Smart devices rely on even smarter engineering

As industrial machines become more sophisticated and connected, the need for ‘smart engineering’ and detailed application knowledge continues to grow to increase productivity and safety, lower risk and reduce costs of compliance.

As technology continues to advance at a rapid rate, the line between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) is also becoming less defined. Smart manufacturing is driving new opportunities for end users as they look to optimise their production and supply chains by bringing together islands of information.

Establishing an information-enabled connected enterprise can help manufacturers become more competitive, flexible and sustainable, which is of paramount importance in the current global market.

Advances in technologies, such as the Industrial Internet of Things, are enabling machines to get smarter and meet end-users’ networking, integration, diagnostics and intelligence demands. Motors and drives are gaining improved integration and connectivity, resulting in increased productivity, safety and asset management.

Ethernet communications is now an important part of any application that involves drives because it provides full access to all the diagnostics within the drives, including drive parameters, status and additional features such as automatic device configuration, which eliminates the need for manual reconfiguration.

While supplying the drives is the easy part, applying the correct engineering is critical for the system to run safely and effectively. It is the domain knowledge on the application and how to apply the engineering that really makes the difference. For example, if a drive on a crane has not been selected or engineered correctly the crane could drop its load resulting in safety and productivity risks. Similarly, if a drive on a process line is not sized or engineered appropriately, the process will not run effectively.

Complying with safety standards plays an important role in reducing the risk of injuries and improving productivity. Implementing the most appropriate standards and technologies also provides major improvements in manufacturing productivity, efficiency and the morale of personnel. However, understanding the current risk level of one machine or an entire plant floor is a challenging task.

Safeguarding a machine or entire plant requires a detailed safety assessment to be undertaken. Following the findings of the safety assessment, a solution can then be designed that meets the operational requirements of the plant or machine and also address any safety risks.

The Industrial Internet of Things continues to bridge the gap between the physical and virtual worlds, generating data that provides visibility into operational issues to help improve profitability and reliability. Connected, smart machinery can enable secure, remote access services that reduce operational costs throughout the life cycle of machinery.

When engineered correctly, smart devices can provide more information and transparency to improve the life span of equipment and drive productivity throughout the enterprise. Smart engineering combined with detailed application knowledge can help increase machine speed for increased production or improve machine control to optimise quality as well as quantity.

We are often awarded contracts that have required our engineers to ‘scratch their heads’ a little to deliver the best solution. Supplying the smart devices and equipment is the easy part, but the application knowledge required to engineer them correctly to improve productivity, profitability and safety is where the real smarts come into play.

Peter Tomazic has been working in the electrical automation industry for 33 years. In his current role as senior solution consultant for the Global Solutions team at Rockwell Automation South Pacific, he uses his expertise to help customers meet their unique challenges, specialising in motor and drive applications.