Industrial Automation Magazine India

Quality is independent of smart manufacturing concepts

Published on : Wednesday 04-01-2023

Ninad Deshpande, CEO and Co-Founder, Sceptertech Digital.
Do you feel that India has finally caught up in deployment of automatic machines and processes at all levels of Industry? Which verticals are ahead and which are lagging?

There are two facets of the Indian manufacturing market, which contrast each other. One group of machine builders (OEMs) and factories (end users) not only deploy fully automated machines and lines but also focus on digitalising them and becoming ready for Industry 4.0. Another group of machine builders (OEMs) and factories (end users) are still adopting automation and are merely on the path of Industry 3.0. Thus, there is still a long way to go for India to fully catch up with the globe as far as the deployment of fully automatic machines and processes is concerned. MSMEs and SMEs are still on this path, and Indian manufacturing constitutes a huge portion of these entities.
 
In India, there are immense human resources available, and thus, we need to see a totally different perspective on automation or digitalisation. Digitalisation was an outcome to counter the challenges faced by the western world. However, their challenges and our challenges in India are very different and hence, the solutions also should be different. We cannot adopt all the solutions as they are from the western world. Thus, the implementation of automation is also at varying levels in different areas in a factory in India. There could be highly automated and digitised machines and lines, and on the same line, there will be manual labour and semi-automatic machines. This would be the scenario in most industries. A simple example could be the power industry, where the industry has next-generation security mechanisms and standards in place with patches of legacy control underneath.
 
Manufacturing has operated for a long time in silos of the verticals. Smart Manufacturing actually tries to change this idea towards networking and collaboration. What are the big stumbling blocks in M2M communication and also sharing of data between departments?
Fieldbus and protocol wars have been witnessed in the manufacturing industry irrespective of industry verticals. Thus, every vendor tried to propagate its proprietary network bus on a machine and a factory level. This led to islands of automation and machines working in silos. As the world moved towards Smart Manufacturing, which needed immense networking, data exchange, and collaboration, these silos were exposed, and factories had to depend on automation vendors to help them exchange data vertically and horizontally. There are situations where automation vendors even charge hefty fees for enabling seamless data transfers on existing machines and systems. Many factories took an easy way out by installing a middleware for accessing data from isolated machines and making the factory smart. This was also because upgrading the control systems to the latest controls available in the market is unwise and a costly affair. The only way forward is for all to support standardised interfaces and an open protocol for networking across the factory without any flavour. In my opinion, OPC UA and OPC UA over TSN are the open-source protocols that are needed for seamless data integration vertically and horizontally. However, automation vendors should avoid building proprietary protocol stacks on top of TSN else there will be new silos in years to come.
 
In Smart Manufacturing, two topics find frequent mention. The first is OEE – which can be measured by through-put or capacity utilisation. The second topic is Quality. Is the emphasis same for different types of manufacturing?
Quality is independent of smart manufacturing concepts. Quality is the primary priority for any business. The only thing that changes is the level of precision. With humans, the allowed tolerance for rejections was higher between multiple products and jobs manufactured. With Industry 3.0, automation, and robotics, the level of precision achieved was higher and the tolerance for rejection was much lower. With digitalisation, the precision is even higher, inspection mechanisms are advanced with advanced vision solutions integrated into the mainstream systems, and thus, the tolerance for rejection is even lower. Thus, quality was always a vital parameter, and it is nothing new, irrespective of any industry.
 
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is no doubt an essential parameter with smart manufacturing, as data is readily available for making such calculations. Irrespective of the industry or the type of manufacturing, OEE plays a vital role. Having all the data from machines and lines available for such calculations is vital.
 
Many manufacturing industries have a machine shop at the core for generating structures and products. There are new technologies for metal cutting like lasers, water jets, etc. How does this affect the traditional machine tools industry? Secondly, would additive manufacturing make a mainstream impact or stay restricted to rapid prototyping?
Laser and water jet cutting solutions have existed for decades thus, these are currently working in parallel with the traditional machine tools industry. As the affordability of these machines rises, these machines could eclipse the traditional machine tools industry in some areas. Today, it is true that we hear about 3D printing or additive manufacturing mostly in areas of rapid prototyping in various industries as it is cost-effective, quick, and helps in designing. However, there are so many applications of additive manufacturing that are already mainstream, especially in industries such as the medical, aerospace, transportation, and energy sectors. In my opinion, in years to come, these solutions will soon become mainstream in usual production in all industries as it reduces the cost and drastically increases the time to market.
 
Industry 4.0 brings with it the concept of small batch size manufacturing to cater to a wide range of product spectrum. Traditional machine tools are geared for large volume high-speed production and not so well suited for short production runs. What will change?
Mass customisation or individualisation is already being witnessed in the packaging and F&B industries. With customers requiring personalisation in many areas, they are also willing to pay a premium for these products. Most of the machines and lines in a factory need to be modified to cater to these individualisation needs, as these manufacturing lines were built decades ago for mass production or batch production. There is no alternative but to modify the existing setup and incur some capital costs either with mechanics or software modifications which in turn will help them to reduce their operational and product changeover costs.
 
Ideally, irrespective of the area of implementation and becoming increasingly digitised, all machine builders (OEMs) and factories must understand that nothing comes free of cost. There will be costs, and there will be benefits. It is down to the machine builder (OEM) and the factory to decide if the investment will yield them either a good Return on Investment (RoI) or help their market position or stay competitive and then decide to implement these solutions. 
 
Are the concepts of Smart Manufacturing predominant in private industry? Do they equally apply for public sector manufacturers? Do large companies nudge their vendors to imbibe these concepts and technologies?
Smart manufacturing is for all entities, big or small, private or public sectors. It is, however, essential as to how and what elements from smart manufacturing need to be implemented for business success, and growth. Moreover, all organisations, big or small, need to first evaluate what would be the perceived benefits of implementing these advanced solutions. Is there a gap they are bridging? Are they going in this direction only because of competition? Are all their internal stakeholders aligned? Do they have the necessary budget and resources? In my opinion, there are many more questions that need to be answered before any organisation moves in the direction of smart manufacturing. Large organisations have all the resources, budget, and strategic direction and are the front runners while implementing advanced solutions. These organisations provide direction to their suppliers and vendors. When all suppliers and vendors are aligned to a common business goal, only then such transformation projects become successful.
 
(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented)
 
Ninad Deshpande is CEO and Co-Founder, Sceptertech Digital, which is go-to space for market intelligence, strategy-driven content marketing, public relations, and brand building for enterprises. Whether it is executing an exhibition, seminar, conference, implementing a campaign for print or social media, delivering a technology-oriented presentation, implementing a branding campaign, or internal and external branding; Ninad takes pride in providing best in class service and experience in record time while always leading by example. In 2019, Ninad was awarded the "Most influential Global Marketing Leader" by World Marketing Congress. Additionally, he is also part of the SpeakIn community. When he is not in his professional shoes, Ninad is travelling, exploring new places, cooking, brewing (beer/mead), blogging, translating or writing.