SOFTWARE UPDATE NEWS ABOUT DIGITAL MANUFACTURING TOOLS AND SOFTWARE The Value of Virtual Plant Monitoring s
Manufacturing Engineering: What can a plant-fl oor monitoring system do for shops today? Dave McPhail: The achievable goal is real-time situation-
al awareness and complete visibility of operations, or con- nected manufacturing. The vast majority of manufacturers today do not measure the results of their shop-fl oor opera- tional efforts in real time. With a disconnected manufacturing model, they have little or no real-time data to drive excellence and profi tability. ME: Why don’t more manufacturers use monitoring? McPhail: As with anything new that challenges the pres- ent status quo, adoption rates are contingent on manufactur- ers sharing their successes with others. Most manufacturers purchase and adopt new equipment and processes by identifying and benchmarking their performance against that of their peers. As the results of our early adopters are validated and
shared, we are seeing the market open up dramatically. At last September’s IMTS show, our booth was booking a new lead every two-and-a-half minutes and we are now scaling up all areas of our company to meet demand.
ME: How much does it cost to start a shop-fl oor monitor-
ing program? McPhail: The cost depends on the method of connec-
tion required to access the data generated by the shop- fl oor-resident manufacturing equipment. For new equip- ment capable of talking intelligently via Ethernet and using an electronic protocol such as MTConnect or OPC, the cost is $2750-$3500 per monitored asset installed. If the equipment is considered legacy and a hardware adapter is
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | February 2015
required, the cost is closer to $5000-$5500 per monitored asset installed. To make an informed cost decision, manufacturers need to understand the value created by effectively monitor- ing their shop-fl oor assets. Memex Automation customers typically experience IRR [internal rate of return] greater than 400%, which means that the average payback is measured in mere months. ME: What new monitoring tools from Memex Automation can help shops today? McPhail: We call our award-winning technology MERLIN,
an acronym for Manufacturing Execution Real-time Lean Information Network. Our solution includes both connection hardware, if required, and visualization software that, for the fi rst time, allows manufacturers to really see exactly what transpires on their shop fl oors, in real time, by the second. MERLIN enables the synthesis and contextualization of
three data sources. The fi rst data source is the shop-fl oor equipment that produces the product. This could be any piece of resident shop-fl oor manufacturing equipment, such as CNC machines, punch presses, saws, injection-molding
“To make an informed cost decision, manufacturers need to understand the value created by effectively monitoring their shop-fl oor assets.”
machines, packaging equipment, robots, and PLC-controlled equipment. It could also be a “virtual machine,” where the process is completely manual, such as assembly or pack- aging. The second data source is the shop-fl oor personnel that operate the equipment, and perform related tasks. Our MERLIN Operator Portal (MOP) supports a new paradigm in manufacturing where the equipment operator is as valued as an intrinsic resource. Our customers have proven that if the operator is empowered and given the tools to assist in
Dave McPhail
Chief Executive Offi cer Memex Automation Inc. (Burlington, ON, Canada)
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