Strictly speaking, Industry 4.0 isn't just about automated production, which can only increase production efficiency and quality but can't let you enjoy the full benefits. In order to realize the vision of smart production, you will need further integration of digitized information, supported by big data analytics applications.
Industry 4.0 is currently a hot topic, and it seems like everyone in the manufacturing industry is talking about it. However, if you look at most of the players in Taiwan's manufacturing industry, the degree of automation at their production lines is still low. Many manufacturing facilities still require manual labor when handling materials between different machines as well as inserting materials for production. For these types of companies, in order to achieve Industry 4.0, they will first need to build sensor technologies as well as connectivity capabilities into their production equipment. Then, they will need to build seamless production environments by designing efficient traffic routes and integrating the work flows at their factories. Even after accomplishing all of these, they will not have achieved Industry 4.0 yet.
"By achieving automated production manufacturers will only have achieved about 40 to 50% of what it takes to reach the ultimate goal of Industry 4.0," explains Brian Shen, president of Tatung System Technologies Inc. (tsti). The next critical milestone would be to digitize their information and upload the status of their equipment, production information, as well as logistics data into the cloud. Then, they need to integrate all of the data and information with their manufacturing execution system (MES) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, allowing the status at the manufacturing end to be analyzed and monitored in real time. The entire production process – the sourcing of supplies, the feeding of materials to the machines, the manufacturing and the delivery of the finished products – will be closely monitored with measures taken quickly when necessary. By achieving these, the manufacturer will have achieved 60 to 70% of what is required to achieve Industry 4.0.
Achieving Industry 4.0 through Integration and Analysis of Information
In order to achieve the last mile to Industry 4.0, manufacturers will need to build a big data platform into their ERP systems for conducting advanced analyses, making decisions and feeding the results back to the front end. For example, if the system discovers (through analyses) signs of potential changes (such as a shortage of materials or delivery delays), it will issue an alert via the indicator lights on the front-end instrument's panel and at the same time notify procurement personnel to make emergency material purchases. The system may also notify sales personnel to provide updated delivery schedules to the customer. Once these visions are realized, the manufacturer will have fully achieved the goal of Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing.
Therefore, if we view building smart production capabilities into individual machines as a starting point for achieving Industry 4.0, we would subsequently need to achieve full-factory automation, integration of information and communication, and implementation of big data analytics. This is a long process involving both operational and information technologies. In today's market, only a very limited number of service providers are able to provide integration of all the aspects beginning from lower-level onsite production facility monitoring to higher-level data collecting and analysis. If this situation persists, it will surely be an obstacle to Taiwan's manufacturing industry on their road to Industry 4.0.
Because of this, tsti began actively building a strong foundation in this area in 2014. Through mergers and acquisitions as well as internal assistance from its own SCADA team, tsti has vertically integrated the upper and lower level services ranging from PLC to BC (block controller), SCADA, MES, and ERP. In addition, services from OSI's PI analytics software, Microsoft's APS system, or HP's Vertica system can also be integrated, achieving a diverse scope of big data analytics in order to fully meet the requirements of Industry 4.0 and provide information integration services for smart manufacturing.
Increase gross profit by closely monitoring production process according to orders
Brian Shen points out that even before Industry 4.0 began attracting so much attention, many manufacturers in Taiwan had already been putting considerable efforts into establishing automated production. By doing this, they were able to successfully enhance quality as well as efficiency. However, this did not allow them to solve the problem of low profits. Clearly, regardless of how fast or how well you are able to produce "me-too" products, your sales still won't take off. In order to overcome this predicament, you must achieve customized production and prevent inventory from accumulating, which would help increase gross profits. However, a sudden switch to low-volume high-diversity production could result in chaos in the production line. Only through the adoption of information digitization can these problems be solved.
Through information digitization, upper-level information and communication systems as well as data analytics will be able to control production schedules, material deliveries from suppliers, production volumes and delivery schedules according to the specifications of the orders, thereby ensuring that all production resources are used effectively and all production requirements are met in an orderly yet flexible manner.
In addition, through information digitization, stability of the production line can be guaranteed and downtime prevented, Brian Shen further explains. For example: CNC cutting tools need to be replaced periodically due to wear; in addition, after motors or cooling water pumps operate for over a year, they need to be inspected and repaired. In the past, due to a lack of detection capabilities (sensors), repairs would only be carried out after equipment failure or malfunction. This results in system downtime, which could reduce utilization rates and create considerable losses. Once IoT technologies are adopted, we will be able to conduct timely maintenance or repairs when the system shows signs of anomalies but has yet to completely fail. This avoids potential downtimes and losses.
In this scenario, SCADA can be used to collect information of power characteristics, temperatures, humidity levels, CO2 levels, weights and others, which is then fed into the PI software for analysis of the conditions of the various equipment in order to detect any potential issues and fix them before any major problems develop.
Tatung System Technologies President Brian Shen stresses Industry 4.0 can be truly achieved only by adopting connected sensors at the bottom level, implementing smart production, full-factory automation, information digitization, and back-end big data analytics.
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