The Productivity Master, a modular demonstration system for
personalised USB memory sticks from Festo, is showing how
automation technology will evolve along the value chain when
combined with digitalisation. Thanks to seamless
connectivity, everything fits perfectly, from the mechanical
and electric systems to the intelligence. The Festo
automation platform provides an integrated and practical
system to link all Festo engineering tools, components and
solutions in hardware and software.
The plant achieves the automation balancing act between mass
production and individualization of a finished product. The
electrical products, the axis mechanics, the electrics and
the software are planned as a complete automation platform
with seamless connectivity. With this consistency, users
save a lot of time in their machines and systems – from
planning to commissioning – and gain process reliability
because everything fits together. Industry 4.0 included.
Cloud-based concept
For example, the Productivity Master uses a cloud-based
concept for registering and storing customer data complying
with data protection regulations. This allows USB sticks to
be produced with a personalized design as well as
personalized data content. Customers could do this from home
via the Internet without having to enter further data from
other people on the supplier side.
Customers can use the same concept to reduce labour costs
and coordinate the process from the home office. Festo's IoT
gateway securely connects the machine to the cloud so that
operators cannot only retrieve production data from the
cloud, but also have access to the machine's diagnostic data,
even if they are sitting hundreds of kilometres away in
their home office.
Mask production and vaccines
The pandemic year 2020 revealed just such a contrast between
mass production and individualization or small series
production in the examples of mask production and vaccine
research. The latter is more focused on precise data
collection. For mass production, however, it is crucial to
be able to use remote diagnostics and maintenance tools to
maintain machine uptime as long as possible while protecting
operator health. These are just about ideal conditions for
cloud-based diagnostic tools.
"It doesn't matter if the product weighs a few grams or 100
kg – being a technology-neutral company, Festo has the
product range to do this," explains Nigel Dawson, Head of
Business Development Electric Automation at Festo. While the
Productivity Master features a mix of pneumatic and electric
automation, from flow sensors to servo drives, from
pneumatic slide units to electric Cartesian robots, it is
the way these products are connected that enables true
digitalization.
Seamless connectivity
By leveraging industry-standard networks such as EtherCAT,
OPC-UA, IO Link and MQTT, Festo can create a seamless data
stream from individual sensors to remote IO, servo drives,
controllers and the cloud. "This technology-neutral approach
has a major impact on energy efficiency and sustainability.
We call this 'seamless connectivity,'" adds Dawson.
The machine was designed in record time. Useful here:
Festo's state-of-the-art and unified engineering environment
– project planning and management of the digital twins
included. This allows designers and developers to work
collaboratively worldwide. With the Festo Handling Guide
Online HGO, users select and dimension 1D/2D or 3D gantries
in just three steps. For quick and easy programming,
configuration and commissioning in a shared virtual
environment, they use the Festo Automation Suite.
Digital Customer Journey
"Along the Digital Customer Journey, we enable customers to
correctly and efficiently select and size their products
online, add them to a shopping cart in a seamless process,
view their pricing and delivery in real time, and track
their products throughout the supply chain," says Dawson,
describing this digital value chain. With developments in
artificial intelligence (AI), Festo is expanding concepts
such as digital nameplates, digital twinning and, of course,
AI-driven predictions of machine conditions for remote
maintenance.
Four fully connected stations
Customers create the production order at the first station
by registering with their name and perhaps a picture. A QR
code identifies the visitors at the machine. A vision sensor
SBSI from Festo registers the visitors and starts the
production order. This is followed by stock management. This
mechatronic complete solution, made up among other things of
a planar surface gantry EXCM in size 40 for fast picking and
placing of the USB memory stick, offers all the options from
stock management and workpiece handling to the cloud.
The USB memory stick is then transported, printed, turned
over and then passed on. The work steps at the second
station involved are holding, moving, handling, rotating and
positioning and identifying the workpiece position as well
as identifying, separating, gripping and applying labels.
Fast transfer to a label printer is carried out at station 3
by a highly dynamic linear gantry EXCT with dynamic servo
motors EMMT-AS and servo drives CMMT-AS. The rotation
functions are carried out by electric rotary drives ERMH.
The process is completed in station 4 where files are
uploaded to the USB memory stick. This involves holding the
workpiece, turning and carefully positioning the cap and
press-fitting delicate parts. This is done using the
attractively priced electric cylinders EPCO and rotary
drives ERMO. The personalised USB memory sticks are then
handed out to the visitors.
!!!!!!
Festo is a global player and an independent family-owned
company with headquarters in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany.
The company supplies pneumatic and electrical automation
technology to 300,000 customers of factory and process
automation in over 35 industries. The products and services
are available in 176 countries. With about 21,000 employees
in over 250 branch offices in 61 countries worldwide, Festo
achieved a turnover of around €3.07 billion in 2019. Each
year around 8% of this turnover is invested in research and
development.
In this learning company, 1.5% of turnover is invested in
basic and further training. Yet training services are not
only provided for Festo’s own staff – Festo Didactic SE also
supplies basic and further training programmes in the field
of automation technology for customers, students and
trainees.
