Consistency of machine parameters is important for turning out quality aluminum extrusion products. Tom Welle, automation coordinator at Alexandria Extrusion Co., in Alexandria, Minn., says operators need live process data—temperature, pressure, speed—in order to maintain that essential consistency. The machine operation entails loading an aluminum billet, heating it and forcing the hot aluminum through a die to produce the desired shape of aluminum extrusion. Giving operators real-time information helps them make a consistently good product.

A few years ago, managers at Alexandria Extrusion evaluated productivity vs. industry averages as compiled by an independent source. They discovered that their cycle times were high and inconsistent, and that the biggest machine productivity problem was the time between when one billet was processed to the time the next one was beginning to be processed. The company determined that it averaged 29 seconds, which contributed to an overall extrusion rate slower than the industry average. So managers decided to act to improve the process.

It’s hard to correct a problem when you don’t know what factors are causing the losses. Says Welle, “The original data collection was pen, paper and stopwatch. Data were entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. In order to improve information, we went to circular time charts for recording downtime. The operator had to mark a code on the chart at each incident. Then a clerk entered the information into Excel. This was a time-consuming and error-prone system.”

Alexandria purchased a personal computer-based data acquisition application to solve the problem, but found it was too limited by data inputs and data storage. A change had to be made in order to improve accuracy, reliability and data storage. Engineers drew up a requirements document and went shopping. Among the requirements for a new system were integration with the current programmable logic controller (PLC) and human-machine interface (HMI) architecture, which were standardized on products from Rockwell Automation Inc., and existing Rockwell Data Highway Plus and Ethernet networks. Further, the software had to support a familiar, non-proprietary database. It was to enable collection and viewing of process data without operator intervention. It had to have the capability to show performance indicators, and it had to be expandable.

Because of the Rockwell infrastructure, managers looked at software from Rockwell Automation. “We discussed the requirements and application with our local distributor specialists and also specialists from Rockwell Software,” says Welle. “They gave us several implementation ideas. Then we brought in our information technology (IT) people both for assistance and for buy-in. We were going to need a server and assistance with the Ethernet network.”

The net result was that Alexandria purchased a suite of products from Rockwell including Factory Talk Historian for the process data, Factory Talk Metrics to analyze performance indicators, Factory Talk View SE for visualization, and Factory Talk Linx (Enterprise and Classic) for connectivity. “When we implemented the system,” Welle says, “we kept the operator screens as close to the old system as possible to reduce the amount of training involved with the new system.”

Improve performance

Information from the new system gave everyone the information needed to begin to improve performance. Over the two plus years since implementation, the dead time was reduced by about 20 percent. Welle adds some advice for implementing an information system to manufacturing. “Bring in IT early. Get input on the business side of the networks and databases. Bringing them in early helped support the program.”

Just as Welle discovered, so have others also discovered that new tools of connectivity and software can be powerful elixirs for boosting productivity, efficiency and manufacturing excellence. These tools are also effective across a broad range of types of manufacturing and production.

Absorption Corp., in Ferndale, Wash., manufactures small animal bedding, sold mostly through pet specialty stores. The company operates two plants located in the states of Washington and Georgia. Each plant’s process equipment consists of pulpers, screens, presses, dryers and packaging equipment. The control systems are built on Allen-Bradley PLCs and PanelView operator interface terminals from Rockwell Automation.

Rollie Raper, process control designer at Absorption, needed to find a way to provide better information to operators so that they could run their equipment more efficiently and with greater uptime. “I spent quite a few years in larger industries, so I was familiar with a variety of applications that would do the data collection and historical trending that we needed,” Raper says. “But management said they didn’t want to spend over $50,000 for an application. Then I searched for very inexpensive ...