Managing Automation - April 2008 - (Page 39)

how much productivity may be lost because changing out a batch was done inef ficiently. “There’s no accountability to changeover, so that’s one area that we are beefing up,” Cocco adds. All of these tools mine information from the metal-producing processes, allowing manufacturers such as Arkansas Steel to find new ways to make old processes and equipment more efficient. “People have to manage the facility less That’s a good thing because, in today’s manufacturing environment, “people have on gut feel and instinct and more on to manage the facility less on gut feel and inthe facts and realities of what is hap- stinct and more on the facts and realities of pening.” — Dennis Cocco, Activplant what is happening,” Cocco says. Doing so not only makes metals plants ment systems (LIMS) and to organize the inoperate more efficiently, but it can also solidify formation into a chart or graph providing visual strong customer relationships. Just ask Arkansas cues to identify potential problems. Steel’s Thompson. “In the last two years we’ve The information is pulled into a browser-based [received] letters from our customers comdashboard in a format that anyone can undermending us for the improved quality we have,” stand, meaning that you don’t have to be a plant Thompson says. s manager to use the information. “You can browse through a collection of trends managingautomation.com and do a heat-to-heat analysis that may show heat [conditions] that result in a poor quality of RELATED ARTICLES: steel,” says Andrew Ellis, Incuity’s vice presiIncuity Software, Inc.: Assimilating Information Aids Decision-Making dent of professional services. Now finding imwww.managingautomation.com/assimilating purities or defects can happen in real time and Avoiding Meltdowns even proactively, he says. www.managingautomation.com/trans6 For Arkansas Steel, this means avoiding the MA’s Manufacturing Intelligence Knowledge dreaded scrap. “I just used Incuity not too long Center ago to troubleshoot a reheat furnace,” Thompson www.managingautomation.com/MIcenter says. “Without that data, it is all just guesswork and can take a while to find a problem. This COMPANIES MENTIONED: saves days.” Activplant “Manufacturing intelligence software not only www.managingautomation.com/activplant2 accelerates problem-solving, but it also drives Incuity Software Inc. accountability at each stage of production,” says www.managingautomation.com/incuit Activplant’s Cocco. The company’s Throughput Informance International Analyzer, for example, focuses on changeover www.managingautomation.com/informance5 analysis. In other words, it is used to uncover the railroad industr y, Thompson is using MI software to make sure that the machines are making a quality product and that scrap is kept to a minimum. The company uses Incuity Software’s IncuityEMI product to gather disconnected data from furnaces and laborator y information manage- maonline There is a real choice in business software Consolidation has eliminated a lot of middle market enterprise application vendors. But you do have a strong third option. Find out how IFS stacks up against the giants at http://download.ifsworld.com/comparison_centers I F S – T H E G L O B A L E N T E R P R I S E A P P L I C AT I O N S C O M PA N Y www.IFSWORLD.com http://managingautomation.com http://www.managingautomation.com/assimilating http://www.managingautomation.com/trans6 http://www.managingautomation.com/MIcenter http://www.managingautomation.com/activplant2 http://www.managingautomation.com/incuit http://www.managingautomation.com/informance5 http://download.ifsworld.com/comparison_centers http://www.IFSWORLD.com http://www.IFSWORLD.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - April 2008

Managing Automation - April 2008 Contents Take 1 Camstar to Introduce Software that Combines Quality, MES, and Intelligence SAP Revamps Maintenance, Raises Fees 29% New TAGSYS Chief Sees Opportunity in Broader Approach Siemens Turns to Security Weaver for Compliance Supply Chain Company Takes Next Step in U.S. Notes Cover Story: The Long Climb Special Report - Undertanding Enterprise Performance Management Caught Between Supply and Demand Taking Off the Blindfold No Room for Error Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - April 2008

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