Sensors For Manufacturing Automation Can Cut The Costs Of Production Line Changeovers
A production line can be optimized to manufacture products in a very cost efficient way
. All the work cells can be tuned to work effectively with each other to get the utmost production from the manufacturing line. There is one operation that can cause a sharp downturn in efficiency and an increase in cost if there is not sufficient planning and design to manage it. The operation that can cause an increase in costs is production line changeover that has not been optimized. If management has not planned the process of efficiently changing the production line from manufacturing one product to the manufacture of another, all the optimization that was done on the line during production can be of little use. All the time and inefficiency that is expended in getting the production line ready to produce the next product can cut into profits significantly.Usually the changeover of the production line occurs when a new product needs to be produced to meet customer demands, or there is some change in the way the production line is configured. In any event, at some point in time every production line will be changed from its current production to a different type of production, for whatever reason. There are usually three parts to the changeover process, cleaning up the tooling from the previous production job, setting up the new tooling for the next production job, and start up of the line to begin the new production job. It has been determined that most of the time in changeover has been allocated to the last part of this process, that is start up of the newly set up equipment. This entails the trouble-shooting of machine set up. Time needed for the changeover of a production line can be reduced to a minimum by utilizing the proper sensors for manufacturing automation when the production line is designed.
In order to minimize the time that is required for production line changeover it is necessary to utilize the type of equipment on the line that will allow the shortest time for changeover. The features of a component must be considered before it is installed as part of a manufacturing line. Sensors for manufacturing automation can help reduce the times required for changeover. One of the components that is essential to optimized manufacturing is the sensor. Sensors for manufacturing automation that are used in a production line configuration can either assist or hamper the production line changeover. When the components are originally installed on the production line, sensors for manufacturing automation are used to identify parts, verify the presence of and determine the orientation of parts, and perform measuring for production must be installed.
Consideration must be taken to determine the characteristics that these sensors must have so that they can be employed in all the production jobs that will run on this production line. Having a broader capability will make it much less time consuming to setup the production line for the manufacture of a new product. Using sensors for manufacturing automation with universal outputs can reduce the time for line set up. One product that might run on the line might require the PNP transistor output, while the next product to be created might need NPN output. Installing a sensor that can handle both scenarios will be most advantageous. In fact it would be best to have the sensor detect what type of output to use based on the connected load.
It is always the best practice to utilize sensors in the production configuration that are not operating at maximum capacity. Try to install those that will operate much lower than their current capacity. This will allow for operation at higher levels later if warranted by production requirements. Always try to get the most flexible sensing component that can be used for the application. This can eliminate having to change the sensor at some later time when production requirements become more stringent. Proximity sensors that are used to detect objects should have the ability to detect clear and opaque objects with polarized sensing. This will eliminate the extra time of installing different sensors. Background suppression is a good attribute to include in the sensing device. This device uses the photoelectric mode that will eliminate changeover time because it detects various kinds of materials without interference.
Imaginative mounting of sensing devices is a great way to eliminate having to spend time in changeover for installation. Brackets, with swivel or rotating abilities, can be very helpful. In some cases mounting can be done without tools. Making the changeover much faster. Elimination of manual tweaking of installed sensors can be a way to reduce changeover time. If the computer controlling the sensor can "train" the sensor for each production job, there should be no manual time spent in tweaking the device.
When configuring a production line take careful consideration of all the sensing devices that are to be installed. Make sure that the changeover time is minimized between production jobs because there will be a minimum of time spent in installing and adjusting sensors for manufacturing automation between production jobs.
by: John Mitchell