OEE is the best tool to make an investment decision. 

The OEE is the Overall Equipment Effectiveness. This is a universal concept to measure the productivity in a manufacturing sector. 

Typically OEE of the most efficient manufacturing setup lies between 70 to 80 %.  Even though the availability of the machine is 99% or more, the OEE will be less because it is a product of Availability, Performance, and Quality. 

In today's manufacturing situation in India, we have seen many companies calculate OEE by use of EXCEL Sheet by data entry of downtime, uptime & quality figures. In a typical job shop, the customer will generally ask about the OEE figures while giving the production orders. Hence there is a possibility of data manipulation or manual errors while calculating the OEE because they want to show a higher OEE to get the order.

Therefore this is not a true picture of productivity.

These companies are not digitally matured companies. They are still using Industry 3.0 standard. To shift to Industry 4.0, the basic requirement is to convert the production data into digital form. Let me explain. It is not simply taking the data and storing it in digital form. The production data must be captured automatically by the system. This data will be error-free. There should be no manual intervention. Then use OEE to check the productivity. We have seen that in some companies, the live OEE was about 40 %. In such a case, there is an ample scope to improve the productivity. The management needs to focus on his aspect & invest in the productivity improvement tool. The best way is to install the CIMCO system. Then analyze the captured data. Take action to reduce the downtimes. Then again do the analysis in the next month to compare productivity with previous months. Normally it will take about 4 to 6 months for the mid-sized companies to gain 10 to 15 % productivity rise.

Once the true OEE is greater than 70 %,  then only management needs to think about investing their funds to increase the machinery through Capital Investment. Thus the OEE is the best tool to make an investment decision.

 

Voice Messages for the Operator & Shop Supervisor

 

CIMCO Machine Monitoring System is one of the most universal solutions for Industry4.0 A new feature has been added. Whenever the machine stops, the operator will get a Voice Message to enter the downtime. If the production is lagging behind the set utilization again a voice message & warning light (Yellow) will give the message.

If needed, we can use this signal to lock the machine. It means, that unless the operator gives the downtime reason code, the machine will not start.

Or, we may just give a Voice message, that

Enter Downtime. Once the downtime is entered, the voice message will stop.

When the machine is back in production the voice message stops. Each action & message is recorded along with the time & date for analysis purposes.

 

Technical workshop on 3rd & 4th Dec 2021

To promote Industry 4.0 & to educate CNC users on this subject, Digitech Engineers had arranged a technical workshop on the subject on 3rd & 4th Dec 2021. Not only people from Pune, but some people came from Mumbai to attend the workshop

 

All practicals were performed using Sinmerik 808 Control System.  Android TAB was also used for downtime entry.

Technical Workshop on CNC Networking & Industry 4.0

One day technical workshop was arranged by Digitech Engineers, at Kothrud Office. The event took place on 12th July 2022. It was attended by 10 participants.  Digitech arranged both theory & practicals on the subject.

Ms Dhanashree introduced Mr. Deepak Bodhani & Mr. Jitendra Paygude. The topics covered were Ethernet DNC, Blue Tooth DNC, and Wi-Fi DNC. Each type of DNC was practically shown using CIMCO-DNC Software. The participants were given a free hand for handling all such technical devices. The wireless range of Blue Tooth was about 100 meters with the default antenna. 

SD 1000 U was used during the practicals of Bluetooth DNC. The software used was CIMCO.

In the practical of Wi-Fi DNC, MOXA device W2150  was used by Mr. Jitendra Paygude. In the ethernet DNC, a Serial to Ethernet device was used.

In the post-lunch session, Mr. Deepak Bodhani explained the concept of Industry 4.0 with the help of the PowerPoint Slide Show. Later, the Sinumerik 808-D controller interfaced with CIMCO Machine Monitoring System. 

   

FAQ : CIMCO NC Base for CNC Programmers

When there are multiple CNC Machines & a large number of NC files, it is difficult to manage & control these files. Many times, there are two or more files, with some changes inside. Before you send it to CNC, you need to know if this is the latest version or not.

A simple solution is to install CIMCO-NC Base.

Watch this video. For any queries, contact Digitech Engineers on 7972889960.

What is OPC-UA & how it is used for Machine Monitoring

MDC at Fibro-Chakam

 CIMCO MDC installation in Fibro India Precision, Chakan

Fischer-Brodbeck GmbH (FIBRO) was founded in Weinsberg in 1958 and since 1974 has been part of the Läpple Group. Today FIBRO employees are active worldwide in the fields of standard parts and rotary tables. Fibro India has 10 CNC machines installed at their Chakan plant. 

They have a CIMCO Machine Monitoring system installed on 10 CNC machines. During the first phase, Digitech installed CIMCO Machine Monitoring called MDC (Manufacturing Data Collection) on one CNC machine for about 15 days trial free of cost. In the second phase, Fibro decided to go for a pilot project. The order for CIMCO-MDC was placed for 3 machines in the month of May 2021. The Plant Manager, Mr. Nimbalkar & his production team took initiative to design a "Report Format". Out of 16 losses, Fibro selected 7 losses to be incorporated in this pilot project. The installation was done in about 3 weeks' time. The maintenance team, IT person & supervisors we trained.

During the process, their maintenance person got trained well. Now, he is able to add new downtimes and set the system. 

For quick feedback to the management, Digitech offered a tachometer type of display. It looks like below.

In the month of Nov 2021, Fibro decided to install the same system on 7 machines. Thus there are now 10 machines that are being monitored using CIMCO-Machine Monitoring.