Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019 - 17

INDUSTRY 4.0

the biggest cost, that data is more valuable than machine statistics. To track productivity, employees are required to enter
their current activity into the database.
"Given that a lot of our processes are
fairly manual, it's important to know what
our employees are doing. That directly
translates to machine cycles, settings."
Such data entry could be punitively
time consuming, but Hooper says the system requirement was to design an interface which is "as easy as using a pencil".
Although such monitoring could be
considered mildly invasive, Hooper has a
salient answer. "Our people have adapted
well to the system. They understand that
this is supporting the business and without that support, the business might not
be here."
With regards to machine settings, rubber production still beneﬁts from operators who can manage the 'dark arts' of
machine optimisation. As Hooper points
out, as the building is not air conditioned
ambient temperature can have a detrimental eﬀect on the curing process if it's
not taken into account. Even the age of a
compound aﬀects performance.
"Rubber is a fairly live material, so fresh
compound will mould slightly diﬀerently
to older product. A good moulder can get
a better result where an inexperienced
person cannot," he says.

Hooper says that this is one reason
why implementing Industry 4.0 across
the business has been a struggle. The
ﬁxed cycle times of injection moulding
machines makes them far easier to monitor over rubber moulders, which can run
variable cycle times based on whether it's
summer or winter.
With that in mind, he says the search is on
for a new company location, although the
goal is to remain in the Southampton area
so as to not unnecessarily lose any talent.
New buildings should also help support the IT systems. As a historic location,
cabling and other system elements have
been organised as best they can, but are
still visible across the diﬀerent oﬃces and
workshops which make up the business.
While it may not be the prettiest execution of an ERP network, functionality is the
name of the game. To that end, Martin's
Rubber was a ﬁnalist in the Smart Factory
awards in 2018. While they didn't win, the
company is still put forward as a benchmark of what can be achieved when implementing Industry 4.0.
"Over the past 30 years, we've invested
a seven-ﬁgure number in software, systems and people," says Hooper. "We've
been down a few blind alleys, but now
we're really starting to see the dividends
of the work and that's proactively driving
the business in a positive direction."

Racking supports rapid tool change
times

Screens outlining current performance
feature around the company premises

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Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019

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