Doing more with less

It’s well known that in the manufacturing industry capital expenditure and investment decrease in times of recession. However, the requirement for improved processes and increased efficiency continues, irrespective of the state of the economy. Here Phil Gillard general manager of industrial automation specialist SolutionsPT explains how his company helps its Irish customers achieve more with less during periods of low capital investment. 

SolutionsPT’s work in Ireland is focussed on the markets that are either already highly automated or becoming automated as a result of their strategic importance to the economy. A good example of the former group is the pharmaceutical sector and the later is represented by the food processing sector.

There’s no question that we are now seeing the food industry introducing automaton technology that the pharmaceutical industry has been using for some time. Similarly, the requirement for traceability in the food and beverage sector is increasing, as US legislation such as CFR21-11 is implemented by Irish firms with parent companies across the Atlantic.

At present, the global economic situation means that capital expenditure in the pharmaceutical sector is relatively low and both it and the food sector traditionally run very tight budgets.

Experience tells me that in Ireland, the bond of trust between systems integrators (SIs) and manufacturers is stronger than in many other parts of Europe. Perhaps because of this relationship, we are seeing the SI community undertaking a lot of ongoing operational work in manufacturers as the CapEx squeeze results in both manufacturer redundancies and fewer new integration projects.

Ironically, the reverse is also true; when SIs shed jobs, those members of staff who leave the company might often remain within the manufacturers who were once their clients.
   
It’s against this background of a changing labour dynamic that investment decisions in industrial automation are made. However, the decision is never as simple as, ‘should we invest in software or not?’ More often the question is, ‘I have a business need – how should it be addressed?’

Sometimes the answer is to produce a less capital intensive solution that can maintain the efficacy of the company’s hardware and ensure that the software platform remains stable and avoids the potential problems associated with obsolescence.

The first thing to do is assess what systems are already in place; from SCADA and supervisory control to high availability hardware and software. We then need to gauge the risk to the business if there is a problem with the existing systems and how we can mitigate for that risk.

SolutionsPT’s process is to first establish goals and a vision of what success looks like in this context. If capital expenditure is an issue, then that solution might focus on helping the customer continue production in a compliant and efficient manner, without necessarily taking them on to the next stage in terms of enhanced productivity.   

The IT culture in manufacturing in Ireland, and I think globally, is inherently conservative by nature, when compared with consumer and enterprise IT practices. For instance, Windows Vista was completely bypassed and XP remains the most popular operating system for industry. Furthermore, we have only recently seen demand for Windows7. In fact, we still deliver solutions using Microsoft DOS and NT, under the Microsoft OEM Embedded Systems Programme.

“Just because a system is old, it doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just means that you will have to deal with the obsolescence issues,” explains Aidan Finnegan, SolutionsPT’s Ireland Area Manager.

“For example, one large beverage manufacturer that we work with had a technical problem on one of its kegging lines. The company had reviewed the whole business and identified some key operations and processes that were showing signs of becoming problems in the future. Their objective was to counter these problems and future proof the line for the next seven years.

“However, they were using quite old hardware and the software was a very old version of DOS. The application software sitting on top was a Wonderware OEM package with lots of bespoke changes.

“When we reviewed the system, the capital expenditure required to re-build it completely was sufficiently high to make the project seem daunting for the client. As a result, we instead changed the hardware platform and re-installed the existing software. This was done using a range of Advantech machines distributed by HardwarePT, our high availability computing division. As a result, the manufacturer now has a five nines availability system that will be secure for at least the next seven years. And its customers can continue enjoying their favourite drink!”

 “Clearly this isn’t the only way in which SolutionsPT works with its partners in Ireland,” explained Finnegan. “We also provide support contracts, managed spares, predictive maintenances and OEE and MES solutions, amongst many others. However, it is one way of ensuring that a customer’s needs are anticipated and provided for well in advance of any potential problems arising.”

“Despite this particular upgrade being required half way through one of the deepest recessions we’ve seen in Ireland and Europe for a long time, some clever thinking has helped the customer achieve more with less. The need for improved processes and increased efficiency continues, irrespective of the state of the economy and so must its provision,” concluded Finnegan.