Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019 - 15

industry 4.0

long the machine has been running, any
downtime, the performance over that uptime, the settings which were in use. This
supports traceability, critical to medical
applications and other industry sectors,"
says Capp.
But there is still a fundamental lack of
knowledge about what Industry 4.0 can
deliver, in terms of machine function and,
on an extended scale, improved operational efficiencies. By comparison, Capp
says that the Sodick production plant in
Thailand has Industry 4.0 capability across
the site, with that data being leveraged to
optimise performance.
"It's something we'll be pushing," he
adds. "We've got to be part of the solution.
As a further part, the [UK] government
should also come in with some support,
promote the technology. It's got massive
potential that's being missed."

Industry 4.0 goes downstream

"We're not a Lamborghini or Ferrari in the
injection machine market. I'd say we're
more of a Koenigsegg," says Conor Cooke.
In comparing the machines to the Swedish hypercars, Cooke highlights how Sodick
hardware can be seen as something of a
status symbol. Following through with that
thought, if you understand performance to
where you invest in a Sodick machine, then
it stands to reason you must be equally

adept in your own technical capbility.
Looking at Industry 4.0, Cooke says that
while machine operators can benefit from
analysis of machine data, more customers
are becoming interested in related performance so as to align downstream factory
processes.
"If a given production run is based
on an 85% uptime, should there be any
variance from that then the machine can
integrate with downstream operations to
advise of that deviation. [The machines]
have Euromap 67, which will be upgraded to Euromap 77 this year, and this supports cross-operation dialogues," he says.
Automated delivery of related data
can also help free up time across process
management. In days past, customers
might have demanded daily briefings covering production, but Industry 4.0 capability negates the need for these updates as
real time and historical performance data
is readily available, together with related
analysis.
"People speak about Industry 4.0 as
if it's some type of mythical entity," says
Cooke. "But what it's all about is a machine
- or series of machines - giving all that information to the next piece of equipment
that needs it and that feeds down across
the process.
"It basically gives people realistic expectations of what the machine can produce."

the sodick name is the amalgamation
of first letters from the Japanese motto

Shaping the future
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Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019

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