INDUSTRY 4.0
EPISODE 2
by Rob Miller, Whitten Battenfeld/RotoLoad
When I wrote this, I was enjoying a time with family at Disney. Perhaps, at the risk of being a little cliché, as you can see above, I may use a few Star Wars terms! As I have been thinking of this episode, it has been clear to me that one of our common human tendencies is to continue to strive to make ourselves better. Whatever the topic, family, financial, employment, residential, 34 ROTOWORLD® | MARCH-APRIL 2020
personal development, spiritual, or relational, I believe that most of us, always want to strive to be better. If there was a detailed, and exhaustive DATA set that we as individuals could review, to see exactly what worked for us, and what didn’t, what times in our lives were at the top of the mountain, and what times were in the valleys, we would likely see benefit from that in some
way, either minimal or perhaps more significant. We do have our memories, but sometimes our human memories are not faultless. They can be convenient and other times they can be forgetful. But as above, DATA can be detailed, exhaustive, recorded, and organized. Imagine what might be possible if we could examine that data in a very constructive way to help us to make our life decisions. That
INDUSTRY 4.0
EPISODE 2 A NEW HOPE may be good and may be bad. One of the things that makes life exciting is that we can learn from our mistakes, and some of those learning experiences work strongly to form who we are as individuals. As I consider relating these same principles to our manufacturing businesses, many of the same experiences can be applied. The difference is that in our businesses, we don’t want to fail. We don’t want to waste money, or to lose valuable production resources. It’s fairly easy to narrow down our business goals into a short list of categories. Produce more, for less money, with better quality. We of course can merge the business goals with our humanity, our human goals, and say that some of our purpose driven goals are to provide jobs, make our colleagues and employees lives better, create a community, and build a valuable team. It is quite possible that one of these components can be missing, or at least, not at the peak of its potential. We use our memories and capabilities to try to make the right decisions to improve one or more of these three primary items. Using some of what we have learned in the past, what we have tried in the past, but that may not always work. It could actually result in additional costly failure. One of the realities of our industry is that there is a lot of data potentially available, and collectable with the right technology that we may not be collecting and utilizing to our benefit. I am sure that most have documented ideal production specifications for each part that we make, to do our best to get a good part every time. Mold positioning, shot weight, resin recipes, oven temperature profiles, rotational profiles, cooling times, operator process steps, finishing operations, QC functions, etc. Some, perhaps more than others. However, I am, at the same time, reasonably sure that most do not have
actual recorded data to be absolutely sure that we are actually achieving and tracking each of these specified goals. Some may have some method of ensuring oven data is consistent, but a lot of the other processes are solely reliant on human capital. Capital, that as above, can be flawed, or at least, conveniently, or perhaps inconveniently memory based. If we look back for a few seconds at the Industry 2.0 process, I am quite sure that Henry Ford had people writing manually, recording exhaustive data to show him what processes worked to improve the production line, and what didn’t. If you look at the progression of the cost of manufacturing the first Model T, it clearly demonstrates how the production line, based on manually recorded data, was able to drastically reduce cost and improve efficiency. In 1909, the equivalent cost (in today’s dollars) was $ 23,476.00 per unit, and in 1925, the same car cost was reduced to $ 3,790.00 per unit, (again in todays dollar’s). A 600% reduction in cost! I am sure, through the early 1900’s, and the early science of fertilization, farmers recorded some daily data manually to measure what amounts of fertilizer gave them the best yield, related to the amount of rainfall, sunshine, and temperatures. A quick google search will show that modern farms are very technologically advanced, with extremely complex systems to ensure the absolute most productive yield. Everything from robotic drone machinery, to very complex systems to adapt their processes to their specific variable micro-climate to ensure that best possible product outcome for the lowest possible cost. They have two very basic goals, decrease input, maximize output, A New Hope… This is where there is hope for our industry, and it is, and has to be the
adapting of Industry 4.0 principles to our processes. The question is, where and how do we start. Unfortunately, a long list of questions. The first question, or process of questions needs to be priority and goals based. I don’t believe that the best approach is to paint this topic with a wide brush. There first needs to be a decision that this topic is worth investigating. Our businesses need to be worthy of improving. As mentioned above, we need to have the desire, drive, and commitment to invest the necessary resources to increase production, at less cost, and with better quality. Why wouldn’t we want to achieve those fundamental goals. Essentially, as a team, a manufacturer needs to make a determination of where they are currently, and what is the priority. I am sure that most have some kind of regular management meetings to discuss issues, quality, production levels, employee issues, etc. There typically would be some trends that can be evaluated to work towards improvement goals. What goals and how can those goals be applied to develop an initial plan for automating and adopting Industry 4.0 principles. The Rise of the Resistance But the resistance is the GOOD GUYS, you and I, the ones that we are all cheering for. The future depends on OUR decisions, and our success. The problem is that we all have our human natures, our convenient and inconvenient memories. We can find it difficult to admit that we are not always doing everything perfect. We are a proud generation, and there may be a little pain mixed in with the optimism of taking our companies to the next level, with the knowledge that we may not have all of the answers…
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