in-house solution was being used to extract
and analyse the data, and improve
performance. But HML’s management
realised that to stay competitive and make
deeper inroads into the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, it was important to keep up with
big data and analytics demands.
The solution was Siemens’ cloud-based
internet of things (IoT) open operating
system MindSphere. This connects the entire
environment of products, plants, systems
and machines, enabling the harnessing of
data supported by advanced analytics. In
addition, it gives access to a growing number
of apps and a dynamic development
ecosystem. MindSphere works with all
popular web browsers.
“Our decision to use Siemens was
simple, really. Just like us, they are a
process engineering company and so they
understand the requirements and problems
in transferring process data especially, high
volumes of data,” Crosley continues.
“Add to this the challenge of cyberattacks,
which is an important aspect of any
new technology, and we were assured that
Siemens had in place best-in-class industrial
cyber security.”
INSIGHTS FROM DATA
Siemens’ MindSphere offers access to
maximum data extraction and powerful data
analysis and visualisation, giving
manufacturers new insights into making
changes with real productivity impact. HML
set key performance indicators to maximise
data analysis, taking in: quality; energy
usage; environmental conditions (internal
and external); plus process parameters and
“We work on three
re ned, allowing better production output
decisions.”
With the integration of its assets across
the factory in Runcorn, HML was able to
upgrade its existing in-house app ‘Hosokawa
ReMs’ to remotely monitor the performance
of Hosokawa equipment and plant, with its
customers bene ting.
Ian Elsby, head of chemicals UK &
Ireland, Siemens Digital Industries, adds:
“Our partnership with Hosokawa has always
produced tremendous results and this is
purely because we share best practice and
learn from each other. We are constantly
looking for new solutions to create a better
and digitally superior product for their
customers.
“Industry 4.0 is constantly evolving, and
so is our alliance. We are able to bring to the
table the challenges from the varied verticals
we work in and share the outcomes of
positioning in other industries, helping
Hosokawa harness that knowledge to boost
their digitalisation process.”
Another element of industry 4.0 is the
adoption of additive manufacturing, a
digitally driven process that avoids the
multiple traditional manufacturing steps of
producing parts from solid material. The
Schneider Electric plant at Puente la Reina
plant in Navarra, Spain, has strategically
adopted Stratasys FDM additive
manufacturing throughout its production
process. So successful has it been that the
plant was the winner of Schneider Electric’s
European-wide ‘Smart Factory’ competition,
with this based on the plant’s use of vast
quantities of 3D-printed manufacturing tools,
the outstanding time and cost savings
achieved, and newly optimised supply chain
ef ciencies.
“In the past year, using Stratasys FDM
additive manufacturing we’ve achieved a
saving of about €20,000 in the production of
assembly-line tooling alone, which has easily
paid off our original investment in the F170
3D-printer,” says Manuel Otamendi,
industrialisation and maintenance manager –
global supply chain at Schneider Electric’s
Puente la Reina plant. “With this technology,
we’re able to produce new high performance
production tools in just one day, whereas it
would have taken at least one week to
outsource the same tools previously. This
crucially reduces our dependency on
suppliers and gives us much more control
over tool production, which has increased the
overall exibility of our manufacturing
process and accelerated our time-to-market
for many products.”
Stratasys’ F170 3D-printer is deployed for
a range of tooling applications, including
assembly-line tools, jigs, xtures, robot
grippers and other end-of-arm tools – all of
which were previously outsourced to third
parties and produced using injection
moulding or CNC processes. The F170 has
become a staple workhorse on the Puente la
Reina factory oor, cranking out over a
hundred new production tool designs a year.
One such example is grippers for robotic
arms on the assembly-line. Leveraging its
F170 3D-printer, Schneider Electric has come
up with new application ideas for the grippers
to not only improve the performance of the
robots, but also secure major cost-savings.
“It’s not uncommon for aluminium parts
of the mould to break when they collide, and
when they do, be very expensive to replace,”
explains Otamendi. “To circumvent this, we
are now able to replace costly aluminum
grippers for robotic arms with 3D-printed
alternatives. Not only does the 3D-printed
tool offer the same mechanical performances
as the traditional tool, but importantly it
ensures protection of more expensive
aluminium parts when the moulds collide.
Should the 3D-printed tool break, we can
quickly 3D-print a low-cost replacement within
hours.
“To put the cost-saving into perspective –
outsourcing a machined gripper used to cost
us €200 per tool. Now we can 3D-print one
on-demand for around €100 each. The ability
to also reduce the complexity of our supply
chain is very important to us right now, so
having this on-demand production capability
in house is essential,” he adds.
INDUSTRY 4.0 & AUTOMATION DATA-DRIVEN PRODUCTION PROCESSES
the factors affecting
them.
levels: understanding
the data, monitoring it
and controlling it,”
Crosley continues.
“The methodology of
data acquisition and
the manner of using
it have changed and
become more
A 3D-printed assembly-line tool designed
to hold switches during the production
process. Produced in ABS on the Stratasys
F170 3D-printer at Schneider Electric
36 July/August 2020 | www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets
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