Digitise work processes with industrial workflow execution

Industrial workflow digitises and streamlines your production — from your work instructions and SOPs to corrective action and HACCP monitoring. You can integrate your business and production processes across systems and departments for reliable, repeatable process execution.

Every production environment contains a mix of automated and manual interactions between equipment and personnel. Often, these production processes are not fully documented and include extra steps and resources. As such, they are difficult to adapt to changing business needs. Additionally, as workforces age and retire, organisations are losing the knowledge that is gained from years of experience on the plant floor — as the information has not been captured electronically and put into formal processes.

Digitising work processes offers a way to evolve production — leveraging the methods and technologies that business process management (BPM) brought to the enterprise. By documenting, leaning and digitising production work processes or workflows, companies can achieve greater agility and long-term sustainability.

Driving toward digitisation

MES and production management solutions have been evolving over many years as very broad or very specific solutions to manage production operations. In most cases, companies had to significantly customise production systems, which meant they could not be easily upgraded or improved and often remained static. Changes to the systems have required large commitments from manufacturing IT resources, leading even further into customisation and making the systems even more difficult to maintain.

While MES has been solving scheduling, execution and data collection challenges for years, it still remains mostly a static solution when it comes to the processes these systems execute. Due to the limitations of these systems, companies have hundreds of workflows or processes within every production facility that are executed manually.

Today, a manufacturing composition environment is evolving that supports process orchestration, workflow and alerting. MES solutions are moving into the realm of operations process management, and enterprise manufacturing intelligence (EMI) solutions can now include workflow capabilities in their dashboards, making systems more actionable and capable of simple execution.

With these advancements in technology — and the availability of low-cost computing resources — the ability to digitise work processes has become a reality. An industrial workflow software solution can sit on top of existing plant systems and fill the gaps in most MES, production and control systems. Industrial workflow software allows domain experts, not just programmers, to create workflows that orchestrate services and communicate to real-time equipment. Industrial workflow, when based on an industrial service oriented architecture (SOA), can also make existing systems more flexible and adaptable to change — which brings the power of digitisation to production teams.

Grow with the flow

By definition, a workflow is the automation of a process during which information or tasks move from one participant to another for action, according to a set of rules. As an enabling tool, industrial workflow software provides a system for improving and optimising industrial and manufacturing practices — combining automated and manual processes through authoring, execution and analysis capabilities. This software takes a production ‘flowchart’ and digitises it, connecting people, equipment and systems. Unlike BPM in the enterprise — which operates in hours and days — industrial workflow operates in a time window of seconds and sub-seconds.

Just as production has a broad range of work processes, industrial workflow software can solve a broad spectrum of challenges. Workflows can involve basic tasks such as asking an operator to check tank levels every hour, to managing an entire production process, to orchestrating data transformations between ERP and MES. The workflow system — and its reporting — can touch almost all production personnel, including quality managers and quality technicians, maintenance, operations supervisors, industrial engineers and more.

Figure 1: Unlike traditional systems, industrial workflow allows production teams to mix automated and manual tasks.

Additionally, digitisation of a process can involve one or many steps. It can take place in one station with one user or spread across the plant and move from person to person, following a set of rules. The workflows follow the execution path logic developed by the power user through easy-to-use graphical authoring tools. Each step could include linked documents such as work instructions — or any information that pertains to how the user should complete the process. Unlike traditional systems, industrial workflow allows production teams to mix automated and manual tasks. Figure 1 shows a simple workflow to process a production order, as follows: 1. Set up machine and download recipe The ERP triggers an event that a work order is passing down to the MES system, and a workflow begins and pushes out steps to different places or stations within the plant for execution. In this example, Task 1 is pushed out to a particular production machine and provides set up instructions to the operator in the form of attached documents.

Once the machine is successfully set up, the workflow system could communicate to a SCADA or HMI system — or it could download the recipe directly. The workflow system has access to real-time data sources such as PLCs, OPC servers, custom process equipment and more. With completion of these first two steps, the operator has finished set-up, downloaded the recipe and put the machine into production.

2. Visually inspect product

As the product moves down the production line or from cell to cell, the operator receives a task to do visual inspection for that particular production order. The system provides work instruction for how to perform the visual inspection. Within that task step, the system requires manual data entry, as the operator inspects the product. The operator enters the information into an easy-to-use form, which is set up specifically for that task. The system pushes the inspection data into other systems — such as MES, LIMS and HMI.

3. Package product

With the visual inspection completed, the product moves to packaging. At that station, the packaging operator receives instructions on how to package the product and moves through a workflow that even includes printing the package labels.

4. Pallet and ship

Once packaging is completed, the product moves to pallet and ship. The operator receives more instructions on what packages to use as well as materials and other information. The workflow system automatically pushes information back up into the ERP, so the ERP now contains the completed order information — including which pallets, which exact products and other details.

Industrial workflow across production

Use cases for industrial workflow vary from company to company and industry to industry. However, many organisations face common production challenges. Common use cases for industrial workflow include the following.

Orchestrate high-level processes and manage the data between systems

Many companies do not have visibility into their high-level processes and do not have them documented — and even fewer are orchestrating systems and managing the data between them.

The example in Figure 2 shows the high-level workflow for a brewery that needed to achieve process visibility and management.

Figure 2: Industrial workflow can help to achieve process visibility and management. Digitisation gives visibility across the business into all of the batches that production is processing. People, systems and processes are all interconnected.

Located in Europe, this leading brewer had no way at a high level to prepare a batch for execution. In the illustration, the high-level workflow consists of the blue boxes. The first step, ‘define the brewery set-up’, goes to an engineer — whose actions trigger another workflow, or a nested workflow, as shown with the flowchart to the right. The engineer executes that workflow and defines the set-up. Once completed, the workflow moves to the next engineer, who then looks at the site recipe, checks if it requires changes, makes any modifications to the master recipe, and creates the batch. Next, the production team examines the control recipe and, finally, starts processing the batch.

This new digitisation gives the brewer visibility across the business into all of the batches that production is processing. From one place, the brewer can look at all of the batches that are currently under dispatching and scheduling and see where they are at without personnel having to leave their desk. People, systems and processes are all interconnected.

Digitise good manufacturing practices (GMP) tasks

Because GMP tasks can become part of the digitised workflow, companies can push the tasks out to personnel and equipment. The system sends instructions to operators at their stations and requires them to complete the tasks. The system records the details regarding task completion. For example, if a machine is constantly in production, the system may require the operator to check it, as the individual process requires. With a packaging machine that is applying labels, the operator may need to check adhesive levels every hour and confirm completion of the task.

Digitise standard operating procedures and work instructions

Instead of using a static piece of paper or a binder at their station, operators follow SOPs and work instructions through industrial workflow. They accomplish their work with fewer errors — and the system records the information.

HACCP monitoring procedures and corrective action

Now, production teams can use industrial workflow to create HACCP procedures — and build the corrective actions that are necessary if there is a negative response to one of those procedures. As companies execute on a HACCP check, teams need to collect the data on corrective actions — when they are taken, how, and what the response to the corrective action was. Industrial workflow provides a full closed loop for HACCP.

Alarm and event response, corrective action

While industrial workflow monitors alarms, companies can also layer it on top of HMI — and monitor alarms through the SOA platform. Workflow can filter out nuisance alarms, so teams only need to take action on certain alarms. Additionally, industrial workflow can eliminate the scripting (traditionally, VBA coding) in many HMI applications. As shown in Figure 3, industrial workflow provides a better way — one that is 30–50% faster than HMI scripting and easier to maintain.

Figure 3: In a graphical environment, users can drag activities into the canvas area to create a workflow that visually resembles a flowchart. The system allows users to set properties, add a form and set conditions, create templates, select from libraries of workflows and sub-processes, and publish into repositories for reuse across the business.

Manual assembly error-proofing

Industrial workflow provides station level control for assembly and error proofing — while also fully documenting products, people and resources for traceability.

Plant task management, decision wizards

In addition to extensive plant task management, industrial workflow also offers a basis for decision wizards. At a major consumer products company, teams have now documented troubleshooting trees for the first time. These trees capture the knowledge of workers due to retire before employee attrition affects the plant. Industrial workflow digitises the trees into decision wizards that walk newer employees through processes. The digitised decision trees help guide the newer workers on what corrective actions to take under certain circumstances. The system may ask the operator for input — or may require input from many people. Industrial workflow helps to manage the process, connecting knowledge, teams and equipment.

Line, workcell and machine set-up

To speed production and increase accuracy, industrial workflow facilitates machine set-up. The system walks users through the set-up of a machine, provides machine documentation and records the time it takes for operators to move through each step.

In reviewing the use cases, industrial workflow spans production challenges from machine set-up to managing entire production processes and communicating between many different systems. As the complexity of the workflows increase, industry standards become more and more important to ensure successful execution.

Enabling industrial workflow with industry standards

To create common ground between systems, companies need a common definition of data. Even at the simple end of the spectrum — such as a workflow that performs basic tasks — companies must exchange and store data.

The S95 standards provide a common framework and data model in which different systems can communicate and give context to data found in static and real-time systems. Once standard data models are in place, workflows can use the data within the models to carry out their execution and have a place to store results of execution.

Workflows are a key element to connecting and managing flexible work processes that can be very dynamic. By leveraging a common reference model and workflow engine layered on with transformational innovation specifically to improve production operations, companies can enable workflows to execute across many systems — and know that they have achieved a foundation for sustainable advantage.

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