How Industry 4.0 accelerates production efficiency
Digital manufacturing has opened up a world of opportunities to manufacturers. One of the main benefits businesses have experienced is improvements in production efficiency.
However, a recent survey by McKinsey said that around 70% of digital transformation initiatives fail to meet their objectives. It also found that only 44% of companies were conducting a site-wide implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies and processes.
We know that finding smart manufacturing use cases or other practical advice can be a challenge. To help, our experts have shared their advice on how to accelerate your production efficiency with Industry 4.0.
Implementing connectivity into factories
How Industry 4.0 affects operations management is a huge concern for many businesses. At Essentra Components, we’ve developed a long-term strategy that enables us to make gradual changes with minimal business disruption. There are three main areas where we’ve introduced greater connectivity: smart planning, smart machines and smart data.
Smart planning
Our planning software and processes are being continuously improved to make the interactions between production and our customers more efficient. From the moment a customer orders through our website, this information is fed into a number of different software programs. These include demand planning, inventory optimisation and our production monitoring system.
This means that the right data gets to the shop floor quickly, helping our team fulfil orders more efficiently.
Smart machines
Our production line is now equipped with state-of-the-art machinery. This is fully integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) manufacturing systems, making the process much more efficient. As well as downloading setting sheet parameters from the cloud, these machines can send diagnostic information directly to machine manufacturers. This helps us to significantly reduce downtime on our production line.
Also, our process engineers access machines remotely using their smart phones. This enables them to edit process parameters wherever they are on the shop floor, getting machines back up and running again quickly.
Smart data
Our Manufacturing Execution System (MES) gathers lots of really useful information about our original equipment performance. This helps us to identify where the weaknesses and opportunities for improvement are in our production processes.
By doing this, we are able to monitor performance and continually improve our systems so we can continue to deliver high-quality products efficiently. It also helps us to make the best decisions and get the best return on investment for our machinery.
Factory automation and efficiency savings
At Essentra Components, the key to monitoring the impact of our automated production processes lies in the data gathered from our MES system. Over many years of continuous improvement, this information has helped us to drive efficiency savings and improvements. This has included our machine replacement programmes through to our tooling and development initiatives.
To put this in context, a few years ago, we had 300 machines making 1.5 million mouldings a day. Today, we have 120 machines creating 3.7 million mouldings each day. This is the difference that collecting, analysing and using this data has had on our efficiency levels.
70% of our machines are now directly fed from silos. We’ve also implemented simple robotics such as sprue pickers to speed up our production and processing. This has helped us to reduce the amount of waste material sent off-site by 75%. These are cost savings which we can then pass directly on to our customers.
Industry 4.0 and the shop floor
On the shop floor, there are plenty of opportunities to develop the use of smart factory technology. Within our business, quality control is an area we’re really focusing on. This includes ways to control and monitor materials including our material regrind percentage and moisture content levels.
Currently, we have a chilled water system that keeps the machines and tools at the right temperature. This can now all be controlled centrally by remote operators. These types of quality controls can also help us to optimise power consumption during the injection process.
In the future, our aim is to have a shop floor that’s entirely equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) technology. This will be future-proofed by machine manufacturers who will have enough data to preempt faults and perform predictive maintenance. This holds great potential for our business, both in terms of product quality and production efficiency.
Starting the Industry 4.0 journey in manufacturing
To make real change happen, Industry 4.0 initiatives have to be driven from the top of the business. We recognised from the start that this was going to be a long journey. Our legacy replacement programme alone saw just 25% of our machines changed in three years.
Cycle time, energy efficiency and output benefits are all a focus, alongside connectivity within our Industry 4.0 strategy. Plus, once we have a shop floor of connected machinery, we will be able to link all of the machines together. This will mean they can communicate and increase efficiency automatically. By combining this with information coming from our planning systems, we’ll really start to improve our customer experience.
The positive impact of efficient production on customer experience
We work to continuously improve our production efficiency and performance to ensure our components are high-quality and delivered quickly. By integrating our production and distribution processes, we aim to create a customer service that is truly hassle-free.
David Barker, Manufacturing Director – Essentra Components, talks about how we use smart planning, smart machines and smart data to help automate the production of millions of components every day.