OEM APPLICATION NOTE
This is the headline This is the deck. BYLINE
It’s Time to Step-Up Machine Safety Life science manufacturers and OEMs understand the need to comply with machine safety standards, but new requirements may necessitate bringing in a third party to help mitigate risk. STEPHANIE NEIL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, OEM MAGAZINE Polytron is a systems integrator (SI) specializing in automation and controls, industrial networks, simulation, smart manufacturing, and cybersecurity. But another area of expertise the company offers as a service that is very valuable, and sometimes overlooked, is machine safety assessments and verification/validations. Polytron’s Safety Practice helps companies to protect packaging and processing equipment, and, of course, people. The safety team hold certifications in global safety competency, with Functional Safety Engineer (FSE) certified by TÜV Rheinland and Certified Machine Safety Experts – CMSE – TÜV NORD. These certifications held by the Polytron team validate that a manufacturer’s safety projects will be delivered with proven competency and expertise in best-in-class machine safety practices and thorough understanding of safety standards. “In the safety business, we have a safety lifecycle from risk assess-
ment, safety definitions, designing, implementation, validation, and help with overall standards—either compliance or helping to write standards for the end users,” says Sean Daswani, Project Manager and Safety Business Leader at Polytron. “We have done and are currently working with a life science area manufacturer and are in the process of guiding them through retrofits of existing equipment, but also using these standards to create detailed specifications for the OEMs to follow while designing/building new equipment. Having a consistent safety program that is based on standards is beneficial for everyone.” In their work guiding machine builders, Polytron encounters a few different issues. “One is, the OEMs in the U.S. that are trying to sell machines over in Europe have an issue with certain requirements of the machinery directive that has to be met to get machines to the EU,” Daswani says. Here in the U.S., the standards are not as strict,
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