July/August 2020

n TALKING INDUSTRY It’s time to talk T alking Industry is a series of unscripted online panel discussions organised by Drives & Controls ’publisher, DFA Media, in which experts from the worlds of automation and manufacturing will discuss issues of vital importance to the sector. About 250 people registered for the first free-to-attend discussion in which the panel discusses three key topics, each with an interactive Q&A session with the viewers. Post-Covid changes The early part of the discussion focused on how the panellists’ organisations had fared during the pandemic lockdown and after. This discussion has been covered in depth in Plant &Works Engineering , and on its Web site (https://pwemag.co.uk) , so will not be repeated here. This article will focus on how Covid is influencing manufacturing. Will it encourage companies to reshape their businesses, given that production floors have to be redesigned, and it is more difficult now to accommodate human workers? Sean Robinson ( Novotek UK & Ireland ) argued that it all comes down to data.“We can't put more people in the factory, or walk around a machine – it’s simply not possible,”he said.“So we need to think about ways to get data out of those machines, make that data reliable, convert it into useful information and collaborate with all the stakeholders.” Tony Pickering (Control Techniques) agreed that we will see permanent changes post-Covid.“I do worry for the ongoing workforce because people will still exist, but it's going to be a huge change, andmany jobs won't be there when they come back., it's as simple as that,”he warned. Covid has led to many people seeing a reliance on China as a manufacturing partner as a potential source of risk. It involves long supply chains with lots of cash tied up in inventory in transit for months at a time.“So even setting aside politics, we've got people saying strategically, and tactically, about the need to bring manufacturing back locally and adopt a re-crafted automation strategy to optimise efficiency and productivity,”Robinson pointed out. Control Techniques is“onboarding”much production back from China and is now planning to double the output of its factory in Newtown, Wales. Yet only 30 more people will added to the current 600 workforce. Pickering sees a huge uptick in the demand for automation. “This is good for efficiency, but it comes at a social price.” Upgrading legacy equipment How to upgrade ageing equipment? Job Euwers (Ixon) favoured this as a means of starting out on the Industry 4.0 route.“What do we do with factories that have legacy equipment that may have been operating for as much as 20 years, but lack the resources to replace it?”From a Dutch perspective, he noted that the UK lags in automation, so this strategy provides a decent return on limited investment.“You can wrap a lot of really intelligent stuff around legacy equipment – little black boxes that can speak to a cloud platform as well as to internal systems.” Robinson warned against not building in future planning:“Leave yourself some room to grow and flex,”he suggests.“Make that investment like buying trousers for a six-year-old kid. If you buy something that just fits your current need perfectly, the odds are that within a year you’ll have to invest further.” Nikesh Mistry believes that Gambica’s member companies would be encouraged.“Before investing in new equipment, you need to look at what you've got, and what you can do with it,”he said.“There are so many circumstances where a small sensor might take a legacy piece of equipment a long way. What we are now expecting in the UK is Covid acting as a catalyst – speeding up the need to automate, implement AGVs and remote Scada software, being able to dial into your machines.“ Machine – heal thyself HP’s latest 3D printers actually self-replicate – they contain parts made on the machines themselves!“It’s getting to the point where we can make parts ourselves on our own machines more effectively than we can obtain them externally!,”Andrew Jones stated during the webinar. To help reduce cost of ownership, HP’s additive manufacturing Last month, Drives & Controls and its sister magazines, Smart Machines & Factories and Plant & Works Engineering , launched the first in a series of digitally broadcast panel discussions under the banner Talking Industry, featuring leading experts from the automation and manufacturing sectors. Consultant editor Andy Pye, who chaired the forum, picks out some of the highlights. The Talking Industry Webinar brought together leading lights from the automation industry to discuss a variety of hot topics 30 July/August 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com