Smart Automation Practices for Manufacturing

September 1, 2021 6:45 pm

Leading experts create optimism for automation and digitalisation propelling trend-shift towards resources predictability, optimising processes and how leveraging technology maximises efficiency that arises new opportunities for growth, design capability and practices for manufacturing.

Pandemic resulted in a minor setback to many of manufacturing industries that got shut down. The year 2020 created constraints in human-to-human interaction. It has been a challenging year for both individuals and organisations; and provided impetus for pharmaceutical and lab-testing escalation activities. However, 2020 and half of 2021 year, embarked upon new opportunities for smart manufacturing in the ensuing future. This is the time to infuse more automation in industrial activity- since gradual unlock is becoming full unlock.

Technology is changing the dynamics of industrial automation and transforming the resources predictability using digital information, cloud computing and automation together with artificial intelligence and robotic process automation improve production efficiency, giving fillip to Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software market which is anticipated to reach around19 billion US Dollars by 2028.

OEM Update organised an interactive panel discussion session, which engaged the distinguished experts Anup Wadhwa, Director, Automation Industry Association; Ashok Shinde, Business Development Manager, Red Lion Controls- Middle East & SAARC; Naresh Kantoor, Managing Director, Enconsys Private Limited and Dr. Deb Mukherji, Managing Director, Omega Seiki Mobility to deliberate upon ‘Smart Automation Practices for Manufacturing’.

Manufacturing and design efficiency and investment on training

Discussing about the automation and manufacturing, Anup Wadhwa remarks, there are two sectors, the core manufacturing sector wherein definitely auto supply chain is one of them. The other, I would like to mention is about electronics. The number of inputs we do in terms of consumer electronic products or sub-assemblies or complete assemblies is humongous. And that’s an area where we definitely see the aspirations of our middle class rise, they want to buy and own all the latest gadgets. If in these two areas, we look at the challenges of the industry, it definitely starts with product design, and also in how do you produce that design in the most efficient manner. But, at this point it is also to say that, very soon, we’ll also be talking of the hazards of disposal of the waste.

Hence, our designs have to be such that for the material which we use, there is a recycling possibility, now, that definitely calls for the highest capability in terms of product design, material design manufacturability, where the engineering stream has to take the lead, but we have seen that excellence never is sustained by only the top level excellence, you can have a handful of IITs and you can have a plethora of tier one, tier two, tier three colleges, it is moving the lower rung up, which can sustain a high quality drive and which can make us self-reliant.

So, I would say that even the traditional industry, the SME industry, let’s focus on the tier three supply chain, if they had to make a precision product supplied in a global supply chain, what is it they need to do, if they can get their act together. I think we are on the right curve. Again, we have the challenge that we have been able to create world class courses in our venture with IIT Delhi. And I’m glad to say that we rolled out summer internships and we got about 1000 applications. And at the end of it, we had close to 100 excellent project activities being done. But

100 is nothing for India, we need to scale up and then scaling up, you need to have teachers by the hundreds and by the 1000s; you got to have labs.

Our lab is a collaborative lab and you know anybody can come and make use of it, whether from industry or any other college and go back, but such collaborative labs are also not having enough money that will go in the right place provided the people out there are value adding and they are leveraging technology, and the business practice is for the good of that industry or the good of the student. Indian market fortunately, has been our bedrock and our saviour. So, we are very, very fortunate that all sectors of our production are covered by a very large population of consumers within India. And we need to be able to leverage that gets the quality standard out. Get the people aspirations up and then move on. So, I will say opportunities are large, but gap definitely lies in the area of training, the trainer, more lab facilities and more design capability.

FlexEdge controllers require static IP and are gateway for IoT concept

Highlighting about Flexedge controller’s product, Ashok Shinde said, it comes with the certain specifications or functions. So, this product is mainly for the IoT applications. It comes with the proper security. So, it has got the all the security functions which are the part of the routing function and this Flexedge product has the options of connecting the 232 protocols as well as the Ethernet. It comes with the two Ethernet port. Now, for static IP address for the configuration, yes, it requires static IP address, but if you are using any cellular sled in the product, and then this IP address is depending on what this cellular SIM card is providing, if the SIM card is providing static IP address, then that is okay. If it is not then we use the function called VPN function inside the product. So, the VPN function is part of the efficiency routing functionality, which helps to connect remote sites to the control room.

The FlexEdge is for the harsh environment, it’s supposed to extend operating temperature as well as the software. We do not charge for software and it’s supposed to do virtual graphics. So, HDMI kind of pages can be created in the device. So, remotely the FlexEdge devices is just a box, but from remotely we can access all the pages also, it supposes the functionality for connecting data to the sequence or it has got the function of amputating in. FlexEdge provides a scalable solution to integrate complex multi-vendor environments into digital transformation strategies.

So, there are various intuitive problems; again, it is a part of security. So, all security is handled in the product and it is supplied worldwide on many applications to solve the IIoT concept. And, I do the integration because this product connects at one end with the hardware and other end with the software. This becomes as a gateway for connecting IT to OT. So, that helps integration of IT and operational technology.

Cobots as tool to implement automation that smart manufacturing imbibes

Talking about opportunities post covid scenario, Naresh Kantoor said, there are so many technologies which are coming in on the automation per se. Cobot is just one of the tools to implement automation and Cobots alone cannot do anything or PLC or IoT alone cannot do anything. So, there has to be a convergence of all the 13-14 pillars that we have for industry 4.0 which would include Cobot robots or systems or a Delta robot or Spider robots or linear systems or drives or many other devices – they have to converge together.

Now as for the opportunities, which are coming into play after Covid situations; one other element that needs to be addressed is – which are the right technologies or what are the appropriate technologies from this bouquet, that can be specifically applied to those applications. The solutions would be application oriented and we have to choose the one with the right product or right technologies, which show that cost also plays a very important role.

India is still being considered as a cheap labour market, although that myth is gradually disappearing because there are no labour applicants. So, the cost plays a very important role and for the return of investment, trying to choose which technology is required for them, plays a very important right. So, I would say rather than using Cobot or any particular device, right appropriate technology for right application needs to be done.

Digital technology and Atmanirbharta for manufacturing industries

Dr. Deb Mukherji elaborated about deploying technology and said, at the end of the day, whatever technology we deploy; whatever tools we use, everything has to result into efficiency and lead to profitability, that is essentially the whole intent of deploying these resources, whether it is money, material, machinery or method improving or whatever. So, at end of the day, it has to resolve into an efficient efficiency lead. The business and automation certainly help that, but automation is scientifically designed automation. It has to be designed appropriately for that manufacturing system or supply chain system or delivery system. So, you have to put some thought into it and then tailor make it as per your requirement.

As far as the India Atmanirbharta campaign is concerned, I think it has to be understood in totality. The Prime Minister is not talking about to just to shut down the important product manufacturing and become like a closed communist kind of country – that is not the intent, the intent is to make a world class product here and this is how this can happen.

How the nations improve their competitiveness, we have had several cases even in last 10 years, eight years or so. If you see, Bangladesh economy has been growing by over 8 percent So, that is great, because even smaller countries are making their processes, their products more globally competitive, and so, this is the intent here. We need to produce here, we need to design here, we need to make things here and then look at the global market. It is nothing like India quality and global quality what was used to be the thought about 30-45 years ago, when we started working supplier will come and say hey, this is the product, I will charge you 10 rupees for this, but if you need higher quality, I will charge you 20 rupees. So, those days have gone. It is not that there’s only one quality and that has to be understood in the context of Indian industry by Indian manufacturer whether small, medium or large. It doesn’t matter – it is only one quality and that is a global quality, world class quality to make world class products, you need to have world class processes world class systems, okay.

And, every time you don’t need to dump a huge amount of money. That is a misconception whenever we talk. I talk to people in the industry, everybody says oh no! it is very expensive. ROI has to be understood in the full total cost of ownership of your product, if you may make it cheap, but at the same time, you will make it of poor quality, you will make it poor reliability, then you end up having more losses. So, that is a problem. You know relationship cost versus quality, there are various other factors also, cost of capital being one; availability of capital being one other. I mean, that’s a larger debate, but basically, what as I said, in the context of automotive industry, this Atmanirbhar India is a great opportunity, and especially post pandemic and also the starting of this electric vehicle, transition, electric is a huge opportunity for the Indian industry.

And we should not miss the bus this time, where we lost out because of several reasons, many years ago. This is a great opportunity to become globally competitive, globally known and make in India as well to be accepted and respected brand. So, I think that can be done using scientifically, using the various automation and digital technologies available today.

ROI for implementation of industrial robots and Cobots for automotive and most of the industries

Naresh asserted, yes, ROI is a very important aspect and I face this question every time I meet a customer regarding implementation of not only robot, Cobot for that matter or any automation projects. Unfortunately, most of the companies in India, they try to derive ROI by directly stating it with the cost of the operator. And in most of the operations in India we have casual or contract workers and contract workers are paid less.

And, whenever you want to use any automation by supplementing the cost of the contract worker per month salary, multiply that per month divided by the cost of the robot, it will never come. So, ROI will become very difficult unless you look into the tangible and intangible benefit and quality and other aspects.

Now, about industrial robot covered for non-automotive industries-yes, they have been used cases where the non-automotive industries have been able to get the ROI in less than six months. And, there have been cases where they have been able to get the ROI in less than a year or two maximums. Like, we have done a lot of projects in non-automotive industries such as food, pharma, FMCG, and that type of industries. And everywhere, the ROI rate is much faster relatively compared to what we get into the automotive industry. There is a way which needs to be very carefully calculated, but it is feasible to have a good online.

Final note

The market resurgence from the second half of 2020, and in pandemic unlock phase is an opportunity for growth in various forms of business process and IT automation. Automation for tomorrow’s growth is today’s future, hence, smart manufacturing practice is a concept to reckon with.

On an optimistic note, Anup stated, I think the message by my esteemed panellists is a vote in favour of manufacturing. But, let the truth be told that companies and people also need to have a passion for manufacturing. For some of them, it has become a ritual, it has been a traditional business going on for the last two, three decades, you don’t want to shut it down. And therefore, you are continuing to do with it. And like these, trying to balance using Cobot with the salary of a contracted labour is clearly not a very passionate way of improving your manufacturing process. So, there are going to be companies, which are going to excel for the right reasons. And unfortunately, there will be many companies in that quadrant with legacy manufacturers who, like the yellow and black taxi will have to shut shop and go somewhere else. And that’s the bitter truth.

The pandemic has also taught – companies which are resilient, can bounce back faster. So, if your manufacturing systems, your business processes are good, you can always have technology to fill in the vital gaps. But if they are weak, then whether it’s casual labour, or it’s a technology, both are not going to produce that impact. And, we hope that the majority will win, Anup concludes.