blog Archives - Page 17 of 19 - Reckers Mechatronics pvt. ltd.

Leveraging the power of Digitization and Connectivity

Throughout the old golden days the Factory Floor is being assumed as a place with lots of machines, raw materials, man power, reports etc.

The manufacturing industries use manual reporting system to check the output product report, to check the working efficiency of the machine, to check the downtime and to check the working of process of manufacturing. Since the manual reports utilize the manpower, manipulation may take place, manual intervention can be there, no real time data is available. To overcome these challenges digitization come into the picture.

Digitization means collection of data from non-intelligent machines irrespective of their makes, protocols over the common platform so that each machine on the shop floor can share the required data to another machine.

Thus, digitization helps in increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing process , which in return increases the productivity and makes the manufacturing unit cost effective too.

Thus , in recent times the Factory Floor are connected into more equipped with automation and new technologies which are more focused on quality and efficiency.

The Factory floors now have clarity, speed, more efficient, cost effective, more productive, Real Time Data and all this with minimal downtime. It has now become supercharged with Automation, Industry 4.0, OEE , IIOT.

The thing which leads the whole process is digitization and connectivity.

It leads towards the interconnected manufacturing , less downtime and more cost effective and efficient manufacturing times.

Variant Management

Challenge:

Now a days the products are becoming customized , it leads to increase in no. of variants. Manufacturers have to manage assembly lines , features for customized products which is resulting in increased errors, delays in meeting customer requests and extensive rework. This all is related to Variant Management in assembly line.

Every manufacturing unit manages variants, it can be with the help of Excel Sheets or Manually. It result in long working hours, chances of errors are more, variant may get interchange with other design which in result hampers the quality of the final product. Thus, arranging multiple variants on single assembly line is becoming a challenge.

Solution:

We offered our Variant Management Solution , through which the software will enable to keep the check on production with its correct components. This is done when barcode is scanned and matched with the RFID tag. In this the comparison is made via Plan v/s Actual.

Why Variant Management?

To preside over the power of reuse, reduce errors and delays and increase productivity.

In this manufacturers need to define Bill of material of a component and manage the variable in one structure rather than having individual structure. Reckers Mechatronics has designed the software, named VM Tool , which enables one to save the variants in one structure called ‘LlBRARY’ which can save upto 5000 metrics.

Here is the dashboard of Variant Management:

Advantages for the same are as follows:

Plan vs Actual can be easily checked and verified.

2. It helps to reduce the Rework.

Options for each BOM is ready with the operator and can be checked also with the help of Tool.

Implementation

Firstly the data is saved in the ‘Library’ , which is build during development. It consist of the specification as per the design of the product. The Library fetches the data either through ERP or manually prepared reports.

There are various steps in implementation of VMS (Variant Management Software ). The steps are as follows:

Order in a sequence.

2. Appropriate Information to concerned Individual.

3. Comparing Plan v/s Actual.

ERP is fed with the production plan, which is then fetched in Library , which is build during development of VM Tool. When the component comes on assembly line , the signal is transmitted to VM Tool , the matrics related to the product comes on the screen, if it qualifies then marked as OK. Plan vs Actual is checked.

The barcode is placed on each component of the machine which is scanned and matched with the pre defined specification. ( present in the Library)

The RFID tag is placed on each fixture which carries the unique identifier is related to the machine.

Component assembly takes place on one assembly line and engine assembly takes place on another assembly line. Further, both the components are combined to form a final desired product, which is on each stage qualified with Plan v/s Actual.

ROI

The benefit of Variant Management system is to stop the Rework procedure which was time and cost consuming. Generally , customization can no longer be transferred to the customer, therefore the impetus of these losses comes on manufacturer.

Solutions to Industry Challenges

Reckers Mechatronics is Industrial Automation and Industrial digitization Solution and Service Provider organization. We are providing various solutions, few of them are:

Industrial Automation
Smart Productive System Solution
Data Acquisitions Solutions (OEE / ENDON)
M2M Interfacing
Connected Enterprise Networking
Intelligent Safety Solution
Condition Monitoring Solutions
Remote Access Solutions – Cloud Based
Handshaking capability with ERP.
Mechatronic Applications
Robotic Solutions and many more….

We have successfully delivered solutions against some Industrial challenges like:

Security or Manipulation
Comparative Reports
Man Management
Technology Integration
Data Islands

SECURITY or MANIPULATION

Challenge :

Manual Intervention in Reports , duplicate signatures, manipulation of data

Solution Provided:

Meet Industry compliance for e.g 21 CFR Part11, Privatization of data, Real time report.

COMPARATIVE REPORTS

Challenge:

Difficult in tracing faults, difficult product back tracing

Solution Provided:

We provided digitization of equipment which lead to Real time TAG accessing and have diagnosing feature.

Also, we can provide Real time data from multiple locations.

MAN MANAGEMENT

Challenge:

The challenge is to meet the expected no. in manufacturing. Also, machine management is one of the challenge for achieving the target.

Solution Provided:

We properly utilized the available equipment and did planning at SCADA level.

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

Challenge:

Manual data logging, synchronization of data, conventional method of OEE Calculation is one of the biggest challenges.

Solution Provided:

We basically enhance OEE by providing digital solution, controlling the performance of machine, monitoring of availability in Real Time.

DATA ISLANDS

Challenge:

The real causes of LINESTOP can be classification of Production stop, downtime, manual intervention etc.

Solution Provided:

We installed ANDON System through which we had work station information, operator become responsible for information.

It also makes the intimation to the concerned person during LINE OFF.

Integration of 18 HPDC machines for OEE

Integration of HPDC Machines for OEE

The project was based on Industry 4.0.

The challenge is to make machine talkative so that it uses its best tools to facilitate us with its best performance for which it is designed off. Also to present the raw data in the manner where anyone ca select the desired inputs which are coming after several data filters created as per the requirement from the customer for a machine.

From the previous Client data (through SAP) which they are using to prepare recipes for the product to be developed on machine and to automate these recipes where machine itself speaks about its best possible tools in terms of DIE, MATERIALS, OPERATOR ETC. Industry 4.0 (IIoT) network is used.

The previous system was running manually where production and downtime or breakdown data is recorded manually for analysis of the product and the system.

To remove this hassle from the system where everything is on pen and paper and also to diminish human intervention into the system. A system has been developed by us which is compatible to their previous system. A system which can talk to the machines with the data given by client. A system which is so handy to use so that anyone can use it without any hassle.

During the first phase of this project we had integrated SAP data into our designed system.

Brief about the system designed by us

On each machine there is a separate data concentrator (Controller or PLC) which is recording Production and breakdown or downtime of machine. Production is recorded with the help of signals and feedback given by client.

For recording downtime or breakdown data a push button box is provided on each machine which contains push buttons with LED. These buttons are customizable as per the customer choice also these are the possible buttons for a machine to be in downtime or breakdown either because of System or Machine fault. For every fault an email and sms is generated by the system to the concern persons.All the data is logging into the SQL for optimization and analysis.

A led will glow till the machine is in breakdown and will off after the machine is in production.

Two parallel SCADA has been designed over which anyone from operator to manager level can view the machine performance. A SAP SCADA communication interface has been developed where authorized persons can select the latest data if generated by SAP in CSV format.

All data has been shared in the CSV format after a certain time frame.

Upgradation of Schuler Press in Automation

Challenge: Schuler Hydraulic Press was available with customer ,we had to provide electrical solution and automate the same.

Solution: Since machine was available with customer and we had to automate the same. We provided Electrical Panel and automated / synced the data with the Robot.

Working: This Hydraulic Press Machine works under the pressure of maximum 350 tons and 600 mm/s speed. Press and speed are variable according to customer command in HMI. This machine auto picks up the piece ( say axle) and exit the same with the help of other robot.

Both the Robot communicate with PLC ( Rockwell’s Compact Logix) at Ethernet / IP Protocol. The output is 4 piece in one cycle.

First Robot auto picks the piece (say axle) and puts on transfer 1 , the time is synchronized in a way that it does not collide with other piece. Hydraulic press comes on transfer 1 , a step is formed with increase in height , then it is shifted to transfer 2 and the process repeats till last transfer and is then automatically picked by output Robot.

This process is done by cold extrusion. Earlier this process was done by Hot extrusion. Cold Extrusion is better than hot extrusion the product is of high strength , step is formed by hydraulic press i.e no machining required from third party. And there is no material wastage.