AutoMOTIVE 5 - (Page 28)
pilz.qxd 24/11/06 10:28 am Page 28 Most innovations that occur in
automobile assembly really think through the who, how, when, where and
plants are a part of a new project, such as a new why of the
safety-related portions of their automation p ro d u c t i o n line. Pilz
works directly with the systems, she emphasises. They need to think about
automakers' engineers and development people to how they are going to
manage change. If a change have its safety products integrated in the
process and occurs, is it appropriate? Does it affect safety? Is it then
to ensure that plant personnel understand what designed to be short-term?
Are the people performing they are getting, and have training in the
proper use of t h e work competent, from a safety standpoint, to it.
understand what they are doing? It is very easy to teach According to
Nelson Shea, the most dangerous areas people how to programme a safety PLC
Programmable of a car assembly plant vary according to the facility. Logic
Controller . The hard thing is understanding what S ome plants are very
well designed, not only for you want it to do from a safety standpoint.
Once all this produc tion, but also from a safety perspective, she has
been thought through, and it has been decided says. Safety is designed in
from the beginning. It is very who will be allowed to do what, we can
provide the easy for all personnel to perform their tasks quickly and
appropriate training. s a fe l y with minimal Pilz runs training courses
downtime. There are all sorts both at its facility in Canton, if you
protect safety properly, you of potentially dangerous Michigan, which is
centrally have a highly productive operation equipment, but people are
located for US car not exposed to it. There are m a n u f a c t u re r s,
and at its Roberta Nelson Shea also, however, many facilities customers'
own plants. We where safety has not been well thought through or carr y
out the training on multiple shifts, if need be, and i n t e g r a t e d.
we try to simulate actual usage of the equipment so When we are in the
early stages of conversation t h a t people understand how they use it
and, a b o u t design systems for a plant, we emphasise par ticularly, how
they troubleshoot it, says Nelson elements such as proper zoning or how we
might cycle Shea. Troubleshooting is important because, for the out a
piece of equipment or go around a portion of the most part in the plant,
people are not making changes p ro ce s s without interrupting production,
she to the safety programmes. If they have been properly continues.
Frequently, the response is that they don't installed to begin with, there
are really no changes to need to worry about such things. Then, if anything
goes make. The whole issue is about how you troubleshoot. wrong, the whole
line is down and, particularly if it's More often than not the safety
equipment is blamed for safety-related, everything is by-passed. That is
not a a line stoppage, and it may have nothing to do with it. good
situation. If we have to be in a kind of evangelical I t may just be
indicating that there is a stop condition. position, it's not so much the
position of saying that We will get a call saying that our safety control
is compliance is the big issue, because it isn't. The big s t o p p i n g
production. We send out an emergency issue is that, if you protect safety
properly, you have a technician and he finds that a guard door is open.
All highly productive operation. It just so happens that it's we're doing
is indicating that there is a problem and also compliant. maybe you should
think about putting in a visualisation Nelson Shea is quick to point out
that the installation system. The training is scaled to what is needed but
we of safety systems is not, in itself, a solution. Rather, the encourage
our customers to think about how best to solution lies in the proper
understanding of the systems use the equipment. It's no different from a
facility and their purpose. The first thing we would like to see embark
ing on the use of some new form of control happen is for our customer to
sit down with us and system with great capabilities. You don't just
install it 28
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AutoMOTIVE 5
Editors Note
News
Here For The Long Haul
Halewood. Rebirth of a Car Plant
Safety First
Focus on Flexibility
A Prophet Without Honour?
Chrysler Cuts It Four Ways
A MINI For All Reasons
Porsche Plans Continuous Logistics Improvement
Flawless, Consistent Execution
Ford's European Supplier Parks Deliver Lean Manufacturing Efficiencies
Cheap and Cheerful
Onwards and Upwards
Schrader and Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems Take the Pressure
No Faults Forward
A Long Way From Wheelbarrows and Bath Tubs
A New Era in US/Japanese Cooperation
A Dialogue of the Deaf
AutoMOTIVE 5
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