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to play a crucial role in maintaining the
electrical systems that support smart
factories in the future.
THE SMART FACTORYOF THE FUTURE
The smart factory of the future will
be a seamless web of information and
production. Across the entire supply
chain, machines will hum in harmony,
gathering intelligence from their
environment, analysing it and using it to
make autonomous decisions about how
they function - optimising productivity
and efficiency. With the emergence of the
IIoT, operations will be controlled from
anywhere, at any time, on any device –
improving the ability to diagnose issues
and enable greater flexibility. The smart
factory of the future will use the cloud
– housing and manipulating vast data
banks securely and accessibly off-site.
Overseeing this smart factory will be
a leaner, highly skilled workforce – free
to focus on fine tuning production and
maximising operations.
While this description offers a look
into a brighter future, it does not
entirely reflect reality today. While
many manufacturers are taking steps
to become smarter, most are yet to fully
embrace this technology. Many machines
still operate in isolation, without any
interfaces to communicate with the other
systems. To date, plant owners have
had limited capability to respond rapidly
to changes in demand or to quality and
service problems.
Hesitations in embracing smart
factory technology are often threefold:
upfront costs, security concerns and
cultural change. It’s true that storage and
analytics associated with big data can
be more expensive and with production
processes linked up to the internet cyber-
attacks have become a real threat. And
major operational transformations come
with changes in workforce - which can
take time to adjust to. But with the right
support, expertise and solutions, these
barriers can and should be overcome.
PREPARING FORTHE SMART FACTORY
It used to be daunting to revise whole
operations architecture. However, there
are now smarter solutions available that
combine a platform concept with an open
technology approach – allowing plant
owners to build and adapt as they grow.
Approaching smart factory strategists or
‘smart technology’ vendors is vital for an
organisation to succeed in the evolution
of a site. Electrical contractors will
need to be on boarded and up skilled so
they can understand the role they may
play afterwards.
But before implementing smart
solutions, organisations will need to
understand the major gaps in their
current operations:
>
Critical ‘must haves’ for operations - are
you losing productivity because your
workers have to manually input data?
>
Unfilled needs– do you need a
dashboard showing all production?
Could you reduce energy costs by
analysing different resources? And aid
better workflowmanagement?
>
Existing applications - do they work
for you? Are they integrated, so that you
can access critical data from one system
into the other?
Next, or in parallel, plant owners need
to build a complete understanding of the
technologies and applications available in
the marketplace, considering:
>
Platform technologies - look for proven,
flexible, standards based options.
>
Open technology - look to see if your
current providers are taking an open
approach that allows their applications
to be easily integrated and aligned with
offerings from other providers.
>
Disruptive technologies - take a look
at key areas like the cloud, ubiquitous
reporting, and virtualisation. Though
your organisation may not be ready
to embrace these yet, you need to
understand the potential they offer and
ensure that the application providers
you are using or considering are
integrating these technologies in their
future plans.
Whether building a new factory from
scratch (Greenfield site) or upgrading a
pre-existing property (Brownfield site)
consideration of these factors ensures
Australian companies have a smooth
and comprehensive introduction
of smart, connected technology.
Understanding how these technologies
work at a top line level and how they
will interact with pre-existing (or new)
electrical systems will be another key
focus for electrical contractors.
HOWTOACHIEVEMOREWITHLESS
Manufacturers must maximise both
factory flexibility and standardisation
to succeed. While engineers require
flexibility to diversify, innovative and
differentiate their products, corporate
IT requires tight control – to reduce
variability, ensure cost efficiency, deliver
high consistent quality and maintain
product safety.
The right smart solution will take both
these needs into consideration.
Part one of a smart solution is the
implementation of an overarching
integration platform, which has the basic
functions needed by any application
to run in a plant environment. This
functionality includes plant floor
automation connectivity, collaborative
workflow, process data, reporting and
mobility with smart phones. Of course,
Living standards have improved dramatically and
real wages have risen, while the price of items once
considered a luxury, such as cars, has fallen.
BY
CRAIG
ROSEMAN