Digitising work processes offers a way to streamline production, leveraging the methods and technologies that business process management (BPM) brought to the enterprise. By documenting, leaning and digitising production work processes, companies can achieve greater agility, continuity and long-term sustainability.
The drive to digitisation
MES and production management solutions have been evolving over many years as very broad or very specific solutions to manage production operations. In most cases, companies had to significantly customise production systems, which meant they could not be easily upgraded or improved - and often remained static. Changes to the systems required large commitments from manufacturing IT resources, leading to even further customisation and making the systems even more challenging to maintain.
While MES has been solving scheduling, execution, and data collection challenges for years, it still remains mostly a static solution when it comes to the processes these systems execute.
Due to the limitations of these systems, companies have hundreds of workflows or processes within every production facility that are executed manually.
Operations process management
Today, a manufacturing composition environment is evolving that supports process orchestration, workflow and alerting. MES solutions are moving into the realm of operations process management: enterprise manufacturing intelligence (EMI) solutions can now include workflow capabilities in their dashboards, making systems more actionable and capable of performing simple execution.
With these advancements in technology – and the availability of low-cost computing resources – the ability to digitise work processes has become a reality. An industrial workflow software solution can sit on top of existing plant systems and fill the gaps in most MES, production and control systems.
Industrial workflow software allows domain experts, not just programmers, to create workflows that orchestrate services and communicate to realtime equipment. Industrial workflow, when based on an industrial service oriented architecture (SOA), can also make existing systems more flexible and adaptable to change, which brings the power of digitisation to production teams.
The potential of digitisation
* Lean your processes – improve, eliminate and automate steps.
* Manage by exception.
* Automate information flow from Plant2Enterprise and Enterprise2Enterprise.
* Integrate people and their roles/functions.
* Customise to individuals’ work styles and decision-making.
* Manage and audit your production processes more effectively and consistently.
* Share production best practices and collaborate on processes.
Grow with the flow
By definition, a workflow is the automation of a process during which information or tasks move from one participant to another for action, according to a set of rules. As an enabling tool, industrial workflow software provides a system for improving and optimising industrial and manufacturing practices, combining automated and manual processes through authoring, execution and analysis capabilities. This software takes a production ‘flowchart’ and digitises it, connecting people, equipment and systems. Unlike BPM in the enterprise system – which operates in hours and days – industrial workflow operates in a time window of seconds and sub-seconds.
Just as production has a broad range of work processes, industrial workflow software can solve a broad spectrum of challenges. Workflows can involve basic tasks such as asking an operator to check tank levels every hour, managing an entire production process or orchestrating data transformation between ERP and MES. The workflow system – and its reporting – can touch almost all production personnel, including quality managers and quality technicians, maintenance, operation supervisors, industrial engineers and more.
Additionally, digitisation of a process can involve one or many steps. It can take place in one station with one user or spread across the plant and move from person to person, following a set of rules. The workflows follow the execution path logic developed by the power user through easy-to-use graphical authoring tools.
Each step could include linked documents such as work instructions – or any information that pertains to how the user should complete the process. Unlike traditional systems, industrial workflow allows production teams to mix automated and manual tasks.
Combining automated and manual tasks
A simple workflow for processing a production order may consist of the following:
Task 1. Set up machine and download recipe
The ERP triggers an event that a work order is passing down to the MES system, and a workflow begins and pushes out steps to different places or stations within the plant for execution. For instance, Task 1 may be pushed out to a particular production machine and provide setup instructions to the operator in the form of attached documents.
Once the machine is successfully set up, the workflow system could communicate to a scada or HMI system, or it could download the recipe directly. The workflow system has access to realtime data sources such as PLCs, OPC servers, custom process equipment and more. With completion of these steps, the operator has completed setup, downloaded the recipe and put the machine into production.
Task 2. Visual inspection of product
As the product moves down the production line or from cell to cell, the operator receives a task to do visual inspection for that particular production order: within that task step, the system requires manual data entry as the operator inspects the product. The operator enters the information into a form that has been set up specifically for that task; the system then pushes the inspection data into other systems such as: MES; LIMS and HMI.
Task 3. Packaging of product
With the visual inspection completed, the product moves to packaging. At that station, the packaging operator receives instructions on how to package the product and moves through a workflow that even includes printing the package labels.
Task 4. Palletisation and shipping
Once packaging is completed, the product moves to pallet and shipping. The operator receives more instructions on what packages to use; as well as materials and other information. The workflow system automatically pushes information back up into the ERP, so the ERP now contains the completed order information.
Industrial workflow across production
Use cases for industrial workflow vary from company to company and industry to industry. Common use cases for industrial workflow include:
* Orchestrate high-level processes and manage the data between systems – many companies do not have visibility into their high-level processes and do not have them documented, even fewer are orchestrating systems and managing the data between them.
The example in Figure 1 shows the high-level workflow for a brewery that needed to achieve process visibility and management. The first step – define the brewery setup, goes to an engineer whose actions trigger other nested workflows.
Once these have been executed the engineer defines the setup. The workflow then moves to the next engineer, who looks at the site recipe, checks if it requires changes, makes any modifications to the master recipe, and creates the batch. Next, the production team examines the control recipe and, finally, batch processing begins.
Digitisation provides the brewer with visibility across the business into all of the batches that are in production, dispatching or scheduling, and allows status monitoring without people having to leave their desks.
People, systems and processes have all become interconnected.
The digitisation process
Good manufacturing practices tasks
Because GMP tasks can become part of the digitised workflow, companies can push the tasks out to personnel and equipment. The system sends instructions to operators at their stations and requires them to complete the tasks. The system records the details regarding task completion. For example, if a machine is constantly in production, the system may require the operator to check it, as the individual process requires. With a packaging machine that is applying labels, the operator may need to check adhesive levels every hour and confirm completion of the task.
Standard operating procedures and work instructions
Instead of using a static piece of paper or a binder at their station, operators follow SOPs and work instructions through industrial workflow. They accomplish their work with fewer errors, and the system records the information.
HACCP monitoring procedures and corrective action
Now, production teams can use industrial workflow to create HACCP procedures, and build the corrective actions that are necessary if there is a negative response to one of those procedures. As companies execute on a HACCP check, teams need to collect the data on corrective actions – when they were taken, how, and what the corrective action was. Industrial workflow provides a full closed loop for HACCP.
Alarm and event response, corrective action
While industrial workflow monitors alarms, companies can also layer it on top of HMI and monitor alarms through the SOA platform. Workflow can filter out nuisance alarms, so teams only need to take action on specific, important alarms.
Error proofing and wizards
Industrial workflow provides station level control for assembly and error proofing, while also fully documenting products, people and resources for traceability. In addition to extensive plant task management, industrial workflow also offers a basis for decision wizards.
In conclusion
In reviewing the use cases, industrial workflow spans production challenges from machine set-up, to managing entire production processes and communicating between many different systems. As the complexity of the workflows increase, industry standards become more and more important to ensure successful execution.
For more information contact Daniel Coetzee, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, +27 (0)31 583 3640, [email protected], www.gefanuc.com
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version