Every stage of manufacturing/processing, through packaging and shipping finished product, involves at least some aspect of material handling. And the sector is integral to the push toward enterprise integration.
"The industry has responded with increased automated solutions that are incredibly flexible, fast, portable, adjustable, and cost effective," states Ed Romaine, director of marketing & E-commerce/business development at Remstar. The company''s automated carousels, VLMs and inventory management software "provide financial ROI/IRR on our projects which show rates of return often from 3 months to 18 months." Remstar''s FastPic Parts Locator, illustrated, integrates into an existing IT structure to increase workstation communications.
Romaine continues: "We see a move to low risk and quickly implemented systems. Huge WMS and ERP systems and miles of conveyor make sense in many facilities, but today many companies feel they have made ''the investment'' and now need to hone and modify their facility to improve efficiencies to increase profitability." (Click here for more.)
"As existing technologies are refined and new technologies are introduced, design/build/integration cycles will become increasingly shorter," according to Dave Martin, president of FKI Logistex North America. "Even today, the time it takes to design, implement, and integrate systems has migrated from years to months, and in some cases, months to weeks. Systems will come online faster, with fewer problems, maximizing uptimes and ROI."
Martin expects to see modular and scalable controls that allow "operators to custom-tailor them to their specific needs on a per-application basis, lowering costs and extending product lifecycles." He also points to the growing importance of material handling control systems (MHCS), citing ARC Advisory statistics showing shipments of MHCS software and services of nearly $493 million in 2001, and a projected 13% compounded annual growth rate in the next five years. He explains that "unlike traditional WMS, which are historical, inventory-based systems with an end-of-day reconciliation structure, MHCS are transaction-based middleware that turn the system into a proactive, predictive system, allowing supervisors to make crucial decisions based on real-time data." (Click here for more.)
The latest communication tools let automated guided vehicles "talk to all systems in the plant floor," says Claude Imbleau, president of Transbotics, while teach-in systems "can be easily created with little or no training to the user." (Click here for more.) Even as AGV software grows more complex, "ease of use is simultaneously being simplified," comments Debbie E. Bishop, marketing manager at AGV Products Inc. Intelligent software powers "advanced functions as precise material tracking, inventory control and even quality assurance," she adds. (Click here for more.)
According to Romaine, "Every [Remstar] vertical carousel and shuttle VLM comes Ethernet capable to be easily integrated into a facilities network for remote monitoring and servicing via internal network or Internet."
Downtime can be reduced through redundancy systems, Imbleau relates. "We already have the ability to monitor systems off-site. We have just begun integrating other remote monitoring of systems through the use of pagers." Bishop agrees, noting that the Internet "allows us to quickly identify situations when they occur and take corrective actions," and also has a "service role for guidepath changes on laser guided systems."
Web-based monitoring and automated maintenance notifications are most widely implemented in the MH sector, notes Tony Gerace, partner and leader of Tompkins Associates Integration Dimension. Romaine cautions that "having parts available from local certified technicians is vital."
Gerace tells IEN that XML remains the "growing technology for defining flexible data and system interfaces." XML-based messaging brings "visibility into plant floor operations." Meanwhile soft PLC solutions, including the Tompkins Control System, offer equipment manufacturers a "flexible and easily upgradeable control capability," says Gerace. And embedded PLCs "refine the controls of a wide range of material handling equipment." (Click here for more.)
"In the ''good old days'' every piece of equipment was an isolated cog within a machine," Romaine notes. "Today the machine needs to be a fluid system. Flat file interfaces and open architecture needs to be the rule, not the exception."
Plant floor connectivity continues to grow. "As real-time data capture strategies are implemented," Martin tells IEN, "traditional static monitoring functions become predictive systems that can detect and report system anomalies before they reach a critical level. Armed with live data, system operators can take preemptive, proactive measures to correct the situation, giving them the maneuverability needed to meet rapidly changing conditions."
FKI Logistex also turns to the web to increase connectivity. "Web-based diagnostics and troubleshooting mean true 24/7 customer service and support and cost-savings by allowing problems to be diagnosed and corrected right away, rather than having to wait for a technician to arrive on-site," says Martin. "Web-based training programs give employees instant access to training tools, allowing them to learn at their own pace. In addition, web-based learning offers an effective, cost-efficient alternative to expensive on-site training sessions."
Remote has come to AGVs. "We already have AGVs operating in complete ''lights out'' applications," Bishop tells IEN. "We can also perform system service through web-based communications." Also in the works: increased AI capabilities. Explains Bishop: "Automated truck loading is on the horizon. Even with the non-uniformity of pallets in the U.S., AGVs will soon be able to scan the interior of a trailer, and through deductive reasoning, know exactly where to place a pallet during loading."
Gerace believes that remote material handling operations will move beyond hazardous applications only when industry faces a "significant increase in the cost of labor or a critical shortage of low cost laborers," a situation he believes is unlikely in the next five to 10 years.
Industry has been "adding more information-rich capabilities to existing safety equipment -- such as e-stops that also contain a fieldbus interface (DeviceNet) to provide status and diagnostic information," Gerace says. "We are currently using laser bumpers, which is a huge improvement over the mechanical bumpers," says Imbleau, allowing greater flexibility in range and speed. (Photo shows Transbotics'' dual conveyor LGV with laser bumpers and quad-steering capability.) Bishop points out that laser proximity sensors "are now becoming mainstream." Remstar''s VLMs are designed with multiple and redundant safety systems.
Adds Schneider Packaging Equipment Co''s Pete Squires: "Safety networks will greatly enhance the safety of plant floor equipment. Currently this is a very fragmented area. Safety suppliers need to work better together to avoid another ''bus war,'' so that this technology may be easily deployed." (Click here for more.)
Meanwhile "barcode compliance labeling requirements are driving the need for high-speed barcode verification and more efficient barcode label production across broad segments of the vendor community," notes Avery Dennison Printer Systems'' marketing director Mark Hansinger. Online devices, such as Avery Dennison''s Online Verifier, keep up with most print/apply labeling systems and benchtop label printers. "We''re seeing more applications where companies are achieving packaging line throughput of 50 to 60 items per minute. This means that materials handling managers need to either increase the speed of barcode verification systems or slow production rates to let older verifiers keep up," Hansinger points out. (Click here for more.)
Gerace believes that "manufacturers of barcode scanners are leading a push into ever-smaller and more-affordable vision-based systems," opening the door to "more information-rich barcodes (2-d, PDF) than previously practical."
"An abundance of good data is essential to the efficient operation of a busy warehouse, port, railway yard, or manufacturing facility," Richard Bauly, vp of strategy and business development at Psion Teklogix, tells IEN. The development of wireless local networks has greatly improved IT capabilities. Wi-Fi standards have "moved into the mainstream, from the back office to the front -- and even deeper into the back office as capability grows and infrastructure costs fall."
Bauly warns that "companies cannot afford infrastructure failures in key operational elements such as supply chain and manufacturing." He continues: "Many companies today operate mission-critical process across wireless infrastructures with certainty that they can count on the system to perform and be available, as much as they can with a wired network. And this certainty has been demonstrated in real-life scenarios." (Click here for more.)
Warehouse and material handling operations will see more wireless applications once the 802.11b Wi-Fi standard "becomes an accepted part of the information technology landscape," Gerace predicts. " The security concerns raised by many customers are being addressed by a wide variety of RF ''firewall'' systems from such industry heavyweights as Cisco and Symbol," he observes.
"Given the technology standards and advances of the last few years," adds Bauly, "we are entering a phase of information technology development where in the near future, wireless connectivity will become ubiquitous and taken for granted, much as today''s Ethernet connectivity is."
Bishop believes that it is essential to design today''s technologies "to coexist with other forms of material handling such as manual labor and fork trucks. From an end user''s perspective, we cannot expect an automatic phaseout of the ''old way'' of doing things. The manufacturing process always has, and will continue to evolve. With each step we get better at improving productivity and quality in an extremely competitive world market. However, from a software based technology provider''s perspective, there is no ''legacy'' software. It is essentially ''here-today, gone-tomorrow.'' Software is continually improving, always getting smarter."