Managing Automation- July 2008

COVER STORY DIGITAL MANUFACTURING THE DREAM BECOMES REALITY Jim Caie envisioned automated factories at GM in the 1980s, and he has worked over the years to bring manufacturers in all industries closer to achieving that goal. BY STEPHANIE NEIL P ioneering any aspect of techCaie retired from GM in June 2006, afnology can be both exhilarating ter 36 years, to join ARC Advisory Group and frustrating. Ultimately, howas an industr y consultant specializing ever, it’s always empowering. in digital manufacturing and common That’s been the experience of Jim system strategies for the discrete manCaie, who, as chief of quality, informaufacturing industry. tion, and control systems at General MoDigital manufacturing is loosely detors from 1984 to 1992, led the Factory fined as the integration of simulation and of the Future project, an initiative aimed control technologies in order to apply at creating a “lights out” facility for frontvirtual validation of the manufacturing wheel-drive axles. line prior to commissioning a project. “The concept was that it would be auCaie, whom some industry onlookers tomated and could run have dubbed “the the whole night withfounding father of the Jim Caie out anyone there,” concept of virtual valAGE: 61 Caie said. “It never got idation and commisPOSITION/AFFILIATION: Vice president of to that point, but that sioning at GM,” consulting for discrete manufacturing, ARC was the vision. It was learned about the poAdvisory Group way ahead of its time, tential value of digital CHIEF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: GM’s Factory of the Future project (1984-1992); developed so it was more of a manufacturing the a common global controls architecture for test in order to underhard way: by expendGM’s factories worldwide (2004-2006) stand what could be ing time, sweat, and AWARDS: GM manufacturing engineering done and what was money. excellence team award needed to make it From 2004 to 2006, MOST ADMIRED: Gerald Elson, former vice president of GM work in the future.” while working as diFast-for ward 16 rector of controls, years, and one of the conveyors, robotics, key elements of his and welding, Caie vision — simulation — spent most of his time has become Caie’s figuring out the best cause. He played a key way to build new role in getting GM to plants. At the time, embrace simulation GM was grappling and manufacturing with poor plant startprocess modeling. And up per formance, GM’s success with simwhich undermined ulation has influenced productivity and qualother major manufacity. Caie’s assessment turers inside and outresulted in a common side the automotive control architecture at industry to follow suit. the automaker. July Part of the process Caie outlined for the new approach involved modeling and simulating the mechanical and electrical aspects of the plant prior to the launch — something he learned from the Factory of the Future initiative. Today, that kind of modeling and simulation is a major aspect of the digital factory concept. It took a while to educate everyone at GM on the benefits of the digital factory, but slowly the idea took hold. “One of my peers became a believer, and he made the edict that all conveyor projects would be virtually validated before being installed. Out of that grew a better appreciation of digital manufacturing at GM,” Caie says. Thanks in large part to Caie, GM was an early adopter of the digital manufacturing concept, which paid off. For example, his management of GM’s common global manufacturing control architecture resulted in equipment savings of more than $100 million a year, a 25% reduction in engineering cost, and a 20% reduction in controls deployment time for vehicle launches at plants. Now, other automotive manufacturers are also beginning to invest in digital manufacturing, as are aerospace manufacturers, such as Boeing. Meanwhile, vendors are making their own moves to accelerate the idea. When Siemens purchased UGS, it set out to seamlessly integrate PLCs and PLM. Similarly, Dassault Systemes and Rockwell Automation have teamed up to tightly integrate control with simulation tools. People listen to Caie because “Jim not only understands automotive manufacturing and automation, but he had the vision to apply critical emerging technologies like digital manufacturing to the automotive production processes,” says Caie’s colleague, Dick Slanksy, senior analyst and PLM research director at ARC. These days, Caie is using his lessons learned to help influence an entire industry. His message: Embrace a common system strategy, have a consistent design process, and link digital manufacturing with engineering and operations databases. “That’s what I preach, and it’s not based on being a technical expert; it’s based on my experience,” he says. ma 22 2008

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

Managing Automation- July 2008 Contents Take 1 HP's Acquisition of EDS May Face Integration, Global Delivery Challenges Rimini Plans to Woo SAP Support Users Rockwell Steps Up Its Activities in Software Microsoft Targets the Process of Innovation Supply Chain Standouts Honored by AMR Notes Who Are Today's Influential Thinkers? The Robot Revolution Is the Price Right? Without a Trace Harvesting the Suggestion Box Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

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