SMART FACTORY SICK’S SMART FACTORY IS INDUSTRY 4.0 EXEMPLAR
SICK
www.sick.com T
he concept of the Industrial Internet of Things and the idea of a ‘Smart Factory’ has become a familiar talking point. Yet while most manufacturers understand the concept, relatively few have had the opportunity to turn theory into practical experience. As one of the world’s leading sensor manufacturers, SICK has taken a bold decision to practice what is preaches and build an Industry 4.0 factory from scratch. The 1,000 m2 facility nestled in the valley town of Hochdorf, near Freiburg in the German Black Forest has left conventional, linear mass production far behind.
The first thing you notice in the futuristic new Industry 4.0 production facility is the quiet. Then, you see the pristine rows of glass-encased, robotic production cells and the fleet of small, elegant Automated Guided Carts gliding effortlessly between them.
FLEXIBLE WORKFLOW The modular production process has at its core 12 automated technology cells. Instead of a conventional linear manufacturing sequence, the workflow progresses flexibly with each customer order, so that material flow can be optimised and the best use made of available production capacity. “At SICK, we see Industry 4.0 as fundamental to our future development as a manufacturer of intelligent sensors and sensing systems,” said Bernhard Müller, senior vice president Industry 4.0, SICK AG. “Most people understand the concept of Industry 4.0 by now, but relatively few have had the chance to turn a theoretical idea into practical experience. It has been a rare privilege, and we have often felt like explorers and pioneers.” Autonomous digital production and control were
an essential foundation in the blueprint for the Hochdorf facility. Yet what sets the factory apart as a flagbearer for Industry 4.0, above all, is its fully- flexible operation, down to the almost-mythical ‘lot size of one’.
SICK’s smart photoelectric sensors, among them core product ranges including the NextGen sensor family, are manufactured in high volumes and with a high level of product variety. Yet, while the factory’s annual capacity may be upward of 1.2 million pieces, there are virtually no limits to the variety that is conceivable. Small production batches can be easily accommodated at an affordable price for customers.
SICK can react flexibly to customer priorities, even at short notice, using a highly-responsive production control system. Instead of a conventional linear manufacturing sequence, the workflow progresses flexibly according to the ‘recipe’ of each customer order, so that material flow can be optimised and the best use made of available production capacity.
JUST-IN-TIME
The production system is super-responsive to juggle customer priorities and to closely track order progress. Orders are prioritised and the production modules and staff are deployed most effectively. ‘Just in time’ production is enabled. The production manager can concentrate on optimising efficiency rather than having to spend time scheduling which machines to use. Autonomous digital production and control were essential to the Hochdorf blueprint. Yet, the factory is not just conceived as a fully automated and robotic environment from which humans are shunned. Alongside 12 automated universal
16 OCTOBER 2019 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
machines, each with several complementary technical processes or ‘services’ on board, such as robot gluing, vision camera inspection, or a housing assembly process, there are nine manual workstations and one hybrid workstation. SICK sensors of all kinds: smart sensors, laser scanners and vision cameras are at the heart of every process. Each production cell/module uses SICK sensors for its own automated quality control using an integrated camera Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) system, to check the work step and reject any sub-standard assemblies. For many, Industry 4.0 will not be a start-from- scratch undertaking. However, the experiences at Hochdorf demonstrate how companies of any size can take on board aspects of a factory of the future today. Industry 4.0 technologies from SICK help to accelerate production, streamline material flow, optimise capacity utilisation and respond more flexibly to customer priorities. They enable proactive maintenance and intelligent data exchange on demand.
‘KNOWN UNKNOWNS’ In the past, establishing a new volume production facility might well have been all about fixed equipment to build one product, or a small number of variations. Now, SICK has embedded a universal flexibility into its Smart Factory to adapt and develop in future, adds Müller.
“We are also gaining important insights into how our sensors work and finding where we can still make improvements. We are gaining inspiration to implement new product developments and bring them to market much faster.
“Our plants are capable of manufacturing products that we haven’t even though of yet.”
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