by Gary Mintchell | Nov 5, 2015 | Automation, Networking, News, Organizations, Technology
ODVA, the organization that develops and promotes networking protocols such as DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP, recently held its 17th Meeting.
ODVA’s Board of Directors for its 18th term are:
- Rolf Birkhofer, managing director for process solutions at Endress+Hauser,
- Thomas Bürger, vice president of engineering automation systems at Bosch Rexroth,
- Michael Höing, executive vice-president of cross divisional functions at Weidmüller Interface,
- Fabrice Jadot, senior vice-president for innovation and technology and CTO for the industry business of Schneider Electric,
- Tony Shakib, vice president of business development for the Internet of Things Business Development at Cisco Systems,
- Masaru Takeuchi, general manager of controller business and automation systems for industrial automation business at Omron, and
- Jürgen Weinhofer, vice-president for common architecture and technology for Rockwell Automation.
Officers for the 18th term are:
- Katherine Voss, president & executive director.
- Joakim Wiberg, chief technology officer,
- Christopher Lynch, secretary, and
- Jürgen Weinhofer, treasurer.
ODVA’s Technical Review Board (TRB) are Mr. Rudy Belliardi of Schneider Electric, Mr. Paul Didier of Cisco Systems, Dr. Jörg Hähniche of Endress+Hauser, Dr. Ludwig Leurs of Bosch Rexroth, Mr. Shinji Murayama of Omron, Mr. Eric Scott of Molex, Mr. Dave VanGompel of Rockwell Automation, and Mr. Joakim Wiberg of HMS Industrial Networks. As ODVA’s chief technology officer, Joakim Wiberg will be the TRB chairperson.
Smart Factory
In a keynote speech given by Prof. Dr.-Ing Detlef Zühlke, executive chairman of SmartFactory, he announced that the 2016 SmartFactory Demonstrator will include a proof of concept implementation of ODVA’s machine data model. The proof of concept will be supported by ODVA principal member Bosch Rexroth, which is also an executive member of SmartFactory.
ODVA’s machine data model is a result of ODVA’s initiative for the Optimization of Machine Integration (OMI) which was first announced in 2011 in cooperation with Sercos International and the OPC Foundation.
The OMI initiative is focused on techniques to optimize the integration of manufacturing machinery with the industrial ecosystem. One of the key machine integration problems that OMI seeks to solve is the streamlining and standardization of heterogeneous communication interfaces, such as CIP and Sercos, in order to enable standard reporting methods and tools across machines and thus aid in the management of machines and the monitoring of their states.
To investigate and develop standards in this area, ODVA established a Special Interest Group (SIG) for Machinery Information with participants from ODVA principal members Bosch Rexroth, Rockwell Automation, and Schneider Electric along with invited experts from OPC Foundation and Sercos International. The SIG has now completed its first phase of work to define a standard approach to machine data models which will then be mapped to the structures in CIP, OPC-UA, and Sercos. The 2016 SmartFactory production cell sponsored by Bosch Rexroth will illustrate the benefits of this approach.
“The concepts and standards being developed as a result of ODVA’s initiative for the Optimization of Machine Integration are well aligned with the goals of the SmartFactory,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing Detlef Zühlke, executive chairman of the Technology-Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V. “The concepts for ODVA’s machine data model will be a welcome addition to the SmartFactory demonstrator in 2016.”
“Certain types of data are typical to machine-to-supervisory communication. This data can be placed into logical groupings such as base machine context, conditioning monitoring, energy, safety, machine diagnostics, machine states, production recipes and product information,” stated Dr. Ludwig Leurs, co-chair of ODVA’s SIG for Machinery Information and engineering manager of Ethernet convergence for Bosch Rexroth. “The SmartFactory demonstrator will allow the SIG participants to prove out the concepts in ODVA’s machine data model before completing final specification for the model and its mapping to the protocol standards.”
“The concept of ODVA’s machine data model is groundbreaking because it applies the concept of “Things” as conceived in the Industrial Internet of Things to the machine itself,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director. “The alignment of SmartFactory with the Industrie 4.0 initiative, and thus the Industrial Internet of Things, makes the 2016 SmartFactory demonstrator an ideal venue to illustrate the benefits of ODVA’s concept of the machine.”
ODVA’s machine data model will be integrated into the Bosch Rexroth production cell for 2016 SmartFactory demonstrator that will premiere at Hannover Fair 2016 on April 25, 2016.
The Technology Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V. was founded in 2005 as a non-profit association to establish a network of industrial and research partners which initiate and implement together research and development projects ranging from base technologies to the development of marketable products.
Today SmartFactory is a manufacturer-independent demonstration and research platform and unique in Europe.
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 4, 2015 | Events, Safety
I’m wrapping up my coverage of the EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference held last week in Greenville, SC. I covered the Technology Track sponsored by Rockwell Automation.
Steve Ludwig, safety program manager at Rockwell Automation, presented on the impact of the evolving workforce on safety.
Workforce changes
“We are facing a shortage of skilled workforce, and it is a global issue,” began Ludwig. “The average age of skilled worker is 56, and this demographic is prone not to delay retirement. Add to this the fact that birth rates have declined for the last 35 years, so we do not have the usual situation of increasing population to fuel economic growth.
There are now more inexperienced workers who are more at risk. This is not just a situation for your plant, but also for the plants of all your suppliers. Businesses face supply chain interruption, reputational / brand risk. Businesses face not only an aging workforce that may be prone to injury, but also a younger, less experience workforce that tend to have more frequent acute injuries.
When Ludwig asked attendees, “How do we improve with a changing workforce?” most responded that they were proactively going out to schools to recruit and evangelize manufacturing. They were also assuming much responsibility for helping train young people.
Connected enterprise for safety
Jeff Winter of system integrator Grantek discussed connecting the enterprise for safety. He noted a problem that continues to exist is that dashboards rely on manual data collection and input.
There are three “Eras” of safety technology–initially just preventing access; then detecting access (something that increased both safety and productivity); today controlling access (integrated safety into machine, about as productive as you can get).
“EHS must get a chair at the table when data collection and analysis are being discussed in the plant or company,” he concluded. Winter continued with this advice, “Ask for data on actions such as emergency stops, intrusions, shut downs.”
Beyond lockout, tagout
Turning to electrical safety specifically, Jimi Michalscheck business development manager for safety looked at going beyond Lockout Tagout (LOTO). His point was how to balance safety with production. He posited a system of engineered safety control, which he called a new way of addressing LOTO.
“If you haven’t designed an alternative, then you must use LOTO (OSHA). To prevent unexpected restart of the equipment during service from causing harm to employees.”
Engineering safe alternatives. Think of your machine as simple components. For example, a case packer. Notorious for frequent need for getting into it, so also for citations. Using Alternative Protective Measure (APM), design the machine in components. Task specific, area specific, documented (know that the service area is protected for the reach of the worker). APM developed must provide the same or greater level of protection as LOTO in order to comply with CFR1910.147.
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 3, 2015 | Automation, Safety
Mike Douglas, Sr. Manager of Health and Safety Engineering, at General Motors, spoke at the Technology track of the EHS Today’s Safety Leadership Conference on steps to getting to a safety consciousness within a company. He had led the team that changed GM from the top down into a safety-conscious company. The process included promoting safety as a brand within the company.
Using the model of the Safety Maturity Index, Douglas discussed culture, capital, and compliance.
Cultural involves what people say at the water cooler. You have to ask is safety a priority or a value. Priorities change but values don’t. That means working to assure safety is in the company DNA.
If you have achieved bringing safety into a key place in the company’s DNA, then it becomes time to put your money where your values are. In the Safety Maturity Index, this is called Capital. Douglas asks, “Have you committed to investing in design for safety? You must commit resources to perform the required due diligence to meet safety requirements. Further, ask, “Has your company performed throughput improvement analysis around safety investments?”
Finally, you must work on Compliance, the last stage of the Safety Maturity Index. Douglas asks, “Does your company follow a management system? Do you have specific performance standards that support the management system? Have resources been allocated and responsibilities assigned (governance, requirements, accountability)?
I noticed Douglas’ talk fit into a few trends most speakers discussed. One of these is the observation that business benefits accrue when safety becomes an integral part of not only culture, but also design. Douglas mentioned throughput (less downtime, for example) as a benefit that even financial managers can recognize.
Douglas had a final observation for Safety Leaders, “You have to be able to defend the system.” Change agents and leaders must either have this ability or develop it in order to achieve success.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 30, 2015 | Automation, Safety
Rockwell Automation sponsored a technology track at the EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference October 27-28, 2015 in Greenville, SC. The seven sessions discussed a variety of issues facing Safety Leaders in industry. These sessions focused on machine safety. Process safety is an entirely different ball game.
Shawn Galloway, president of ProAct Safety, and Steve Ludwig, safety program manager, presented ideas on Improving Safety Performance in a quick, TED-Talk-like pair of presentations. Even though this was the “Safety Technology” track, the seemingly soft topic of company culture was the topic to set the table for the day.
Galloway quoted Winston Churchill, “First we shape our dwellings, then they shape us.” The idea is that we set our culture and then it shapes the overall focus of the company. The key is to reinforce positive behavior.
He drew a circular diagram for the chemistry of safety cultural excellence: vulnerability->communication->measurement->passion->focus->expectations->proactive->accountability->reinforcement
Maturity Index for Machine Safety
Ludwig addressed Rockwell Automation’s Safety Maturity Index. You can find a podcast interview on this topic on my podcast site, Automation Minutes.
The Safety Maturity Index delineates three focuses: Culture (Behavioral), Compliance (procedural), Capital (technical). Each focus contains four levels: minimize investment, attain compliance, cost avoidance, operational excellence.
The key point is that one of the first things manufacturers need to do is to pay attention to developing a safety culture.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 28, 2015 | Automation, Safety
The EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference is this week in Greenville, SC. I’m there following the Safety Technology track sponsored by Rockwell Automation. I’ll have reports on information from the sessions in a later post. Rockwell used this opportunity to recognize the winners of its Safety Excellence Awards for leadership in manufacturing safety.
Rockwell Safety Excellence Awards Winners 2015
Four organizations received awards at this the third annual Manufacturing Safety Excellence Awards. The company recognized The Clorox Company, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC) for their leadership in applying a holistic approach to safety maturity across their organizations.
“This year’s recipients display a true commitment to safety maturity across their organizations,” said Mark Eitzman, safety market development manager, Rockwell Automation. “They’ve gone beyond approaching safety as a means to maintain compliance, and are embracing it at every level to achieve overall business goals.”
The Manufacturing Safety Excellence Awards honor companies that make workplace safety a core business value by building a comprehensive program based on three key pillars: a strong safety culture, well-executed compliance procedures, and effective use of contemporary safeguarding and automation technology through capital investments.
Following are the details about the award winners:
The Clorox Company: Tracy Glover, Jeff Deel, Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
The Clorox Company
Clorox makes collaboration between engineering and EHS inherent in every safety project. Safety has become ingrained in the company’s culture. “Safety became part of our global company culture when we labeled it a core value, instead of just a priority,” said Jeff Deel, electrical instrumentation and controls engineering manager, Clorox. “Priorities can change over time, but our values remain constant. While we’ve seen improvements in productivity, throughput and competitiveness, the real focus is on ensuring that our partners and employees are well taken care of.”
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company: Dennis McGavis and Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Global tire manufacturer Goodyear has taken a proactive approach to safety by creating a corporate culture that values the wellness and safety of its employees. It continually drives toward a goal of zero incidents and injuries. To help achieve this, engineering and EHS teams in manufacturing facilities around the world collaborate during all stages of introducing any new or retrofitted equipment or plants – from the design phase until final sign-off by the EHS team.
“When it comes to safety, compliance and regulations are certainly important. But in order to reach our target of zero incidents and injuries, we believe it is critical for our associates to make safety a personal value in their lives,” said Mike Porter, director of global EHS, Goodyear. “We’re very proud of the progress we’ve made with safety, but know that it’s a journey, and we’re committed to getting better every day.”
Kimberly-Clark: Peter Shen with Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Kimberly-Clark has a long-standing commitment to safety improvement and the health of its employees as one of the founders of the National Safety Council. “Safety is fundamental to our organizational DNA,” said Dennis G. Averill, CIH, CSP, global director of safety and hygiene, Kimberly-Clark. “We achieve success with everyone in the organization working and learning together, including engineering, EHS and operations. This collaboration is not only done conceptually, but also during the actual execution of risk assessments, safety standards development and more.”
The company also continues to achieve safety improvements through its R.E.A.L. strategy, which addresses safety from all angles, including risk mitigation, EHS management systems, accountability and leadership.
The Paper Converting Machine Company, Jill Thiede, Jason Stover, Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC)
As a manufacturer of tissue converting, packaging, envelope, nonwoven and flexographic printing technology and machines, PCMC has made functional safety an integral part of its machine design process. “We differentiate ourselves from competitors by guiding our customers through the safety process and educating them on the opportunities safety presents,” said Jason Stover, senior electrical project engineer, PCMC. “Some might not recognize safety as a fundamental part of the equipment, but by the time we’re done, they see the value.”
Past winners
The 2015 Manufacturing Safety Excellence Award recipients join a distinguished list of companies that have been recognized as safety leaders. Past winners include Bevcorp, Corning Environmental Technologies, General Motors, Procter & Gamble and the PepsiCo divisions of Walkers Crisps and Pepsi Flavors.
