SUPPLEMENT SUSTAINABILITY IN MANUFACTURING
MTP: REDUCING TIME TO MARKET FOR
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
As we move away from petrol and diesel vehicles, improved battery technology and
hydrogen solutions will be needed. To speed time to market, this will require production line flexibility. Turck Banner explains how the Modular Type Package (MTP) approach can help
T
o support the UK’s transition to zero emissions vehicles, the sale of new diesel and petrol cars is being phased out within
the next two decades. This move away from fossil fuels is therefore driving the need for improved battery technology and hydrogen solutions. But, from a consumer point of view, which is
the best solution? Electric vehicles have lower operating costs but their initial purchase price is higher and recharging takes longer. However, the infrastructure for EVs is more established than it is for hydrogen. With hydrogen, production costs are high and, although this offers the benefit of fast re-fuelling, there are currently very few re-fuelling stations. The hydrogen infrastructure will therefore have to be massively expanded in the coming years – be it in the provision of electrolysers and other plants for hydrogen production, pipelines and ships for transport, tanks and other storage technologies, or fuel cells and other plants for using hydrogen. As with any developing technology,
manufacturers have to take steps into the unknown, and this can lead to areas of instability in the manufacturing process. After all, if a product is well established and has not changed fundamentally in a long time, all of the areas
where problems occurred during manufacturing have already been discovered and dealt with. Other challenges faced by manufacturers are
time-to-market and managing the constant changes brought on by rapid development. With so much competition in these markets,
manufacturers cannot afford the time needed to plan, build, program and test a new production line using traditional methods. In the five to six years it typically takes to do this, either a competitor has developed an alternative or their own R&D department has made an improvement.
REDUCING TIME TO MARKET This time to market can be significantly reduced by using modularity, either as a function or by breaking the production line into sections, where each section has independent control and intelligence but is still dependent on individual manufacturer’s products, or by utilising MTP. MTP – Modular Type Package – is a
manufacturer independent interface which describes a module’s functions. The module’s internal control system implements the functions in the same way that a manager delegates a task to an assistant. The higher level control system doesn’t need to know how the module implements the function,
28 DESIGN SOLUTIONS - SUPPLEMENT DECEMBER/JANUARY 2025
just that it is being done. The modular approach works because many parts of a manufacturing process are common with other processes. This means that a common section, with its own control and intelligence, can be dropped into the whole line, needing only to interface with the sections up- and downstream of itself and with the overall control system. Of further benefit, the MTP approach also simplifies the overall control system and programming, with the possibility to reduce time to market by two to three years. This modularity also facilitates the ability
to incorporate changes during and after construction, where a more traditional approach may have required a complete redesign, or extensive reprogramming. The number of different types of battery cell required to fit all of the different vehicle types demands flexibility in the production line, and modularity is key to achieving this, for example.
SOLUTIONS FOR MTP All the interface and sensor products required to enable MTP, decentralised automation and local intelligence, are available from Turck Banner. The company also has an extensive product portfolio for condition-based monitoring. Areas of instability in manufacturing a new
product are not just restricted to new processes – many moving parts on a production line may be untested or have not had the opportunity for lifetime testing. Data-driven condition monitoring of these moving parts is essential to predict problems before they happen. The cost of a product and the profitability of a
manufacturing process is heavily dependent upon the availability of its manufacturing equipment, the continuous flow of the product throughout the process, and the quality of the final product.
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