e-F@ctory: changing the future of industrial automation

September 13, 2013 9:23 pm

“Transforming a factory into an e-eco-Factory means optimising the unit from an energy perspective. In an e-eco-Factory, production and energy information is visualised and linked together for thorough energy management,”  – Rajeev Sharma, General Manager-Strategic Planning and Business Development, Mitsubishi Electric IndiaProduction equipment in factories is responsible for a particularly large percentage of energy consumption in manufacturing industries. For proper assessment of energy usage, precise measurements and the installation of numerous measurement points along the path from the power – receiving end to production equipment are required. A new indicator of factory optimisation should also be established based on the amount of energy consumption per product, or in other words, on specific energy consumption. The solutions lies in merging the control and network technologies with measuring technologies developed through energy conservation activities in the power receiving and distribution sector.Improvement of the equipment utilisation rate reduces unnecessary energy derived from equipment waiting time and downtime, while reducing the takt time also saves energy by decreasing the equipment operation time while keeping the same production quantity. In addition, quality (yield) improvement helps reduce unnecessary energy consumed for producing defective products.anufacturing factories, as high-volume energy users, are required to promote further energy saving, and thus focus is placed on the factory energy management system (FEMS), which manages the energy throughout the factory. The energy usage areas in the factory are largely divided into two categories: the ‘production system’ where the actual production takes place using production equipment, and the ‘utility system’ that functions as a part of the factory’s infrastructure.In the production system, productivity improvement and energy saving are closely related to each other. Mitsubishi Electric’s factory automation (FA) energy solution is a subset of FEMS that contributes to energy saving in the production system. It is aimed at reducing the total cost of ownership and establishing a low-carbon society by integrating IT systems into production equipment to achieve higher productivity and energy saving in factories around the world.Experts see four major areas of influence that are likely to determine business models in future factories: integrated enterprise ecosystems, sustainability, lifecycle assessment, and eco-efficiency analysis. Driven by the need for greater productivity and efficiency it is not surprising to see that organisations have already started adopting technologies like cloud computing, cyber-security and mobile communication and are coupling them with asset management and Flexible manufacturing, to drive factory integration with enterprise.
We will see a growing demand for increase in equipment operating rates, increased productivity and reduction in system construction costs. The factory automation industry will be pushed into overdrive mode to develop new innovative and customised solutions to meet these demands. Thus we see the emergence of new cutting edge models like the e-Factory and eco-Factory concepts.The dawn of the age of e-FactoriesThe e-Factory modelThe e-Factory model is based on productivity improvement through visualisation of the manufacturing floor. The model makes complete use of leading-edge control and network technologies. It is now possible to visualise production information (both qualitative and quantitative data) and equipment information. This is then linked to higher manufacturing execution systems to be incorporated into production plans and ensuring quality traceability.The eco-Factory modelOn the other hand, another model, the Eco-factory technology model allows visible management of power usage. This is achieved through measuring equipment and technologies that support energy conservation by meticulously measuring power usage. It also provides for effective installation of inverters and other energy-saving devices to eliminate wastefulness and surges in energy consumption, thus reducing overall power usage.Complete cost reduction model by merging conceptsTo survive global competition, manufacturers must improve not only productivity but also energy efficiency in order to reduce production costs. Meanwhile, in emerging countries with high economic growth rates, automation of manufacturing processes is making rapid progress accompanied by increasing use of electric power, although sufficient power supply is not secured. Therefore, a new concept is also emerging which combines the e-Factory and eco-Factory models for realising both production efficiency and energy efficiency. While production efficiency and energy efficiency both aim at achieving the same goals of total cost reduction, merging the two models brings large advantages to factories from two perspectives as depicted in image 1.With e&eco-F@ctory, energy saving is achieved in four steps: measurement, visualisation, reduction, and management of energy. An important factor of energy measurement is the collection of energy data in connection with production information such as quantity, not simply gathering energy use data from the shop floor. On the shop floor, the production information is stored in the PLC, and thus by providing the energy data to the PLC, it is possible to measure the energy that is interrelated with the production conditions and the operating status of the equipment.In the visualisation step, the energy and production information collected in the measurement step and provided to the PLC are analysed using IT technology, and then that information is visualised in various ways such as by part, by product, and by equipment. The MES interface supports the visualisation step by transmitting the energy and production information to the information systems. For the successful reduction of energy, it is necessary to introduce energy-saving equipment with high energy efficiency. One example is to optimise the energy consumption of the facility and equipment by using inverters, motors and other drivers with high efficiency. In the management step, which pursues improvement by interrelating energy information and production information, it is important to monitor the specific consumption and energy used by the facility and equipment. Specific consumption refers to the amount of energy consumed to produce one unit of a product. The e&eco-F@ctory provides various types of management solutions to improve productivity and energy efficiency by smoothly driving the plan-do-check-action cycle for better energy efficiency.
Examples of system configuration with e&eco-F@ctoryTo better understand the application of the e&eco-F@ctory concept, the examples below describe system configuration with, for three of its four steps, namely: measurement, management, and visualisation.Visualisation system interconnected with production informationFor simultaneous achievement of the goals of e&eco-F@ctory, productivity improvement and energy saving, it is necessary to identify the improvement points for production and energy use. For this purpose, it is necessary to interrelate and manage information about the production and energy.As an example, by managing the energy consumption in response to the operating condition of each production equipment (operating, standby, or breakdown), wasted energy during standby and breakdown can be found, and the time spent waiting for parts and for set-up change resulting in standby time can be reduced. This type of management can be achieved by linking the MES that manages the production information and the EMS that manages the energy information. The production information as well as the energy information acquired by the energy measuring module is transmitted via the MES interface from each equipment to the MES and EMS. In addition, the energy information for the whole line is collected from the multimeters, MDU breakers, etc., in the power receiving and distribution equipment and on the panel board, and then transmitted to the EMS via the MES interface.
“Transforming a factory into an e-eco-Factory means optimising the unit from an energy perspective. In an e-eco-Factory, production and energy information is visualised and linked together for thorough energy management,”  – Rajeev Sharma, General Manager-Strategic Planning and Business Development, Mitsubishi Electric IndiaProduction equipment in factories is responsible for a particularly large percentage of energy consumption in manufacturing industries. For proper assessment of energy usage, precise measurements and the installation of numerous measurement points along the path from the power – receiving end to production equipment are required. A new indicator of factory optimisation should also be established based on the amount of energy consumption per product, or in other words, on specific energy consumption. The solutions lies in merging the control and network technologies with measuring technologies developed through energy conservation activities in the power receiving and distribution sector.Improvement of the equipment utilisation rate reduces unnecessary energy derived from equipment waiting time and downtime, while reducing the takt time also saves energy by decreasing the equipment operation time while keeping the same production quantity. In addition, quality (yield) improvement helps reduce unnecessary energy consumed for producing defective products.anufacturing factories, as high-volume energy users, are required to promote further energy saving, and thus focus is placed on the factory energy management system (FEMS), which manages the energy throughout the factory. The energy usage areas in the factory are largely divided into two categories: the ‘production system’ where the actual production takes place using production equipment, and the ‘utility system’ that functions as a part of the factory’s infrastructure.In the production system, productivity improvement and energy saving are closely related to each other. Mitsubishi Electric’s factory automation (FA) energy solution is a subset of FEMS that contributes to energy saving in the production system. It is aimed at reducing the total cost of ownership and establishing a low-carbon society by integrating IT systems into production equipment to achieve higher productivity and energy saving in factories around the world.Experts see four major areas of influence that are likely to determine business models in future factories: integrated enterprise ecosystems, sustainability, lifecycle assessment, and eco-efficiency analysis. Driven by the need for greater productivity and efficiency it is not surprising to see that organisations have already started adopting technologies like cloud computing, cyber-security and mobile communication and are coupling them with asset management and Flexible manufacturing, to drive factory integration with enterprise.

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