Don Korfhage SOFTWARE UPDATE NEWS ABOUT DIGITAL MANUFACTURING TOOLS AND SOFTWARE
Real-Time Mobile Messaging Keeps Factory Floors Humming
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Manufacturing Engineering: Describe your company’s Squeaks communications software introduced at FABTECH. Don Korfhage: Launched in November 2016 at
FABTECH, Squeaks is a mobile-fi rst Industrial Internet of Things [IIoT] messaging app that facilitates quicker, better decision-making and closed-loop collaboration, with ma- chines as part of the conversation. It integrates messaging across machines and personnel, and enables algorithms, rules and analysis to be applied across multiple data en- vironments to formulate insights and prescriptive actions. This keeps front-line workers and management in the know on events driven by both simple conditional alerts, and complex event triggers, for improved responsiveness, ownership and accountability. At FABTECH, we had stamping presses from Komatsu
and robotic systems from Genesis Systems Group LLC communicating by ‘squeaking’ in real-time with human
supervisors equipped with Apple Watches in the following scenarios: when raw material was running low or out; when help is needed, ie, requests for engineering and maintenance support; to relay real-time performance information such as strokes per minute, die height, tonnage, production target and pieces produced; to communicate operation modes— running, idle, faulted, and in instances of other critical alerts, such as die change, e-stops, and robot collisions. ME: How critical is monitoring machines today in the age of the IIoT?
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | April 2017
Korfhage: The Industrial Internet of Things has the po- tential to usher in a new wave of innovation and reinvention of manufacturing as we know it. But it’s also creating a data explosion, with some 20 billion connected devices expected by 2020. Manufacturers must rise above the ‘data deluge’ and make data actionable to improve decision making, col- laboration and responsiveness. Monitoring machines to harness and understand data can help manufacturers optimize performance and make critical decisions in real time. This includes using the data to for- mulate insights and prescriptive actions, as well as keeping front-line workers and management informed and improving responsiveness, ownership and accountability. Monitoring can also deliver improved uptime and overall equipment ef- fectiveness [OEE], less scrap and rework and lower operating costs—not to mention enabling continuous improvement and heightened workforce engagement.
“Monitoring can deliver improved uptime and overall equipment effectiveness [OEE], less scrap and rework, and lower operating costs—not to mention enabling continuous improvement and heightened workforce engagement.”
The density of robots and self-aware industrial control systems on the manufacturing fl oor continues to climb. According to the International Federation of Robotics, there were approximately 1.6 million operational industrial robots worldwide at the end of 2015. Getting machines and robots to be ‘team players’ and communicate effectively with their human manufacturing fl oor stewards is essential, as the de- mand for industrial robots has accelerated considerably due to the ongoing trend toward automation and the continued innovative technical improvements in industrial robots.
CEO and Founder IGear Online LLC Louisville, KY
www.igearonline.com
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