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a network. Instead of performing an autopsy on a failed piece of equipment, engineers and technicians can act to save the machine before it breaks, shuts down a line and ruins the part being manufactured. “Motion control is really key on smart machines,” said Bob Hirschinger, principal engineer at Rockwell Automa- tion. “With better motion control, the machine is more flexible and performs better. Sensors are really important in motion control. They can send back information on temperature, vibration and horsepower to facilitate direct control and/or diagnostics information. There is a lot of status and diagnostic information we can make available in the PLC and directly up to the cloud.” Motion control technology is being adopted increasingly in the packaging industry, Newton said. Applications include product synchronization, product spacing, product labeling, wrapping and knife control and form sealing. At a plant making wrappers for Snickers candy bars,
the improved controllers and sensors could alert someone immediately if, for example, one wrapper printed “SNIC” twice on the same wrapper, Hirschinger said. “We’ve seen reduced cycle times and improved product
throughputs,” he said. “The control systems are so much faster. We are sampling and analyzing 50 measurements in milliseconds. With the sensors, we can take that data, analyze it and make changes.” Renewable energy markets are adopting motion con-
trol, Newton noted. “Wind turbines are using motion control to autono- mously move the turbine into the most efficient wind direction. Concentrated solar power involves moving receptacles that follow the sun to collect heat to warm a medium that drives a turbine.” To make this possible, PACs and programmable logic
controllers (PLCs) have advanced in many significant ways since the turn of the century—including managing more drives and collecting more data now available from im- proved sensors. “In the past, one PLC could control a limited number of
drives,” Hirschinger said. “Now upwards of 200 drives can be managed directly through one PLC.” At the same time, sensors have improved. Sensors are
now more robust and able to provide more critical data, Weihl said. Deviation in these areas can signal that a part is about to fail.
“That’s the first step with GE’s Brilliant Factory—putting sensors on the machines, tying in to the controllers and talking to the network,” he said.
Big gains to be had GE’s Brilliant Factory Manufacturing software analytics
track multiple data points and manages machine function and maintenance. GE’s case studies have shown that Bril- liant Manufacturing software helped reduced unplanned downtime 10–20%, resulting in 20% decreased inventory, and delivered 20% capacity recovery by deferring a capital expenditure for one year.
“With sensors and the data you harvest from machines, you can move yourself into more condition-based maintenance. It saves the company money and prevents downed assets.”
Consider a cutter making expensive parts used in
aerospace. The cutter becomes dull and compensates by running
at a higher-than-optimal horsepower—resulting in three possible scenarios, Weihl said. The cutter could fail and would have to be replaced. At
several hundred dollars a cutter, that is costly but not as bad as other potential outcomes. The cutter could jar the machine and knock it out of alignment. That realignment could take up to four hours, resulting in lost production time. In the worst case, higher friction temperatures from the dulled cutter could weld the cutter to the part it was mak- ing. “Then you’ve lost the part, which is very expensive,” he said. “It could cause nonconformance, have to be repaired and submitted to the customer for approval. It could be weeks or months before the customer could respond back.” Now, sensors monitor the horsepower of such cutters and via the PLC can alert someone immediately when horsepower exceeds normal parameters, Weihl said. When a machine breaks, a factory of 10 or 20 years ago
might show a red light on the machine, said Jeff Mor- gan, president of Hermitage Automation and Controls in Richmond, VA. Or a manager might notice workers head- ing outside for a smoke break because their machine no longer functioned. “Now, instead of just seeing a red light, a signal goes to
someone’s office in maintenance and an email is sent to management saying ‘line two is down’,” he said.
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