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E Tech Group’s Vice President of Business Development, Laurie Cavanaugh was a presenter for this Control Engineering webcast, where she and Matt Ruth, President of Avanceon, discuss what “just enough data analysis” is, pros and pitfalls, and the future of data analysis in automated manufacturing. The webcast included live Q&As from the audience, and was followed up with an article offering even more answers to automation professionals’ questions about data analytics in their plant processes. Just-in-time supply chain strategy limits were exposed in a global pandemic. Is just-enough industrial data analysis working for operations? Is the right data getting to the right people to optimize operations in time? Where are the bottlenecks and how are they being addressed? Where’s data going to become information and who’s seeing it? In the cloud or on premise or both? Are your knowledge brokers seeing the right information quickly enough to make the right decisions, or are your analytics too much, too late to be effective? Utilizing case studies as illustrations and an interactive format, Cavanaugh and Ruth advise control system integrators on how to: Determine if just-enough data analytics provides enough benefits to operations. Identify if enough data intelligence (results of analytics) is getting to people who matter. Examine bottlenecks in data analysis and how to address them. Review tools and architectures for eliminating bottlenecks. See lessons learned in applying data analytics (too little too late or just enough in time). This presentation focused on the future of data analytics in industrial manufacturing, including obstacles control engineers need to overcome in order to move forward in the industry and embrace the new role data analysis will take in the field. Visit E Tech Group’s blog for more automation industry news and insights.
The surge in e-commerce operations and expedited shipping demands have caused unprecedented challenges for distribution centers. To keep the pace, many distribution centers are implementing automation solutions to maximize system throughput and reduce fault recovery time. For a global leader in parcel services, it was mission-critical to develop an extensive fault monitoring and package flow control scheme. The parcel services leader commissioned another company to develop PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) programs for their multiple sortation systems; however, the engineering team was challenged with a tight timeline and limited availability. E Tech Group was engaged to quickly develop and troubleshoot the PLC programs as well as lead the system startup and testing.
To foster seamless parcel routing and pinpoint system abnormalities, their parcel operations required extensive fault monitoring and suppression for Human Machine Interface (HMI) animation and fault logging, conveyor operation, as well as package flow rate tracking. One aspect of maximizing throughput required the monitoring of package flow to adjust the feed rates for optimal input supply without exceeding the max system capacity. Maintaining throughput also relates to fault recovery times. “Proper fault suppression is a result of monitoring the status of every circuit breaker, Ethernet adapter, VFD status, power supply status, and all IO cards in the local and field racks.” explains Vimal Sandhu, E Tech Group Senior Controls Engineer about the importance of a fault isolation system. “For example, if a particular circuit breaker tripped, the loss of power may cause the PLC(s) to lose communications with numerous field devices. This can result in anywhere from 1 to 100+ unique faults displayed on the HMI. With proper fault suppression logic in the PLC, only the circuit breaker fault will be displayed. With fault suppression, troubleshooting time is greatly reduced which not only helps maintenance, but also aids in reducing system downtime.”
Experienced in PLC program development with sortation and conveyor machinery, E Tech Group prioritized the commission of the primary sorter systems which included diagnosing and correcting errors in the newly developed logic followed by extensive testing. Once completed, the team promptly set up the communication between the PLC and the customer’s warehouse management system. E Tech Group then proceeded with the setup of the numerous conveyor belts that were required to run with the package tracking logic.
With changes satisfactorily completed to the primary sorter systems, E Tech Group was able to direct the former lead engineering team to update the subsequent systems. E Tech Group stayed onboard to support further testing as well as commission the remaining parts of the primary sorter line. Within a few months, the system became fully operational with E Tech Group’s programming support. The parcel services leader was able to fully maximize its large scale distribution center operations, and E Tech Group was later invited to lead the development, startup, and testing of the second phase which included an additional five sortation systems.
Co-packing allows consumer packaged goods manufacturers faster turnaround times, greater flexibility, and often significant cost savings over doing it themselves. Successful co-packing relationships are based on good communication and the ability to measure, benchmark, and validate performance. When the largest independent beverage co-packer was facing data acquisition challenges from their manual performance monitoring system, the company needed to find an automated solution that could monitor real-time operations across its manufacturing sites.
The customer had been shopping around for this project. Others had quoted new “out of the box” options that included additional sensors & equipment, extended implementation times, and very lofty price tags. After building confidence and rapport through our Emergency Service Support visits, E Tech Group was asked to submit a proposal to deploy a robust data acquisition strategy that delivered an automated real-time performance monitoring system.
The customer was already using the Ignition industrial application platform from Inductive Automation. Ignition is developer-friendly and designed to be maintained at the customer level. The customer owns the data, and it is exportable in multiple formats. There are no subscription fees, so the ongoing maintenance costs are very low. Instead of adding another system like others had proposed, the E Tech Group team innovated the solution to expand on Ignition’s unlimited and fully customizable system that could efficiently provide real-time data to monitor performance.
E Tech Group’s Senior Controls Engineer certified in Ignition designed an automated downtime performance monitoring and reporting system that would give the beverage co-packer visibility to metrics across multiple locations. Aiming to utilize existing sensors to save on hardware costs, several programmable logic controllers would need reprogramming. Remote development enabled E Tech Group to accomplish this without site visits, increasing their efficiency and the implementation time. Effectively employing this agile system resulted in significant cost savings for the beverage co-packer and provided the necessary tools to take their business to the next level.
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