Fortunately, the manufacturing industry is entering an era of digital transformation that promises to be more reliable, efficient and sustainable, so that these problems can be solved. Manufacturers can effectively respond to various complex challenges through the industrial Internet of things (iiot) and actively change their long-term business mode.

How to overcome pressure and meet enterprise needs

For some time, manufacturers not only have to deal with the challenges related to the epidemic, but also face the pressure of emerging technologies, environmental crisis, labor shortage and operation efficiency. The first step to address these cross pressures now and in the future is to fully understand them.

In hydraulic, pneumatic and electric motion systems, the diversity of connectivity and analysis options is both gratifying and worrying. Although these new technologies help to improve operations, manufacturers must integrate and deploy scientifically in order to achieve the required and gain advantages.

One of the advantages of networked monitoring technology is that it can improve the overall equipment efficiency (OEE), because it helps to have a real-time and in-depth understanding of individual equipment, its health status and related processes. By analyzing data and making scientific decisions, manufacturers can maximize machine productivity and know how to improve overall efficiency and reduce costs.

In addition to improving efficiency, digital transformation solutions can also attract the younger generation proficient in “dashboard” to replace the aging employees, so that they can quickly inherit the rich professional knowledge and operation experience of the old employees without operating the machine close. These solutions can provide data and insights for the younger generation and make these digitized local labor force more confident and easier to enter the factory workshop.

The remote functionality of digital conversion solutions also provides comfort and ease in another way. With the spread of 2019 COVID-19, countries have advocated reducing unnecessary travel and human contact. Therefore, manufacturers have to implement compliance social distance, remote operations and other protective measures that may affect staff efficiency. Digital transformation can help manufacturers adjust manual operation and time-consuming field operation processes to make them safer and more efficient.

In addition, process efficiency can also be transformed into energy efficiency. At present, sustainability practice is no longer an option; Helping customers reduce their carbon footprint and achieve sustainable development goals has become a popular goal. For example, manufacturing practices that utilize excess energy and generate waste by running out of range systems are unnecessary and undesirable.

Digital transformation operation

In a typical manufacturing plant, dozens of machines usually run together to manufacture a finished product. The inefficiency of one machine will affect other machines. By connecting these individual machine “islands” and collecting the data they provide, the operator can identify any inefficient machine and respond before the potential problem worsens.

Although data collection is an important part of connecting these information islands, it is not the only part. First, a reasonable and understandable threshold range should be established. After selecting parameters and collecting result data, the most valuable insights can be extracted. These insights can form a clearer and more complete train diagram to help operators make informed decisions.

For example, for manufacturing plants that rely on pneumatic operation, the advantage of digital transformation can be effectively realized by monitoring the air use in the system – this is a scalable process that can be easily completed with only a few machines. When air flow is measured by Emerson aventicstm af2 series sensors, the system can accurately locate the equipment in question and send notification directly to maintenance personnel. Starting from the personalized machine level, operators can obtain feasibility insight without a large amount of data analysis, so as to quickly obtain the advantages of reducing cost, improving production quality, increasing output and improving the sustainability of pneumatic system.

Emerson aventicstm af2 series flow sensors monitor air consumption in pneumatic systems. By capturing pressure, temperature and flow information, the sensor can help manufacturers optimize energy consumption, prevent machine downtime and reduce costs.