Tecnology Upgrade for you plant - What to consider
How do you decide whether to upgrade your existing plant and take advantage of the investment already made, or to build a new manufacturing system from the ground up? Although existing hardware may be in excellent working order, there is often doubt whether an upgrade will be as reliable, expandable or as integrated as a new system.
With the right design and expertise a smaller budget can often deliver an upgrade solution that is far superior in every way, based on any measurement or benchmark.
In many manufacturing industries the development of new products lines based on modern materials such as plastics, has mandated that new production facilities be built from the ground up, delivering the most cost effective products from day one. These new plants are sometimes facilitated by the consolidation of major players, who often move to new facilities as part of mergers and acquisitions.
In many other situations however, where actual raw materials have basically remained the same over many years and original hardware is often in excellent working order, alternate cost effective solutions need to be investigated. If the original equipment can still meet all required output metrics, automation and robotic specialists are being engaged to upgrade plants.
The need to better utilise and/or increase total plant capacity to remain competitive is the same in all manufacturing industries. Production rates need to be increased, downtime reduced, quality and yields need to be improved, and unscheduled shutdowns need to be eliminated. So how can an upgrade deliver these benefits?
From materials supply, through to manufacturing and production, and then on to packing, palletising and distribution, the design and integration of fully automated systems incorporating total process control built around existing machinery can deliver significant productivity gains.
The range of skills required to upgrade an older plant can be extremely diverse, including automation and robotics design specialists, mechanical, electrical and mechatronics engineers, Project Managers and Programmers skilled in Windows, Networks, SCADA, DeviceNet, HMIs – and the list goes on. This is where an automation / robotic specialist / integrator is perfectly suited.
An example of this upgrade might include the necessity for digital outputs and controls to be installed, which often require conversion from analogue to digital. This enables monitoring, management and reporting to be integrated into the total system. There are many different systems, such as Rockwell’s ControlLogix, which provide flexible control architectures that allow multiple types of control, networks and I/O to be combined into a single system - an ideal solution that fits the requirements identified.
On top of this SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems that utilise PCs, Windows multitasking and DDE capabilities are ideal when coupled with off-the–shelf software and instruments that integrate remote Management and Monitoring systems. This enables other standard plant facilities to also be integrated. Citect’s SCADA delivers simplified installation, a common programming environment, and HMIs to be installed with minimal downtime.
Sophisticated reporting incorporating real-time data acquisition capabilities can also be built in, enabling regulatory requirements to be met. A typical installation will include a LAN which also delivers a high degree of security, environmental modelling and simulation. From the control room, operators monitor information continually collected from remote data gathering devices on their PCs.
Robotics
In conjunction with bringing the original equipment up to date, automation of all upstream and downstream processes need to be addressed to maximise the outputs being gained. From material supply through to packaging and palletising integrating robotics into the automation solution can deliver significant efficiencies.
Robots are able to handle the raw materials as part of the material supply chain upstream that previously required extensive equipment and manpower. With careful planning and design and assuming suitable space is available, the same robots can be utilised in the warehouse management downstream such as where multiple size rolls are wrapped, bar-coded, and shipped based on an integrated EDI ordering system.
In summary, with the right partners and with the right analysis and design up front, fantastic results can be achieved for less money. However, don’t try and cut corners. If you see an upgrade as simply a way to increase production on the cheap, and approach it in a piecemeal manner, then the end result could be far worse than what you have running today
Machinery Automation & Robotics
1/101 Derby Street
Silverwater NSW 2128
Phone: (61) 2 9748 7001
http://www.machineryautomation.com.au