Cracking The Code On Standardization
A complex manufacturing setup sees success through standardization.
Duluth, GA, April 16, 2012. You’ve got a complex system that represents millions of dollars in capital investment. But it’s running slowly, creating bottlenecks, and racking up downtime. The code used to control the entire system has been changed so many times by so many different people that nothing is standard. Even hardware problems are difficult to correct, because they’re masked by code issues. Standardization could make everything run smoother, but it can be costly and include risks of its own. So what do you do?
A complex system without a standard
The system itself was anything but simple. It had over 20 outputs from packaging going to seven palletizers. This included six PLCs, around 400 motors, two dozen barcode-scan points, plus numerous merges, switches, diverts, and more along miles of conveyors. To complicate things even further, over the years, different integrators and plant personnel programmed and reprogrammed the logic for the system. Now, nothing was standard. Productivity was suffering, and troubleshooting the system created excessive downtime.
CHALLENGE: Time for a full code rewrite?
After systematically working through all of the tough issues with the engineers, the manufacturer decided standardization would enable five key benefits that would far outweigh the risks and costs of the project.
Key goals and benefits of standardization? Standardization would boost productivity through a variety of factors such as higher throughput, more reliability, faster speeds, and less downtime. The five key benefits identified by the Manufacturer would include:
1. Major reduction in downtime. The plant was experiencing excessive downtime because problems with the conveying systems were backing up and stopping production. Too often, viewed as “just conveyors” in warehousing operations, this area easily became a serious bottleneck, choking productivity for the entire system. Standardization would dramatically reduce downtime.
2. Major reduction in partials. Productivity was suffering because the system was creating partials – splitting a full pallet-sized slug of product into smaller slugs – or when extra product had to be pulled manually. For this consumer goods manufacturer, partials associated with one section of conveyor were as high as 23% with a stated goal to reduce partials below 10%. Standardization would allow for an effective reduction in partials and increase in productivity.
3. Faster, more accurate troubleshooting. Without a common programming structure, troubleshooting had become unproductive. Standardization would eliminate excessive downtime needed to find and fix problems in the system using the new code to identify the real cause of the productivity problem.
4. Easier optimization and scalability. The old code had been modified so many times that it varied significantly from its originally intended purpose. It had become difficult for revamped packaging lines and warehouse conveyors to support the new systems. Standardization would not only optimize the current system, but would support future growth more easily.
5. Better identification of hardware issues and limitations. Standardized code makes it easier to spot equipment issues, correct them, and bring the hardware back to centerline. The new logic was written expecting the equipment to behave and perform as designed. For this manufacturer, the team completed a full system audit while conducting the code rewrite.
Conclusion: Spreading the success
The newly standardized system is delivering higher throughput, greater reliability, and faster speeds. Partials are now less than 15% - and falling, and downtime has been cut in half.
With these improvements in productivity, the operation has recognized significant improvement in servicing manufacturing and packaging - their upstream customer - and a notable decrease in disruption to their warehouse workforce.
With the success of the first phase of the standardization project, the manufacturer raised the priority in deploying this solution throughout the remainder of its systems.
Now that the code rewrite is complete, programmers and technicians are able to use the code to identify the real cause of productivity problems (factors such as hardware issues or product handling issues).
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For more information about this topic, please contact Brent Stromwall at 855-794-7659 or bstromwall@polytron.com.