Smart Manufacturing: Simple or complex?

In a recent survey of manufacturers who haven’t invested or adopted smart technology in their manufacturing, 32% of the almost 300 survey respondents said that “lack of clear definition of the value of smart manufacturing” and 36% mentioned that they “lacked the skillset to take full advantage of the value of smart manufacturing” these were two of the major barriers to investing into smart technology.  There are many degrees of complexity in the devices, products, and technology of smart manufacturing. Your company may even have multiple levels of complexity under the same roof. Let’s look at two applications with different levels of complexity, ROI, and solution requirements.

First, beginning with the simple application. Assume you are a manufacturer that has an application of pressing a bearing onto a shaft, it could be for a lawnmower, blender, or some other spinning device that a consumer is purchasing. For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume thousands are assembled a week. Your process really has two outcomes, either pass, or fail.  By looking at the final press position in relation to the press force of the components and comparing them to set limits, we can tell if a bearing or shaft is too small, large, or even oriented correctly before leaving the station. The trouble here for the manufacturer is how do you know, without 100% inspection? By installing a system that can detect the correct force and position of the bearing installation, such as an electric servo-press with force monitoring, you can detect when the components are not installed correctly, even if they look to be. Having an operator decide on whether the part has been made correctly is a massive risk for letting a potential warranty issue leave the plant and reach a customer. Adding a simple smart manufacturing solution here can avoid these issues, eliminate warranty headaches, and keep your customer reviews at five stars.

Now when dialing up the complexity of a system, there is a wide range of smart manufacturing options that could be available. The base level of “smart” here is still passing or failing a part. But using the data collected during the process might give us some earlier indications of upstream machining problems. For example, if the average force of the last 10,000 parts assembled is decreasing, it could mean that the wear of the cutting tool is accelerating more than it should, or someone made an incorrect offset adjustment. Take a recent application Promess solved by analyzing torque, the data output by the TorquePRO after assembling a threaded part could detect which machining center of the three being used was which. Using this data, and monitoring the average torque during the process, the system could tell which parts were going to fail the leak test at the end of the line. What this meant for the customer was early detection of machining center issues (as well as the system being able to tell which machining center was at fault) and removing the compounding cost of the bad part as it continued down the line. By investing the time and capital into these smart processes you’ve not only improved that manufacturing process, as well as both upstream and downstream operations at the same time but most importantly, you’ve kept bad parts from reaching customers.

Not all applications are made equal. But we know now underinvesting in smart technology without recognizing the true value of how much capital, scrap costs, machining time, and losing customers could cost you, is a much riskier bet. Don’t be caught in the 36% percent that lack the skill to fully utilize some of this technology you can. Rely on partners that have the capability to provide simple smart manufacturing solutions but also the expertise and solutions to help you dial up the complexity, if needed.