Operational Processes: Precision in the Age of Industry 4.0

Transcript

Stan Miller: Hello everyone and welcome to ROK Studios.  I’m Stan Miller, I’m the PR and Analyst Relations Manager for Rockwell Automation, in the EMEA Region.  And I’m here with Jeff Holcomb.  He is the Global Market Manager, Automation, in the Industrial Division of Mettler Toledo.  Jeff, welcome to the studio.

Jeff Holcomb: Thank you, Stan.  Thank you for inviting us here.  I’m responsible for the weighing part of the automation, and we weigh everything from micrograms up to several tons.  Our company’s also involved in dimensioning and process control, in plant sensors and things like that.

Stan Miller: That’s really good context, Jeff, because we’re here to talk about operational processes, precision in the age of Industry 4.0.

Jeff Holcomb: Right.

Stan Miller: So, let’s just kick it off.  What are some of the key ways in which the transition to Industry 4.0 is changing the manufacturing industry?

Jeff Holcomb: Everything’s getting faster, and in our industry, a lot of the scales, a lot of the balances, a lot of the measuring devices weren’t connected to anything, it was all done by paperwork.  And now what we’ve done, is we’re connecting everything to Rockwell Automation over internet IP or we’re connecting it to IT systems over ethernet, using the new industry standard.  So, you ask that question.  I would say also standardization is a big topic with our customers, they want the data in both places, on the plant floor and in the IT systems.

Stan Miller: How can manufacturers make their data actionable and why is that important?

Jeff Holcomb: Well, a couple of things.  Number one, we supply what we call condition monitoring with the data, so we’re telling you that the data is there, it’s good, you can trust it, so you don’t have to wait a couple of hours or a couple weeks to find out that your product was bad, we tell you immediately, so you can take corrective action right away.  That’s one of the biggest themes.  The other theme is to combine that data with other data from other sensors on the plant floor, so you can really optimize the whole process and not just our process.

Stan Miller: What are the key benefits that manufacturers can realize when they’re embracing this type of approach?

Jeff Holcomb: Well, the biggest one is cost savings.  Everybody wants to save cost.  Productivity.  We’ve had customers increase their productivity by a factor of three, by increasing the speed of which we’re measuring and filling a systems, you can run your machines a lot faster.  And the precision makes you able to make your product a lot more precise.  Like battery manufacturers, you get better charges, you get better consistencies in the batteries, and things like that.  So, precision really adds value to our customers.

Stan Miller: That’s a really good example.  From your perspective, how does Mettler Toledo and Rockwell Automation, how do we help support manufacturers embrace Industry 4.0?

Jeff Holcomb: We help them with the integration and also, we help them with the information, we give them the possibilities of what they can actually do with the data, what they can actually do with our devices, because a lot of them are not weighing experts, right.  So, they come to us and they have problems that need to be solved, and we sit down and we talk to them beforehand, before they build their systems up, to talk about degrees of accuracy and things like that, where they can get the data and how they can get the data.

Stan Miller: Really interesting stuff.  Jeff, I don’t have any more questions for you.  It’s been a pleasure having you in the studio.  Thank you for joining us.

Jeff Holcomb: Thank you, Stan.  It’s been great.

Stan Miller: And thank you for watching.  If you’d like to learn more about Rockwell Automation and Mettler Toledo, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.