By Andy Graham, Solutions Manager, SolutionsPT
Increasing productivity is a strong driver of digital transformation and for many industrial enterprises, it is the reason they embark on the journey. At SolutionsPT, we understand that every industrial company can achieve success in a digitally transformed future and we appreciate the importance of eliminating unplanned downtime as a significant step in digitalisation. Our Down with Downtime campaign offers a fantastic springboard to broader digital transformation since it focuses on the vital information building blocks at the production level that will help inform future gains. Moreover, it offers a rapid return on investment and immediate productivity boost.
SolutionsPT is the UK & Ireland distributor of AVEVA software as well as offering other world-class hardware and software solutions, and we understand how to implement a combined approach to optimal hardware, software and managed services. Put simply, we are ideal digital transformation partners who can help with every step of the journey.
Down with Downtime!
It is well understood that unplanned downtime is hugely expensive and that if downtime is overlooked, the whole production process can be fragile. If a single area backs-up, this can have a knock-on effect to other areas of the business and the supply chain, leading to lost production, lost profits, lost reputation and the worst of all – lost customers!
For enterprises that have not specifically targeted a reduction in downtime, it can seem a daunting task, not least because it can have many causes.
Improving the uptime of a production facility requires an understanding of causal factors; whether that is poor asset utilisation, energy waste, new maintenance strategies or workforce optimisation. Tackling these challenges in isolation isn’t possible, but there is an incremental way to eliminate downtime with low risk, delivering return on investment at every stage.
Gain Insight
To begin your downtime reduction journey, you must start with understanding the all-important key performance indicators (KPIs).
Specifically, enterprises need accurate reporting of machine efficiency in three areas:
- Availability (planned and unplanned downtime)
- Performance (bottlenecks, minor stoppages)
- Quality (number of good and bad productions)
With accurate data on these three areas, manufacturers will have insight into production count, machine state, throughput rate and performance parameters. Using software to bring this data together, both current and historic, offers managers a true indication of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Further, it offers a model for improvements. Does a particular machine break down often? Could preventative maintenance be based on actual usage figures rather than estimations? Are safety shut-downs happening more often on a certain shift, and might that be due to operator habits? What are the parameters in periods of high efficiency and could they be replicated? Are any machines more prone to downtime at certain times or under certain conditions?
All of these questions and many more, which are impossible to answer without a close understanding of contextualised data from the production floor, can be answered by taking a proactive approach to eliminating unplanned downtime.
So how do you get this data? The good news here is that much of this data is already available in modern manufacturing facilities – if you know how to collect and analyse it through the correctly deployed software and hardware. Where this data is not readily available in the PLC, SolutionsPT can help identify and connect devices or sensors to complete the picture.
Continuing the journey
Eliminating unplanned downtime requires a level of insight, data capture and analysis which is simple enough, with the right help, for any enterprise to get to grips with. It is low hanging fruit when it comes to how data can make your company more profitable.
Importantly it also sets into practice some fundamental building blocks of digital transformation. And this is important when considering the mid- and longer-term sustainability of an industrial enterprise.
We define digital transformation as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business – across people, processes and technology. It is impossible to think of the sustainable enterprises of tomorrow not being digitally transformed – companies not addressing their own digital transformation journey now and over the coming years will cease to be competitive.
Importantly, digital transformation is scalable and can be tailored to any working environment. It helps contextualise data and guarantees the flexibility that will be needed to meet the changing needs of consumers, regulators, suppliers and logistics.
Our outline for eliminating downtime is a case in point. By collecting, analysing and actioning data at the production level, issues can be identified and resolved without loss of production. These same building blocks can be used to consider the impacts of further improvements on the digital transformation journey. What would be the benefit to replacing a machine to one with faster throughput, for example? You can only know this if you can show the capacity in the rest of the system to grow output. What would be the effect of adding a new line? What if we changed a recipe? How can we integrate better into the supply chain? What would an MES upgrade mean for our production levels? How can we improve our time to market with new products? What data should be available to management? What data should we process in the cloud? Which parts of the production would benefit from real-time in-flight data using edge computing solutions to empower operators and management to make faster decisions?
The list of questions is endless, and they all rely on a strong and flexible digital backbone that starts with mastering basic operational data and can lead almost anywhere. Every digital transformation journey is unique and exciting.
Our vision for digital transformation is that it can be successfully applied by every industrial enterprise and that it can be simply and effectively achieved in a step-by-step approach that delivers return on investment at every stage. Eliminating downtime is a really great place to start, or continue with your own journey.
Arrange a 45-day free trial of the SolutionsPT downtime solution with all the support you would expect from partnering with digital transformation experts and start reducing unplanned downtime immediately.
