John Clemons consults for Rockwell Automation and Maverick Technologies, a leading platform-independent automation solutions provider.
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Smart manufacturing is simply defined as smart people using smart technology—and there’s a lot of technology to use. Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT), to name a few, are all on the shop floor and have a significant impact on manufacturing operations.
In some ways, the technology side of the equation seems simpler than the people side. Older people are retiring from manufacturing jobs and younger people don’t seem that interested in manufacturing jobs, at least traditional manufacturing jobs. To attract (and retain) younger people to manufacturing industries, companies are transforming the jobs—and their entire manufacturing operations—to create a modern digital work environment, complete with all the latest tools and technologies.
In this series, we’re looking at specific ways that smart manufacturing is transforming manufacturing operations by addressing specific manufacturing business goals. In the companion article to this one, we looked at three ways (people, data and analytics) smart manufacturing helps achieve workforce excellence. In this article, we’re looking at three more ways smart manufacturing helps achieve workforce excellence by focusing on people, AR/VR and manufacturing execution systems (MES).
A Modern Work Environment
Smart manufacturing helps achieve workforce excellence. Workers today expect a modern digital work environment, with the tools and the data they need to do their jobs and do their jobs well. Younger workers aren’t interested in traditional manufacturing jobs, but they are interested in high-tech modern work environments that provide them with the tools they need to thrive and be successful.
For starters, the modern digital work environment provides the devices that workers need to do their jobs so every worker has a device. It might be a workstation, a laptop, a tablet, or even a smartphone, but every worker has a device, and they use it every day as part of their job.
Gone are the days when people used one terminal for this and another terminal for that. Now everyone expects to use a single device, and everything they need to do is on that device. That implies a very robust, high-bandwidth wireless network.
These devices must work in every corner of the facility, and they must be fast, which means the network must be fast. People are going to use those devices and that network for different tasks, such as data analyses using large amounts of data, troubleshooting using live video feeds and streaming work instructions as videos. All require significant bandwidth and speed for the devices and for the network.
The Power Of AR/VR
Some of the key tools that help achieve workforce excellence are AR and VR. AR/VR is used in a wide variety of applications on the shop floor, all to help the shop floor operators do their jobs better and faster.
Work instructions are one application for AR/VR technology. Traditional work instructions are often in the form of long, arduous documents that are difficult to read and even harder to understand. Even drawings and pictures often add little to these types of documents.
With AR/VR technology, instead of trying to read a long document about how to set up or troubleshoot a machine, the operator can literally see the machine. By augmenting the reality with drawings and information from the database, the operator not only can see the guts of the machine and access information on how the machine is running but also determine the last time maintenance was performed on it and see exactly what’s going on with the machine to troubleshoot it or just how to set it up for the next run.
Another application of AR/VR technology is expert capture. With older generations of workers retiring, many manufacturing companies see their expertise walking right out the door. Expert capture with AR/VR allows these experts to capture the right way to perform tasks so that everyone can learn to be an expert. These tasks might be machine setup or machine changeover for the next run. Or they might be routine maintenance or even complicated troubleshooting or maintenance. Regardless, the expert can perform the complicated task and capture it using the AR/VR technology. Then that AR/VR capture can be used in a training program or can even be used live when an operator is performing the same task.
The MES Hub
Another one of the key tools that helps achieve workforce excellence is manufacturing execution systems (MES). MES performs a lot of functions on the shop floor. Essentially everything between the automation and control layer and the business/enterprise resource planning (ERP) layer is the MES domain. Operators on the shop floor use MES for workflows for the execution of orders, the traceability of materials and all other aspects of manufacturing operations.
MES, along with the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), forms the central hub for shop floor data communications and is connected to ERP and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, laboratory information management systems (LIMS), and distributed control systems (DCSs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.
MES is the primary application operators use on the shop floor to perform transactions, view work instructions, execute orders, collect data for traceability, perform quality checks, and view and analyze manufacturing data in real time and historically.
Conclusion
Smart manufacturing is smart people using smart technology. But it’s more than just giving smart people a lot of smart technology. It’s about creating a modern digital work environment where people can thrive and excel at their jobs. It’s about attracting and retaining a highly skilled and highly talented workforce. It’s about achieving workforce excellence.
Smart people and smart technology are creating smart manufacturing, which is helping achieve workforce excellence—and transform manufacturing back into an economic powerhouse.
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