SMART MANUFACTURING
MARTIN GADSBY, DIRECTOR AT OPTIMAL INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION, ADVISES HOW A WELLDESIGNED DATA MANAGEMENT STRATEGY CAN HELP PRODUCERS OF MEDICAL PLASTICS SUCCEED IN SMART MANUFACTURING.
Smart WORKS
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he creation of Smart Factories can bring massive competitive benefits to businesses in the medical plastic manufacturing sector. These facilities leverage data generated throughout the manufacturing process to maximize responsiveness on the factory floor and optimize production. To unlock this potential and turn their plants into Smart Factories, medical plastic manufacturers need a knowledge management system to effectively gather, store, visualize and process data. By deploying a digital manufacturing strategy, companies can improve the capacity and productivity without increasing their footprint.
By turning existing facilities into Smart Factories, medical plastic manufacturers can take advantage of extensive benefits offered by a PAT-enabled process 18
IDENTIFY THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY State-of-the-art technology is needed to set up Smart Factories for medical plastic production. Key elements include real-time, in-line and on-line probes, sensors, and spectral instruments to gather information, as well as data mining solutions to generate actionable insight and predictions about processes and operations. In addition, factory and process automation solutions, as well as digital twins (or cyber-physical systems), use the knowledge generated by instrumentation to optimize production and maintenance. A Process Analytical Technology (PAT) framework is essential to set up and interconnect these elements for responsive smart manufacturing applications. This is a quality-driven approach that relies on the relationship between critical process parameters and critical quality attributes of raw and in-process materials to optimize manufacturing activities. For example, this type of setup can be used to control hot melt extrusion of polyethylene oxide films by leveraging the multivariate data provided by near-infrared and Raman spectroscopy. IMPLEMENTING PAT SOLUTIONS The system used to link all the PAT systems together to create a Smart Factory is known as a data or knowledge management platform. In addition to automatically optimizing production process, this also acts as a key visualization tool that helps businesses have an immediate understanding of their processes and product quality predictions. When embarking on digital transformation projects, medical plastic manufacturers should select an automation specialist that can implement a comprehensive solution that includes, and seamlessly integrates, all the necessary technologies. By doing so, producers can create a truly intelligent, interconnected facility that result in significant reductions in
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