A powerful software platform pays off the manufacturer's investment in a matter of weeks
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is accelerating the pace of change around connecting machines. However, according to a new report, less than 30 percent of manufacturers have adopted Industry 4.0 technologies. Here, Bijal Patel, Senior Digital Machining Specialist at global metal cutting leader Sandvik Coromant, recommends manufacturers connect their shops to start paying more attention to their machine messages.
In all likelihood, the IIoT has hurt the manufacturing industry more than any other industry. The IIoT market is set to grow from US$2024 billion in 4.0 to US$4.0 billion by XNUMX but, on the other hand, a recent IIoT Adoption Report Industry XNUMX and smart manufacturing IoT Analytics suggests that the implementation of Industry XNUMX technology remains low among manufacturers.
Transforming linear plant configurations into active configurations and interconnected systems represents one of the biggest challenges for bodyshops. Some are still unclear on how Industry 4.0 fits into their usual way of working. Many believe that implementing Industry 4.0 to existing production setups will be expensive, when it really isn't. And other manufacturers don't find it necessary to update their existing processes and tool setups.
Each company is at a different stage of that digital transformation process with their perception of how it should be achieved.
However, they must be decided quickly because COVID-19 continues to have an unknown and also unpredictable effect on the future of our industry. In their recent COVID-19: Brief note, McKinsey & Company analysts describe the "next normal" for manufacturers as a time that will force them to deal with unpredictable and long-lasting changes in service customer markets.
The report asserts that manufacturers are going to have to teach resilience if they want to face a viable economic and social context. On the other hand, the Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) report COVID-19: What it means for industrial manufacturing (COVID-19: what it means for industrial manufacturing) recommends that companies open up to new industries, and that they take advantage of new ones. avenues of entry, either because they are forced as a result of the disappearance of certain markets or simply because they find an opportunity.
Manufacturers can't wait to add these concepts to retrofit existing processes and do it quickly and cost-effectively, but how?
More data, more problems?
Fortunately, there is a powerful yet easy solution. Sandvik Coromant introduced its latest CoroPlus® MachiningInsights platform—an expansion of the company's CoroPlus connectivity software—in XNUMX at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, USA. The platform has been designed for increase the visibility that manufacturers have into their machining processes and CNC machine tools, and provide the tools necessary to analyze, identify and eliminate the main drivers of downtime and inefficiency.
This type of platform will prove extremely useful as both Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) accelerate the pace of change around machine connectivity. The effectiveness depends on the volume of data to be managed. Any CNC with an Ethernet port can send more data to MachiningInsights than is currently retrieved by most CNC shops to generate manufacturing data analytics that can improve shop efficiency and overall equipment efficiency (OEE). initials in English).
Since each manufacturer is in a different IIoT transition phase, it should be remembered that machines less than ten and 15 years old should be able to connect to a network, and if not, there are adapters that allow older machines to connect. old to the network. MTConnect—the manufacturing technical standard for retrieving process information from numerically controlled machine tools—is the protocol used to communicate with Sandvik Coromant CNC software. In addition to this, it also allows you to connect to other types of manufacturing equipment with standard communication protocols.
security issue
One point of MTConnect that may surprise you is that it only allows one-way communication. Some plant managers may find one-way communication rather than two-way communication a disadvantage. Sandvik Coromant understands this reasoning, but the MTConnect developers reasoned well for it to be this way.
After many years of experience in the workshop, I am still not sure how it is possible to remotely control equipment that is surrounded by countless people and ensure their safety at the same time. One-way communication puts control in the user's hand to ensure an easier and safer approach.
Another security issue is that two-way communications complicate machine tool management from a cybersecurity point of view. Many of the CNCs use Microsoft Windows, known for its vulnerabilities. By limiting data flow to one-way communication, we help close that door and prevent potential "hijacking" of multi-tasking multi-tasking machines.
more accessible
Since its launch, MachiningInsights has continued to prove its value in the shop. Even before incorporating MachiningInsights, the shop supervisor used to spend the morning entering performance indicators of the previous day's production into a spreadsheet and then distributing that information to managers and production workers.
If the worker sets a feedrate override, or a tool breaks, or the machine has been sitting idle for a few minutes, MachiningInsights allows users to create an email or SMS alarm based on a series of conditions or events, which represent some of the routine situations that often result in machine downtime.
The platform has a series of dashboards and also preconfigured reports, which can be altered or created from scratch, so that the client can start working quickly. Users can connect to their MachiningInsights page and view the information to which they have been given access by the shop administrator. Anyone who wants to see this data can access dashboards or automated reports, and see what's happening instead of what happened the day before. Now the supervisor has more time to react to the information, instead of just collecting it for a historical record.
If manufacturers already have an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and want to avoid installing a new software package, Sandvik Coromant has an Application Programming Interface (API). in English) standard that technophile shops can use to connect MachiningInsights to other software. It is secure, simple to configure and can be incorporated with and without Sandvik Coromant support.
As with all Software as a Service products, MachiningInsights requires a paid subscription, based on platform level and number of machines monitored. It is a relatively low cost if we take into account the increase in visibility, ease of use and opportunities for continuous improvement that it provides. The return on investment is usually a matter of weeks or months, rather than years.
New automation strategies
Also in its report COVID-19: What it means for industrial manufacturing, PwC advises manufacturers: "to prepare for the learning curve that companies will experience while they find new work methods that involve more teleworkers and more automation in the workshop" .
For unsupervised or lightly supervised shops, MachiningInsights lets you monitor spindle or servo loads, macrovariables, and operating status, and whether the machine is rigged with the right sensors, temperature, power, and more.
MachiningInsights is a subscription-based SaaS remotely installed by Sandvik Coromant. Once the machines the user wants to control have been identified, the user gives Sandvik Coromant access to their server via TeamViewer or a similar solution to install their service.
The IIoT will continue to grow rapidly, bringing a host of productivity, cost-effectiveness and maintainability benefits to bodyshops willing to overcome their reluctance to embrace Industry 4.0. Using powerful yet simple software and by collaborating with a trusted specialist like Sandvik Coromant, manufacturers can make the digital leap at their own pace and join the 30 percent of manufacturers prepared for this unpredictable future.
