Page 12 - Industrial Technology EXTRA 8th February 2021
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quality, sustainability, flexibility, wastages and more   data from other areas of the business, the
       — that’s in addition to the obvious production gains   consequences of this change will be realized ahead
       of digitalization projects.          of time.
         Once objectives are confirmed, it is possible for   Step 5: Find software to simplify the process –
       each employee to determine the ideal status of a   With knowledge from the previous steps,
       facility based on their requirements. For instance, if   manufacturers can evaluate how to achieve these
       the maintenance engineer plans to achieve zero   objectives with their existing technology. Usually,
       unplanned downtime due to equipment breakdown,   this is entirely achievable with the use of industrial
       he or she can determine an ideal production   control software, like Copa-Data’s zenon.
       schedule for the machinery’s lifespan. This should   However, this is also the step to consider
       be replicated in all areas of the business, from   whether other technologies are required to meet
       determining cycle times to product delivery, through   these objectives. For example, if a change in the
       to the energy efficiency of the plant.   previously mentioned production schedule is not
         Step 4: Assess, then reinvest – Greater visibility   possible with manual labor, could robotic
       of data can also provide organizations with an   technology be used to increase the speed of product
       assessment of the costs, benefit and return on   changeovers?
       investment (ROI) of the changes they plan to make.   Step 6: Implement and improve  – Unlike the
       Let’s imagine a production manager hopes to   static investment of a piece of automated hardware,
       reduce changeover times by rescheduling   investing in connectivity delivers a constant feed of
       production in a more optimal way. Using intelligent   data in which insights can be drawn. As a result,
       factory software, the predicted results of this   connected factories provide an opportunity for
       change can be automatically generated, along with   manufacturers to continuously improve their processes
       insights of how this could impact the rest of the site.   While the futuristic smart factories first
         What’s more, this data can be integrated with   imagined at the 2011 Hannover Messe were largely
       other areas of the business, such as enterprise   focused on hardware and robotic automation,
       systems like enterprise resource planning (ERP).   connected factories that are driven largely by data
       Let’s say that changes to the production schedule   promise a more achievable – and often more
       result in wasted materials — this could be possible   advantageous – way for manufacturers to digitalize
       in food, beverage, pharmaceutical applications or   their facilities.
       any sector with expiring ingredients. By integrating   www.copadata.com

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