Make smart manufacturing personal to your company

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 joined by Michael Powell.  He’s the Managing Director of Staro Integration.  Michael, welcome to the studio.

Michael Powell: Thank you very much, Stan.

Stan Miller:  So, we’re here today to talk about how manufacturers can make smart manufacturing personal to their operations.  But before we get into that, can you just give us a little background on Staro Integration?

Michael Powell:  Staro Integration is a gold System Integrator partner for Rockwell Automation. We’ve got key capabilities, specifically in electrical systems, electrical drive systems, control systems, and we also focus on industrial ICT, with all the connected devices, and then fitting the data into the information systems, management systems.

Stan Miller:  So, Mike, we’re here to talk about smart manufacturing and making sure that it can – and discussing how it can be personalized, right.  So, let’s – before we get into the very specifics, let’s talk about how – give us some background, right.  Before manufacturers even consider implementing new technologies, how should they start looking in considering their digital transformation journey?

Michael Powell:  I think it’s critical, and as trusted advisors to our customers, it’s critical for us to identify where our customer is – you know, we need to meet them there, where they are.  In the third industrial revolution, they implemented technologies, we need to identify what technologies they implemented then, and we need to understand that that third industrial revolution technologies actually enable the fourth industrial revolution technology, it enables smart manufacturing.  So, it’s critical for us to understand what was implemented, is it connected directly with regards to network segmentation segregation, even cybersecurity, connecting into this IT/OT convergence now.  So, once we’ve identified that, getting the structure of the data into the central repository, from there, we can move forward to get our customer from that digital readiness stage to plan to get to the digital maturity stage.

Stan Miller:  So, in thinking about that digital transformation journey, should there be a specific end goal or target in mind?

Michael Powell:  Most definitely.  Once you’ve identified where you are now and you are digital ready, then you need to identify where you want to get, where do you achieve your digital maturity within your specific process, and which steps are you going to take to get to those specific – to that specific end goal.  So, it’s critical for the customer to understand where he wants to get and then what he has to do to get to that specific end goal.

Stan Miller:  Let’s talk about the pitfalls.  I mean, from your perspective and your experience, what are some of the prospective or possible pitfalls if there isn’t a goal or a target in mind?

Michael Powell:  I think customers have seen when they went from the second industrial revolution with the introduction of electricity and conveying systems, by implementing technology like automation technology into their processes, they could see repeatability, they could see increased quality, they could see increased production.  So, they now believe in technology, now they see all these new technologies, and now they just want to throw technology into their plant, and they want to see that return on investment to be very, very quick.  However, it’s very, very important for them to identify exactly where the bottlenecks are within their process and applying the correct technology to those bottlenecks.

Stan Miller:  Why should manufacturers have a tailored approach to their smart manufacturing journey?  Why should it be specific to their needs and their objectives?

Michael Powell:  I think each and every process that I’ve been on, each and every site that I’ve been on, each and every manufacturing facility is different.  Different in the challenges they have with regards to their OEE, different in the challenges they have within their process, to get their plant to run to that name plate data.  So, it’s critical that you partner with a customer that understands your industry and can identify exactly where those bottlenecks are within your processes and where you can actually apply technology to get those quick return on investments.

Stan Miller:  How can a focused approach help accelerate a customer’s digital transformation journey?

Michael Powell:  A focused approach, just identifying exactly within their process, where that bottleneck is.  If you’ve got that focused approach, if you take, for instance, advanced process control of predictive maintenance, prescriptive maintenance, a statistical analysis.  If you have a look at that, once you’ve done your statistical analysis, where are you going to apply that specific technology?  Technology is – it’s very complex technology and it’s not cheap technology that we’re implementing here.  So, it’s extremely critical for us to implement technology on the correct asset, and it might not be the most expensive asset, it might be a small little bump in the process that’s a real bottleneck if it goes down, or maybe it’ll fix the quality of the end product that goes out of the plant.  So, really focusing on exactly where we apply the technology, the correct technology onto the specific bottleneck is critical.

Stan Miller:  Michael, thank you so much for joining us in the studio today.  It’s been a great discussion.  Thank you so much.

Michael Powell:  Thank you, Stan.

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