July 2019

| INTERVIEWS & REPORTS | www.smartmachinesandfactories.com July 2019 | 47 | completely different set of filling and packaging machinery. In addition as consumer behaviour changes, the lifecycles of consumer products and packaging keep shrinking, while SKU counts continue to grow. Given the 15 to 20+ year service life of industrial machinery, it is no longer possible to anticipate all the changes that will occur – especially the disruptive ones. Therefore the theme for the recent B&R Innovations Day staged by B&R - Enabling the Adaptive Machine, highlighted how the adaptive machine can support on-the-fly changeovers and allow reconfiguration with different production modules using the same base machine platform. In addition such machines will readily adapt to constant changes in size and format, but will also adapt to radical and unforeseen requirements through corresponding equipment changes. As lot sizes shrink and throughput requirements (lead time and volume) remain critical, adaptive machinery will also compare favourably in all aspects of productivity measurement – OEE, ROI and TCO. One technology that stood out at the event and is helping to enable the adaptive machine is Orange Box. As an Industrial IoT solution package, the Orange Box brings smart-factory intelligence to brownfield installations for sectors of industry where the build of greenfield sites are simply not a viable option. Jason Johnson, sales manager, Process & Factory Automation Solutions, B&R UK & Ireland explained that the technology takes away the human element and allows the machine to tell you why it stopped. Preconfigured OEE dashboards make it easy to locally identify improvement opportunities. The technology highlights how it is now possible to read and analyse data from previously isolated machinery and equipment. A controller collects runtime data via I/O or fieldbus and processes it using intelligent software components. The greatest advantage is that there’s no need for any changes to existing hardware and software. Johnson explains: “It’s completely non- invasive. And that’s what scares people. You can connect Orange Box to existing machinery. You do not modify existing PLC code, you don’t have to make changes to hardware it basically sits like big brother and watches what’s happening in the PLCs with a native connection. The PLC doesn’t even know the connection has been made. It just happens.” Transforming a traditional industry One business that has taken advantage of this technology in order to help transform a very traditional sector is Cutting Edge. The company services the food production and processing industry across the UK and Ireland, through the supply of food processing machinery, services and consumables. Sam Tinsley, managing director of Cutting Edge, explains that the business started life in the butchery and abattoir business, with today over 70% of its products and services involving sharp edges with knives or cutting machines. It essentially works at every stage of food processing, from providing durable PPE wear and specialist abattoir equipment to offering a unique knife sharpening service. However Tinsley describes the industry as very traditional in terms of process, people and mind-set, and Sam Tinsley, MD of Cutting Edge