Live Data Is Improving Efficiency and Productivity on the Shop Floor, but There Are Challenges

Also, communication and data standards are rapidly being developed. Agencies around the world are coordinating to standardizing data formats and communication protocols and manufacturers are adopting the standards to ensure that systems can be created in a flexible and efficient way, and improving the ability of MES and ERP systems to seamlessly use newly available data.

The ubiquity of these data systems allows for connectivity far beyond the factory.  Increasingly, systems automatically monitor performance of products once they’re sold and deployed in the field, allowing design and manufacturing improvements much more quickly. Think about when you buy an inkjet printer. As you’re loading the software after purchase, you may be prompted with a question: “Is it OK if we report usage data to the manufacturer?” Most people check “yes.” Along the way, if it frequently jams, this information may be going back to the manufacturer. So even without having to do a big product survey or checking to see how many printers are returned or how many consumer complaints there are, the manufacturer is collecting real-time data on uptime and the efficiency of their product and are able to make design or manufacturing process changes.

In the warehouse, there is data being collected on where the forklift is in the factory, how many hours a day it’s running, how many miles are being put on it, etc. Then, much like you would get an email from your dealership when your tires need changing, forklift distributors are working with customers to improve up-time by doing preventative/predictive maintenance based on usage data.  So on a Tuesday morning, a manager gets a call from the maintenance company saying it’s time for your forklift tune-up, or “there’s a reading on forklift #16 and we need to come out and take a look at it.”  Warehouse environments also routinely integrate RFID technology with these other technologies to improve materials and equipment tracking.

When Malaysian Airlines flight 370 mysteriously disappeared on March 8, its Rolls Royce engines had been sending performance data wirelessly back to Rolls Royce. This data ended up being used for very different purposes than initially intended, but this is illustrative of how, transparent to the user, products are conveying performance information back to the manufacturer so that efficiency and performance can be continuously improved.

CHALLENGES GOING FORWARD
With the speed of innovation in the technology of data collection and communication (both in advances in sensor technologies as well as data transmission and security capabilities),  the biggest limitation to the benefit of these new technologies may well be a lack of expertise to fully utilize the surge of available data. It is interesting to note that a recent study reported that only 10% of the data being collected off the shop floor is usable. As more sensors are installed in more places, it is expected that this figure will quickly climb to at least 30%. The challenge will then be capitalizing on the benefits of this data. Too few engineers are adept at understanding what data to use, what not to use, and how to bring it all together collectively to determine the real root-causes of problems using such tools as Minitab to assist with statistical analysis, let alone how to model comprehensive automated system adjustment algorithms that make use of the increasing amount of available data.

Going forward, it will be important that engineering teams expand their capabilities to include the design of modeling systems that will take the wealth data from throughout the factory to a computerized conclusion. Engineers of all types will need to have a much more thorough understanding of data analysis and usage that extends further into algorithm development, simulation modeling, and automated systems control.