You should consider including a section in the contract that has all the technical drawings for what will be the final install of the automation solution. This contract section should have detailed descriptions of the equipment included in the solution and give you a place to sign-off on that contract section. A complete list of components and sub-assemblies with suppliers should be included. As part of the description you might have production rates of the entire system and expected efficiency levels. All drawings of parts should be included that specify tolerances. It is important to specify the ability of the system to maintain tolerances of production over a period of time. Such levels should be expressed in standard index terms.

A schedule of installation progress should be laid out in the contract which shows milestones and call for meetings where management can sign-off on the completion of such milestones. Reviewing the milestones that occur in installation will help you to consider what the caveats should be if the milestones are not reached when they are expected. For instance, if a wiring install is a milestone and it is not installed in time for another installation, that depends on its completion, what should be the course of action. Having these thoughts in the planning phase before you automate manufacturing will give you a chance to make proper adjustments to keep the installation as close as possible to the time line that is desired and is been prescribed.

There should be specific statements about the environmental impacts of the completed automation in the contract to automate manufacturing. These statements should cover areas like the safety of workers and other equipment in that relate to the automation that will be installed. Noise levels and other environmental issues should be addressed in the contract. Very specific indications should be made regarding the training of employees in the operation and maintenance of the automation equipment. The time period, parts, and man hours that will be part of the support of the automation should be indicated in the contract. Initially there might be a period of time after the installation is completed when the solution provider will remain on-site to monitor the operation of the automation. This is not only to assure that the equipment is operating as expected, but it will also allow for them to train and monitor the employees in their daily tasks during start-up.

Specific warranties for all the parts of the solution should be indicated including what replacement parts might be available under the warranty. A full maintenance schedule to keep the equipment and processes under the warranty should be indicated. If third party parts are used in the solution there should be indication of warranties on those parts along with the method of obtaining these parts if they are needed later. The contract should include the correct steps in the process for handling any changes that may need to be made to the automation solution. This would be the type of change that would not be covered under warranty, but one that would need to be made due to some requirement that was not seen earlier, but could improve the effectiveness of the automation.

In the long-term support of the automation solution the contract should have a detailed schedule of parts that will be supplied in the start-up phase for the automation. Specifics should be laid out that tell what are the techniques for inspection and acceptance of the automation solution. It may be necessary to have management to sign-off on individual sections of the automation solution. Then once all sections have been accepted in the solution there might be a sign-off in which management would accept the entire solution. The contract should have a listing of all spare parts that should be purchased and held by the manufacturer. There should be defined way to keep track of any changes that are either initiated by the purchaser or by the provider through the life of the automation solution.

Thinking about and planning for these scenarios before a contract is signed will help in the long-range effectiveness of any automation solution that you might implement in your operation.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

One of the first steps you need to take in starting the process of gathering the details of an automation solution is to define the quality specifications for the product that will be manufactured by automation. You need to know all the specific dimensions of the product. This should include all the tolerances that can be allowed in the creation of the product. These kinds of measurements will help to define the areas of automation are the most critical, if you don’t already know what they are. If there are sub-assemblies that are part of the product assembly make sure that you have well noted tolerances for these critical interfaces in the product. As we have discussed earlier it is important to have different viewpoints from within your company from within your company involved in the input of the details that support the addition of an automation solution. It has been determined that having several viewpoints involved will give you a better chance of gathering all the details that are important.

Another area of detail is that of the minimum throughput that will be required of the automation. You will need to determine how much production can be expected from an automation scenario, and whether this rate is one that can be tolerated by the company and your customers. You will need to know what the minimum production rate is for each work station or work cell. Once that is known you must decide if the production created by the slowest part of the automation process is at a rate that all parties can accept.

If you are placing the automation into an existing facility, you will need to determine the amount of space that can be carved out to accommodate it. In reviewing the space requirement be sure to investigate the need for special preparations for the automation. Is there a need for foundation reinforcement? Is there a need for additional wiring in support of automation? Such questions should be discovered at this time in the process so that answers can give input to the budget and other considerations later. The process of determining space requirements should include the details of acceptable configuration. The automation solution must have a configuration that has a positive impact on the other areas of plant operations. For instance, the inventory-in-process that may be generated by the new automation cannot negatively impact such areas for existing production.

You are the expert when it comes to the manufacture of your products. Gathering the details about how this manufacturing occurs will give you a well-defined list of instructions that you can pass to an automation provider. The more detail that you define in this early process of automation, the easier it will be to tell the provider what your automation requirements are. Defining as many of your needs (requirements) as possible before you have a conversation with a provider is a good early objective. You may discover that once you do have a conversation with a provider about your list of automation needs, the expertise of the provider, provided they are well experienced, will add to your list. Knowing this in advance should not keep you from developing a well-rounded list of what you require, based on your product knowledge.

The list of your requirements for automation should probably contain some reasoning about why you do manufacturing the way you do it. It is fine if you determine that some of your current processes are performed because “that is the way we always did it”. Having automation put into your production process will help to eliminate the traditional methods that are not contributing in a positive way to your production. You can be assured that the provider will be able to give you good reasons why automation will be expected to perform each task that it is expected to do.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Having a long-term production history for products can help give a manufacturer the ability to anticipate both positive and negative changes in demand. This will assist in telling when to automate. This may not be a 100% accurate feel for the coming market change, but the experience of changes in the past can help a business predict a coming change before it happens. If a manufacturer has a long enough relationship with the market it may be possible for future demands for products to be determined in advance from purchasing companies, far ahead of the actual purchase time. This type of positive relationship between supplier and purchaser gives both companies a way to control supply and demand without causing ripples on either side. This is the best of both worlds for the companies involved. The manufacturer will know how long current demand levels will continue and when new increases in production will be required to meet the demands of the purchaser. The increase in required volume will allow the manufacturer to automate production in a timely fashion to meet the demands of this purchaser.

A manufacturer trying to decide when to automate would want to determine what part of the market would act as support for new automation and the production that it yields. Is the demand for increase in production from one single large purchaser? Is ti from several smaller purchasers? In any case what is the anticipated length of the demand period? Are there impacts to the market that might cause the demand to decrease? These are perfectly valid questions that can directly impact your company desire to implement new automation.

The need for estimation of an increase in production rates can occur when the market demand comes from other unknown and unanticipated purchasers as well. Not having knowledge of the characteristics of these new demand sources will make it more difficult to know when to automate. Demand estimates must be based on previous experience with previous market demands. These estimates will have to be factored into the new production rates that can be expected from automation. There is absolutely no need for new manufacturing automation to be implemented if there is no pressure from previous customers or new customers to get an increase in delivery of products over an above the current production rate.

If there is no hard evidence that current purchasers are going to buy the increase of production from new automation, then there has to be some other hard evidence to prove that the new production can be sold. For instance, there might be a new plant that builds carburetors for lawnmower engines. This plant has no ready supplier for float kits that are used in the building of these parts. New automation may be added to an existing plant that makes float kits to meet this new demand. This would be hard evidence with no previous demand for float kits.

More than once a manufacturing company has guessed when to automate and installed new devices only to discover that the demand for products coming from the new implementation have no ready market. This is a situation that adds more than just the cost of the new production equipment to the company accounting records. After the products are created they must be stored if there is no market. Warehousing space must be made available to handle the increase need for storage. This kind of scenario can quickly take a business into bankruptcy. The importance of market support for new automation implementation can not be overstressed. Be sure to align any plans for new automation with the overall business plan. If your company is moving into a new market area be sure to ascertain that automation is within the lines of the company’s overall plan and the target market areas of the company can support the addition of new automation.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

There are some other reasons for why automate. More than likely you are one of those manufacturers that knows the importance of being diligent in the face of global competition. Just to stay in business these days you need to strive to be an effective contributor of products to an ever-demanding market place. Manufacturing automation can offer you the ability to accomplish this. As the connection of your production to the market is shortened, you need to have the ability to respond to any changes that are required in the market place. Some products are targeted toward niches. But even so the market in those narrow areas can make shifts in product requirements much more quickly they used to. Being able to follow the requirements shift is an effective characteristic that manufacturing automation can give you. Being able to meet the needs of a new niche market can be more easily accomplished with flexible manufacturing automation, thus giving you profitability that would not be there otherwise.

One of the clearly identifiable characteristics that occurs in most markets today is the pressure of new technology to change the way products are created and distributed. As a member company contributing to the production that meets the demands of customers, you should be aware of the need to capitalize to attain the latest advances in manufacturing. Technology is presenting more economical and efficient ways to meet the demands of any market. To not follow the road to up-to-date production devices could be a deathblow for some manufacturers. That same pressure in the market can help push your company to a competitive edge, even with the dynamic shifts in any market.

In your part of the production world you are probably aware of changes that your competitors may be involved in to keep and grow their share of the market. Just having the knowledge of what competition might be doing to take part of your share of the market should be a great incentive for you. Manufacturing automation can help give you the ability to thwart any aggression that a competitor would have in commandeering your part of the market. Developing optimum production processes should allow you to manage your current market share and also to increase your share. It should also assist in the development of new product lines. These can be more readily presented to the market place because of the your optimized production.

Any company that is meeting the demands of its market place by customizing automation to make manufacturing more efficient is doing so because of customer requirements. This is really the only reason for doing such a thing and it can be the one for why automate. After all you are only in business to meet the needs of the market when the market demands for you to do it. Having the speed and accuracy to give customers the products that they want in the form that they want when they want them is your whole reason for being. Any manufacturer will tell you that building extra capacity with manufacturing automation is only done as a response to the requirements of the market place. Delivering those products in a timely fashion is the second half of the answer to the needs of the market. As the response to demands of the market are required to be shorter and shorter, it is imperative that manufacturers have flexible and immediate response in order to stay in business. Pressures in the market place will only continue to grow requiring the responses to be even shorter still to the demands. The only way these responses can be met by manufacturers is to utilize the latest tools available in the form of automation.

You can gave leverage for the future when you meet the demands of the market today by employing the latest automation to do it. You will discover that if you have automation in place when new demands are made on your products like changes in format or size you will be able to meet those changes demands more readily. Automation yields a great amount of flexibility for adjustment to manufacturing configuration. Being able to tweak an existing device to perform a new task is much easier than implementing an entirely new manual process to accomplish a change in production.

Manufacturing automation continues to improve your abilities even after it has made its initial improvements to your production that is why you automate.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The thought of hiring an automation solution provider without at least a simple plan to automate your manufacturing should be a scary prospect to you. You know the qualified providers have a lot of experience. You want to tap into that experience so that it is applied to your automation project in the way that will best benefit your operation. To do this you need to supply all of your thoughts and requirements to the provider at the beginning of your discussion with them. You may have some thoughts about the way that you think automation should offer upgrades to or change your current manufacturing. The possibility of actually implementing these suggestions may not come into being for reasons that your solution provider can give you. In other cases you may give requests to the provider that may not be completed, but the provider will give you an alternative that will yield much better results than your original suggestion. You must be able to depend on your solution provider to steer the process to an optimum conclusion.

You do not have to employ any expensive methods when plan to automate your manufacturing, but it is a good idea to have a systematic approach to gathering ideas. You can use the idea that a visual image goes a long way to getting across ideas and helping others understand what you want. Just to keep your thought process controlled and manageable you could use pencil and paper method to start. For each part of the manufacturing process that you wish to evaluate for possible automation you should obtain two poster boards for drawing out your ideas. The first poster is to represent your current operation, and the second should be your best representation of how to improve that operation with automation. You can consult with your production employees to whatever extend you thinks is necessary to accurately create these posters. If you wish to have a more scientific approach to planning prior to employing a solution provider you might review the capabilities of value stream mapping.

The first poster is draw out your current operation as it is performed before the automation. You should include in this drawing all the devices and tools that are used. Do not worry about your artwork. This is not to determine how well you can draw, but it is intended as a tool for you to lay out what the current manufacturing process is and help you plan to automate your manufacturing. It is a good idea to have the physical devices and tools drawn in the center of the poster, while the edge of the poster can be used to fill in notes about what is being accomplished be the tools and devices in the center. Be sure to indicate every detail that occurs in the process. The accuracy of this can give good direction in the creation of your second poster.

The second poster is to be your best thoughts about the automation that you “think” should replace what you have drawn on your first poster. If your first poster represents the manual packing of cartons after they the cartons have been filled with products, then the second poster might have the representation of a robotic that performs that task. You should include as many notes around the edge of the second poster about what you expect from the automation of the task that is indicated. Remember in doing this, you are not trying to impress the solution provider, but you are indicating your best thoughts about what you feel would be the best automation scenario for your production. It will be up to the provider to review your thoughts and implement the best scenario to improve your production processing.

You should endeavor to complete the creation of these posters before you contact the solution provider because you want the contents of the posters to be your best thoughts about what you want, and not what someone recommends to you. You will discuss in depth the contents of the posters with the solution provider, so that he can give you recommendations about the accomplishment of your automation goals. This is just a simple tool that can help you plan to automate your manufacturing.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Configurations in these early operations were limited by the number of instructions that could be sent to devices that were attached to them. The amount of memory in the controller in which programs could be executed was limited. The speed of transfer of the instructions to the attached devices could keep the controller ahead of a single device, but not several devices at once. This was a simple configuration, that really needed to be improved in order to increase production.

Then technology gave manufacturing a better way to integrate the manufacturing operations of devices by having them cabled to a master controller. This automation controller operated on a level of its own and sent instructions down the cable to the single controllers that were attached to individual devices. Instructions were passed back and forth to the second level controllers from the master controller. There was an increase in the complexity of the configuration with the added number of layers along with an increase in the number of machines and the amount of maintenance that was required. The cost of implementing this multiple level configuration was more than its predecessor because there were master and secondary controllers. An increase in machines meant an increase in maintenance and software costs as well, which was needed on each machine. With the addition of layers and machines there was an increase in the number of places where production could be interrupted by a breakdown. It seems that technology had made manufacturing more complex and costly.

Continuing to move forward, technology helped to apply the KISS adage to the latest generation of the manufacturing automation configuration. The automation controller that was once the master of a manufacturing operation now has the capability to handle all the instructing that is required in the latest production configuration. An increase in processing speed, what is called clock rate, has improved the ability of the controller in performing all the required tasks in the production operation. The controller sends instructions where they are needed. The controller is required to “keep ahead” of all the devices that are attached to it. It must have already sent the next instruction for any given device while the device is performing its current instruction. Even better still it must have sent more than one instruction to the device while it is working to accomplish earlier instructions.

This is multitasking in the truest sense of the word. There could be several automation devices that are required to perform work on the production line simultaneously. These devices will not work on their own, they must be told exactly what to do. Instructions must be there for each of them before the instruction is needed by the device. If a device has to wait for any instruction, then the production operation is not running at an optimum level.

Now technology is combining its latest advances to create an automation controller that pushes the limit of processing speed to new levels of performance and synchronization. Typical controllers work well in synchronization up to a set number of axes such as 8 or 16. If further control is needed then another controller is added to the scenario. Doing this will add the additional level that we discussed earlier. With the new controllers there is no need to insert that added level, the new controllers have the ability to manage the number of axes up to 64 with complete synchronization. The controllers work well across varied technologies, motion, vision, inspection, logic, I/O, without sacrificing performance. The new controllers remove the requirement of having to coordinate levels of devices to keep everything synchronized. Typically the required coordination of controllers is where degradation is created in the production process, thus slowing the manufacturing. With the reduction in levels of devices there is also a reduction in capital cost, cost of maintenance and software. Eventually the control of the entire automation process will come from a single automation controller. With the release of the latest generation of high speed controllers it looks like we are there.

Small manufacturers should take note, this compression in levels can only be a good concept for your operation, especially if you are interested in automating for the first time.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

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The automation PLC brings many very important attributes to the process of manufacturing. It is important for you as you define the automation that will be installed in your plant to do the manufacturing to select the automation PLC that has the attributes you need. You will also need to define the correct support system for the PLC to keep it running your manufacturing in an optimized way. In defining the attributes of the automation PLC you must make sure that it has the ability to grow as your manufacturing requirements grow. This kind of attribute includes the ability to receive an upgrade in processing power when it is needed. You can install an automation PLC now that has the ability to increase the amount of permanent and temporary memory without bringing the system offline for an extended period. Permanent memory is the disk space where programs are kept on a permanent basis. When these programs are to be executed to run the manufacturing process then they are loaded into temporary memory of the PLC for this purpose. Increasing the amount of temporary memory of a controller will increase the speed at which programs are run. The performance of the controller and the speed at which programs run can also be improved by changing the processor to one that has a higher clock rate. You must have an automation PLC installed that will allow you to do this.

The coding that is put into the programs for manufacturing that run on PLC’s contain a lot of standard lines of code that do standard tasks. These are tasks like starting a device, moving a device, and other such instructions. When you are selecting the PLC foe your manufacturing you should it be one that has predefined libraries of standard code as part of its tool set. The best controllers have these libraries available which makes it much easier and faster for you to build new automation applications. When you get ready to make a change to your automation programs it is easy to drag and drop objects in a window interface to make corrections or additions to your programs. Your controller should be able to allow for the variation in processing speed. Faster is better only in some cases. An optimized rate of processing, which may be slower than the fastest rate possible, may be the best for your manufacturing due to external factors. You will need a controller that allows you to manage the processing rate at a rate that is best for your manufacturing operation.

A thought process that is important to have before the installation of a controller is the one that decides how deep you will need to set up backups for your controller. Having a well-thought out and established procedure for either controller or application failure is very important to continue operations when an outage occurs. You need to perform a cost-benefit analysis that evaluates the cost of downtime in manufacturing as it relates to the value of products that are not manufactured. Will it be necessary for you to only have production to be down for a very short period of time if it goes down or can production be down for days or a week without significantly hurting your bottom line or your presence in the market place. If you need production running with very little outage, you will need to invest in a backup controller that will switch production control over in microseconds to keep manufacturing running continuously. If the production line can be down for a longer period of time due to the outage, you will not have to invest so heavily in an elaborate backup controller.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Especially if you are a small manufacturer and this is your first step into automation, you need to do the steps in order, don’t skip any and you will likely have a good result that can help your business a lot. In your case you might think that planning might be the first step to take on this trail to technology. But you would be wrong, the first step for you is gaining automation knowledge. You need to do some investigation of such things as robot types, what are the different types, what are the general ways that they can be applied to a manufacturing operation, what are the capabilities of each of the types, and how are they controlled. These are just the beginning of questions that you should have when learning about robotics and their uses.

The educational process should include anyone in your employ that is going to be effected by the addition of automation to your workforce. Non-salaried employees are the ones that are most intimidated by the possible addition of automation. There addition to the educational process is of utmost importance. If these folks feel that they are being left out of the automation process, you can be sure they will not advocate it, but they will be its adversary. This is especially true if you have labor unions that represent some of the employees. They need to have a positive outlook to the coming automation.

The first automation project in your company has added importance outside your business. Such technology additions are of great interest to the general population. The success or failure of an automation project can reach a lot more people than just the ones inside your business. The failure of a project may have some negative long-term effects on your business reputation. Making the first automation project a success may, however, have a great positive impact on your future reputation in the community.

Part of the automation knowledge can also include the start of the identification of parts of the production process that might be a candidate for being automated. The information about this area can come from employees that you wish to have a positive attitude about the addition of automation. The employees who are the closest to the actual tasks that are to be automated can give you some very great insight into what needs to be automated and why it should be. On the other hand, these same folks can tell you what might be best not to automate and why. Your education in this case is not only about the robotics and its uses, but it is also about the most productive uses of automation in your operation.

A good target for you in attaining your automation knowledge is to determine what are the benefits of the automation that you will want in your business. This should only come after you have learned enough about the devices and what capabilities they have. Your goal should also include realistic productivity levels for the soon-to-be acquired automation. What can certain devices do to add to your production rates? You should have an open mind about considering the negative impacts of automation. Any automation implementation can improve things for your company, but may be a negative for the employees. It could also be negative for both employees and the company. Consider what the ramifications are for automation and try to be reasonable about estimating the effects of such a project on your company. You will have to be the one that makes the decision to implement automation or not based on your automation education and what it tells you.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The product layout is one that groups the production devices in close proximity that work on similar products. Usually this type of layout is employed by an operation that does small batches of products rather than one that has high volumes to output. Small batches of products are moved from one work area to another. This is a starting point for many manufacturers. When the business is a start up the floor layout that best suits the operation is the product layout because the volume of output is not at a high level yet. It is the best for the operating phase in which the business is manufacturing. This is a phase when the production jobs are kept well-contained. This is very useful for those companies that build very large complex products with a small number of units over time. There is a great deal of communication between employees in the different work areas. In many cases each of the products manufactured is totally custom, so there is a real need for a lot of communication. Because of the large size and the complexity of products that go through the product layout, the production area is typically very large. It is difficult for work tools to be shared between work cells due to the distance from one another. This will drive the cost of production up in some cases.

The process layout is the design that is usually created for the production operation that has a higher level of output. Partially completed products can be put into inventory between work areas or if production is optimized very well those products will feed directly into the next work cell. Economies of scale are increased with this layout, each work cell can pool resources for efficiency. With this type of layout there is better utilization of workers and other resources. It is easier to supervise work cells in this type of layout. Usually it is more difficult for a custom order to be fulfilled using the process layout, most all the products are homogeneous.

As a manufacturer you will need to decide which of these are best for your operation. Most of the time a company can start to employ the product layout until there is a need for the process layout. This just means that in the beginning of operation there is only a small portion of products to be made. You company is in the process of finding what the market is for the products you make. It is identifying the physical market place. Your products may need some refinement so that they are more readily accepted by the market place. As you go through the cycles to improve the acceptance of your products you are also defining the market place for your products. You are improving and changing your products based on feed back that you get directly from customers. As more acceptance of your products occur, due to the changes you have made, you may discover that your manufacturing operation will need to meet a higher demand for your improved products. This will mean that you need to transition your production layout from a product layout to one that is a process layout. It is also a sure indication that your products are being accepted in the market and your company is growing. You are going to need to manufacture more products in a shorter period of time to meet the demands of your customers.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Lately the conversation that needs to occur in a business can be carried from one place to another via cloud automation. It would would a good idea for any company that is interested in having information immediately available to those that need to know, to look seriously at cloud automation. You might discover that contracting with a company outside your own may give this capability to you more readily with less hassle. The cloud automation scenario allows you to tap into a secure server at another company for certain functions that you do not have in-house. With this configuration you would have business information stored on the secure server. It would password accessible to other parties in your company. Cloud automation will also give you several other benefits over-and-above these.

The combination of robotics and automation makes a huge contribution to the production levels of all manufacturers that implement them for use in production. The market places have made greater demands for timely creation of products in shorter periods of time. Robotics and automation make it possible for these demands to be met when their are made. There are lots of other positive contributions made by these two including consistent, high quality products and on-time delivery of products.

Just like any other movement into the arena of technology it is necessary to have some education before you start to implement or even plan such a move. You need to identify the ways that you would expect for automation to assist in your production operation. For automated palletizing the information that you would need includes the weight, size, type of packaging, and associated characteristics of the products that you are going to palletize. You need to take into account any changes in these product characteristics that may be a part of your production future. Forward thinking in this area will allow you build into your palletizing the capability to handle those future changes. Another phase of your education should include the identification of automation devices that can accomplish what you need in the way of palletization. Certain types of devices are best suited for doing the job of loading and unloading products to and from pallets. The characteristics of your products will help to identify the right automation devices to include in this automation function. The most widely used configuration of automation that does palletizatin is the articulated robot. This device has the necessary degrees of freedom to move in the many ways that the palletizing function might require. This device will also allow a wide variation in the stacking patterns that can be used to load products on pallets. You can also use this device for several products with various characteristics when palletizing them by varying the programming of the device. It is important to best fit the device to what you need to have done, so you will need to do extensive evaluation to get the right devices for your automation.

In evaluating your production for the inclusion of automated palletizing you may be able to include additional functions with the pallet work cell that can minimize the number of employees needed on the production line. In some cases you can include devices to move finished products from the last production work cell to the pallet loading cell using conveyor systems. After the pallet has been loaded it could be possible to include a roller system to move the filled pallet away from the loading area. An additional device could be set up to load an empty pallet into the palletizing work cell after the filled pallet has been moved. Adding these automation function will reduce the number of employees that would be required on the production line. Including these functions will not only cut the cost of production by reducing the required labor, but it also will make these function much more consistent since they will now be handled by automation. Such an addition of these functions in concert with the palletizing function will return great utility for a modest cost. Part of the process of designing the automation that will do the work that is needed is to determine if there are areas where added automation can be added with a small incremental cost that would yield a significant return. This is a case where that addition can occur very easily with a great utility to production for a least cost.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Problem: A manufacturer was in need of an automation solution for handling the loading of products on pallets at the end of their production line. This company manufactures hard goods that are packed into 50 pound cardboard cases. These cases are being stacked on pallets at the end of the production line for shipment to distributors. Currently the operation of loading the pallets is done manually. Since the weight of each case is so great, there has been a need for interruptions of the production line so that workers could rest or catch up with the backlog of products that were to be put on pallets. The manual nature of this job required that employees were rotated from the position on a regular basis. Some injury to workers had occurred in the past, and there was a need to make the work environment more safe by reducing the “lifting” that had to be done by workers. The line interruptions have also created a less than optimal output from the production line. It was felt that a form of automation could alleviate the safety problems and restore the output of the line to an optimal level.

Solution:The manufacturer using the advice of an experienced solution provider determined that both safety and performance optimization issues could be handled effectively using a robotic palletization system that would be placed at the end of the current production line. This system would replace the current manual work station. This replacement would reduce the number of production employees by 2. This has a direct impact on the payroll cost for production by reducing it and overall production costs. Since there was limited space in the plant for the automated pallet solution, the devices to be installed had to be integrated readily with current production operations and occupy a small footprint.

The automated palletizing system is made up of three basic parts – a conveyor in-feed module, a Fanuc M410, 6-axis robot, and an automated pallet dispenser. The robot used here was a refurbished model. It has medium abilities for repeatability of tasks which

makes it well suited for carton stacking. The conveyor in-feed is a roller that channels the sealed product cases from the last production work cell to the position where the robot can lift them onto a waiting pallet. As each case moves down the conveyor a sensor checks each one. If the scan of the bar code by the sensor on the case fails then the case is automatically rejected and pushed off the conveyor to an area for later disposition. Those cases that pass the inspection sensor are lifted by the robot in sets of two. If a case is not aligned like it should be for the robot to pick it up, then the system will position it correctly. The robot has the ability to be programmed so that different stacking patterns can be created by the loading of cases. This system is set up to load the elongated cases in a cross-hatched pattern of the pallet. To change the pallet loading pattern would require a simple adjustment in the program that controls the robot. This robot is directed by an A/B programmable logic controller. Instruction can also be issued to the robot from an operator using the panel view control that is available.

Once the correct number of cases are added to the pallet the drag chain pallet conveyor moves the loaded pallet away from the loading area. At the same time an empty pallet is moved into the loading area. The process of moving a loaded pallet out and an empty pallet in does not effect the speed of the production line. This production scenario is set up to run at 12 cases per minute, but a rate of 30 to 50 cases per minute can easily be achieved, depending on product specifications and the pallet stacking pattern.

The Fanuc M410 is a very sturdy model that has a production lifetime in access of 15 years. In this project a refurbished and reconditioned robot was used, which can reduce the overall cost of implementation by as much as 50 percent. This robot only needs routine periodic maintenance to keep working for an extended period. This system fills the needs of all the necessary requirements of what has to happen at the end of a production line inside a small footprint. Each carton is automatically made available to the palletizing work device. Those cases that are not qualified are rejected before loading and pallets are moved into and out of the work cell automatically. This is a well-designed, self-contained palletizing system that can be utilized very readily by a small to medium-sized manufacturer. This automated palletizing system can be used for any type of product that is currently being loaded on pallets manually. The solution provider can have this palletizing system up and running in 8 weeks or less.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

You know what your products are and the packaging that they have. You now need to determine how each of these products needs to be handled by the palletizing part of your production. The stability of each product should be considered. Some require being lifted from underneath because of the fragile nature of their packaging. Others can be lifted from above due to the stability of packaging. These considerations are important when you evaluate robotic grippers that are to handle palletizing your products. If you have wide variety of products you might want to create a chart of product attributes that can help you see all the different products in single glance. Such a chart would include such characteristics as weight, overall size, and stability of each product. Being able to review products this way may help to decide what type of robotic grippers could contribute best and keep production moving with any of your products. If you are anticipating changes in product configurations or you go through cycles of change you will want to take these into consideration in your charts, if possible. Any flexibility that you can build into your system during initial design can be cost beneficial in the long run.

Your evaluation of products should also include a review of the speed at which your production line should run in manufacturing each one. Any of the robotic grippers will have its own impact on the speed at which the line is running. Some can handle the higher speeds, while others will have to work at a slower pace. The required use of any of the robotic grippers can be a direct result of the type of product packages that they handle. There may be a need to consider an acceptable range of speeds that the production line can run and still get optimization of production. This may allow you to consider more than one type of gripper to help perform palletization. It will be a good idea to rely on the expertise of the solution provider that helps you with your automation when it comes to building flexibility into your particular solution. Your provider should be able to direct you toward palletization that will help you to incorporate future changes in products that you might have in mind. Ask questions of your provider, be sure to let them know about what future packaging might be.

Automation grippers have to be sensitive to the resulting presentation quality of pallets in some cases. With the advent of club stores and warehouse stores, some products are displayed on pallets as they come from your manufacturing line. Your palletization may have to take into account how the pallet and its load of products will look when it arrives at the market place. Some grippers will cause indentations in shrink wrapping, so they would not be acceptable for certain products that require this covering.

If you have secondary procedures in the palletization of the products, like slip sheets or protectors the manipulation of these will need to be considered. Adding tier sheets between pallet layers will effect the speed at which the production line completes its task. This task could also require additional automation equipment to place the tier sheets between layers. To minimize cost of automation in might be good to review methods of palletizing that could eliminate the need for tier sheets if possible.

The types of grippers that can be effectively used for palletization are side clamps, fork, layer handling, and vacuum. There are variations of each of these. You will need to determine your product characteristics as they can be handled by each of these.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

One of the first hurdles that you may encounter is the process of getting automated production is the resistance your employees might have to the prospect of losing their jobs to robots. Actually this argument is not founded in fact. If the history of automated production is reviewed any one can see that proper automation will preserve jobs and not displace them. The thought of competitive manufacturers abandoning automation to keep workers jobs is a counterproductive method. Taking automation away from a manufacturing operation would be like telling the competitors of the business that it is conceding the market to more efficient companies that use automation to answer the market demands. If a manufacturer uses automation it will be preserving its workers jobs by becoming efficient in production.

As a producer you will also need to view the prospect of production scheduling complications. It is important to have a plan in place that will account for any areas where manual efforts will be needed to keep your production lines running while automated production is put in place. Review the points where production is impacted most and have a scheme in place that will keep production from coming to a halt. Plan to have any impacted areas have a stockpile of parts on hand to feed production while a changeover is being done. Have plans in place to minimize the amount of production interruption that you will encounter. Schedule changeovers during the slowest possible demand time for your products. As a matter of long range planning it is a good idea to have long-term contingency plans in place to minimize production shutdown after the automated production is up and running. There will be times when unexpected maintenance may need to be done on equipment or part of the equipment may fail and need to be replaced during normal operations. Starting the planning for this contingency at an early stage of automating will be helpful for your operations in the long run.

On the technical side of implementing automation you will need to review carefully the compatibility of your selected equipment as it is expected to work in the your production scenario. You need to know how efficient the equipment will perform as part of your production operation. You need to discover early in the planning process if there are areas of your production that cause stress on equipment which may cause early failure or a reduction in compatibility with other equipment. Such instances as inconsistent reliability, inability to continue repeatability, poor part orientation, and work cell conflicts may not appear at the beginning of automation use, but could occur over time.

Your analysis of automation will undoubtedly include an economic justification of using automated equipment in your production. You should look father than just a one on one comparison of how much labor displacement an automation device can create. There is a lot more to the economics of automation than just defraying labor cost with the initial cost of a device. Neither a human operator or a robotic device can work one hundred percent of the time. You already know all the stuff that humans require from the job and on the job. The automation devices will also need some downtime for maintenance and upgrades, if needed. To do a direct comparison of the long-term performances of automation with the production of humans you can see that even, with some downtime for maintenance and repair, an automation device can do the work of four humans, if both humans and robotics work at the same pace. We know, of course, that this will not be the case. The automation will win that comparison every time. We are just speaking about working time here, and not taking into consideration a comparison of the efficiencies of both parties. In that area robotics are much more efficient, and do not overuse or waste raw materials that can spiral costs upward.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

One of the most desired abilities of robotics when it comes to automation performance is the payload capacity. Each robot has a rating of its maximum capacity for moving weight from one location to another. This rating is not as straightforward as you might assume. Any robot can hold in a fixed position a given amount of weight, which is considerably more weight than the robot can swing from one location to another. The payload capacity of a robot can also be effected by the shape and surface of the objects that are to be manipulated. As a practical matter a robot can manage more weight closer to its base than it can at its full arm extension. In a lot of cases the manufacturer of robotics will gives its devices two ratings, normal and maximum. There is no particular specification about these ratings. It is important for you to understand what each of these ratings are, especially as they are considered in relation to what you need for a robotic to do in your manufacturing operation.

Repeatability is often one of the most sought after characteristics of automation performance that a robotic device can bring to a manufacturing operation. After all one of the main reasons that you want to use a robot device is to rely on its capability to repeat the same task over and over. This concept of repeatability should not be confused with the concept of accuracy. Accuracy is the ability to go to a predetermined point in space that is prescribed by some defined coordinate system. Repeatability is the ability of the device to perform the same task over and over, which includes returning to the same point in space repetitively. This repetition can only be done by a robotic device after it has been trained to perform the task. It is true that a robot device must have both these characteristics to be considered for efficient work in manufacturing. Repeatability requires that a robot perform over a period of time. Part of the automation performance of the device is to be accurate in returning to the target point each time and not slip off the target as production continues.

The specification tolerance for repeatability varies from one type of robot to another type. A small pneumatic robot that has its positions determined mechanically can have very tight tolerance. Sometimes the tolerance range can be ≈ 0.001 inch or even smaller. Larger robots are rated with tolerances that are not as tight, such as 0.005 inch. These are the ones that are hydraulically operated.

Speed is often a characteristic that is required by manufacturers in deciding which robotic to include in the operation. You could have a concern about a robot not being able to keep up with the current processing speed of your production line. But most of time the opposite is true. The robotic has to be tweaked down from its maximum speed, so that it will be running at the speed that is being produced by the other devices on the manufacturing line. Technology has pushed the speed of robots up to very fast rates. Having the very high cycle times coupled with the improved accuracy and repeatability of robots gives any manufacturing operation an excellent financial lever for improving overall production and reducing costs. It is a good position for a manufacturer to discover when it is determined that all the automation devices on the production line can be adjusted to various levels in finding what the optimum level of production is. You can be fairly certain that you would not be able to vary the throughput over a wide range of production speeds if you do not use automation.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

If your automation scenario includes any type of articulated robotic that utilizes grippers for clutching parts and products you will probably be interested in automation sensors that can measure the pressure of end-of-tool grippers. These sensors can be connected to a limit switch that is preset to be activated when the gripper pressure gets to a certain gripping force. Some of the time this measurement is taken to keep the gripper from closing too hard and damaging the equipment. It can also be used to keep the gripper from crushing some fragile parts. In situations where the gripper is used for gauging the thickness of an object that is held, the limit switch helps to standardize the grip pressure. Sometimes the amount of pressure that is applied by the gripper and the closing of the gripper are the actually the same operation. A limit switch can determine the amount of tension that a tension cable has in it. A relationship between the force applied by the gripper and the number of cycles required to get that force is determined. An exact amount of cycles to get the correct amount of force can be predetermined and achieved.

In another area of your manufacturing you may have the need of sensors that can sense the presence of an object. These sensing devices are usually photoelectric cells. One place that the cell can be mounted and become very useful is on the gripper of a robotic. The utility of the device occurs when there is a part of product that has to be grasped by the gripper. The sensor will detect the presence of the object and send the information to the gripper to do its job. This sensing device can be placed in many locations to get a better view of object that are to be moved by a robotic. It is important for you to determine what those locations are by reviewing the configuration on your automation. It may be necessary to do some trial and error to get the best location for placement. Photoelectric cells are excellent for keeping the automation running in a safe mode. Cells can be placed at strategic points throughout your production to view work areas of automation devices. If there is an intrusion into one of the work areas, the cell can send a message to shutdown the automation until the work area is clear for work to continue. The other types of presence sensing devices are infrared sensors, though they are used on a limited basis.

Radio frequency identification is becoming an important part of both production and warehousing operations. The ability of the RFID reader to “see” the location of tagged parts in a large warehouse setting is very cost effective for warehouse retrieval. Instead of spending a great deal of time and effort looking for products in multiple rows of stored products in a warehouse it is now possible for an RFID device to direct an automated guided vehicle to go direct to the product location and bring it to where it is needed. The minimization of man hours and effort is obvious in such a case.

Technology has been making great improvements to the abilities of sensors over the last few years. As technology continues this trend we are going to see excellent improvement for manufacturing automation as well.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

You will look critically at the tasks that need to be scrutinized by an automated vision system. The attributes of the automated vision system may be appropriate for the examination of parts as they come down a conveyor belt, but that same vision system may not be successfully applied where it will be used for the inspection of parts. Each automated vision system will have strengths that are good in a given area, but may not be good in other areas. You need to decide how to line up your vision requirements with the strengths of the system that you select.

The type of system that you select will have to interface with other devices that you have in your manufacturing. Some systems will require less impact from human operators, while others will need attention to be able to complete the task that they are assigned. If the only task that a vision devices does is activate a sensor to reject failed parts during an inspection cycle, then it will be easily integrated into a production scenario and require minimum interplay with a human operator. You are probably interested in having a vision system that will require as little human interaction as possible. After all that is one of the goals of having automation, that is to limit the amount of human effort involved in the production process.

There are only a few instances when a vision system does not interface with other devices and with people. Usually the vision system will be required to report on the success of its tasks performed. These reports will take the form of inspection logs or quality control reports. You will want to select the vision devices that best fit your needs for reporting on the results of the jobs that have been done. You will not need inspection reports if you require the vision process to review some other aspect of your manufacturing, so you need to select your system accordingly.

When the system does have interaction with a human operator, it is often in the form of parameter manipulation, such as setting tolerances or other numerical settings. It is important that the software that connects to the vision equipment have the safeguards that are necessary to deter any inaccurate parameter settings from being entered. In the same vein operators will need to have the training to know what should or should not be entered into the software. Sometimes vision devices will require re-programming or other technical adjustments. It is important that you have the expertise available either in your company or immediately available. You do not want to have a production shutdown due to the fact that you need programming and you do not have immediate access to that ability. In some scenarios a system will cost more to implement, but a company will have the ability to make unassisted adjustments to setup, while a less expensive system will require outside assistance to make changes between production jobs. You should make a determination as to which scenario is best for your manufacturing operation.

The visual capability of the vision device is of utmost importance to its performance capabilities. You must select a device that uses a camera and lens that will perform at the correct levels for your needs. You will need to determine the measurement accuracy that is required. Be sure that you have determined the size of the smallest object or defect that has to be detected. Important attributes can be field of vision of the device, image capture speed, and lens abilities. All of these should enter into your selection process.

The environment where your vision needs to occur should give you some guidance in selection. Some systems are able to operate in humid, dusty, high temperature areas, while others will not be as effective. Vibration tolerance can be limiting factor for some vision devices. The physical space required for a device can be a restriction for some systems.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Manufacturing automation:

1. Replaces human efforts in major areas so they do not have to do dangerous and repetitive jobs. This cuts down on the mistakes that works make and the costly rework that you have to do when humans make mistakes in production.

2. Eliminates the creature comforts that you have to supply employees when they are working like salary increases, coffee breaks, holidays, vacations, break rooms, lunch breaks, parking lots, trade unions, sick leaves, insurance policies, personality conflicts, motivational talks, and a whole host of other costly items.

3. Increases production rates and improves product consistency. Your production line will make products at a rate that can get products to your customers in a timely fashion, when the customers want them. The consistency of each product will be improved because automated devices will make each product the same each time.

4. Makes timely delivery of products to your customers will substantiate your place as a dependable supplier in the marketplace. Customers will have faith in your products and your promised delivery schedules when automation is established in your business.

5. Stabilizes the return on investment for shareholders and stockholders because of consistent delivery of products. The investments made by these groups can be returned on a shorter cycle. Stabilizing the return on investment for shareholders will make it much easier to attract new investors in the future and retain a satisfied base of current investors.

6. Cuts down on the expenses of your company that are related to personnel, like workmen’s compensation, sick pay, holiday pay, and other such expenses.

7. Eliminates the need for storage of products before shipping to customers. Automated production lines can be set up to deliver products at the rate of demand that is required from customers. This will reduce the need for warehousing of completed products and inventory in process for extended periods.

8. Reduces the amount of warehouse space that is needed to support production. Product delivery can be synchronized with the production rate so that warehousing does not have to used before shipping products to customers.

9. Creates high quality goods that are well accepted by customers which can satisfy the requirements of investors in your business. Revenues can pay back investments in a timely fashion.

10. Establishes easier movement into new markets because of higher quality of products that come off your production line.

11. Reduces production costs. With the investment in automation devices and the utilization of such devices, the cost of production can be reduced because of increased production rates and the timely delivery of products.

12. Increases available work time. There is no need to shutdown production at any time of the day, automation devices can work all day, everyday. This also says something about the number of employees needed to perform manual tasks as opposed to the number needed to support automated production processes. There are less employees needed to support automation in comparison to the number needed to do manual tasks without automation.

13. Reduces the amount that you have to invest in inventories. With automation in place there will be less requirement for inventories in process and the need for long term inventories. Automation can be optimized so that inventories that are in process can be minimized or eliminated. This reduces the amount of warehouse area that your company needs to store such items.

14. Increases the quality of the working environment. Automation will improve the quality of the work environment by performing those offensive tasks so that worker are not exposed to harmful environments. You can cut down your exposure to liabilities that you ready don’t need. It is better for a robotic to do a dirty or dangerous job than it is to let an employee do the same job and risk being hurt in accomplishing the task.

15. Improves the production effectiveness of workers and their technical skills. Automation can move the focus of employees into the technical area where they become proficient in the operation and maintenance of automation devices.

16. Improves the utilization of plant space. Automation devices compact a lot of working ability into smaller spaces, reducing the amount of floor space need for production. Being able to compact automated production devices into a smaller space than what is required for non-automated production gives your plant.

17. Improves automation device utilization. Using programming it is possible to apply the abilities of an automation device to more than one production tasks. You can’t say that about many machines that are in your production operation. This kind of thing will spread the cost of capitalization over a lot of projects so they all can have a hand in paying for the equipment.

18. Improves reputation of your company in current market areas. Being able to deliver products on time and with consistent quality will improve your manufacturing reputation. This improvement will help your company to attract more customers and improve customer retention.

19. Reduces the amount of investment in capital assets. Expenditures for capital assets can be cut due to the use of automation. Being able to utilize automation devices in more than one production process will cut the number of non-automation devices that are required for purchase. This will reduce the capital allocations that are required by your company to operate effectively.

20. Reduces the turnover and recruitment of technical employees. Having automation allows you to train your employees in technical areas and retain them in your automated business. The expertise of your employees about your production processes is invaluable when you upgrade your production to automation. After all they are the one that know the details of how your plant operates to generate quality products. You will be able to upgrade the training and technical expertise of employees once automation is implemented.

21. Sustains a competitive advantage in marketing your products. Automation will give you the product quality that can keep your competitive edge with customers. With automation you will be able to stabilize and increase your competitive advantage over your competition. Automation will give you the ability to consistently deliver products of high quality to a growing customer base.

22. Keeps your business solvent in a tough economy. Using automation will keep your business moving toward better returns from operations and get you into a more productive phase. In extreme economic times automation can keep your business solvent when others face bankruptcy. Your automation will give you the latitude in production to successfully produce various products for a demanding market.

23. Cultivates goodwill among your customers. Automation gives you the ability to have production consistency that boosts your goodwill with customers. This will help you to gain the trust you need from your customers and establish your company as the foremost manufacturer in your industry.

24. Reduces the amount of waste and the costs associated with handling waste. Eliminating the waste that is created in production will reduce not only the cost of materials lost, but also the payroll expense that is involved in reworking or salvaging wasted materials and the cost of resources required to handle them.

25. Makes your business easier to manage in order to meet the demands of dynamic markets. Automation will help you to respond more quickly to the shifting demands of customers. You will be able to manage the change in production to meet customer demands.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Fortunately there are tools that have come out of the creativity that is part of the information technology explosion that can greatly assist you in planning the move to manufacturing automation. These tools will help you to approach this formidable problem of reshaping your manufacturing. It is not as expensive as you might think to have software and systems that will help you to build chart layouts of possible scenarios of your future automated manufacturing. Using these tools will give you the ability to visually see what you would like to have in any automation scenario that you can conceive. You will be able to adjust for problems that you might see as a result of the visualization. You can use the chart layouts that you build to start a conversation with any solution provider that you might approach for help in constructing your project. You will not have to wait until you have started a conversation with a solution provider to use one of these tools. You can use them effectively while you are thinking about and deciding what you might need to automate your manufacturing.

When your company is ready to start seriously thinking about implementing automation in your manufacturing operation one of the first things you might do is get paper and a pencil and start drawing or listing what you think the automation should accomplish. Before there were software tools to create charts and layouts, this was the only way that you could get a look at what automation might look like before it was actually constructed. Now the simplest approach to charting your automation can be done with word processing software on a PC. But this can be a very labor intensive task where you will have to do all the work of drawing each object that is in your operation manually. Even if you opt to use a software drawing tool like one of the PC painting programs you will still have to draw all the objects, so this is no great improvement in doing this task. This can be done, but it is not recommended.

The next level up from all that manual work is the software that will allow you some relief from the laborious manual work. Software programs at this level usually have a library of objects that you can use to assemble a representation of your automated manufacturing. There are some programs that will do an excellent job and can help you to point out areas where your original thoughts about automation may need to be modified or corrected to actually make them work. In fact that is the single most important benefit from the visualization of an automation project. The idea that you have to put certain devices in proximity to other operations may prove to be false once you have actually laid out the automation on the plant floor. As objects are placed into a diagram that will represent your automation layout you will need to take into account all the characteristics of each device as it is placed into the picture of your future operation.

Computer aided design can be used to draw the layout of manufacturing automation. This is a fair prospect for the drawing of your manufacturing layout as long as you have someone who is skilled in the use of the program. There is a learning curve involved in mastering it. Programs like EDraw or Visio are more economical because of their price and there is not such along learning curve to produce very effective automation maps for manufacturing. Each of these has extensive libraries of objects that can be readily placed into the diagram, then moved and modified when required.

There are two tools that can be of great assistance in creating your automation map. The first is SmartDraw. It is thought to be one of the most effective tools that we found both in price and capability for creating value stream maps and production layouts. The price is under $200 for a single license which should be more than adequate for a small or medium-sized manufacturer. Another tool called Delmia is a top-of-the-line drawing tools for any type of manufacturing mapping. An important feature of this tool is the ability to represent maps in 3 dimensional format. This can be very effective for determining the most optimum layout for any automation manufacturing mapping.

It might be worth the small investment in one of these tools to get some well-defined input into the decisions that are required to make your manufacturing automation a successful project.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

One of the basic types of layout is the process layout. This floor plan for manufacturing is associated with products that are created in small batches. The production layout is such that similar production devices are grouped together in a work area. Each of the devises in a given area shares in the efficiency of the the throughput of products that moves through the work area. Each of the devices in the area can perform the functions that are required to get the work done right. All the work that is required on a batch of products is done before all the products in the batch are moved to the next work area for continued work. This type of layout has been used extensively in job shop and machine shop operations for quite a while. Some of these operations have been successful in growing in volume of production or size of operation to become sizable manufacturers.

Another widely used layout for production is the product layout. This is the layout that can support high speed, high volume production, and does so in many different types of companies of various sizes. Usually the layout for a floor of this type will have all the work cells that contribute to the production in a straight line. This does not have to be the case, for some operations have devices configured in various formats, it depends on what the consistency and efficiency of production dictates. Starting at the beginning of the production line, raw materials are introduced to the production process and inspection may occur to determine if the the raw materials are up to the standard that is required for manufacture. Then the raw materials are passed from one work area to another, down the production line as the product is completed. An automated material handling device in the form of a conveyor belt or robotic device can be used to move the products down the line as they are completed.

As the use of automation becomes more prevalent in manufacturing, combinations of production layouts are being created. Part of a manufacturing process may be laid out as a straight production line. This could be an operation that uses the line to build sub-assemblies. These sub-assemblies could then passed to another part of manufacturing operation that is laid out in the process format where the sub-assemblies are use to complete the total assembly of a product. The layout is strictly dependent on the efficiency that is derived from its use. The pressure of automation in manufacturing has caused the creation of cellular layout. This is a type of floor plan that allows for the manufacture of parts and/or products of similar type, size, shape, and function. These products require very similar manufacturing to complete them. The manufacture of these products can be done in a work cell that can have several employees assigned to it. All the employees that work in the cell have the training to operate any of the devices that are located there. All of the employees assigned to a given work cell have the responsibility for the quality of any and all products that are produce there. The work cell in this type configuration can also be found in combination with other types of layouts where the efficiency warrants its use.

Automation has applied positive pressure on the overall design of production floors. There has been a trend toward the reduction in size of manufacturing plants where the smaller floor space has automated devices placed closer together for efficiency. These layouts are usually designed to reduce the requirement for material handling and movement which reduces cost. Where material handling is required to support production there is a greater application of automated guided vehicles and automated retrieval systems.

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The entire production process for such an operation is laid out in a straight line from start to finish. At each of these stages along the production line the product receives attention for a given phase of production that contributes to the product manufacture. Each of the stages are connected together by a conveyor system that moves products from one stage to another. In the drug production operation empty bottles are moved to the beginning of the production line and may go through a stage that verifies the useability of each bottle. Those bottles that not useable are removed from the line by an automated process. Bottles that pass inspection are then moved to the next phase of production. This type of operation is one that is called paced because each of the work locations on the production line has a specified amount of time for the task to be performed on each product that goes by it. There are other types of production lines that are unpaced where there are some areas on the line that accumulate in-process inventory between the production stages. The paced production line is sometimes better suited for the creation of small products that are easily handled by conveyor systems, while the unpaced line is sometimes better for bulkier products. Sometimes the paced and unpaced types of layout are called timed and untimed.

The paced layout is directly tied to the amount of time it takes for each production task to be completed on the line. Industrial engineering usually sets up the time allocations for each work station on a production line. This time is the optimum time for each task to be completed during a given production run. Sometimes the number of units that is produced on a production line is directly tied to an incentive for the workers that have responsibilities on the line. This type incentive encourages the workers to keep the line running at an optimum rate and complete production jobs as quickly as possible. Line balancing of the phases on the production line equals out the time that each work area will have to complete the production tasks that it is assigned. Often there will be groups of similar automation devices on the production line that are required to work together to complete a given task. In the drug production operation this could be a group of bottle filling devices that work together to fill a given number of bottles with product in an allotted time. In small manufacturing shops it may be possible to utilize the product layout if the product type and production environment makes it possible.

The product layout for manufacturing has great advantages. The output of products that comes off the end of the production line can be very high volume in a short period of time. This high unit volume will result in a low cost per unit of production. The amount of time and the cost that is required for training is reduced because of the specialization of tasks on the line. Supervision can spread over a larger number of employees thus reducing management expense. Equipment and employee utilization is continuously high. Delivery of products to customers is consistently on-time. Uniformity of this type of layout spread even to the inventory levels that are required, the purchasing cycles of raw materials, and inventory control that is required in the warehouses. All of these are managed more easily which reduces overall operating costs.

The main drawback of the product layout is its inflexibility. If a manufacturer needs to move into the production of other types of products that are not part of the current product family it can be expensive. Such a change in production would require the replacement of an existing line or the addition of a new line in another location to add new products to those manufactured.

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Since you are a small manufacturer you need to make the best use of your facility space to maximize the manufacturing capability of your facility. When you are in the process of deciding how to layout your production operations, you will need to realize that there is a very permanent aspect to a final design of your workspace. It can be very expense to finalize a production layout, then decide to change it. Pulling up and re-positioning equipment that is already bolted to the floor is a very expense proposition and will not improve your bottom line in the year that you have to do it. So when you planning for the layout of the production operation area is started, you need to know that there cannot be too much study and scrutiny while this phase of your history is being played out. You should approach folks who have good ideas into how a manufacturing operation should be laid out in the most efficient way.

Depending on your type of operation there are some well-defined types of manufacturing layouts that are best suited for and implemented effectively in certain types of manufacturing operations. If you have a small job shop that produces customized products in low volume numbers then you are probably in need of a layout that is sometimes called a functional layout. In this configuration all the tasks of a similar type are performed in the same area of the plant floor. A good example of such an operation is the machine or job shop. In this operation all the milling functions are done in one area, all the boring operations are done in another, all the riveting is done in another, so that all like equipment is placed together to perform similar operations. When raw materials are routed through the machine shop they are passed from one functional area to another until completed. Advantages of the process layout include flexibility. It is easy to vary the route that products take through the shop for completion. In fact the number of routes through the shop are unlimited. Usually the cost of general purpose equipment that is used in a process environment is less than specialized equipment that may be required in a different type operation. The variation of tasks that employees are required to do in the process layout makes it easier to keep motivation up in comparison to some very repetitive tasks that would be done in other environments. It is also easy for an employer to design effective offer incentives for employees in a process configuration. The fact that several similar devices are available in a process grouping makes it less likely for equipment failure to limit product completion.

It is felt by some parties that the process layout has limited automation capabilities in comparison to other layouts. This layout is said to limit the proximity of devices in such a way that material handling cannot be efficient from one work area to another. I feel that this argument against this layout, however, can be overcome by imaginative plant layout, especially if your manufacturing is best done in the batch mode. Positioning of work areas in combination with conveyor systems can turn a batch manufacturing operation into an efficient automated facility. Another argument against process layout is the limited utilization of equipment. Device usage in this configuration is low and can be dependent on various factors. Usually this type of layout will create an increase in the amount of in-process inventory, thus increasing overall inventory costs. Partially completed products are stock piled before or after being processed in a given work area. Batch processing of products is typical in an operation that uses the process type of layout. This drives up the cost per unit completed. Maintaining a consistent, uncomplicated schedule can be a challenge with the process layout. Switching from one product batch to another can create scheduling confusion and make production more difficult.

One of the best ways to get the maximum efficiency out of any layout that has been automated is to concentrate on the material handling that has to be applied for the movement of products from one work area to another. Knowing that automation will be used for movement should also require that positioning of work areas should be laid out for the minimum amount of movement during the manufacturing process. If a metal part is created by moving from the cutting area to grinding then to brazing, then the layout of work areas should position the areas so that the minimum of movement is required to get parts from one to the other of these work areas.

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Dispensing of products is one of the popular applications of small robotics. Basically any product that is in a fluid form that needs to be inserted into a container or applied to the surface of another part can be handled by one of the small devices. Such fluids as oils, paints, adhesives, coatings, sealants, and greases are prime candidates for manipulation by small robotics. The fluids can be fed from large containers by piping into the end-effector of the robot so that it is easily applied or inserted. The control that is available from the robotic is important in the movement of these fluids. When a fluid is applied there is often a required thickness of its application. It is important that the there be no variation in the thickness for optimum results in the process. Small robots can deliver the consistent thickness that is required, much better than manual application. The application of micro-dots or long continuous beads of products are delivered with great consistency by small devices. The consistent travel speed and accurate disbursement of the same diameter of fluid makes the robot the optimum tool here. This flow consistency can be utilized well in the mixing of multiple fluids that have to be used as sealants and adhesives. More than one fluid can enter the end-effector of a robot through separate tubing and be consistently mixed as they are applied or inserted into a container by a robot.

Assembly operations are another significant task for small robotics. Robots can pick and place parts to an exact location then perform the function driving fittings like screws and other fasteners to attach parts to one another. The functions performed in conjunction with conveyor systems make the assembly of products very efficient.

Testing products allows robotics to make sure that the products coming from the production line are consistently completely to the proper specifications. Robot devices, working in concert with vision devices, can review the configuration of completed products before they are released for use by customers. With a camera attached a robotic can look at a product configuration for acceptance or rejection. Robotics can insert electrical probes into products to make sure specifications are met. Controllers attached to the probes can move products to a rework queue if necessary.

The ability to work with small robots has become very easy, even satisfying, over the last few years. The programs that control the functioning of a small robot will interact with employees through a monitor attached to the controller where all the program instructions are executed and sent to the robot. As soon as there is a need for the employee to respond to the robot operation by making a decision about what has occurred, the program will give the employee the option by displaying a question or need for attention on a computer monitor. The robotic operation is run by the controller, but the employee is still in overall control of the process. You do not have to have an automation engineer available to run a small robotic in your manufacturing.

You may have single part of your manufacturing process that you know can be made more efficient by employing automation. To attain the benefits and abilities of small robots in your manufacturing you will need to define the specific need that your operation has for the robot. You may have to seek some advice from a professional who has some automation experience, like an engineer or the employee of an automation provider, to make sure that your automation definition and your selection of a robotic to fill that need are correct. Then with your business background you should be able to search out and find an appropriate robotic to fill your requirement. You may also opt to have the solution provider assist you in purchasing and setting up the robotic for you. If have a complex combination of tasks that need to be automated it would be advisable to employ the solution provider to help with the selection, integration, and set up of your automation. In this case you will have other needs such as training and support that only a proper solution provider can offer to your business.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The requirements of small manufacturing for being able to effectively make products has helped technology to create robotics that are designed for the smaller production facilities. In the beginning of robotic applications in production, the devices were made for and utilized in automobile plants and other larger facilities. Now the robotics that were originally developed for such operations have been developed to be used in smaller shops. The efficiencies of automation devices have been improved and now occupy smaller footprints for production efficiencies in small manufacturing operations.

If your operation has need of moving payloads from one point to another in your manufacturing, you should consider employing the SCARA robot. This device works effectively, and can be very forgiving while it is doing the work that you require. For instance, if you have need of placing a peg into a hole during product manufacturing, this device can adjust that operation to make sure that the peg is put into the hole even if the hole is not in the exact location that it should be. Anywhere that there is a need for loading payloads, assembling products, or doing pick and place operations, this device can be considered a good candidate for the job. The footprint of these devices comes in various sizes so that almost any manufacturer can use one to assist in production. Small appliances manufacturers of various types have been using these device with great success.

Another type of robot that can be effective for a small manufacturer is the delta type. It is particularly effective in pick and place for small objects for packaging and assembly. When you talk about delta robots you are talking about speed. The ability to be very fast in combination with very accurate in repeatability makes these devices excellent for working with conveyor belts. The belts bring randomly placed objects down the line, while the delta robot is able to pick those random objects very accurately to move them to a next phase of production. Delicacy is attribute of these devices that allows them to work very quickly with flimsy or sensitive objects. These devices are great tenders for other automation machines, being able to get and end-effector in the position exactly when an another device is in need of it to continue the automation process. The sizing and efficiency built into servo-motors that are sued in these robots allow these devices to be built in whatever size range is required for production, without any loss of accuracy or speed.

Articulated robots are the ones that have characteristics that are closely related to human attributes. Each robot has a certain number of joints that rotate like a human. Some have more or less of these joints. An optimum number of joints is 6, which gives the robot six degrees of freedom. Each joint is usually driven by a servo-motor that helps the joint to turn and move to perform automation functions. Since these robots are so human-like they have a wide range of capabilities in perform automation tasks. Lifting payloads, and generally moving stuff from one place to another is a big part of the life of most articulated robots. The payloads can be anywhere from a few ounces to very heavy objects. These robots also have the speed and accuracy factor going for them. They can move very quickly and repeat tasks very accurately. Since the servo-motor technology has been refined, the motors that drive each joint in one of these robots can be very small. This makes smaller very efficient robots available for smaller manufacturers.

Generally the technology has made robots better and smaller so that any task in automation can be accomplished accurately by manufacturing robots.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about manufacturing automation or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for the manufacturing automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

You will need to answer some basic questions about your production process that pertain to the products that you are interested in labeling. Getting concise answers to these questions will give you an accurate guide to the type of automated labeling you can successfully implement on your production line. You will look at the packages that need labeling to find out where the label needs to be placed. Is the placement on the corner of the package or is it to be put around the corner of a package? Are there any special considerations for the location of the label on the package? What are the specific tolerances for the placement of the label on the product? The type of surface on which the label is to be placed is also a determinant. Is the surface soft, hard, flat, slanted, concave, or convex? Different labeling devices can perform more effectively in some particular environments while other devices work better in other environments. Does the label have to be applied in cold, hot, damp or other irregular conditions?

The exact size and shape of the label that is to be applied can have an impact on the type of automated labeling that can be employed. Labeling devices have varied abilities when it comes to the type of label material, like plastic, paper, film or other materials. Your analysis of your labeling needs will need to determine what the label application rate will need to be. This consideration is important to make sure that the automated labeling will be able to synchronize with the production rate of the manufacturing line. Your consideration should also include thoughts concerning the kind of other automation devices with which the automated labeling will need to coordinate. The labeling will need to effectively receive products that need labels from some device and then effectively pass the product to another device after the label is successfully applied. You might want to consider making a checklist of the questions that you consider to be important for adding automated labeling to your production process before you look at actual devices. This will help you decide in your selection of a labeling device which will yield optimum results in your production.

Problem: A watch manufacturer sells watches through a wide network of retail establishments. There are several lines of unique watches offered through the sales outlets. The company is constantly designing new watch configurations in its manufacturing facility. In the manufacturing process each of the watches has to be manually handled in order to create connections and perform the required machining. Since the loading and unloading is done manually this creates a bottle-neck in the production process. The entire production process depends on the effectiveness of this manual operation. An employee can only continually load and unload these pieces for production for a period of about 3 hours. At the end of this period another employee must take over or the production operation will completely shutdown. The manual handling of parts for loading and unloading requires concentration. When the production is running, any mishandling of parts can cause incorrectly machined parts. This causes rework and down time in production. The company evaluated replacing the manual tasks with automation. It was felt that automation would be able to continue the production process indefinitely with a great deal of accuracy. This would also free the employees that were doing the manual tasks for other more important tasks. There were concerns by management about the cost of automation being prohibitive, felling that the return on investment would be very long.

Analysis of the manual process determined that the Adept Cobra™ i600, a 4-axis robot, along with vision capability would best fill the automation needs. The characteristic of this robotic being able to perform the horizontal loading made it an ideal candidate for the job. The model that was selected had the exact abilities without being more heavily equipped than it needed to be. Electronics were internal, so that the SCARA robot was totally self contained. Added to the SCARA robot was the vision and guidance system of AdeptSight. Employees became very familiar with the use of the guidance system since the software that controls it runs on a PC and the user interface is easy to understand.

Solution: Company engineers designed the appropriate gripper for the SCARA robot. The company also applied the abilities of conveyor and other parts that were available to make the automation as efficient as possible. Robot positioning in the production area was done so that the robot was able to attend the loading and unloading for three separate work cells. Only one employee was needed to act as operator for the robot on each of two shifts. Previously there were three employees on each shift to maintain the manual operation. The employee is removed from a pressure situation of doing manual tasks to keep production running. Now the employee brings a tray of components to the production line. The robot puts a part on the production conveyer and the vision system orients the part before entering the machining process. Once positioned the robot picks the part and moves to the first machine to start the machining process. After the first machine is finished the robot moves the part to two successive devices for machining.

All this loading and unloading would drive a sane man crazy if he had to do it for more than two minutes. The robot is accurate, reliable, and never complains about all the work it has to do. Speed is a factor, all the loading and unloading takes place in about 15 seconds. It is doubtful that a man could perform these processes this fast and with accuracy, even if he wanted to!

Overall reduction of man hours involved in production was the labor hours of 4 employees. Near elimination of product rework, down time due to manual misplacement of products, the frustration and fatigue of employees trying to keep up with a production process. The most important improvement in production was the doubling of production output from 750 pieces per 8 hour shift to 1500 pieces per shift.

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There has been very little change in the types of parts and the numbers of parts that customers require from small welding shops today. What has changed is the type and cost of welding equipment that can be utilized in a job shop to do this type of work. There has also been long-standing resistance to the purchase of welding automation by small business due to the thought that they would not have the correct knowledge to make the machines profitable or they do not feel comfortable using new equipment and training their personnel to do so. These companies feel that investing in this new technology may not get the returns on investment that would be required. One of the realistic drawbacks to the utilization of welding in a small shop setting has been the fact that the setup time between jobs for the welding devices is too long and complex so the use of them is prohibitive. One of the foremost considerations that should be made when looking at welding is whether or not the robot would require more parts to get the correct configuration than the number of parts in the batch of parts would warrant. This could create a long-term cost problem.

The keyword for welding automation now is flexibility. A welding device must be able to work on different configurations to be profitable for a small shop. The trick to making this profit is to match the welding apparatus to the volume and types of jobs that the shop does routinely. The labor-intensive nature of manual welding can be replaced by automation. This can easily be done with a device that can be adjusted for different configurations. Some of these devices can be changed over from one fixture to another while parts are loaded and unloaded into the work area. Often it is reasonable to combine an effective welding device with a material handling robot that will move parts, eliminating or reducing the need for manual work by operators.

Not all parts can be made effectively using welding. It is important for your company to determine if the parts you will be asked to make can be done by a welding device. Some parts just cannot be repeatable which is a requirement of the automated welder. If adjustments cannot be made in the way the parts are made so that automation can do it, then it is not feasible to invest in this type production equipment. A great consideration for a small job shop is know whether the volume of welding that will be required of the equipment will cover the investment long term. Just reviewing the revenue from a few limited welding jobs. There needs to be a considerable stream of revenue-producing jobs that can support he investment in capital equipment. That being said, it is important to note that the ROI for such equipment now is not nearly as considerable as it used to be. Robotic welding cells that have all the flexibility that a small shop would need have productive lifetimes of 15 or 20 years. The rate of return on investment would occur in two years or less.

The pressure in the demand for small more flexible welding devices that can be used in job shops has been felt by robotics manufacturers. These companies are responding to this demand by creating robotic devices that can handle a wide degree of flexibility and be able to change from job to job in a realistic amount of time. These manufacturing units can handle an increased payload in an larger work area. These welding machines offer other cost cutting to companies in that they are designed to use less consumables to get the job done exactly right. Less wire, gas, and torch consumables are used to lay down perfect welds without the drawbacks of having over welding of joints and the worker fatigue that can come from a manual process.

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Sometimes the companies that employ this type of production are limited also in equipment resources. In fact this will more than likely be a company that is a start up. It probably has only one or two customers. The process should be operating so that it can deliver the completed product as soon as it comes off the production line. One of the drawbacks of this manufacturing process is the need for well coordinated movements of the products from one work area to another. If the work of one team of employees is delayed in completing their tasks at in a given work phase, then the team that precedes that work area will have to wait until work is done before the products can be advanced in production. There is a definite need for synchronization from one work cell to another. Loss of this will cause all production to shutdown.

In order for your company to set up a successful production line using one piece flow production you must first make a list of all the tasks that are required to be performed in your manufacturing operation. Break these down into tasks that are as small as possible. Making this list can help you define what is required and what is not required in your processes. Once the list is completed and you have refined it to just those necessary tasks, group the tasks into similar work areas. Each task should be grouped in a work area where tasks that are associated with it will also be completed.

The physical work area that is to be used for production must be laid out in a “U” shape, where one end of the “U” is where production starts and the other end of the “U” is where production is completed. Using the list of work areas that you have created, you should be able to define physical locations of the “U” shape where each work cell will perform the work for that phase of production. Be sure to lay out each area so that all the works will have enough space to do each task efficiently.

The teams of production workers for one piece flow production must be assigned. You will need to make sure that you level assignment of workers to each team. Each worker will have a varied amount of skill for performing tasks. You will need to assign workers to teams so that the skill in each team will have a similar total amount of skill for doing the production in each work cell. You will need also to create a time schedule for each work area, using industrial engineering task timing. This will let each team know how much time that can be used at any one work area to get the tasks of that are completed. If you have more than one shift in your plant you will need make sure that the end of a shift does not leave partially completed products for a next shift to complete.

There are two major areas that you will need to watch when using this type of manufacturing. First, it will be important for you to coordinate the completion of products with the demands for these products from your customers. Unless you have adequate warehousing and can bear the expense of undelivered products, this will be of great importance. Second, you will need to be assured of the abilities of each employee in doing manufacturing tasks, since there is no automation on which you can rely for a high degree of accuracy in production.

As you can see from the steps that are created in this process, this production scenario is ideal for a manufacturing operation that is just beginning. This setup is great for helping a business to understand process and begin operating with limited resources and employees. In this type of operation a company can use it as a springboard to get to growth that will come later. When the growth comes the company can move away from one piece flow production and set up more traditional manufacturing automation.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Problem: A prominent manufacturer of hot dogs, lunch meat, and bologna wished to improve the production rate from their manufacturing line that generates these products. The demand for these products has increased and the company desired to improve production without increasing labor cost or negatively impacting any governmental regulations. The manufacturer desires to improve the current number of man hours that are expended for each 1,000 pounds of product manufactured. It is felt that the use of automated labeling will be able to meet the requirements of the company to increase production while decreasing the expense for labor. In the analysis of the production operation it was determined that the current manual labeling effort could be improved significantly by implementing label automation. Performing this type of production upgrade will typically eliminate the necessity of any personnel having to perform manual labeling. There is also an important need for labels and bar codes to be placed consistently on packaging at the same location each time. The correct bar codes must also be placed on the correct products each time. The retention of customers and the constraints of government regulations require that these production consistencies be accomplished.

Solution: The food processor is currently applying labels manually. It is determined by the solution provider that the labeling system should be placed at the end of the production line just prior to products being loaded on pallets. Placing the automated labeling in this location does allow the employees more time to pack products at the end of the line. These persons are no longer required to perform any labeling tasks, so they can spend more time being accurate with packing tasks.

A very important consistency that is brought to the food production line by automated labeling is the ability to place the label accurately at the same location with continued repeatability. With regulatory requirements at such a stringent level, the exact placement of product labels with high repeatability is required. Manual labeling could not always perform this task with a great deal of accuracy. Human error in the placement of labels can be caused by fatigue, or other human frailties. The other important feature that this automation brings to food packaging is the ability to consistently get the right label on the right products. Inaccuracy in manual labeling can lead to loss of customers and censure by regulators. The consistency of labeling is assured by the fact the device uses a bar code reader that verifies each label as it is placed on the product. This identity process eliminates the possibility of a label being incorrectly placed on the wrong product. The system constantly polices the actions that it takes. Automation helped this manufacturer to reduce incorrectly labeled products significantly

The particular automated labeling system selected by the company gives them the ability to be flexible in how they perform the labeling function. This system will allow them the flexibility of just applying labels or they can print the labels then apply them. The system is fully portable and easily set up. Having this system as part of the operation has reduced the average changeover time between production jobs, increasing the availability of products. This flexibility will let the processor expand their food product lines into other areas and still be able to label other products in the most optimum way. The speed of the labeling device is between 20 and 30 units, which does not slow down the production line. Labels are printed in 300 dpi at speeds up 12 per second. This system is controlled through spare input/output devices from a PLC. The labeling system is very compact in design and can be easily integrated with other automation devices that the manufacturer will want to use later. The system will separate, position, label, and discharge units very accurately.

A very attractive feature of this system is the fact that the solution provider of this well-designed system, can offer a custom design and delivery of this system in as short as 6 weeks. This will allow you to be able to respond to the demands of customers in a timely fashion, and stay within the bounds of government regulations. Continuous training in the use and set up of the system is being offered from the time you order it until your personnel are efficient in its running. The engineering staff will work with your operators of the equipment to assure you get their buy-in from the beginning so you will get the optimum performance of the equipment in your manufacturing. Having installed 100′s of these systems, the solution provider has the ability to design and install this system at any location at which you may currently operate or to which you may expand.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Case studies are an easy and realistic way for you to gather information about the automation that you wish to include in your manufacturing. Each of our studies are broken down into the following sections:

Sensors are primary for watching the health of components during everyday operations. If devices through mandatory, continuous use get out of tolerance, overall production can be effected. It is left to the sensors to “watch” and make sure that proper maintenance is done on devices to eliminate poor production output. High speed production has made this task of utmost importance because machinery wears faster than ever with ramped up speeds.

The ability of sensors is also important in the location of randomly scattered parts in various locations during production. Without the ability to “see” a pick and place robot would be useless in the manufacturing process. Having sight makes the associated automated devices extremely efficient as they max-out the production rate without missing a beat. Often sensing devices can offer safe operation as their main part in the production process. Light sensors can close or open safety gates for the intended part of protecting equipment and people from harm. In other cases they may be used to shutdown equipment to keep some disaster from occurring. In fact automation sensors pervade all parts of manufacturing from inspection, identification, assembly and part orientation. Sensors fulfill important tasks that cannot be done on a long term basis with accuracy by humans. These are the tasks that are physically demanding, boring, and cause excessive fatigue.

In the early stages of automation applications, sensors were manufactured as separate devices that could be added to the capabilities of automation to perform a function in tandem with other devices. As speeds of production have increased and the necessary use of sensors has grow, devices and sensors are becoming single units. An automation device that has a built-in sensor to assist in operation makes it much easier to implement an effective work cell that has built-in safety or “visibility” capabilities. There is no need for having to synchronize the sensor with the device it supports. Having several automation devices with embedded sensors can supply fully integrated information to controllers about the overall state of the health of the automation system in real-time. Having full information supplied continually to the controller about the health of equipment will make it much easier to schedule maintenance for any part of the system that is under scrutiny. This will reduce unscheduled downtime and optimize machine performance and allow for effective production scheduling.

Another growing area in the use of sensors is occurring in the use of RFID devices. The radio frequency identification that can be included in the labels of products makes the fine cost control that is needed in inventory management a reality. RFID gives a manufacturing operation the ability to know not only the exact amount of raw material it has in storage, but also it will make the exact location of that material evident. Having reorder points cut down to an exact amount allows the manufacturer to reduce overall inventory costs to a scientific level. Only the amount of raw material that is required for production will be available in the warehouse when it is needed, due to the precision of RFID in inventory control.

When a sensor is to be employed in production it is important to match the skill of the sensor with the requirements of production. Different sensors have very well-defined abilities, so making the match is important. This matching also extends over to the environment where the sensor will be required to work. The sensor must be able to work there or it could be ineffective. For the successful use of any automation sensor there must be the proper resources available for changing the programming of the device when this is needed. If a sensor is to be sued in several different automation applications this will be a critical part of keeping production up and running. If there are various changes of the requirements for the sensor, it might be necessary to have a programmer on staff who can make changes to programs in a timely fashion.

The increased abilities in production, and the accuracy of production will far outweigh the requirements of cost and effort to get sensors as part of the automation in a company. All functions that thee devices contribute will make the production of a company much more efficient.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The scenario described here will work very well for a customer base that is not growing and there is no increase in demand for your products. In essence, your customer base is fixed and you are not getting any more new customers. Nor or your current customers asking for more volume of your products in their orders. You may be satisfied with this picture, but if your company is like most, you want to maximize the production possibilities of your business, and increase your profits. After all you do have to satisfy the shareholders who invested in your company. They want you to make as much money as you can with their investment so they will get some returns. You want to grow from one of the small manufacturers to a large one.

You can already see where this discussion is going. Provided you have a desire to improve your bottom line and the return on investments for your owners and become one of the best of small manufacturers, you will want to apply as many cost and production leverages as you can. Performing this task of improvement does not mean that you have to become a large facility with a large parking lot, but it could. You could improve your production rates, increase revenues, improve individual employee production, and keep your business facility the same size by implementing well-designed automation in production. Including automation as a way to improve your business will give you the ability to respond even more quickly to the demands of your customers. Turn-around time for product changes should improve, while deliveries of your products to your existing customer base will also improve. Your improved production rates can help you provide the same outstanding delivery of products to new customers that can now be included in your customer base.

As time passes and your customer base grows, you may discover that the small facility that you have kept in operation for a time is not now equitable for the production that your new, growing customer base demands. You will have to increase the size of your physical plant to meet the demands of the market place. One of the hallmarks of a very successful small business that grows into a larger business is its ability to not only satisfy an increasing customer base, but also retain its employee base. The addition of automation in your small business means that you will have new job classifications in your facility. You will need to look to the proper training of your current employees to satisfy the demands of automation for knowledgeable operators. Any investment that you make in this area will add to the positives that make your company more productive and profitable. As your business continues to grow, at some point, you will add new employees to your staff for positions that you did not have when you were a smaller operation.

There is no down side to the addition of capabilities that can be added to any small manufacturing operation that has a growing demand for its products. You can retain your physical plant size, while improving production abilities. But you don’t have to stay small in physical size, you can become a large manufacturer using the leverages and abilities that automation can give your business. Small manufacturers become large manufacturers everyday.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automating your business or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

It is important for you to determine how reliable the source of information is before you actually try to implement it yourself. You should be able to substantiate the methods and the results. The availability of this kind of positive scenario can be true for small manufacturers who associate with other members of their industry through memberships in industry committees, trade associations, and other professional groups. Sometimes information of this sort is shared from one company to another where the companies are not direct competitors, but have similar manufacturing processes. Often these groups are an excellent source for research that you might do about ideas that you have for automating your business. You should be very bold about inquiring about other companies experiences with automation. Most small manufacturers are interested in telling others about the success that their company has had, particularly when it involves automation that improves their productivity. Conversely, you might be able to assist another manufacturer if they inquire about how you accomplished the successful automation that you have implemented in your business.

It would behoove you to become a member of those associations who have members that are involved in the technology that you might use in your business for automation. The first hand experiences of those engineers and technical people in other small manufacturers can be invaluable for helping you to make decisions about the automation in your company. They can also be helpful in the selection and evaluation of a solution provider that would be best for helping you to set up automation. The previous experience of a recommending company can be helpful in steering you away from problem areas that they may have had when they set up automation.

When you find a group with which you want to associate you should prepare before you go to meet with the folks in these groups. This preparation should include a list of topics about which you would like to gain information. You should prepare a list of specific questions about the areas of automation in which you have an interest so that you can make the proper decision about automating manufacturing. You should find that the information that you gather in these kind of sessions will speak directly to what you need. This information will contain both the positives and the negatives about what automation you may want to implement in your operation. Knowing these facts makes it a lot easier for you to approach any company that is a solution provider. You will be able to query about the applications that they offer and how they actually apply to your company, both positive and negative.

The approach to automating your business can have a very stable start if you have gathered information from companies that are successful with a similar type of automation project as you are going to attempt. This is also a good starting point for your plan for the automation. Knowing what other small manufacturers have been successful in doing can be very beneficial to you. You will know what to include in the plan and be able to schedule automation steps in such a way so that you can avoid problem areas that have been indicated by others. If you use this approach to gathering information you may also discover that the automation that you want to set up may not be a project that you want to undertake because of the problems that you will encounter. In other ways this technique can help you to modify your approach to automation so that the result will be the most successful that it can be.

Related Topics

Any Job Shop Can Utilize Automation with a Little Planning – A job shop that has been in business for a while has all the expertise of job shop manufacturing that is required to be successful when making parts for its customers. Usually the customers that a shop would serve are in one industry and have a long standing relationship with the shop. This relationship has been built and become strong because of the ability of the shop to meet the needs of the customers at the time that the customers require quality parts.

Automation Grows a Small Business from Job Shop to Product Manufacturer – Automation does not always have to be extremely complex with multiple work stations to be productive for a business. There are a lot of small manufacturing shops around that could utilize automation to improve the bottom line of their businesses and make the productivity of their workers increase dramatically. Sometimes a shop owner gets the idea that when you mention the term “automation” in relation to their business you would also have to start thinking about millions of dollars to finance such an undertaking. This is simply not the case.

What You Really Wanted To Ask About Automation Projects And Now You Don’t Have To – Any of the automation projects that your company may contemplate undertaking should be preceded by some very specific questions and explicit answers. First of all you need to determine what the objective is for wanting to take on any of the automation projects. More specifically, what is the competitive edge that you are trying to achieve by automating some part of your business. During the process of answering this question you should find out the details on such topics as what are the current action of competitors in the market. You should define as many of the demands that are in the marketplace as you can. Also it would best for you to know what technologies are available to help you complete your possible automation projects.

Process Layout Affords Small Manufacturers Best Capability for Batch Manufacturing Efficiency – Depending on your type of operation there are some well-defined types of manufacturing layouts that are best suited for and implemented effectively in certain types of manufacturing operations. If you have a small job shop that produces customized products in low volume numbers then you are probably in need of a layout that is sometimes called a functional layout. In this configuration all the tasks of a similar type are performed in the same area of the plant floor. A good example of such an operation is the machine or job shop. In this operation all the milling functions are done in one area, all the boring operations are done in another, all the riveting is done in another, so that all like equipment is placed together to perform similar operations. When raw materials are routed through the machine shop they are passed from one functional area to another until completed. Advantages of the process layout include flexibility.

One Piece Flow Production Optimizes Manufacturing Automation – The production flow in cellular manufacturing has a very important associate that helps manufacturing achieve its optimum rate. That associate is one piece flow production. When a production line design includes cellular work stations it is in the best interest of the management of the production operation to consider implementing one piece flow production. Including one piece flow production in the operation is the best way to have manufacturing create only products that are needed. As a product moves through the work stations of the production line there is no accumulation of partially completed products between the work cells.

Suggestions to Set Up One Piece Flow Production in Manufacturing – As a manufacturer there is a series of steps that you can take that will assist you in the design of an optimized production line. One of your goals in setting up the line should be to optimize the flow of products through each work cell, and create a production rate as close to one piece flow production as possible. The one piece flow production rate defines the flow of the production line so that each work cell works on only one product at a time. The queue between work cells contains only one product at any given time. If the queue preceding a given work cell is empty, and the work cell has completed work on a previous product, then the work cell is idle until a product is placed in the queue so the cell can continue work.

One Piece Flow Production in Manufacturing Automation Surpasses Batch Processing – One piece flow production is the betterment of batch processing in manufacturing automation. Batch processing was a large step up from the manual processing in the past, but one piece flow production is an even larger step up from batch processing. Just the name of batch processing indicates that large groups or batches of products are manufactured. This is a great idea, but one piece flow production is a better way.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automating your business or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The requirements of small manufacturing for being able to effectively make products has helped technology to create robotics that are designed for the smaller production facilities. In the beginning of robotic applications in production, the devices were made for and utilized in automobile plants and other larger facilities. Now the robotics that were originally developed for such operations have been developed to be used in smaller shops. The efficiencies of automation devices have been improved and now occupy smaller footprints for production efficiencies in small manufacturing operations.

If your operation has need of moving payloads from one point to another in your manufacturing, you should consider employing the SCARA robot. This device works effectively, and can be very forgiving while it is doing the work that you require. For instance, if you have need of placing a peg into a hole during product manufacturing, this device can adjust that operation to make sure that the peg is put into the hole even if the hole is not in the exact location that it should be. Anywhere that there is a need for loading payloads, assembling products, or doing pick and place operations, this device can be considered a good candidate for the job. The footprint of these devices comes in various sizes so that almost any manufacturer can use one to assist in production. Small appliances manufacturers of various types have been using these device with great success.

Another type of robot that can be effective for a small manufacturer is the delta type. It is particularly effective in pick and place for small objects for packaging and assembly. When you talk about delta robots you are talking about speed. The ability to be very fast in combination with very accurate in repeatability makes these devices excellent for working with conveyor belts. The belts bring randomly placed objects down the line, while the delta robot is able to pick those random objects very accurately to move them to a next phase of production. Delicacy is attribute of these devices that allows them to work very quickly with flimsy or sensitive objects. These devices are great tenders for other automation machines, being able to get and end-effector in the position exactly when an another device is in need of it to continue the automation process. The sizing and efficiency built into servo-motors that are sued in these robots allow these devices to be built in whatever size range is required for production, without any loss of accuracy or speed.

Articulated robots are the ones that have characteristics that are closely related to human attributes. Each robot has a certain number of joints that rotate like a human. Some have more or less of these joints. An optimum number of joints is 6, which gives the robot six degrees of freedom. Each joint is usually driven by a servo-motor that helps the joint to turn and move to perform automation functions. Since these robots are so human-like they have a wide range of capabilities in perform automation tasks. Lifting payloads, and generally moving stuff from one place to another is a big part of the life of most articulated robots. The payloads can be anywhere from a few ounces to very heavy objects. These robots also have the speed and accuracy factor going for them. They can move very quickly and repeat tasks very accurately. Since the servo-motor technology has been refined, the motors that drive each joint in one of these robots can be very small. This makes smaller very efficient robots available for smaller manufacturers.

Generally the technology has made robots better and smaller so that any task in automation can be accomplished accurately by manufacturing robots.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about manufacturing automation or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for the manufacturing automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The ultimate in pick and place automation is being able to control an entire product handling system from a single controller. In a lot of cases in the past pick and place automation has been accomplished by having a series of pick and place robotics working in tandem with each other, but each was controlled by its own controller. There was a need for very fine synchronization between the controllers to accomplish the tasks required in manufacturing. Anyone can see that the coordination of application programs that instruct each device in the tasks that they need perform needs to be fine tuned since the actions of one device will impact the actions of another device. There is a domino effect established in work that is done on the production line. Add to the scenario the requirement of super high speed and the synchronization becomes even more critical.

Fortunately technology has been able to come up with an effective replacement for the pick and place automation scenario as described above. The state-of-the-art solution lies in the fact that there are controllers available now that combine motion, logic, and robotic control into a single controller. These highly controlled and high speed devices allow for efficient multitasking. Synchronization with belt speed allows the multiple devices that are instructed by a single controller to do insertion of products into primary and then secondary wrapping. It is possible to operate three robotic devices from the controller, but a fourth can be added that does not cause degradation in performance.

Logistics for this type system are made much easier because of the characteristics of the devices. It is much easier to install this controller and it subordinate devices. There is no need for interfaces to be installed so that each device can communicate with other devices. This says nothing of the tuning that must be done to synchronize several automation machines hooked to separate controllers. All the coordination happens in the single controller. The synchronization has to make sure that collision prevention is in place and setup correctly. With the single controller, this is not needed. The space that the single controller occupies is much less than its counterpart of multiple controllers. There is a dramatic reduction in the space for the single controller and the amount of space and time required for installation of cabling.

These state-of-the-art controllers also offer significant expandability in kinematics, being able to control 16 kinematics simultaneously. There is also the ability to add more axes and synchronized belts for further utility. Reducing the number of interfaces for such a system while cutting the cost of added components for automation are great attractions for such a set of devices. As technology continues to contribute to automation it is likely that this package of devices will become smaller in size and greater in flexibility and utility.

The application of the pick and place automation is very well-suited to the packaging of food and other products. Manufacturers of multiple lines of small food products can readily apply this set of devices in their manufacturing lines with almost immediate payback. Such a scenario lends itself very well to being used for multiple production jobs where pick and place and multiple product wrappings may be required for each product. The changeover from one production job to another is very efficient and will cut down significantly on the expense of setup for each production job. To make the entire production environment as efficient as possible it would be necessary to have a complete library of application programs completed and tested, ready to be loaded into the controller. This would further streamline the changeover process between jobs that could be done on the line where these devices are installed.

The combination of pick and place automation and vision or sensor systems makes for a very efficient automation solution for manufacturing. The sensory component gives feedback to the robotic component as to the location of parts that should be the attention of the pick and place operation. Add the speed component into this combination of devices and you have a very speedy automation operation. Feedback from the sensory device to the controller is so fast that it easily stays ahead of the movement of the pick and place device. The next instruction is ready for the robotic as soon as it has told the controller that it is ready to receive it. Having three pick and place robotics attached to the controller does not cause any degradation for the overall process. A high degree of accuracy is also achieved by all the material movement devices as they complete the manufacturing instructions.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Once you open the subject up for discussion, or better yet, everybody knows that you are considering implementing one of the automation solutions in your business, you will probably be given lots of ideas and suggestions. It is important in the collecting of information about automation that you minimize the creep of complication into your automation solution. Most of the time you will be far better served by a simple solution to optimize your business rather than a complicated solution. Don’t go down the road that takes you toward the “brightest new technology” if the only reason you are going there is to get the latest and greatest. Sometimes a tried and true simplistic solution can offer you proven optimization for your operation. And sometimes the latest and greatest can turn out to have areas that are unproven and can require more than you want in “trial and error” to get their capabilities adjusted the way that you need for them to operate.

You should entertain all offers of suggestions concerning your potential automation solutions. Do not just dismiss any of them out-of-hand. Sometimes suggestions from the most unexpected sources can offer pearls of simplistic wisdom. You might discover that one of these pearls is a simple approach to the problem of automation that can offer low cost, low effort, and yield high productivity when it is implemented.

Once you have defined the right automation solution for your manufacturing operation, you will need to continue your focus on the objective of creating optimized automation for your manufacturing. This includes keeping the defined task in mind as automation is implemented. Do not let deviations distract your process of setting up the automation that has been selected to make your company more profitable. The input of the solution provider that you work with will be a great benefit to keeping the setup process on target. The provider will usually have much more experience in implementing the automation solution than your personnel will. It is a good idea to depend this company’s expertise in order to avoid areas that may cost you extra time in setup or possibly take your implementation down a road that you do not need to take. Early in the definition process you should setup valid targets for your automation to accomplish when it is installed. These include such targets as reducing cost or at the minimum stabilizing operating costs. It is your objective in automating your business to keep these defined targets in your mind as you move through the process to upgrade your business. In making a conscious effort to always remember initial targets you will move more easily to the desired end result.

After the automation solution is in place and you start to realize its benefits, you should continue to move your business toward the targets that you defined. To gain the most benefit from an automation solution you must apply the tools that the automation gives you toward the targets you want to reach. There may be a time when you wish to deviate from the targets that you have defined. It is possible to continue to have an effective result even through you may have deviated from the defined targets. This deviation could occur because of environmental reasons or some legitimate operating reason may dictate it. Usually, however, once the automation is in place you should have little deviation from targets because you will know at that point that targets are stable and achieving them will be the best benefit for your business.

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The controller that is used in a system of manufacturing automation equipment may be by default considered to one of those types of equipment that has the highest precedence in the scale of importance of equipment used. The main reason for this is the fact that the controller is necessary for the completion of automation tasks. There may be one or more controllers in a system of manufacturing automation equipment. Each one of these would be considered of highest precedence in its particular functional area. Each controller is connected to one or more automation devices to which it sends instructions about the performance of automation tasks that need to be done. The only way that these connected devices can function correctly is if they get the correct instructions in the correct order and at the correct time. Beside issuing pertinent instructions the controller also acts to connect all the devices that are in the automation scenario together. By making this connection the controller can coordinate all the automation tasks that are performed by the devices that are under its command. If some part of the equipment sends an error back after attempting to perform a given task, the controller can evaluate that error and make adjustments to the instructions that it sends to other devices as a result. A lot of people like to call the controller a “traffic cop”, it is in control and will adjust the entire process as it sees fit.

There are some kinds of automation devices that have important tasks, but they have devices that can take their place in production and perform their automation tasks just as they do. These alternative machines may do the job more or less optimally than the original device. Cost may be a major variable in the selection of one device over another to perform a certain automation task. Speed, compatibility or utility may also be variables that could impact the selection of one device over another. To illustrate this concept you might consider the packaging task that has to be done in the automation phase of production. There are obviously a lot of different types of packaging automation devices that could be included in this production line. This product must be put into shrink wrap before it is placed into a carton for shipping. The requirement of shrink wrapping will eliminate many competitive devices that can perform the packaging phase of production. Only those devices that can effectively perform shrink wrapping can be considered for this position in the production line. There are also a lot of devices that could insert the shrink wrapped product into the carton, but as seen before only certain devices will be compatible with the size, shape and weight of the product.

The importance of the shrink wrapping and placing products into cartons is at a high level and the production cannot be completed without these tasks being completed properly, but there are alternative devices that can take the place of each of these. The replacements may not be optimal solutions for these positions in the production line, so each device that is placed there should be evaluated with cost, capability, and compatibility. These will be excellent guides that will contribute to the right selection of equipment to get the job done efficiently.

At the bottom end of the scale of importance there may be automation devices that are added to the production line that contribute little to the efficiency of overall production. These devices may be added to the production mix based on the usefulness of such a device in another automation situation. However, the device may not contribute to the production objectives of the current manufacturing requirements. It is important for each device that is put into the production mix be evaluated against a cost, compatibility, and contribution standard that has been established in the planning phase before the automation installation. It is not advised to include devices that do not meet the planning requirements for the automation project. Each device should contribute to the overall optimization of manufacturing.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automation. If you have questions about automating your business or you would like to request a quote, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

As a result of the importance of CA and the support that it can give your manufacturing it is necessary for you to do some in-depth evaluation to get the right provider for your CA. You are going to find that a lot of the companies that offer cloud automation (sometimes called software-as-a-service or Saas) do not offer service that supports manufacturing. You need to find out if the provider you are considering has software to support manufacturing and specifically your type of manufacturing. The Saas solution that you select should also be one that utilizes up-to-date versions of software and can be modified quite readily to fill the exact needs you have in your specific manufacturing operation. You should not have to modify your processes to fit what the cloud automation will gives you. This automation should be adjustable to meet your specific needs.

When evaluating a provider you need to make sure that the solution offered will collect all the data that your manufacturing management will need for daily operations. Then the solution needs to make that data available on a real-time basis so that management can make up-to-the-minute decisions about operations. Information such as inventory levels, cost of production jobs, labor expenses, and any other such data should be made available to “need-to-know” personnel, so that operations can be managed in a cost effective way. Sometimes a Saas solution does not cover collection in all the required areas of the organization. You need to make sure that the solution that you select will make data gathering rather easy from all currently required areas and any future areas that you might need.

Most of the time there will be standard reporting tools in any solution that you might select. You will need to make sure the reporting that is done from your solution will meet your current and future needs as well. You should try to select a solution that can have easy, least-cost modifications done to the reporting that is offered. There is a good likelihood that your requirements for reporting will change as time goes forward, and you need different reporting to be able to manage new capabilities that you now have in an automated environment. You will need the ability to adjust operational reporting, an give you a current picture of overall manufacturing performance. You should be able to acquire reports that will give pin-pointed views of production and overall operations in those key areas that require close scrutiny.

Looking at the long-term relationship with you Saas provider you should review the costing and continuity practices of the provider before acquiring their service. You need to determine all the cost that are associated with the service before you establish the relationship. Let’ face it sometimes companies need to break a relationship for whatever reason. You need to find out what the established practice is for your provider if you decide to move to another provider. They need to make your data, which they have collected on their servers readily available to you without a problem. You need to get this in writing, so there will be no question about what happens when you want to go elsewhere. You need to have immediate access to you data, so that your manufacturing operation will continue even though there has been a change in the provider for Saas. Trust is the most important commodity that exists in such a relationship. You will need to look at the track record of the provider that you select, so that you can start to have the trust that is required to make this connection a good one.

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Industrial automation is an integrated network that connects all of the sources of information in the company with all the destinations of information that need to know what has just transpired. The immediacy of supply of this information to the data destinations is a significant leverage for a manufacturer that is in need of supplying the marketplace with products when the demand is high. There are a lot of companies that have only part of the total automation network established in their operations. They may have the part of the network that advises the purchasing department that raw materials have arrived, but do not have the part that tells the production department the raw materials are available to be used. In this case, not having one link in the network can render the network almost ineffective. It needs to be an all or another deal. The business needs to have the entire network in place to reap the full benefits that the network can afford.

When you become interested in building an industrial automation network, you should look at your entire operation from a very high level. Even though you may not implement the entire network after the planning stage to set up a network, at least you will be aware of the areas that can be added to the network at a later time. The plan that you make for industrial automation should be a long range one that would include all the possible areas of your company that could benefit from an installed network. Be sure to keep the plan up-to-date as time passes. If you discover areas that need to added to your plan then make the effort to add them. Make modifications to your plan as time passes, so that you will be able to build a complete automation network if you ability to do so presents itself at some time in the future.

There are companies that help you determine the pathways for information that would be best for you to build inside your operation. When you start to review the current network you have in place, you will probably see that you have a data network for information movement and a power network for driving the system that you have in place. There needs to be an establishment of the interoperability of these networks. In creating the sharing of information in the industrial automation network your company will increase the security of the network and the entire operation. Management and other operations personnel will have better visibility into current manufacturing operations. There will be an establishment of real-time data available, which will make it much easier to make real-time decisions about operations.

Having networks converge causes a reduction in cost and downtime and mitigates risk. The entire business will gain in agility in being able to react to market pressures and demands. Control levels of all parts of the business will increase with the increase in reaction times to changes as they happen. The availability of data to the point where it needs to be will allow for the reduction in complexity. Only data that needs to seen by purchasing will be made available to purchasing, while data that needs to be seen by robotic operations will have the ability to see it. This makes the management and decision-making much easier for individual departments.

Industrial automation when implemented effectively across the entire organization can make running the manufacturing much less complex and secure. The convergence of systems for carrying this data to its owners will make this happen sooner than later.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Robotics and automation have become closer and closer as time and technology have moved forward. If they needed each other before, they need each other even more now. There is an increasing need for the positive result that occurs when robotics and automation get together. The combination of these two can have a positive impact on joblessness and increase the ability of companies to compete in the global markets. You may ask how robotics can decrease joblessness. It takes well-trained employees who are schooled in the installation, maintenance, and operation of robotics to keep robotic systems running. The skills sets that workers have to have on the job in a plant that utilizes robotics will need to be different from the skill sets that were required in the past and even now. As the current workers retire from industrial jobs, the new workers that are going to replace them will be able to program the controllers that are part of the robotic systems. These new workers will also be able to operate and maintain the work cells that contain robotics. The shift of the skill sets of the workforce will be toward technology and away from the predominant manual efforts that were done in the past. This shift occurs because of the characteristics and abilities that robotics bring to the manufacturing work place. Training of these workers in the required technologies has already begun, and the population of workers with this training is going to increase over the next few years.

As robotics and automation co-mingle and technology pushes their abilities to more efficiency in production, the workers that manage them will have a greater dependence on robotics to get the job done. Product intricacies will be more involved in future production. The combination of R and A will be required to produce the most intricate, complex products in extremely demanding environments. The demands of the production environment will require adaptability and precision that has never been required of R and A and their human operators. The limits of complexity in production will far exceed those that humans will be able to perform. The internal organization of manufacturing operations will change so that employees will be made available to support the constant work of automation. There will be specialized support teams formed to service given areas of automated production.

The ultimate combination of R and A allow for the retention of any intellectual property by companies that use them. The combination will keep companies alive by giving them the competitive edge against local and global competition. The employee-base will be expanded due to the number of jobs that will be required for maintenance and operation. Manufacturing operations will transition into a different scheme in that personnel will be the ones that solve the problems to keep manufacturing running. Robotics will perform the precision tasks of creating the products. This will also relieve employees from the harmful safety exposures that occurred in the past in manufacturing. The tandem of R and A will be able to fill the pipeline of finished products much more readily than is currently done.

It will be required that R and A coexist in an even more harmonious fashion. The amount to robotics that is applied to industry is going to increase as time goes forward. The jobs for employees in plants that use robotics will become more technical and less physical in nature. Most of the jobs will revolve around the installation, maintenance, support, and operation of robotics as they do the “heavy lifting” that will be manufacturing.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Automation robotics can have the following characteristics:

• an arm that can be configured in different ways
• a number of degrees of freedom which allows movement in multiple directions
• load-bearing capability
• defined work area
• some control system
• a source of power
• repeatability of tasks performed
• accuracy of tasks performed
• reliability in tasks that are performed

Least complex of the robots in industrial applications are those that do lifting and placing. These devices are the ones that do loading and unloading, pick and place, material movements, and palletizing. The ability to move heavier loads and work in unseemly surroundings are characteristics of these machines. Sometimes these devices replace unskilled labor and usually require low maintenance.

The next level of complexity in robots is occupied by the industrial application devices. These do tasks like spray painting, spot and arc welding, tasks that are normally done by skilled labor. A lot of these tasks are harmful to humans because of dangerous exposures that are generated. This type of device requires the ability of servo or spherical control in order to do their assigned tasks. These robots can use training to get their work defined before they are put to the automation tasks. In some cases sensors are used to help give them consistency in their work. Robotics of this type are very good at cutting operating costs and improving the quality of products that come off the production line.

Looking at the top level of complexity in robotics you can see the devices that perform tasks like assembly of products. Consistency and repeatability are high virtues of these devices. Tooling that is at the end of the arm of this devices has the ability to be very precise in placement of pieces in their proper places. These can make minor adjustment in their work to meet the needs of putting products together correctly.

Since it is the job of robotics to optimize the work in the production environment, it is important to define what tasks can best be done by robotics and what task should be best left to human accomplishment. If two tasks in manufacturing are very similar in characteristic, it is much easier to let a robotic move into the new operation, if it similar to an operation that the robotics has performed earlier. The less similar two jobs are the more likely that a human could make an easier transition to the new task. Human abilities accumulate over a lifetime, while the robotic has to start a new task from zero experience and will require extensive training to accomplish it. Robotics do not have any inherent characteristics like humans do. Some humans will better at some tasks rather than other tasks, while different robotics begin a given task from the same starting point that has zero knowledge or ability.

In deciding whether a human or a robot should do a certain manufacturing task there are certain possibilities that might help to guide you to a decision. If the task is too complicated for a robot to perform within economic reason, then the task should be left to a human to do. A robot would win the chance to perform a task if the job was too dangerous for a human to do, or space or other special considerations come into play. If a robot can generate lower cost, better quality, better consistency, or other positives then the robot would win the job.

There are definite decisions that you must make when you are deciding to put a robotic to work in the place of a human. Even the possibility of labor shortage would be a reason for putting a robotic to work.

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The controller can be configured using the end-user requirements as a guide. The processor, which is the heart of the controller, has a clock rate that is extremely fast. All this means is the speed at which instructions are read and executed by the processor are blindingly fast. The faster the clock rate of the processor that is in the controller the more instructions the controller can send and receive from automation devices at a very high rate of speed. The processor has an operating system running in it at all times. The processor and the operating system support one or more programming languages, with which programs are written to control and give instruction to the automation. The processor is where the programs are executed that are used to instruct the other automation devices of the system. Programs that the processor can execute will be able to perform math calculations and conditional and Boolean logic. The controller will create an event log that acts as a chronological historical record of all occurrences that happen while the controller is running. This is invaluable when troubleshooting system problems.

Maintaining control of the automation environment is the main function of the controller. It will send and receive information from the system to determine how it should make decisions about controlling the system. The controller has the optional ability to have multiple local control and remote control points for communicating with automation devices. There are usually several counters, math variables, logic variables, and timers to assist in the direction of automation devices while they do the work.

All the automation devices that work in the manufacturing environment to make products are connected to the controller by wireless or high-speed cabling. You can see why the processor has to be fast, if it is to give instructions to devices in advance of when they are required to accomplish automation tasks. One of the devices to which thee controller is connected is a monitor or display. This device will be able to display measured values, error codes from the system, calculated values, the statuses from other devices that are connected to the system, and system configuration settings.

Usually all the devices that are connected to the controller via a serial or TCP connection. Sometimes this main computer not only acts as a controller for automation, but it also has the role of the server for an intranet system in the business. This means the computer will be running automation-controlling software while also running ERP software, accounting applications and other business applications. This can make it easy for the business management software to be made aware of the production rates, inventory levels due to manufacturing, and accounting information that is necessary to run the business. The controller is also asked to monitor data from analog sources like temperatures and tank pressures. The system has the ability to interface with outside systems for data exchange. The ease of transmission of data in and out of the company system and to and from outside sources come from the standardization of protocols that have been established. Data is readily exchanged with resource planning software, equipment effectiveness software, and supply chain management software.

The system that requires a controller for keeping its processing optimized in manufacturing is much more than a personal computer. It is the middle of a very powerful system that has the ability to control the most important part of a manufacturing operation. The automation it controls is what is required to keep the business viable.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automating your business or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The functions that have been and will be assigned to automation are growing daily, especially in manufacturing. Technology continues to make new capabilities available to manufacturing for the creation of products. Automation devices have been dependent on computers to give them direction and monitor their successes. These functions allow for the integration of computer capabilities into the mechanical plant operations. The combination of the production task that has to be done and the computer-driven device that does that task is the automation function.

The combination of the task that is to be done and the device that does that task as a unit has a significant impact on the manufacturing operation as a whole. There is a definite positive impact made by automation functions on the value added cost structure that funds the production of any product. The reduction in cost for material handling functions lowers the cost of producing products because of the efficiency that combination brings to the manufacturing process. Another major expense reduction occurs from the reduction in labor that is required to make products due to the capabilities of automation devices and their operating instructions. The turn-around time between production jobs is a result of the excellent design of those devices that are part of production functions. The controller in an automation operation sends instructions to the other functions in the manufacturing process. The controller and its instructions, which make up a primary automation function, make a major impact on the efficiency of the manufacturing. Without this combination other automation functions would not exist.

In order for your business to build automation into your current operations it will be important for you to enlist the services of a competent automation solution integrator. This company will understand your objectives and give you the ability to develop a long range plan for the integration of of effective automation into your production. During the process the integrator will be able to audit the functional capabilities of each project activity that is to be included in the finished automation. Their experience will enable them to be able to tell you what function will be best for helping you achieve the target result that you desire. It is very important for the integrator to tell you why you should not use some of the suggested function options, then tell you why you should use other options. In any case, you need for the experience of the integrator to speak to you, and you need to listen. Building the proper functions into your automation will take the greatest amount of planning and commitment on the part of your employees.

There are three standard parts of any automation function which make it possible for a machine and its instructions to work together. These include the power to accomplish a task that has been assigned to be done, the devices that are assigned to perform the assigned tasks, and a mechanism to give some feedback to the process as to whether the task was accomplished or not. The power source for doing such tasks is usually electrical or some form that is driven by electrical power. The final power that actually does the work can be mechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic. Electrical power is used as the source for these because it is easily stored and can be made available very readily. It can be converted to any of the threes types of power very easily. The power that is sent to an automation function gets used in movement, processing, or positioning in automation. The devices that work to perform during an automation process are given their instruction by a program that runs on a controller. The feedback as to whether the task was accomplished or not is sent back to the controller over the same connection that transmits the original instructions.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your manufacturing or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. If you have questions about automation or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your manufacturing, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

As it currently stands most manufacturers have very good representation of long-standing financial abilities in their operations. Other companies have very good representation in the area of automation that is used for the creation of their products. The companies that are financially savvy are pressing to get more adept in automating their production. The companies that are more proficient in the automation arena are “mining” to get the data that they need for financial focus. Lately there has been a strong movement in both of these types of companies to have an in-depth integration of the mechanical and the financial systems. Automation processes and financial processes are becoming or have become the same. It is felt as time goes by, technology will integrate these systems tighter and tighter, especially as the cost of having such capabilities continues to go down. It is especially important for manufacturers to get a fully integrated and optimal system in place in their operations to support the ability for them to generate just the right amount of products at the right price at the right time to meet the demand in the marketplace. Manufacturers need to trim all the fat to get stuff there when it demanded of be discounted by customers.

Companies are adding value to their entire manufacturing operation by integrating automation work cells, control systems, quality systems, asset management systems, business systems, accounting systems, and others into a productive and consistent organization. Successful efforts to co-mingle manufacturing and financial operations is done with the idea in mind that all unnecessary steps should be removed from any of the operations. Only those steps that actually add value to the end result should be retained as part of any process. Technology can make any data from any source available in any format that is necessary at the destination. The speed of this availability has gone up by leaps and bounds, all the software and hardware is talking, and finally they all understand one another. Automation devices can send production data through the company intranet to the automation controller. The controller is connected to the financial processes through this same intranet. Production data is given up to financial processes and the numbers are “crunched” in real time, so it easier to know how the production rates look in comparison to previous periods of operation.

One of the best ways that a manufacturer can remain competitive is by implementing state-of-the-art mechanical processes that are fully integrated with other internal business systems. This allows a business to “squeeze” the maximum amount of ability and productivity out of a limited amount of resources to compete and be successful in the market. If you have not experienced the full integration of manufacturing and financial processes, you will need to do some definite planning to do so. The skills of a an experienced integrated solution provider can help with this. These companies know what areas can be the best for returning investment dollars when the integration is done.

Another effective way for a manufacturer to reap the most from integration of systems is to adhere to well established standards when doing so. Such adherence can reduce overall costs in several areas. Engineering costs in the area of development can be held in check. Reductions in the cost associated with training of end-users and the cost for training personnel can be realized. Any costs associated with ongoing maintenance and expansion of systems can be reduced.

There are several ways that the integration of automation and other business processes in a business can yield cost reductions and expense eliminations. It is good idea for you to look for ways to get as many processes integrated with as many other processes as possible. There is a natural affinity and an ease of task accomplishment when processes have natural integration in a business.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automating your business or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Palletizing is one of the areas that automated grippers are used quite effectively in production. Products that are of similar shape and size can possible use the same gripper when it is used in the palletizing operation for different products. A good example of the multiple use of grippers is seen in a manufacturing operation that creates products that are packaged in bags of different sizes. The bags come down a production conveyor to the point where they are to be moved to a pallet for shipping. The gripper that moves them from the conveyor to the pallet is a mechanical gripper that has fingers that are used to lift and place each bag onto the waiting pallet. The changeover of the palletizing work cell from one product type to another is zero due to the fact that the same mechanical gripper works the same with each type of bag the company produces.

Another company may be involved in the manufacture of products that are placed in rectangular boxes before being put onto pallets for shipment to retail outlets. In this case the automated gripper that could be effectively used might be a robot with a stationary plate that is placed on each side of a case and lifted with slight pressure. Another type of gripper that can be used for this would be the vacuum gripper that lifts the packages by using vacuum force applied through a rubber suction cup that is placed on the top of each case. The changeover for different production requirements for these devices would also be minimal, cutting the cost of set up and the time needed to transition the production line for new products. The transition for vacuum cup grippers would simply amount the variation of the vacuum applied to the cases. More force would lift a heavier case. Plates with several vacuum cups on the bottom can be used to lift and place entire layers of cases for a pallet. There has to be a very precise pattern of cases so that the gripper will be able to contact and be able to lift all the cases when this method is used.

Combining automation devices can result in optimum results. This is the case when sensors are combined with grippers to accomplish a task. A mechanical gripper that is used to lift packages that are to be placed on a pallet can have the amount of pressure that is applied to the package be influenced by a sensor which will make the gripper aware when enough pressure has been applied. This same sensor can optimize the opening of the gripper to an optimum width for the nest lifting process that is to be done. The actual “sensing” that is done is sent to the controller which sends a message to the gripper that it has either opened or closed as far as it should for the moment. These kinds of cooperative interplays between automation devices can take the entire production operation to a higher optimum level.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automating your business or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

Early automation controllers were not as capable as the controllers in use today. Programs that these early devices would run had to be loaded into the device manually before they could be executed to work with other devices. Technology has brought the controller to the point where it is now programmable. User interfaces for building programs are much better and programs can be loaded into programmable automation controllers and executed on-demand. The earlier controllers were called PLC’s (Programmable Logic Controllers) and the later ones are called PAC’s (Programmable Automation Controllers)

The production environment in which the automation controllers must work is often very unpleasant. These devices should be able to run in very hot factories with a high degree of resilience and accuracy. There can be no deviation in their response to the demands of devices with which they converse. In many cases the work requirements for an automation controller is continuous, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, day in and day out. A high level of mean time before failure is very important. This is the average time that usually occurs before the device will stop working. A company’s continuous existence may totally rest on the automation controller that is running its manufacturing operation, so the length of time that his device should be able to run continuously with no problems should be very long. Periodic routine maintenance should be done on any of the automation controllers that carry should a heavy responsibility. These device should be taken out of the automation process to make sure that they can continue operating at a high level of consistency. A backup controller should be substituted for the primary controller, so that maintenance can be done. In many cases controllers will be upgraded by switching out part of the hardware or software that is used to keep them operating. This also can be done at a maintenance time.

Controllers keep the whole process of automation operating in a safe mode. If there is an error code returned to a controller that warrants for all the automation to stop, the controller has the power to that. In some cases if the controller does not stop automation there could be damage to equipment or personnel. Looking at this scenario you can see the importance of the controller in keeping automation running smoothly. Controllers are decision-making devices that decide how automation should proceed from one operation to the next. Each instruction has to be issued by the controller to perform all the tasks that are required to keep automation running at an optimum pace. It is also important for the controller to be able to handle any error situations of which it is made aware. You have to realize that all these decisions and the issuing of instructions occur at a very high-speed. Controllers are not in conversation with just one device, they must talk to all the devices that are part of the manufacturing automation. The conversation has to happen at such a pace that the instructions for each device in the automation will receive its required instruction prior to the time that the device will need to know what it should do next. You can see the speed constraint that is placed on the automation controller based on the demands that are made on it by the devices that part of the automation environment.

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Pharmacy automation equipment gives us the quickest path to correcting the problem of inaccuracies that relate to drug dispensing, especially in the hospital setting. But in conjunction with the equipment there needs to be a labeling initiative that will allow the equipment to perform a perfect job of dispensing drugs. An example of the use of pharmacy automation equipment in conjunction with barcode labeling can be seen when a patient is need of a drug in a hospital setting. The nurse would be able to identify that the bottle of capsules that is sent to the nursing station from the pharmacy is the correct drug by scanning the barcode on the bottle and then scanning the barcode on the patient’s chart. This “matching” done by a mobile device that is part of the hospital pharmacy automation equipment verifies that the right drug and the right dose is to be administered. Before the drug arrived at the nursing station a pharmacist filled the needed drug in the dispensary also using a similar scanner that is also part of the pharmacy automation equipment.

There are certain criteria that you must define if you are interested in acquiring pharmacy automation equipment for your business. As previously stated, you should be getting such equipment to increase the safety of persons who will be taking the medications that are dispensed from your operation. You are also interested in improving the productivity of your operation, making it easier to accurately fill prescriptions. Those operations that perform bulk filling of prescriptions are the ones that benefit the most from pharmacy automation equipment. There can also be significant optimization for smaller, less “bulk-oriented” operations, as well. When starting the identification process for the right equipment to meet your needs, it could be important to think about much versatility the equipment should have. With the equipment would you require that it be set to more than one dispensing mode at various times? In some cases there is a need for high volume automated dispensing of drugs into single unit packs for use in a hospital environment. But this same equipment may be required to perform individual filling of prescriptions for patients to take home when they are discharged. The equipment should have the ability to produced properly filled prescription on-demand when a patient is a new arrival if the equipment is in a hospital setting.

Your review of possible equipment should make sure that units you might select would have the ability to handle the “returns” that come back to the pharmacy unused. In some cases the drugs would be disposed of, but in many other cases they would be placed back into inventory. You certainly would want to do the latter if at all possible. Equipment should allow you to manage the lot codes of returned drugs to make sure there had not been any recall for the drugs in question. In the same vein, drug expiration dates would need to be efficiently checked before they are placed back into inventory. Appropriate scanning attached to the equipment should help with these tasks.

As a matter of necessity the equipment should be able to handle the highest percent of the drug inventory as possible. It does very little good to have automation that does not do as much of the work as possible. You do not want to have to manually fill 50% of your prescriptions due to the ineffectiveness of the equipment. Most equipment that handles high volumes will also be able to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Some automation equipment is able to dispense drugs for patients in “clusters” so that the nursing staff can keep all of the drugs for an individual patient together. In fact these drugs are “clustered” in the order that are required to be administered to the patient, making it much easier for the nurses.

The implementation of prescription filling automation should cut the work load and increase the safety at all levels in an operation.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your pharmacy or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automation. If you have questions about automating or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your pharmacy, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The cost level that has to paid out on any production automation system can be done in a very short period of time. Even the smaller manufacturers will be able to maximize profits, minimize costs, and optimize business growth by adding automated production systems to their product-producing abilities. An effective approach for any business to take in trying to acquire a production automation system, would be to fully assess possibilities for making improvements to current operations. When you are new to this type of movement in your business, it is a good idea to have outside technical expertise to give you guidance and instruction. As early as you can you should identify the proper source for getting the instruction and guidance that you need. This source can come from a recommendation from a company of which you are aware that has similar needs as your company, and may or may not have reviewed automated production systems. If you don’t t have the answers in-house, you can talk to some one that has a similar requirement as your company has. The more input that you get from reliable sources, the better off you will be when it comes time to make the decision to implement an automated production system.

You should keep in mind that the conversion of your innovative ideas into a solid production automation system can only be done from a skill that can comes from experience. The experience of your sources of information should be backed by the a track record of successful association with production automation as either a provider or an end user. It would be great to have a company consult with you that has been involved with the exact production application that you require, but that may not happen. Instead of spending a lot of time trying to find that exact company, it is better to concentrate on finding a company that has very deep experience in all the areas of automation that you might need to complete your production automation system. Latest technology and its effective implementation should be part of the repertoire of the best sources of information that you should use. There should be employees on staff for the company with which you work that have special skills in the areas of automation that you require in your system. Avoid those situations where there is a second-hand answer such as “I guess that will work for you”. The folks that give you advice should be able to say “Here is what you need to do and here is why it will work!”

The implementation of effective automation systems has been done for enough years now so that there should be a solution provider or a company that has built a such a system to help you. You want to find a company that has the knowledge about the system that you need. It may take searching on you part to find them, but this will be time that is well spent, and you will reap rewards for having done it. You should spend enough time in your search so that you can find out all you need to know about the company you want to use. There should also be enough time spent in the search process for you to build some confidence and trust in the company that you select to help you.

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In the world of manufacturing automation there was a need for an expansion of capabilities over a range of jobs. A controller need to be a device that could perform duties like a PC, and extend the power and speed of manufacturing operations into a new more productive arena. The personal computer burst into the office environment and eliminated a lot of the drudgery of tasks that had to be manually done there. But the PC could not make a move from the office to the manufacturing operation either without some help from added devices. The PC was not able to do the process control tasks of the PLC, so it needed to utilize some of its memory expansion slots to add circuit boards that would allow it to do this. The fact that the PC had expandability in its basic configuration was one of the main characteristics that helped it move into the automation arena. Just having a few new boards added to the PC did not, however, make it the champion of automation that the PAC has become. Beefed up math processing capabilities, a rugged design that is able to operate in a harsh environments, and cranked up processing speed get it closer to the programmable automation controller we know and love.

The programmable automation controller that truly fills the needs of manufacturing automation must have a processor that runs in close synchronization with the software that instructs it. The PAC will be an individual platform much as a PC would be, but it would be able to do work in more than one domain. These would include the arena that used to be occupied by only the PLC, the logic domain. Other domains include motion, drive and process control. A real hallmark of this high-powered controller is the fact that it utilizes one development platform and one database for the storage of development tasks that can interact with many automation tasks. On that single development platform many different types of programs can written in many different languages to control and instruct the devices of manufacturing automation. The platform operates in an open architecture that allows for the expandability mentioned earlier. The PAC uses all the standard protocols and data transfer capabilities that allows it to be part of and communicate with the enterprise network. Data passes effectively from a PAC to the ERP system and other business related systems in the business.

When you purchase a programmable automation controller your cash outlay will be much less than if you had acquired another type system. The cost of these devices has fallen over the last few years. There is little doubt that you could not add help for a PLC to get the same processing abilities that you can get from a PAC that would cost less. Being able to change the configuration of a PLC to something different, in some cases would be difficult, in other cases, it would be impossible. However, the Programmable automation controller can be changed from tasks to task with low cost and little effort. The PLC is not designed to perform multitasking that is built into the basic design of the PAC. Language extensions on the PAC give it a further ability to get automation jobs done. For instance, some programming languages have the ability to create a blocked off memory space in RAM while a program is running. In these allocated memory space a dynamic link library can be executed to perform some special task that might be required by automation. Sometimes this DLL is written in a programming language other then the one that is used to call it to memory to run.

The PAC has inherited the open capabilities of the PC, but it has had to take on some other characteristics to make it of excellent use in the manufacturing automation arena.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your manufacturing or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. If you have questions about automating or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your manufacturing, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

The PLC set the stage for the PAC. As an early device for giving instructions to automation devices the PLC is limited in its capability by comparison. The PLC runs on a proprietary, closed network, and models its control of devices after a series of relay switches, using ladder logic as its foundation for control. With the push of technology along came the PAC, which opened the capabilities of automated manufacturing. The PAC gives manufacturing diverse protocols and standard hardware that can perform distributed processing in a multitasking environment. The PAC operates in multiple domains and utilizes open communications standards. This device is modular in design and will make data exchanges in multiple formats. It operates in a fully integrated development environment.

A programmable automation controller is multifunctional, able to handle all the signal types that can be exchanged with automation applications, serial, analog, and digital. Information that is sent and received as text to and from devices such as keypads, test equipment, scanners and readers can be readily handled by any PAC. Digital signals such as on/off switch conditions are relayed and managed by a PAC. Analog signals like pressure levels, flow amounts, and temperatures are also handled. Crossing through all the standard domains on your manufacturing operation is standard practice for a PAC. Hardware attached to the device can collect data from remote equipment or machinery on the shop floor. Process control for any type of industry is a ready task performed by the PAC.

A programmable automation controller utilizes standard technology protocols and standard components. There is no need for specialized training for the operation of common networking hardware and software that are used with a PAC. Well accepted hardware such as network hubs and routers, and all the standard internet protocols, TC/IP, SNMP, SMTP, UDP, and FTP are used. Having the broad capability available for the automation controller gives the entire system a broader area of communication to mobile devices. Multitasking is a major ability of the PAC. Managers can be kept in communication with the automation operation through mobile devices that communicate with the PAC. While communicated with clients or vendors using one type of protocol, the PAC can also be running independent programs for the control of automation devices. It may also be involved in distributed processing that requires the PAC to interact with timing PID loops. This multitasking capability is all based on the processor or processors that are running in the PAC. The clock speed of these types of machines is very fast, so they can do a lot of stuff in a very short period of time.

The PAC is very modular, capabilities in the form of circuit boards can be added and subtracted from a unit at any time. Processing power can be added to a PAC that may have only one processor board in it, by adding one or more additional processing boards. Having this kind of ability in the device can help to optimize all functions and tasks that are under the control of the PAC. The cost of these types of additions to the PAC are minimal compared to the processing and production capability that is added to manufacturing. Modularity that can be added is built with standard interfaces so that boards from different vendors can be added with no difficulty. Monitoring a PAC is done through a software interface that is easily read and interpreted from a display screen attached to the PAC. Application development can be done through the user interface so that abilities can be added to the automation environment when they are needed.

The programmable automation controller has opened the doors to full flexibility for manufacturing automation with standardized hardware and software. Using this flexibility gives manufacturers a low cost way to add full automation to their operations in a short period of time. Having this standardization spread to most customers and vendors gives communications to other companies an added boost, not to mention the ability to communicate in-house. Multiple processors give PAC’s the ability to do any task that is assigned with speed without impacting other automation tasks that it is also doing. Even better the PAC has the ability to store all the information about the manufacturing process in databases for use later in analyzing production.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your manufacturing or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. If you have questions about automating your manufacturing or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your manufacturing, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

One of the main parts of a robotic automation system is the manipulator. The manipulator allows for the movements that the robot makes to perform its assigned tasks. The manipulator is made up of two or more segments that are linked together. These linked segments are sometimes called “chains”. These links are created to slide from one location to another or they can be jointed so that they can rotate to reposition other parts of the chain. The manipulator allows the robot to have “degrees of freedom”, which is to say it can move from one or more locations to other locations. The robot has freedom of movement because of the ability of the movement abilities of the manipulator. The movements that are done by the manipulator can be either directed by a person who gives it manual instructions or it can be instructed by a controller that is the brain of the robot. This controller is a computer that is programmed to give instructions to the different parts of the robot.

The power supply is another main part of any of the robotic automation systems. This is the part of the robot that is the source of power for movements that are performed. You would think that electricity is the only power source for the robot, but there are two others, pneumatic and hydraulic. In many cases the robot receives its power from some combination of these three sources. Pneumatic power is used for robotics that are not as complex because this power source is less expensive. This source is least reliable because of the noise it generates and it sometimes is prone to leak fluid. Hydraulic power can have the same faults as pneumatic, but it is used more that pneumatic because of the amount of torque that can be generated to power robotics. When there is a need for heavy lifting or movement, hydraulics are the power source of choice. Electric power is the most common of the power sources for any of the robotic automation systems. This power source does not require the presence of pumps or other devices to operate and it is cleaner and quieter. The decision for the type of power for any of the robotic automation systems that you might implement might need to be influenced by required cleanliness in the environment of the operation and the total amount of power required from the source.

Any robotic automation system will need a brain for making decisions and giving instructions to the other parts of the system. The controller is the part that does this work. The controller is a computer that has memory spaces for the permanent storage of programs that can be executed to give robotic instructions. It also has a random access memory where any of the programs stored in permanent memory can be executed to give out instructions. The programs, written by humans, are loaded into the permanent memory of the controller for execution in the future. When the controller is required to instruct the other parts of the robotic system to perform functions, the program to do this is loaded from the permanent memory into the random access memory for execution. As this program runs it gives instruction to the sensors and receives feedback from them. The program gives instruction to all the devices that are configured in the manufacturing operation. The controller also receives input from manual devices that connected to it, like keyboards and other devices. The controller determines the most important capabilities of the robotic, accuracy in the tasks performed, and repeatability of those tasks. When the program for a given manufacturing operation is running, the instruction that are sent to a robot will tell where it should be positioned and what it’s orientation should be. Accuracy for this task is measured in very small increments. The program will also determine how often a function should be repeated in order to complete the task. Accuracy of a task being repeated to the exact same location for how ever many times are necessary is the hall mark of excellent automation.

The tool at the end of a robot arm is the place where all the work is actually done. There are as many tools that go on the end as there are jobs to be done by them. This part of the robotic is the one that has the widest amount of variation. Many manufacturers have created special tools for robots to just the exact job that they require for their automation to do. When a new automation job is to be done they will create a new tool for the new manufacturing job.

The main variations in a the life of a robotic occur in the program that is written to perform the automated tasks and the tool that is added to the end of the robot arm to do the tasks that are required.

Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your manufacturing or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. If you have questions about automating your manufacturing or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your manufacturing, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.

OCR is a part of the vision capability that is a necessity in conjunction with high speed automation. Having machinery be able to read characters on products or raw materials at a very high speed is very beneficial task automation. A string of characters on a surface is transformed from a digital image that is “read” by OCR into a string of characters that can be interpreted by the automation controller. This string of characters turns into an instruction for automation devices. The character string can also be an instruction to the program to issue a conditional command to an automation device. In any event, it is the same as a program in the controller being able to give a conditional instruction to an automation device while it is working, without human intervention.

There are many requirements and restrictions in place that are designed to assure the safety of products before they arrive in the market place. All the raw materials that are used in food and drug products are produced in limited-sized control batches for easy identification all the way through the supply chain down to the consumer. As a result of this control the batch numbers of any consumable products must be visible on all of these products when they leave the plant. Optical character verification is a type of task automation that is used to verify that the product has the required batch or lot numbers applied before leaving the plant to go to the consumer. At every stage of movement through the manufacturing operation OCV is used to make sure that raw material batches are as they should be when container filling, packaging, and other operations are done. Consumable product batches of raw materials are assigned to labels that are put on their product containers. The batch numbers of the raw materials that are in the containers are printed on the labels. If there is a discrepancy between the batch numbers on product labels and the actual contents of the product there are serious consequences for manufacturers. OCV is used to help keep batches and their product labels synchronized.

In days gone by when I worked as a manager in a manufacturing facility there was very little task automation. It was necessary for the production personnel to bring the drums of raw materials to the production line while the manufacturing line was running. During the setup process for a given manufacturing job I would give the batch numbers of the product to be produced to these personnel for retrieval. These personnel would go warehouse and bring to the production floor the drums that contained the raw material for the job. You can see the immediately from this short explanation what the inherent dangers are. It would take a very careful examination to make sure that the right batches of raw materials were brought to the production line in the order that matched the labels to be put on the completed products. I was very careful to double check the batches of raw materials before they were put into the hoppers for filling. It was a very expensive procedure to “rework” products that were mislabeled . In fact it could mean termination.

With the advent of OCR and OCV it is now possible for the same production process to run under the control of an automation controller that is helped by character recognition and verification. The controller would recognized that the correct raw material was available because of the OCR ability of automation. Labels and batches would also be matched in the same way. The automation controller would not allow the wrong labels to be put on product containers.

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Fortunately the terminal automation does not allow for such things to happen. The task that were once done manually in a terminal are now done in an automated fashion by the terminal automation system. The controller, a computer, is controlling the processes that go on in the terminal. This includes the loading, storage, dispensing, and safe care of all products that go through the terminal. At each phase of product movement through the terminal there is a continuous eye on the safe handling of all products, especially those that are explosive or give off harsh fumes or could damage the environment. The controller in the terminal knows all the vehicles that can carry products, what are their empty weights, what are their full weights, what are their destinations, and who are their owners. As any vehicle enters the terminal to receive a load of any product, the controller knows what the disposition of the vehicle and its product are at any one moment. The controller coordinates all the movements in its area of control with ease and knowledge. The technology that drives the coordination continues to make the abilities of terminal automation more and more effective.

The oil and gas terminal is a part of the terminal system that is considered to be a major part of the delivery system of oil and gas from where these products are processed to the points where they are consumed. The transportation of these products requires very high levels of safety and control. This safety and control is provided by the terminal automation system. Some of the tasks that automation provides a terminal are metering, reporting, inventory calculation and monitoring, spill avoidance, and fire safety. Among the operations that utilize terminal automation are airports that dispense and store aviation fuel, marine loading and unloading facilities, and pipeline distribution centers.

An oil and gas pipeline terminal that is automated will have almost all of its functions attended by the system. These include total system security, pump assignment and sequencing, leak detection and line balancing. Batching of products that are shipped on the pipeline are fully scrutinized. Batches of products have the consignor and the origin point of the product controlled by the automation. Full nomination management by the automation should include the product type, the planned batch quantity, and its availability date. It should also include the destination point for the batch with its consignee and the predicted shrinkage amount. Receipt management of the batch would include the actual shipping date, the amount of product that was received at the destination, and the destination consignee.

An automated water terminal should have features that allow for automated scheduling and execution of processes such as filter maintenance and other routine, but required functions. There should automated tracking of water quality levels like PH and other chemical levels. Monitoring and control of all levels of treatment with automatic reporting of any deviation from required standards. These types of terminal systems are ideal for waste water treatment, reverse osmosis or any other water treatment or reclamation. For water treatment functions that should be included are aeration, filtration, injection of chemicals, flocculation, disinfection, and automated filter backwash management. In a waste water reclamation system automation should be available for aeration, solids handling, disinfection, and chemical feeds.

The terminals that are set up to handle the processing, distribution, storage, and shipping of bulk products are mostly completely automated. The controllers in these environments have taken all the manual efforts out of management of such facilities. Many of these operations have very little intervention from human operators while they continue to work day in and day out without any interruption or complication. The automation in these facilities controls everything from escalators to sump pumps to tunnel ventilation to plumbing and drainage.

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In a terminal there are usually several oil or gas products that can be delivered from the facility to transportation vehicles that will move the products to the final market delivery point. There are loading bays that can be positioned for the automated dispensing of a selected product into a vehicle. This vehicle can be a mobile transport device like a tanker truck, a river barge, or a rail tank car. When being loaded into a vehicle total product control is in effect from the terminal automation. Metering of the dispensed product is kept exact by the system. A computer monitoring system is constantly aware of the amount of the product dispensed at any time. The system has safety shutdown capability in place that will close down any dispensing if the terminal automation system detects any event that is out of the ordinary.

As a vehicle enters the facility to be filled with product the terminal system is aware of the presence of the vehicle. Each vehicle is required to have an RFID type card attached to the outside of the vehicle. As the vehicle moves around in the facility, the terminal automation system is aware of the location of the vehicle at all times. The tare weight, which is the weight of the vehicle without product in it, is read by the terminal automation system when the vehicle enters the facility. The system tracks the customer that owns the vehicle, what product it is to transport, and the volume of that product. The system will keep a vehicle from picking up the wrong product because of this.

When the truck arrives at the dispenser where the product will be loaded into the vehicle, the controller of the terminal automated system will dispense the exact amount of product required. The system has produced a filling advice notice that tells the product name, amount of the product, the customer, the destination, and the price of the product. As the product is dispensed into the vehicle, the amount of the product is automatically removed from the inventory of the terminal by the automation system. If the pricing of the product to the customer is based on the weight of the product, then the weight of a product-filled vehicle would be taken when the vehicle is ready to leave the facility.

Once the inventory level of the terminal has reached a certain warning point after delivering product to customers for some time, a notice is issued from the automation system that there is a need for more of the product to be delivered to the terminal for delivery to the vehicles of customers. This warning advice will cause a request for more product to be delivered to the terminal from a tank farm, if it is the source. The advice could also request a delivery of the product from a more remote location through a pipeline. A pipeline can also be the “vehicle” through which product may be delivered to a customer. The terminal system can dispense product of a predetermined amount through a pipeline from the terminal facility to a customer location. The pipeline can be used to transport many different types of products. To do this the facility will setup the product to start running through the pipeline at a given time. The volume of the pipeline from one location to another is known by the system. As product flows from the facility to the customer, the system calculates the exact amount that is required to fill the order that the customer placed for this product. Once that amount is in the pipeline, then the system terminates the dispensing of the product. Similar to the truck or barge deliveries, there is an invoice remitted for the product that is dispensed through the pipeline.

All of the processes that are accomplished to deliver, count, invoice, inventory, and control the product that are moved to and from the terminal are all controlled by the controllers of the terminal automation system. With such a system in place it is very difficult to have the wrong product or product amount delivered to a customer by any vehicle, the control by the system is too accurate.

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Think about the expenses and efforts that you put into your manufacturing operation that are related to automation equipment control (Provided you have already actually automated your manufacturing!). Even with the advent of manufacturing automation and its advance in capabilities, there is still a need for staff to make changes to control programs and implement and maintain those programs. With CM added to your manufacturing you can eliminate a lot of the effort, time, and cost that are associated with automation equipment control. Such a change will possibly eliminate some of the equipment that is currently used at the production line level by offering automation control instructions from the internet directly to the automation devices in your production line . Here again is the possibility of a major reduction in expense for resources and their maintenance. It is a good idea for you to learn as much as possible about this concept of cloud manufacturing and continue learning because in the near future it is going to change the automation manufacturing control that you use in your operation. There are limited resources for offering this type of service at the time this is being written. However, it is expected that this type of service availability will grow very quickly in the marketplace.

I know that you are now asking “How does all this work?” or better yet “How can I get this for my manufacturing operation?” To be able to have the capabilities of CM control, you will have to get a subscription for software-as-a-service. Saas is offered by companies that have large servers that are securely connected to the internet. These servers are running the software programs that can control the automation devices in your production line. Security and continuous program availability are are both of the highest importance in such a scenario. Servers will be redundant more one that once, which means there will be more than one backup server running concurrently with the server that gives your production line its control. This server mirroring keeps the instructions flowing even if one server goes down. There is no interruption of service. The instructions can flow directly to your automation device, so there will be little need for an automation controller in the production line to send instructions to this device.

Cloud manufacturing has outstanding benefits for your operation. First, you will be able to reduce capital expenses that you currently spend for automation controllers and their operation and maintenance. You will be able to spend more time and energy in your core competencies and less resources in changing and tinkering with automation programs. When there is a need for upgrade of programs that run automation, you will have the upgrade immediately, you will not need to spend time and effort making the changeover. Your operation will be able to react to the market place demands more quickly without the interference that automation programming changes require. The latest automation functionality is readily available to your operation. Smaller manufacturers can have the automation capabilities that larger competitors have without the increased capital costs that the bigger companies may have to expend to get this production ability.

CM gives the manufacturer the ability to have a closer relationship with both customers and suppliers. There is the possibility that companies will be able to share raw material needs, inventory levels, or other information with entities so that production rates can be kept at an optimum level.

There will be some challenges for your business in the implementation of CM. At this point in time this type of scenario is not delivering at its optimum. This is a newly implemented concept, just like any other process the kinks need to be eliminated to make it work at its best. It is felt that optimization of this will come in short order because there is a great need for this service and it will be very beneficial for manufacturing companies. In order to get he best from CM it is important for your company to keep up with the demands of the marketplace. Demands and your production output must be in sync for this scenario to work at its best. There may be some resistance from IT or other legacy holders and operators to the implementation of CM. These parties must be convinced of the benefits that such an operating change will make for the overall business. Some parties will need to be convinced of the secure level of operation that CM can give the business.

It is important to realize that it only requires more bandwidth from the internet to get more capability from cloud manufacturing.

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Cloud software has been with us for a while now. It has been offered as an ERP (that’s Enterprise Resource Planning) tool mostly. This includes such things as market planning and research, accounting applications, human resource programs and others. Of late a new entry into the cloud automation offerings is cloud manufacturing. This is software-as-a-service that is offered as a subscription to companies that are manufacturers. These manufacturers use the subscribed software to control the automation processes that are required in their daily operations. This is a fairly new use of the Saas, and it is very immature at this time. But give it some time and there will be many manufacturers that wish to reduce expenditures on personnel and programming resources by subscribing to such a service. Once you start to study this idea of software-as-a-service you will see that there are many benefits that can be gleaned by a manufacturing operation.

Since you now know about cloud computing, and you also know what cloud manufacturing is. This is an extension of the cloud computing idea of supplying computer applications from the a server that is connected to the Internet. This new concept is cloud manufacturing. It is a software-as-a-service, just like the computer applications that preceded it. These are software programs that run on servers that are operated by the supplier of Saas. The programs are designed to give instructions to the automation devices that are part of the manufacturing operation of companies that subscribe to the Saas. State-of-the-art stuff! Check it out!

Maturity in Saas will come about when the companies that offer the subscriptions are able to build and maintain a large library of programs that can be used to control automation for a great number of automation devices. It is true that it will take more effort to construct the library of programs that can send automation instruction to devices, but now that the mechanism is in place to deliver these kinds of subscriptions easily, it will happen. As with anything else, it will take some time, but it is felt that these libraries will be constructed very quickly because there is a continually growing need for this in the marketplace for them.

One of the biggest hurdles that cloud automation for manufacturing has is the fact that there needs to be a trust relationship built between the supplier of cloud automation to the manufacturing industry and the actual companies that would subscribe to this service. It is felt that these relationships will come about with time. There has to be a great deal of trust also in the delivery system that will make cloud manufacturing available by subscription. Will the correct automation program be delivered to the right location in order to run and instruct devices to produce the products that are required? Will the programs that are associated with the manufacturing in one company be made available to a competitor? These are all questions that need to be answered with the greatest reassurance. All of the technology is in place to do this now. It is matter of an enterprising company putting together the resources to deliver the goods.

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The demands for environmentally friendly packaging has made the design of automated material handling equipment more complicated than ever. There has been a switch away from cardboard boxes and toward thin-walled press board, shrink-wrapped bundles of products, and other eco-friendly packaging. Material handling devices must be able to handle the wide variety of packaging that is now being required. There is now a need for packaging on pallets that is used by club stores for display of it products to its customers. This type of display requires that packaging of products be in multiples, a method of packaging that is a recent addition to production.

Knowing the demand that customers have for the packaging of your products will help you to decide what types of tools you will need for material handling equipment. If there is a wide variety in types of packaging that needs to delivered, then you will need to review a wide variety of tooling that can be used to handle all the scenarios of packaging. The end-of-tool that you attach to your robotic that is used for loading and unloading pallets can come in a variety of configurations with multiple abilities. The different type of tooling are vacuum, side clamp, fork style and layer handling. Each of these has specific applications, depending on the type of products being palletized, such as the size of products, and other considerations.

You need to go through a set of determinations to decide what kind of tooling you will need for your material handling. The correct decision here will help to maximize production rates, optimize your speed of production, and maximize your return on investment. To decide correctly you will need to look in detail at the attributes of the products that will be candidates for palletization. Important attributes that should be considered are weight, shape, and dimensions of products, stability and outer construction, and wrapping, taping, and sealing of outer construction. You should determine if products need to be supported underneath and can packages support themselves while being moved.

A most important determination is the speed at which your palletizing will need to run in order to support the optimum production rate. Sometimes tooling may not be appropriate for a high-speed processing scenario, so changing to another tool will meet the requirements. There may be a range of speeds at which the production line can run. It may be possible to adjust the rate to get the best tool for palletizing products. The abilities of tooling types vary. Some of the tooling types have the flexibility to position graphics for pallets that will be on display, while others do not. A finished pallet of products may need slip sheets between layers which can effect production rates and the types of tooling that is required. There may need to be a second tool that adds the slip sheet to each layer while a primary tool loads products.

The vacuum type of end- tool for palletizing is the most widely used. The pneumatic cups that are on the end of the tool are placed on the top of the packages. The vacuum that is created in each cups allows the automation to lift the product up and then place it on the pallet. The best application of this tool is in the movement of products that are very sturdy and can handle being transferred without support underneath. Products that have a high center of gravity can be moved quite readily. Fork type tools use a lot of area in the process of lifting products from the bottom by sliding under them. The tool is best applied with irregular shaped products or those that are in bags. The increased amount of motion with this tool makes it slower, but the product configuration may dictate that it be used anyway.

Side clamp tooling can be used for packaging that can be lifted by having clamps on opposite side of the product apply equal pressure in order to left the product. This tooling device can generate high-speed and has better control than the other types of tooling. This tooling is best if there is a requirement to manufacture several types of products from the same line. It is easily adjusted to the different attributes of products. Layer handling tools are the most expensive because there are two stages of tooling that are required for palletization. The first tool has to create the layer of products, the second then adds the layer to the pallet. This method is useful for trays of products that are open at the top.

As you can see the product attributes will usually dictate the type of tooling and the way that your products are palletized for delivery to your customers. Sometimes the customer will also have some sway in the way this is done.

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The next stage of moving into the automated production systems arena is to automated the individual work cells to increase the product throughput and cut down on the manual part of the process. Work-in-process will still have to be moved from one work cell to another for completion in the manufacturing. The pressure of rising demand in the market will keep the change to automation as a high priority in the company. More pressure still will cause the change to one of the fully automated production systems. This will increase the production rate even more and be able to satisfy more of the demand in the market for these goods.

Hopefully the timing of growing up to be one of the automated production systems is done so that it will meet the demands in the market as they occur. The perfect picture would be of a company that introduced its first products in the market just as the demand started and grew to each level of the automation just as the demand increased to a level to support the cost of growth. In many instances companies are able to plan for such growth into optimum production provided there is correct market information about future demand pressures. Having such knowledge will give a company the ability to meet the market at its initial demand level.

The start of production with manual work cells is the least expensive way to get into a market. This also allows a company to verify that there is a valid growing demand before investing in more expensive automation. Planned levels of demand for the products can be set as goals to start the subsequent moves to more automation. Once the demand level has reached the anticipated level, this will be the stimulus to start moving production to the next level. The support will be there to support the production change.

The initial stage of manual production will usually use manual tasks to get in-process material from one manual work cell to the next. When warranted the move to the next stage of production usually adds automation to the work cell, but continues to use manual tasks to get the work from one cell to the next. The move up to the full automation will add automated material handling capabilities to get the work-in-progress from on cell to another. As part of the plan to go through each of these stages of automation a company would also have planned for the reconfiguration of its plant. The second stage would require a different layout of the plant for to accommodate the addition of automated work cells. The third stage would require some changes in configuration to handle the addition of material handling equipment in the production area.

Since the introduction of automation is planned and introduced slowly, company personnel will be able to get the optimum engineering design in place for the move of production from one stage of automation to the next. The slow learning curve for the new product will allow production personnel to offer the best feedback about optimum changes that can be made to improve the production process as it moves from one level to the next. Having done the market research before automation, there is little chance of a company investing in automation with this approach that will not have a positive return on investment.

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The first stage of planning for automation and robotics is a very wide view of what your market place is like, what are your requirements for automation and robotics, and what are the broad constraints that your business would have. This is the stage that you must decide what is the competitive strategy of your business. This will have a direct impact on the type of automation that you will need in your business. Certain types of automation may not be supportive of some strategies. For instance, if a company requirement is to reduce product prices then automation targeted toward making custom made products would not be compatible. Examples of different types of competitive strategies might be:

• Lighter weight products
• Specialized coatings on products
• Products made from aluminum
• Products for use by hunters

These strategies obviously are tailored to the specific type of business and what its current products are. Examples of the market place viewpoints could include:

• Improved product performance
• Reliability of product
• Quick delivery time

There can be great variation in both the strategies and the viewpoints from the market place. All of these will have to be developed with your specific business in mind. Once completed these lists should be prioritized to determine what the driving forces for your automation will be.

Having determined the requirements of the competitive strategy and the viewpoints of the market place for your products you now need to select a automation solution that will allow you to fill these strategies and viewpoints. This is where you will need the skills and experience of qualified automation solution providers. These companies can use your lists of requirements to recommend to you the types of automation that can be used to fulfill the needs described in your lists. You may want to obtain technical and operational information from more than one provider for comparison purposes. Sometimes one solution provider can offer more than one scenario of automation to fill your needs. If this is not the case then you might want to select more than one provider to offer proposals to fill your needs. By far the best situation is to have proposals submitted from at least three solution providers based on the needs of your lists. You will need the capability to rank and order the proposals that are submitted for comparison purposes. You should be able to decide on three or four proposed scenarios that should be included in final comparisons. The comparison should include simulation studies to determine accurate results. The results of the studies should include confirmation of claims made by the supplying company. Data that should be analyzed includes the overall cost of the project, implementation period, debugging period, and support abilities of the suppliers.

The final part of evaluation should be done from a financial viewpoint. The financial staff in your company should inform you of the proper net present value which can be used to discount the return from each of the possible automation scenarios. Cash flows should be calculated for each of the possible solutions over several periods. It would be wise to review variations in impacts on operations to get a true picture of the performance of each solutions. Variations in product demand, production control policies, maintenance policies, and production control policies could be used. Each of these calculated values of return on investment should be compared with what the company expects for the rate of return.

Using this type of comparison for selecting an automation solution allows for the review and selection of an optimum solution that should fully meet the needs of the business. It should make the final selection easier since each solution is evaluated at each stage on a one-to-one basis.

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The value stream that is mapped is the picture of all the elements that impact a product as it travels through the manufacturing processes. Elements that add value in the processes and those that do not add value are included in the picture. This picture will “see” all parts of the process from the time that raw materials come into the facility until the finished product goes out the door. The VSM will focus only on those areas inside your operation over which you have control.

There are two main objectives for using the VSM. First, it will allow you to lay out the optimum arrangement of robotics and automation in your facility. Second, it will identify areas where waste can be eliminated, making the manufacturing much more efficient. The graphical representation in the VSM shows two distinct flow movements. The actual movement of the material from one work center to the next is seen, but also the flow of information that supports the work is seen. It is very important to see both of these in an accurate VSM.

The map of robotics and automation in your business is created in stages. If you have an existing operation with currently running automation, you need to make a VSM that shows the current flow of information and material in your business. This gives you the starting point to start your climb to the optimum heights of robotics and automation. If you are starting a manufacturing operation then you will be starting off charting the future phase of the VSM. This map is the VSM that an existing business wants to go toward, with robotics and automation that will yield reduced waste and quality product output. Once the future VSM is created it is important to create an action plan based on this VSM and then execute it.

There is a specific order to the creation of parts of the the VSM. These parts are:

Select a product family to map – In selecting a product family for creating the VSM, the value stream should be defined from the customer standpoint. Any product that is within the family must pass through similar manufacturing processes. The customer can be internal or external. You should be sure and list all of the part numbers that are used in the stream.

Form a VSM team – A team of employees must be assigned to the VSM creation. The leader of the team should be from the line management ranks and have enough authority to effect change in the organization. The team should be made up of personnel who know the product family well, are from several disciplines within the company, and they should be trained in VSM.

Understand customer demand for the product family – Understanding of customer demand for the product family is the best starting point for the VSM team. One of the best places to find such information is production control where there are usually weekly and monthly forecasts for products and their parts. Production history for the product family is another place. The team can look at comparisons from day-to-day and month-to-month. Sales forecasts and new business details can give some other insight. Be sure to include every part that is used in the production process in the VSM.

Map the process flow – The process flow for the VSM includes all the working areas that are involved in manufacturing the product. The flow will move from left to right on the page. All of the attributes that impact the process at any given work station should be included in the graphics. A typical process flow for a VSM is as follows:

Value Stream Process Flow

Map the material flow – In building the material flow map you should observe all the places where the flow of raw materials stops in the movement through the manufacturing processes. These points will be inventory points in your production cycle. The material flow should look like this:

Value Stream Material Flow

Map the information flow – An important part of the manufacturing process is the supporting information that is required to keep the devices performing the tasks that need to be done. Production control should be having two-way conversations with not only the devices in production, but also the customers and suppliers of the company. Suppliers will be receiving forecasts and orders for raw materials for production. Customers will be sending forecasts and orders for products that are needed. That flow should look like this:

Value Stream Information Flow

Determine total product cycle time – Looking at what time has been required in each step of the manufacturing process should help to determine what the total product cycle time is. The time for each step in the process should be geared toward producing products so that the demand for those same products can be met exactly by production. That time line should look like this:

Value Stream Total Product Cycle Time

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There is a great range of package types that are used for the final wrapping of products before they leave the plant to go to their customer destinations. On one end of the spectrum are the heavy, very durable products, like steel drill pipes or cast iron fittings that are usually put into cardboard boxes, if anything at all. You would not use an overhead crane to pack your light bulbs, you probably would use a pick and place robotic with a gentle touch. The light bulbs would be put into protective packages because of their fragile nature. The types of automated packaging in these cases are dictated by the type of products produced and these packaging devices may be very similar as well. The automated packaging that would be used to handle durable goods would able to perform the function without regard for the fragile nature of the product. This might be an overhead crane system for drill pipes that would load the products into steel packaging frames for shipment. For the automated packaging of light bulbs a pick and place robotic might be used because of its ability to gently and precisely move bulbs from a tray into their packaging. The characteristics of the packaging in automation must fit very well with the characteristics of the product being packaged.

The requirements that are made on packaging by outside sources from the manufacturer or the customer will sometimes dictate how packaging is done. The regulations by agencies that control the production and packaging of food and drug consumables is an example. When you are ready to have automation work done for the packaging of these types of products you can rely on the solution provider that you use to assist with any legal requirements that you will need to know in order to set up packaging correctly.

Environmental issues have come to the forefront of any packaging that is being done of products everywhere. There is a drive to reduce as much as possible the waste created from any type of packaging. There are definite laws that will impact how your packages are disposed of recycled, or reused. The fact that automation makes it easier to put products into wrappings has to be counterbalanced with the necessity to make those packages environmentally friendly. There may need to be some thought put into the type of automation that would be used for packaging in your plant if the result of its use has some negative impact on the environment.

Packaging types can sometimes be the result of a compromise between different factions of your company. If this compromise is not reached effectively there may be problems with the packaging function. The automated process can put your products into certain types of containers. The marketing department wants the products to be in a certain type of container. Purchasing would desire for the packaging to be of a certain type because the cost is lower. Distribution will be interested in a package that can be easily handled in the warehouse and shipped readily. There may be another department that has some agenda about the way that the products should be packaged. The automation process will probably have the most substantial vote here, and the others will need to get as many of their requirements built into that process as can be accepted realistically. If there is no formal department for the management of packaging and its functions in your company, there may be some packaging problems if the packaging compromise is not created efficiently.

You will be selecting the automation packaging solution that will allow you to let automation do as much of the work as possible in putting your products into effective packaging that is received well by your customers. After all that is the main group that your company is interested in satisfying. If you have satisfied that group within the law, morale limits, and the cost limits of good business then you should be satisfying all the other groups inside and outside your organization.

Our consulting engineers can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. Click the “Request a Quote” button below to request a quote.

Provision for Robotics has relationships with the foremost solution providers that represent the leading automation manufacturers in the world, such as those listed to the left. This kind of relationship gives us the ability to offer you a state-of-the-art automation solution for your business. We also help the providers by assisting them in marketing their skills and abilities to your company and others. When you “Request a Quote” through our website we will collect as much information as we can about the needs of your automation solution. We will ask you to give us as much detail as possible.You have a manufacturing operation that is either newly formed or is a long term, established member of your industry. At some time your company will wish to explore the possibility of adding an automation solution to your operations. Or you may wish to upgrade your existing production capabilities with a state-of-the-art automation solution. Doing so will give your company a direct road to:

• Increased production rate
• Increased quality of products
• Improved customer goodwill
• Improved employee productivity
• Increased profit margin
• Improved response to customer demands
• Improved company reputation
• Improved position in the market place
• Increased positive shareholder response

Our staff will pass the information that you give us to the consulting engineers of the solution providers with which we have a relationship. After reviewing the information they may ask us to recontact you with further questions or they may contact you directly with further questions about your automation requirements.

Once the engineers have the automation project well-defined, the solution provider will supply you with a free, no obligation quote to create the solution that is required by your company.

In some instances we will be able to have more than one automation provider give you a quotation to build your automated solution. In this case you can make a decision about which solution that you would like to have implemented at your company. You will sign a contract directly with the provider to build your solution for your company.

You will deal directly with the provider from the time you sign a contract for their services to create, test, install, support, train, perform maintenance, and any other tasks that need to be done. The provider will bill you directly for the work done. If you are not local to the provider the solution could be built and tested in the facilities of the provider. Once the solution is working properly and a lot of the “bugs” are worked out, you could visit the solution provider for a review of your solution. It might also be possible for your solution to be disassembled and shipped to your facility for you to be involved in final testing and acceptance of your solution. This will be a decision that is made by you and the provider. The provider will dispatch personnel to your plant location where the solution will be assembled and integrated into your operations.

Personnel from the provider will remain available to your manufacturing operation to verify that solution equipment is working as required. You will decide with the provider how much testing will be required before you will sign off to accept the automation project as completed. Normally personnel from the provider will perform some training of your employees during the testing and acceptance phase of the project.

You can arrange for further training from personnel of the provider if necessary. You can arrange also for long-term maintenance of the equipment.

Our consulting engineers can supply you with a no-obligation quote for an automation solution for your manufacturing. Click the “Request a Quote” button below to request a quote.

When there is the definite necessity that your company should approach moving your current production processes into a state of advanced automation, there should be a period of strategic information gathering for automation. This during this period information about the strengths and weaknesses of your company as it relates to advanced automation should be determined. Data about assets such as technical potential of the employee population, the ability of the company to adjust positively to change, and the ability of management to direct the company during new technology implementation should be gathered. Quantification of characteristics about these assets is important for decision-making. This period should also be used to evaluate new market opportunities that could be available to the company. These opportunities could either be market expansions or possible movement into new markets. Usually the main impetus for your company feeling the need to automate comes from pressure in the market place. This usually will take the form of higher demands for your goods that are not met by current production levels. There could also be an emerging market that would have high yield for marketing efforts from your company. Your plan should quantify these market potentials.

An extensive business plan for automation should be developed using the results gathered in the early phase of information gathering for the process. The business plan should compare current production levels to potentials that could come from an automation scenario. The plan should give a true picture of what the differences are between the two. Realistic data should be used to for supporting both current or automated production levels so that management can weigh the decision-making process correctly. This is an excellent tool for making a productive decision about whether or not automation is a realistic option for your business. The business plan must include the cost of purchasing equipment, installing equipment, and the associated expenses to get the total picture. (For more information see “Select Automation“)

A management review of all data comparisons should be done to decide if there is significant benefit in making the step toward automated production. Once there is significant proof of benefit from automation it will be necessary to create a technology plan to direct the automation efforts that are recommended in the business plan. This plan will detail the types of equipment that should be purchased to perform the step toward automation. It is a good idea for your company to appoint a line operations manager to ramrod the success of the automation of the business. This individual will have the authority to make decisions for the best interest of the business in regard to the implementation of the automation.

The management individual that becomes the “champion” of the automation process should be involved heavily in project management. The tasks this would include are the organization of project teams, the decisions about automation task elements, setting and managing project budgets, setting up and monitoring project benchmarks. If the automation to be done is significant in size project teams for the different sections of automation might need to be formed. For instance, there may need to be a team for packaging, a team for palletizing, and a team for labeling. Each team would be responsible for meeting benchmarks and managing the budget for its area of responsibility. As the automation is accomplished there may be a need for employees training or the addition of new employees if the automation plan calls for that. Further down the time line of the automation, there will be a need for testing devices as the automation comes on line. There should be consideration concerning the integration of new technology in the existing processes. It will necessary to plan for the integration process to make a smooth changeover from previous operations. At or near the end of the automation project there should be a phase when the full automation process goes through an audit for accuracy. Any problems should noted and corrective steps should be taken to get the automation working as expected. The entire process of automation should be documented fully so that any needs for modification or upgrade can be done in the future without problem.

Our consulting engineers can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. Click the “Request a Quote” button below to request a quote.

One of the most obvious obstacles is the lack of skills in your business to set up an automation system for production. Once the track toward automation for the business has been decided and before the general employee population is aware of the decision, it is important for management to sell the idea to the employees. If the company has a high percentage of younger aged persons this “sale” may be done by approaching the issue of career development. Employees early in their career can be introduced to the idea of development of new skills by training in company-sponsored programs for technologies that will become part of the company operations when automation is implemented. Any individual that is mid-career could be influenced to become a manager of an automation system by being involved in training for that position. In the influence by management to get employees to “buy” the idea of automation, it is very important for this to be developed as a positive, new environment for the company that will make the job of every employee easier with better returns for the efforts expended. It can be beneficial to the education of employees if there is an individual that is the “champion” of the automation cause. This management person would have significant authority and take on the task of making the entire company aware of the need for automation, once it has been decided to attain it. Later this person would be the assurance that phases of automation are completed as required.

Other skills that are required for the implementation of the system are those that involve setting up computer systems as controllers for the system. The requirements for performing this task include interfacing the main controller system with other systems in the business. This task can become very complex in that there are many ways that the system can be set up to interface with other systems. Just being aware of the multitude of possible interfaces is only the beginning of the complexity. There can be a multitude of methods for implementing the automated system to get it up and running. As an example, your company may wish to phase in automation by setting up the automated guided vehicles initially that would be used to move materials in the warehousing operation. After a period of time of training and use of the material handlers, automated packaging robotics could be added to the system. The point is that there needs to be detailed planning in place to accomplish each step of the implementation process for automation. This will eliminate or greatly reduce those surprise barriers that could hinder the implementation.

Planning to avoid automation barriers can keep the flow of automation start up on the right track. Each phase of the building of the system must be reviewed in advance. This review will identify any phases of the development of the system that will be dependent on other parts of the system being in place beforehand. Your automation does not need a surprise situation where one part of the system to be in place before another part can be installed. Planning is crucial.

Sometimes it is best to implement an automated system in phases so that employees can become comfortable with beginning phases before subsequent phases are installed. This is helpful to get the employees through a learning curve with automation before the full system is operational. This kind of automation start up can be compared in the planning phase to the possibility of putting all the automation online in one phase. The former suggestion will make it easier for your company to develop some in-house support for the automation devices as the systems is coming online. This will be a decision that needs to be addressed in early planning.

To make automation happen and be the benefit to your company that you need, make sure you know what you are getting into before you start the process of automating you business.

Our consulting engineers can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. Click the “Request a Quote” button below to request a quote.

Going down to a lower level of definition, it would be to your advantage to look inside your own company to find out what are the targets for your in-house systems that could support automation. Find out if the systems are in place to be able to do this support now and in the future. Find out if there are plans or movements toward supporting technology for automation projects. If there is no support now what is the plan for future support and when can it happen. The availability of systems support for automation is necessary for automation projects to be considered for any business. Once it is determined that there is or will be systems support for automation there should be well defined detail of the level of support that can be expected from in-house systems. Actually there could be a situation where automation projects and system support could be implemented simultaneously to achieve the proper level of increased production efficiency.

Company personnel have to be involved in the tasks that are part of any automation project that you might endeavor. One or more teams of employees should be formed to perform the analysis concerning possible automation. Not just any employees will do, those that could successfully assess and implement the correct automation must be involved. Usually management is not aware of the difficulty and the demands that an undertaking of automation will make on a business, physically, financially, and psychologically. Those folks who have vision for positive company change should be involved. Employees who have the most technical experience, like engineers, computer operators, equipment operators, and mechanics are the ones that might be best. This does not mean that they alone should be selected. Those folks that manage these types of function would also be very good members. The tasks for such teams should include the evaluation of new employee skills that might be needed to support automation, what levels of maintenance might be needed for automation, and what levels of computers might need to be available.

The evaluation that is done by a project team should include an audit, then possible simplification of any existing automation before attempting to set up new automation. A detailed audit will force a close scrutiny of current capabilities and let the project team become aware of the strengths and weaknesses of current operations. There should be an application of the adage “Don’t buy what you don’t need”. Close scrutiny will help to apply this principle and keep the cost of a project down.

In deciding what is the optimum way to apply automation, you need to determine what is the best combination of equipment to achieve the desired result. To do this it is a good idea to have more than one alternative combination of equipment that will fill the need. There can be a range of possibilities in these alternatives, technically and economically. There may even be a way to mix and match different types of equipment to get different alternatives. Not only would the technical ability of any given solution be examined, but also the economic impact of that alternative solution on the business would be scrutinized. You are not interested in throwing money at automation solutions, so you want to get the best technical solution in place that has the lowest cost possible. You should use net present value as one of the ways to calculate the economic feasibility of any alternative. Be sure and include both physical and perceived benefits in the calculations. The solution that you decide to use should have a positive net present value as a result of this calculation. This will provide one concrete way to compare alternatives before implementation. An optimum automation solution should contain any part of the existing compliment of current automation that can be useful with the new automation that is purchased.

Our consulting engineers can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. Click the “Request a Quote” button below to request a quote.