FEATURE MACHINE BUILDING, FRAMEWORKS & SAFETY HARTING and medical technology company Ypsomed Group have collaborated
on a project to retrofit legacy protocol plastic injection moulding machines with an integrated Industry 4.0 digital control system that is linked with a factory-wide MES/ERP system. Here the company explains the benefits
Taking a digital retrofit approach W
hile manufacturers have been wary of Industry 4.0, assuming implementation would need major production lines changes, using a
digital retrofit approach means more intelligence can be added to existing processes for minimal cost. Digital retrofit can improve production processes, increase cost savings and extend the lifetime of different types of machinery through: Legacy machine protocol conversion; Condition monitoring; Asset management; and Predictive maintenance.
MIXED PROTOCOL Mixed protocol legacy machines are often used within a plastics injection moulding machine (PIMM) line. When well maintained, such machines can attain as much as a 30-year operational life, however some of the older software protocol operating languages (e.g. EUROMAP 15) cannot be directly connected to a modern factory MES (Manufacturing Execution System) without expensive annual custom software licensing charges. Often, these machines still require individual programming by an operator. As a solution, HARTING is offering its rugged MICA (Modular Industrial
Computing Architecture), an edge computing device in the form of a digitally retrofittable IP67 package with Linux-based open-source software. This modular software and hardware architectural design platform permits the user to choose the programming language and development environment they are most familiar with. For the plastic moulding manufacturing environment, HARTING has
developed the MICA EUROMAP 15 and MICA EUROMAP 63 Gateway variants, which convert the legacy EUROMAP 15/63 TCP/IP machine operating communications protocol into OPC UA, for example, via an intermediate JSON software format. This approach also offers the potential to provide IIoT web enablement and access to Cloud services for Big Data analysis or virtualisation, via an optional downloadable MQTT container. All operational software is housed in separate sandbox containers, ensuring that the MICA EUROMAP 15/63 Gateway provides a secure, fully configurable, interface to the plant MES/ERP, eliminating expensive custom MES access software licencing charges.
INJECTION MOULDING Ypsomed, a medical technology company specialising in the development and manufacture of injection and infusion systems for the self-injection of liquid medicines, produces several hundred million products a year so uses a large number of plastic injection moulding machines. As an established HARTING customer, the company saw the immediate potential benefits of applying this Industry 4.0 Digital retrofit approach in its manufacturing operation in Switzerland. In order to improve existing levels of plant productivity, Ypsomed has chosen to implement Industry 4.0 process improvements through digitisation at an early stage. In 2017, one of the first tasks was to make
data from a legacy injection moulding machine available for analysis. The machine in question only offered the old EUROMAP 15 protocol, and consequently HARTING’s Edge Computer MICA was installed and
18 APRIL 2019 | DESIGN SOLUTIONS
programmed within two days as the protocol translator. Selected production data could then be collected and written to a database for offline analysis. The next goal is to connect several
different types of machines to the IT system at Ypsomed’s internal testing and validation centre and present critical operational data remotely at a centralised factory control station. The machines are connected to the MES system via the MICA, which handles the protocol translation between the MES system and the shop floor. Here, the configuration data record belonging to a production order from the ERP system is retrieved from a database and automatically transferred directly to the machine via the MICA, without requiring operator intervention. Machine process parameters can now be modified more quickly. During manufacturing, production and process data are temporarily stored on the MICA and fed back to a database or ERP system for ongoing quality improvement or record storage purposes. Machine operators can even monitor and affect the process of the production line from off-site, via a smartphone or tablet device. The new production plant in Schwerin is planned to start up operations in summer 2019, and automated control of production orders will be implemented by 2020.
CONDITION MONITORING Additional real-time condition monitoring of key operating processes can help to reduce downtime and extend lifetime, achieving manufacturing productivity improvements. This can be accomplished by digitally retrofitting additional stand-alone MICA devices to store, analyse and process data from existing or extra retrofitted sensors. As a result, tasks such as monitoring pressure, temperature and flow rates becomes easy, whilst allowing remote centralised process control adjustment via the MES network. Communication with the machine fitted sensors is achieved via a simple Ethernet switch and interlinked active I/O blocks.
ASSET MANAGEMENT For asset management, A MICA RFID variant converts the MICA device into a specific RFID Reader which, when used with passive UHF read/write transponders fitted to key replaceable mould tools, allows maintenance records to be written and stored onto that particular tool. This can ensure the optimum refurbishment scheduling of high-value mould tools.
PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE Critical parts like the plasticising screw pump and associated check valves on plastic injection moulding machines are subject to continuous wear and tear, which can result in a rejected parts and expensive financial losses. This situation can be resolved by monitoring the changes in the operating power curve characteristics of the screw pump and the pressure loading at the check valves. Integration of a MICA Energy variant provides RS485 Modbus TCP/IP
compatible I/O interfaces for linking to the appropriate functional I/O blocks on a machine that accesses this specific operating data. By pre-setting critical safe operational limits, the MICA Energy can set up alarm conditions for when these limits are breached, allowing corrective maintenance to be carried out.
HARTING
www.harting.com/UK/en-gb
HARTING’S MICA (Modular Industrial Computing Architecture) device
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