From traditional factories to smart factories, what road do you still have to go?

The combination of information technology and manufacturing technology has produced a new mode of production realization, of which the intelligent factory is a typical representative. Practical applications show that intelligent factories can shorten design time, optimize manufacturing, improve collaborative work and reduce costs. Opportunity is always left to the well-prepared mind, the future always belongs to the enterprises that plan ahead. After the epidemic era, accelerate the construction of intelligent factory is the manufacturing enterprise's choice.

As we all know, the planning and construction of smart factories is a very complex systematic project, from traditional factories to smart factories is a gradual evolution of the process, but also the organization, management, industrial technology and information technology continue to integrate the process. In order to take the road less traveled, this article organizes the eight core elements to be considered in the construction of the smart factory as well as the key dimensions that need attention.

Data collection and management

Data is the blood of smart factory construction, flowing between the various application systems. In the process of smart factory operation, design, process, manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, quality, personnel and other business data will be generated, which may come from ERP, MES, APS, WMS and other application systems respectively. The production process requires timely collection of data such as yield, quality, energy consumption, processing accuracy and equipment status, and correlation with orders, processes, and personnel in order to realize the full traceability of the production process.

In addition, during the construction of the smart factory, data management specifications need to be established to ensure data consistency and accuracy. It is also necessary to consider in advance the interface specifications for data collection and the application of SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems. Enterprises need to determine the collection method based on the frequency requirements of the collection, and for data that needs to be collected at a high frequency, it should be collected automatically from the equipment control system.

In addition, if necessary, a special data management department should be established to clarify the principles and construction methods of data management, establish data management processes and systems, coordinate problems in implementation, and regularly check the implementation of technical standards, processes and implementation of optimized data management.

02 Equipment networking and equipment management

The most important foundation for realizing smart factories and promoting the construction of industrial internet is to realize M2M, which is the interconnection between equipment and equipment, and to establish factory networks.

Enterprises should establish a unified standard for how devices are interconnected with each other, what kind of communication methods, communication protocols and interfaces are used. On this basis, enterprises can realize the remote monitoring of equipment, machine tools networking, you can realize the DNC (Distributed Numerical Control) applications. Equipment networking and data collection is the basis for enterprises to build industrial Internet.

Utilizing equipment effectiveness (OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is the basic requirement for production management in a smart factory, and the improvement of OEE signifies the increase of production capacity and the reduction of cost. The production management information system needs to set up the equipment management module, so that the equipment to release the highest capacity, through the rationalization of production arrangements, so that the equipment, especially critical, bottleneck equipment to reduce the waiting time.

Intelligent logistics in the plant

To promote the construction of smart factories, intelligent logistics at the production site is very important, especially for discrete manufacturing enterprises. Smart factory planning to minimize ineffective material handling. Many manufacturing companies have established a centralized picking area in the assembly plant to centralize the distribution of goods according to each customer order and carry out rapid picking and distribution to the assembly line by means of DPS, eliminating the line-side warehouse.

Discrete manufacturing enterprises in the two mechanical processes can be used between the truss robot, AGV and other ways to transfer materials, the application of three-dimensional warehouses and rail systems, but also enterprises in the planning of intelligent factories, the need for systematic analysis of the issue.

04 production quality management

Improvement of quality is the eternal theme of the enterprise, in the smart factory planning, production quality management is the core business processes. Implement the concept that quality is designed and produced, not inspected.

Quality control in the information system needs to be embedded in the production of the main process, such as inspection, testing in the production order as a process or step to deal with; quality control processes, forms, data and production orders associated with each other, penetration; build the quality management of the basic line of work: quality control setup → detection → record → judgment → analysis → continuous improvement.

05 Intelligent production line planning

Intelligent production line is the core link of intelligent factory planning, enterprises need to be based on the production line to produce the product family, production capacity and production beat, the use of value stream diagrams and other methods to rationalize the planning of intelligent production line.

Intelligent production line is characterized by:

△In the process of production and assembly, through the sensor or RFID automatic production, quality, energy consumption, equipment performance (OEE) and other data collection, and through the electronic signage to display the real-time production status, can be prevented from error;

△Through the light system to achieve the collaboration between the process;

△The production line can realize rapid mold change and flexible automation; it can support the mixed line production and assembly of many similar products, flexibly adjust the process, and adapt to the production mode of small batch and multi-species;

△With a certain degree of redundancy, it can be adjusted to the production of other equipments in case of equipment failure;

△For the manually operated workstation, it can give intelligent prompts, and fully utilize human-machine collaboration.

Designing an intelligent production line requires considering how to save space, how to minimize the movement of people, and how to perform automatic inspection, thus improving production efficiency and production quality.

Manufacturing Execution System MES

MES is the focus point of the smart factory planning and landing, connected to the ERP system, connected to the site of the PLC programmable controller, data collector, bar code, testing instruments and other equipment. MES is designed to strengthen the implementation of MRP plan function, to implement the implementation of the production planning, implementation of the production scheduling, real-time feedback on the progress of production:

△ For production line workers: what to do, how to do, what standards to meet, when to start, when to finish, what tools to use, etc.; record "people, machines, materials, methods, environment, measurement" and other production data, to establish a data chain that can be used for product traceability; feedback on the progress of the feedback problems, apply for support, pulling the cooperation, etc.

△Facing the team: play the management effectiveness of the basic team leader, team task management and work assignment;

△Facing the front-line production support staff: to ensure that the various needs of the production site, such as materials, tooling and measuring tools distribution, workpiece turnover, etc.

In order to improve the production of the machine, the company has established a new production system.

In order to improve the on-time delivery of products, improve equipment performance, reduce waiting time, the MES system needs to be imported into the production scheduling function for production planning and production scheduling to provide an auxiliary tool to enhance the accuracy of the plan.

07 production paperless and monitoring command system

With the improvement of information technology and the reduction of the cost of intelligent terminals, the planning of intelligent factories can popularize information technology terminals to each workstation. Operators will be able to receive work instructions at the terminal, accept drawings, processes, change orders and other production data, can be flexible to adapt to changes in production plans, drawings and process changes.

In fact, discrete manufacturing enterprises are also very much in need of building a centralized production monitoring and command system, which presents key equipment status, production status, quality data, and various real-time analysis charts. Through the Kanban visualization, provide a variety of types of content presentation, to assist in decision-making.

08 Application of Artificial Intelligence Technology

Artificial intelligence technology is being continuously applied to various fields such as image recognition, voice recognition, intelligent robots, fault diagnosis and predictive maintenance, quality monitoring, etc., covering a wide range of aspects from research and development and innovation, production management, quality control, fault diagnosis, and so on. In the process of smart factory construction, artificial intelligence technology should be fully applied.

For example, machine learning technology can be used to mine the relationship between product defects and historical data, form control rules, and control the production process to reduce product defects through enhanced learning technology and real-time feedback. At the same time, expert experience is integrated to continuously improve the learning results. The use of machine vision instead of human eyes, improve production flexibility and automation, improve product quality inspection efficiency and reliability.

In short, to do a good job of smart factory planning, the need to comprehensively use these core elements, from various perspectives, from the investment budget, technological advancement, payback period, system complexity, production flexibility and other aspects of the integrated trade-offs, unified planning, the establishment of a forward-looking and effective smart factory.