a costly ventilator fan at low speed

• Eliminate motor overheating at low speed

• Enable the use of a smaller motor

Visit www.sewwhitepapers.com/vfd to download the PDF. mktg@seweurodrive.com 864-439-7537 www.seweurodrive.com

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