Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 16

23 FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING TRENDS Using Available Data to Improve Performance and Generate New Revenue Streams CHIPS It seems fitting to begin this with a discussion of chips, as they are an all-consuming topic given how difficult they have become to procure. Gordon Moore predicted that the amount of information a microchip could process would double every two years, while the cost of that processing would decrease by 50% in the same time period. This is a revolutionary idea and has empowered a transformation in the way everything works. We have been reminded of this recently as the world’s chip shortage has been crippling to many industries and may lead to an entirely new round of innovation. Shifting away from the issue of being able to get chips at present, if we focus on what they can already do for us, I will posit that there is an abundance of available information not being used. If we put this information to better use it would provide opportunities for improvements within our own companies and allow companies to develop entirely new revenue streams. INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE The control systems and interfaces that are used in today’s modern manufacturing equipment can gather substantial amounts of information. This information has the potential to be valuable to the users in a variety of ways. In a prior Simple Solutions article, I talked about this in relation to a SMART Pump developed by Molten Metal Equipment Innovations (MMEI). The pump can gather process information and make decisions about how to react to changing conditions including metal temperature, metal levels in the furnace, and vibration. These things work together to improve the overall performance of the system and can facilitate increased production at a lower operating cost. As the developer of this system, I am biased, and thought we would sell this new capability on every new pump. We haven’t, and I think this is a good example relating to all of us, of missed opportunity to make use of new information that we can procure for little to no extra cost. In the current manufacturing environment, we should take every opportunity to increase flexibility and deploy technology to increase output and decrease cost. Some of the most basic examples of this relate to how we operate our own manufacturing processes. The machines used to make our own products (CNC, Casting, treatment, etc.) are equipped with the chip capacity to gather and deliver data in real time. We don’t always use this data and as a result, don’t know how we are performing. In one of our businesses, we set up a simple information loop that displays information on a flat screen in the cell that allows the operators to know exactly what rate they are making in real time. This has many benefits to the overall operation and requires no data input or gathering after set up, as the PLC is fully capable of doing that. We can now see exactly Continued on next page JEFF KELLER CEO Molten Metal Equipment Innovations ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: • Equipment controls continue to increase the amount of useful data to improve performance • How to use of this information to benefit operations • Using data in-house and to generate entirely new revenue streams