 Manufacturing
plant efficiency -The Business Perspective
The
first article of this series focuses on improving plant profitability
- from a business perspective. The aim is to provide a general overview
of the use of data collection & analysis and its use in industrial
automation for non-technical readers and so we will exclude all
technical jargon. This will provide the essential building blocks
for future issues where technologies will be explained in more detail.
Improving
plant profitability can by achieved by improving processes in order
to increase output and reduce costs. This is no secret and is indeed
the ultimate goal of many manufacturing companies.
The
volume of output depends on three main factors:
1) the availability of raw materials
2) the throughput (actual processing)
3) the quality
The
cost aspect is built up of the four following main areas:
1) waste & rework
2) utilities
3) safety, health & environment
4) operations and maintenance
Each
of these areas affects plant efficiency and can be improved by making
informed decisions using structured metrics. The approach in using
data to make business decision is built up of a series of steps.
Firstly manufacturing and business data & events are collected
from a variety of systems and devices throughout the plant. The
data is then transformed and presented in a meaningful manner so
that individuals can focus solely on essential & relevant information.
This information is now ready for analysis and distribution to the
various business units, customers, suppliers etc. If everyone is
given information at the right time, it enables them to take more
intelligent actions for continuous improvements. This is called
real-time or just in time intelligence.
Most
manufacturing plants already have those systems in place for a number
of years with proven results and might have reached their limits
as far as improvements go. So what do you do when management and
customers demand that you do even more to increase output and reduce
costs?
Without
a doubt, both historical data (accumulated archived data) and real-time
data help in making the right business decisions, but just how much
can you rely on the data collected to take such important decisions?
There are so many systems from countless vendors collecting and
accumulating manufacturing & business data in various shapes
and forms that it is becoming increasingly difficult to streamline
all operations in an effective and seamless manner. This is an area
where many of Dataworks' customers see room for improvement with
the development of custom software applications which resolve integration
issues and streamline processes already in place.
In
the next issue, we will illustrate this with practical, real-life
examples of applications interfacing with systems such as SAP, BPCS
or People Soft and the plant floor (PLCs, SCADA), leveraging existing
infrastructures.
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