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CYBERSECURITY Common issues in industrial control systems and how to manage them

2014 SOFTWARE CASE STUDY GUIDE The latest software solutions help manufacturers solve their biggest challenges

AUTOMATION UPFRONT Inside Mohawk College’s new Additive Manufacturing Resource Centre

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M AC H I N E D E S I G N • S YS T E M S • T E C H N O L O G Y

The

SECRET to my SUCCESS How one manufacturer experienced substantial growth during the industry’s most difficult years

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I N S I D e

DEPARTMENTS 4 5

FEATURES Cover photo by Brandon vandeCaveye/ Brandon David Photography

W h A T ’ S

FrOM tHe eDItOr AutOMAtION uPFrONt

In brief

COLUMNS 7

cOLuMNBus

8

AutOMAtION sOFtWAre

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INDustrY WAtcH

Ian Verhappen describes how to alleviate network noise Jeremy Pollard reviews AutomationDirect’s “Point of View” Windows-based software Paul Hogendoorn highlights the role values play in a company’s success

10 MAcHINe sAFetY

chris Brogli reveals how to design your safety system for improved uptime

11 LeAN INsIGHts

Dr. timothy Hill discusses automating data collection to fit in with your lean endeavours

26 DIstOrteD reALItIes

Dick Morley explains why size really does matter when working in groups

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The SeCreT To My SuCCeSS

How one manufacturer experienced substantial growth during the industry’s most difficult years

By Mary Del Ciancio

16

The 2014 SofTWare CaSe STuDy guiDe canadian manufacturers keep a leg up on the competition using the latest software solutions Compiled by Mary Del Ciancio

20

DefenCe in DePTh three common cybersecurity issues in industrial control systems and how to manage them

By Mark Fabro E-mail: info@murr.ca Ontario: 1 905-362-2211

Quebec & Maritimes: 1 51 Western Canada: 1 306-26

www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014 3 2014-09-03 9:32 AM

F R O M

T h e

e D I T O R www.automationmag.com

Survival of the fittest

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t’s a sad truth — there are fewer manufacturers around today than there were 10 years ago.

The recession of 2008-2009 was rough on the manufacturing industry, and many did not survive. There have been too many plant closures and layoffs over the last five years, resulting in the manufacturing industry representing 16 per cent of the economy about 10 years ago, to only 12 per cent today, according to a report released last spring

by CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal. But there’s good news. In the report, Tal suggests that factories that survived the recession have spent the time getting “leaner and meaner” as they prepared for recovery, and now they’re poised for better times.

How’d they do it? How did those manufacturers survive, while others did not? What’s their secret?

I needed to find out.

Manufacturing AUTOMATION columnist Paul success is all about Hogendoorn introduced me to one of his customers teamwork — a group — Andy Mavrokefalos from Attica Manufacturing in London, Ont. Hogendoorn spoke very highly of Mavof people working hard rokefalos, calling him “courageous” for the decisions he towards a common goal. made for his company during the recession. I wanted to interview him to learn his strategy. What did he do differently than those companies that didn’t make it?

During my interview with Mavrokefalos, I learned that not only did his company survive the recession, but it thrived during it, realizing substantial growth in the years following.

It was clear during our discussion that it’s not something that just happened. It’s not luck.

Attica survived because of strategies that were developed prior to the economy collapsing, but the company thrived because of decisions made during and following the recession.

(Read the article on page 12 to learn more.)

But Mavrokefalos is the first to admit he didn’t do it alone, and he raves about his employees.

“To its core, Attica is comprised of team members who are proud to be skilled trades people, technicians, programmers [and] engineers that work in concert with one another, and it shows in their workmanship,” he says.

Success is all about teamwork — a group of people working hard towards a common goal. It’s about continuous improvement, and the willingness to adapt to changes and explore new ideas. Look at any manufacturer who survived the recession, and this probably describes them to a T. It’s not one, single thing that results in success. It’s a combination of things — the right combination. While the exact recipe may be different for each company, it’s important to make sure you have all the ingredients so you can work on the winning combination.

It’s often difficult to get companies to talk about their strategies for success. They worry about revealing trade secrets and their competitive advantages. I get that. But the more we share our successes, the better off the entire Canadian manufacturing industry will be.

If you want to share your secret to success — how you survived the recession — I invite you to send me an email with your story.

A big thank you to Andy Mavrokefalos for sharing Attica’s story. Hopefully it helps others who are still struggling. •

Vol. 29, No.5

Canada’s leading publication providing industrial automation news and technology information aimed at the discrete and process industries.

Mary Del Ciancio Editor mdelciancio@annexweb.com

Svetlana Avrutin Art Director savrutin@annexweb.com

Paul Grossinger Editorial Director pgrossinger@annexweb.com

Kathryn Nyenhuis Account Co-ordinator knyenhuis@annexweb.com

Klaus B. Pirker Group Publisher kpirker@annexweb.com (905) 726-4670

Lisa Thomson Circulation Co-ordinator 866-790-6070 ext. 201 Fax: 877-624-1940 lthomson@annexweb.com

Dick Morley Ian Verhappen Dr. Timothy Hill Paul Hogendoorn Jeremy Pollard Columnists

Michael Fredericks President mfredericks@annexweb.com

Editorial Advisory Board Al Diggins, President and General Manager, Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium David Green, Technology and Business-to-Business Marketing Professional Piero Cherubini, Dean, Faculty of Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology Sherman Lang, Industrial Technology Advisor, Industrial Research Assistance Program, National Research Council of Canada Don McCrudden, Vice-President, Business Development, Festo Bill Valedis, Vice-President, Precision Training Products & Services Inc.

Manufacturing AUTOMATION is published seven times a year by Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. 222 Edward Street, Aurora, Ontario L4G 1W6 Tel: (905) 727–0077 Fax: (905) 727–0017 PM # 40065710

The contents of Manufacturing Automation are copyright ©2014 by Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. and may not be reproduced in whole or part without written consent.

Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication.

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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Members of Mary Del Ciancio mdelciancio@annexweb.com Follow me on Twitter @AutomationMag

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September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

A U T O M A T I O N

U P F R O N T

North American robotics market posts best quarter ever

F

In brief • Denso Corp. was fined $2.45 million by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for conspiring with other Japanese manufacturers in bidding on contracts to supply Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. with certain motor vehicle components. The Japanese manufacturer of motor vehicle components pled guilty to three counts of bid-rigging under Canada’s Competition Act. The Competition Bureau said it was the sixth guilty plea arising from its investigations involving motor vehicle components, with nearly $52 million in fines imposed by the courts since April 2013.

• Maple Armor Canada Inc. will build a new plant to manufacture fire alarm systems in Quebec, a move that will create 70 jobs once the plant

is operational. Solutions D’alarme Incendie Maple Armor, one of the first Chinese companies to invest in manufacturing in that province, says it will invest $30 million in the plant, which is expected to begin production by the end of 2015.

• Quebec-based Cascades Inc. is installing a new tissue-converting operation in Wagram, N.C., about 160 kilometres east of Charlotte.

The new plant will produce bathroom tissue, kitchen paper towels, paper napkins and hand towels. The US$55-million project is expected to start operation by the end of 2014.

With files from the Canadian Press

ueled by strong demand from manufacturing companies in all sectors, the North American robotics industry is off to its fastest start ever in 2014, according to new statistics released from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry’s trade group.

A record 14,135 robots valued at US$788 million were ordered from North American robotics companies in the first half of 2014, an increase of 30 per cent in units and 16 per cent in revenue over the same period in 2013.

The second quarter of 2014 was the main driver of the market’s record first half, with 8,197 robots valued at US$450 million sold to North American customers.

This performance shattered the previous record for a single quarter, exceeding the fourth quarter of 2012 by 31 per cent in units and 17 per cent in revenue.

Since 2010, the robotics market in North America has grown an average of 26 per cent per year leading up to its record-setting first half performance in 2014. At the same time, the unemployment rate in the United States has fallen precipitously over this period.

“In 2010, after one of the worst recessions in our nation’s history, unemployment in the U.S. was nearing 10 per cent,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of RIA. “Since then, amidst record years for robot sales, unemployment has steadily fallen toward pre-recessionary levels. The unemployment rate reached 6.1 per cent in June of this year, the lowest it has been since September of 2008.”

In addition to falling unemployment, manufacturing jobs are now returning to the U.S. because of automation.

“While we often hear that robots are job killers, just the opposite is true,” Burnstein added. “Robots save and create jobs.”

The automotive industry had the biggest impact on the second quarter’s performance, with 97 per cent more units ordered over the same quarter in 2013. Non-automotive industries — such as semiconductors, life sciences, and food and consumer goods — continued to grow by 22 per cent over the first half of 2013, but the strongest growth came in automotive-related industries. Robots ordered from automotive OEM and component industries grew by 36 per cent in the first half of 2014.

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www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014 5 2014-08-26 11:22 AM

A U T O M A T I O N

U P F R O N T

Mohawk College launches Additive Manufacturing resource Centre

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ohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Hamilton, Ont., has opened an Additive Manufacturing Resource Centre at its Fennell Campus.

The 1,500-square-foot facility, made possible by grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund, is a resource for both students and industry to explore the opportunities in 3D printing and additive manufacturing — in both metal and plastic. Students and industry partners will have the opportunity to print 3D models, prototypes, tooling and production parts, and test variations in a part’s shape, weight, thickness and density. They’ll be able to explore both design and manufacturing techniques in additive manufacturing.

“What sets us apart is the technology and the sophistication in the equipment we’ve got on the shop floor,” Robert Gerritsen, professor in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Technology, told Manufacturing AUTOMATION during a private tour of the facility.

Their “pride and joy” is an EOS M280 direct metal laser sintering machine, which has the capability of producing parts out of stainless steel, chrome, titanium, nickel, aluminum and other metals.

The college says they are one of two academic institutions in Canada with direct metal laser sintering technology.

The facility is also home to an EOS P395 selective laser sintering machine, which has the capability of producing

Go to our video portal at www.AutomationMag.com and watch two videos about the Additive Manufacturing Resource Centre, where you’ll learn more about the centre and the equipment they have in the lab.

“We are looking at turning out the next crop of engineers and designers that understand additive manufacturing.”

— Robert Gerritsen, Mohawk College parts in polyamide, polystyrene and thermoplastics. A Stratasys FDM printer and state-of-the-art design tools, as well as other additive accessories, are also in the lab.

The centre offers services where industry partners can explore rapid prototyping, reverse engineering and e-manufacturing.

“The industry who don’t have access to large amounts of capital or to one of these machines personally, can come in here and explore … whether or not they can make an existing part in additive manufacturing and see if they can be competitive, or take a new design or a part that has multiple components to it and make it as one as opposed to multiple parts,” says Tony Thoma, dean of Engineering Technology at Mohawk College. “The advantages are: you can be quick to market; you can avoid the cost of tooling and machining operations; [and] you can keep the drawings and your intellectual property in house.”

The mechanical engineering technology program at the collage is including the centre in its curriculum, and designing

Encoder solutions that just make sense.

course material around the lab. It will not only help students in the program gain valuable experience in the field, but it opens up opportunities for them to work with industry, and get co-op or part-time positions in their field, Thoma says.

“Our students will be ready when they graduate to design parts for additive manufacturing, know the difference between the pros and cons, and know when it’s appropriate to design a part for additive manufacturing versus traditional. And many of the companies have to learn this as well. Where’s the break-even point between saying that you want to make a part using additive manufacturing versus traditional methods? That’s where the key is from an economic point of view,” says Thoma.

Gerritsen adds, “Our primary focus here at Mohawk College is to prepare future-ready students. We are fulfilling that commitment by bringing in industrial-strength, state-of-the-art technology so that we prepare those students for a career out in industry, out in the field, where they’ve been exposed to the kind of

UNIQUE

M

emex Automation Inc., a manufacturer of Machine-toMachine (M2M) productivity solutions, has joined AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology.

The Burlington, Ont.-based company specializes in networking machine tools to management information systems.

“AMT is a recognized leader in the world of manufacturing in a number of significant areas. AMT drove the creation of MTConnect, the open and royaltyfree interoperability standard for shop floor connectivity, and over the past four years Memex Automation has played a key leadership role in developing the MTConnect community. We are very proud to be a member of AMT,” said David McPhail, president and CEO of Memex Automation.

What’s online?

Manufacturing AUTOMATION has launched a new video series focusing on machine safety tips, featuring Michael Wilson from Workplace Safety and Prevention Services. Part 1 shares tips to help you navigate through the Pre-Start health and Safety Review process. Part 2 highlights what a lockout program should look like. Part 3 outlines four important factors to keep in mind when assessing your safeguarding. Go to the video portal at www.AutomationMag.com to watch.

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technologies — additive manufacturing in this case –— that they may be very well working with out in industry, out in the real world. We are looking at turning out the next crop of engineers and designers that understand additive manufacturing, understand the advantages, understand the limitations [and] understand the idiosyncrasies of that particular process.”

For more information, or to arrange a tour of the facility, contact Tony Thoma (tony.thoma@mohawkcollege. ca) or Robert Gerritsen (robert.gerritsen@mohawkcollege.ca).

—By Mary Del Ciancio

Do you have SoMeThing To Say? Let us know what you think about our magazine and content.

Send your comments and thoughts to editor@automationmag.com.

Toll free: 1-866-698-1134 info@emphatec.com www.emphatec.com

September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

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Emphatec_MA_Sept.indd 1 2014-08-26 10:37 AM

2014-09-03 2:37 PM

C O L U M N B U S

How to alleviate network noise By iAN VerHAPPeN

E

very signal and network is going to have some noise, but good design practices can help minimize some of that “sound.”

The first step in achieving a better design is understanding where network noise comes from.

A typical digital communications network has multiple devices connected to a twisted wire pair, and terminators at both ends. The purpose of these terminators is to match the network impedance.

Impedance (Z) is measured in ohms. It is the ratio of voltage to the flow of current allowed, and is defined as the total opposition, combined effect of capacitance, inductance and resistance that a circuit offers a signal at a given frequency of a device or circuit to the flow of an alternating current (AC) at a given frequency. The key word for networks is frequency, which for each network type is related to the baud rate.

When network impedances are matched, the source and load impedance are equal, resulting in the network’s ability to operate at its peak efficiency. To achieve maximum power in a network, the transfer line impedance must match the source and load impedances. If the impedances are not matched, standing waves resulting from signal reflections will develop along the line. A signal reflection is similar to the behaviour of waves as they pass between mediums of different densities or a wave of water going against a mossy shore where it is largely absorbed versus a rocky pond shore or cliff where we see a lot of reflected ripples. Not having

matching impedance (terminators) on a digital network results in an impedance discontinuity or mismatch that will degrade the amplitude and phase accuracy, and results in reflections on the network.

Any cable can become a transmission line when it has a length greater than /8 at an operating frequency where =300/fMHZ. And all transmission lines have a characteristic impedance Zo that is a function of the line’s inductance and capacitance Zo=(L/C)0.5. Therefore, each spur or terminal on a network is a potential source for these reflections. And because these reflections are of different amplitudes and frequencies, there can quickly be a lot of signals at different amplitudes and wavelengths (frequencies) on any wire pair. The most reliable way to minimize/eliminate these reflections is to be sure the source and load impedances equal the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, as this minimizes signal reflections to eliminate one source of noise.

Though not an impedance problem, another source of noise on networks is electromagnetic interference (EMI) coupling caused by inductance of nearby power lines. This is one reason to use conduit, ground the shield and maintain minimum distances between different cable trays. The IEC has a standard — IEC 61000-5-2:1997 Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Part 5: Installation and Mitigation Guidelines — in which “Section 2: Earthing and Cabling” addresses tray spacing by assigning different classes to different types of cables based on the energy levels

Figure 1

they contain. The classes defined in the standard and shown in Figure 1 (with the suggested minimum spacing between them) are as follows: • Class 1 is for cables carrying very sensitive signals.

• Class 2 is for cables carrying slightly sensitive signals.

• Class 3 is for cables carrying slightly interfering signals.

• Class 4 is reserved for cables carrying strongly interfering signals.

• Class 5 and 6 are reserved for medium- and highvoltage supply distribution cables respectively.

Hopefully you now have a better understanding of two common sources of noise in a facility and how to prevent these problems in the first place. • Ian Verhappen, P.Eng. (iverhappen@gmail.com), is an ISA Fellow, ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP), and a recognized authority on Foundation Fieldbus and industrial communications technologies.

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www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014

7

2014-05-26 11:19 AM

A U T O M A T I O N

S O F T W A R e

My view of Point of View

By JereMy PollArd

A

utomationDirect’s “Point of View” (POV) Windows-based software is a feature-rich industrial HMI with SCADA tendencies designed for machine control as well as plant floor enterprise. To be clear, AutomationDirect has licensed the core of a third-party technology and value-added to it to create POV. It is hardware dongle runtime protected.

I thought that level of runtime protection was obsolete, but the cost — from US$495 — almost demands it.

I installed the product on XP SP3 and it took me a few tries since certain Microsoft components needed to be installed first. Once completed, the install went without a hitch. I The POV development environment shows the tabbed installed it standalone since POV comes as a interface and ribbon menu system client-server as well.

The one thing that an HMI must do is communicate with various hardware platforms, which leads on goes through a power cycle, the application will run. us into OPC drivers. POV supports AutomationDirect If this is a server (POV supports remote web users and hardware, but also most of the mainstream PLCs and remote management), then the remote users will still PACs with native drivers. Worksheets can be created for have access to their data and interfaces.

OPC components, however.

I created a basic project and screen. Since I have The interface is slick — very Office 2013 with rib- Rockwell hardware in my lab, I created the application bons, menus and right click content, and a tabbed screen around the PLC-5. area. The help system is voluminous; however, I found There are a few things that are not intuitive. Most it a bit rudimentary in places. Context-sensitive help is SCADA systems have scan classes for data logging and available and is accessed by pressing Shift-F1. It brings tags. This allows the developer to create timing demarup a ‘?’ cursor to select what you need help with. I would cation points for different data types, such as temperhave expected that POV would know when I pressed the ature and pressure. Temperature can be updated every ‘x’ seconds, while pressure may need a faster update in keys what I needed help with. A bit unorthodox.

POV does everything you would expect a SCADA the data logs. The default is 600 MSecs. You have to system to do — it handles alarming, data logging and create a new communication worksheet to change the optimized communications due to native drivers. It has timing or manually edit the project file. an interface with rich symbols and colour palettes, as Be aware of the web clients and mobile clients. Appliwell as security levels for user interaction. cation scaling isn’t automatic. You don’t have to totally One very cool feature is you can program the applica- recreate the application for a web client, but the application that you develop to start as a service, which means tion doesn’t scale for mobile. It’s best to create a tabular that when and if the computer the application is installed application for mobile users.

Creating a standalone application (HMI) is fairly straightforward. I created a screen and a startup script to produce a “Hello” message, and populated the screen with some runtime symbols, such as motors and buttons. They were animated with the lab PLC-5.

Tags were manually created, but you can import project tags using a CSV or text file import.

The symbols are named oddly. For instance, arrow left is arrow6. Select the symbols using the symbol menu by clicking on the directory name under system symbols to access.

The animation of the symbols is a little odd as well. POV is object-based and doesn’t assume anything, so if you want a symbol to rotate, you need to add that animation to the symbol directly.

It’s easy to do, but part of the learning curve.

Symbols can be created by merging symbols into a new one. Screen groups can also be created to minimize screen creation. Creating a menu screen and a user screen, then putting them together in a usable screen, allows the menu screen to be repurposed in a different group.

If you use linked symbols, changing the master symbol changes all instances of the symbol. Use unlinked symbols if you want independency.

AutomationDirect’s claim to fame is service and support. I had a conference call with the product team so I could ask some questions. Three of them spent an hour with me, which suggests to me that they are dedicated to helping.

Deploying POV as an HMI or smaller-scale SCADA system can be recommended, but give yourself some time to go through the learning curve. While I found the product slightly unintuitive, once it is learned it can provide the user with a solid platform.• Jeremy Pollard (jpollard@tsuonline.com) has been in the industrial automation industry for more than 25 years. He has worked as a systems integrator, consultant and educator.

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September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

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I ndustr y

W atc h

Value check

By Paul Hogendoorn

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y father-in-law is 81. It’s been over a quarter of a century since he retired from Goodyear, but every year he still attends the company golf tournament, and he keeps connected with many of his former colleagues.

The bulk of his career was in the time where people spent their whole working life with a single company, and where there was a reciprocated loyalty between employer and employee. (I still don’t dare to buy a different brand of tires because I know he would notice it right away, and in a small way, it would offend him.)

I entered the workforce at the beginning of the end of that era. As a field engineer for a large computer company, some of my co-workers were people who had been there for 30 or 40 years. During my second year there, one co-worker retired after 40-plus years, and the branch management arranged a small party to mark the event. His efforts were acknowledged in front of his peers, and he was given some bright luggage, along with all of our best wishes to start his retirement adventures.

Those were different times. Today, companies are different, employees are different, and the expectations are different. Many large corporations that were considered rock-solid for generations have completely disappeared because they couldn’t adapt to changing times or circumstances. Those that A company’s relationship survive or thrive today do so because they adapt, but often the strategic and corporate structure with its workforce should changes they make result in direct and sudden consequence to many of their employees. Even be as clear and obvious the employees that survive the consolidation, a reflection of its values reorganization, right-sizing, off-shoring or subcontracting event are affected; their confidence as its financial results, in their employment has been shaken, as has their basic trust in their employer. environmental stewardship Workers today are certainly different than in my father’s day, or even my day for that matter. and commitment to When I graduated, statistics were cited that customer satisfaction. suggested we should expect to change employment at least three times over the course of our career. Nowadays it seems that when people take a job, their attitude is that they’ll try it for a year or two to see if they like it, and then perhaps they’ll try something different. To some degree, I think this is just a reflection of a different generation in a different time; but I think it’s also a consequence of the fractured relationship between employers and employees in general. The trust has been broken.

Over the years, I have written a lot about vision; but this column is all about the other ingredient necessary for long-term success — values. A company’s relationship with its workforce should be as clear and obvious a reflection of its values as its financial results, environmental stewardship and commitment to customer satisfaction. The ebbs and flows of business will sometimes necessitate things that result in layoffs and job losses, but some companies seem to navigate through those times with far less impact on their people and their families than other companies.

In the last 30 years, I have spent a lot of time in many different manufacturing companies — large, medium and small. I can think of several companies in each category that have navigated through those times far better than most companies, with respect to causing a minimal disruptive effect to their workforce. They are intentional about keeping their people employed. It often takes creativity, sometimes courage, and always co-operation. Perhaps co-operation is the key; but co-operation is built on trust, and trust takes time to build.

It’s not a coincidence that those same companies — the ones that always seem to get through without breaking that relationship trust — are the ones that still enjoy that reciprocated loyalty. Their families drive the cars they help build, or use the brands they help produce. Their sons and daughters don’t just work there, they are proud to work there. The chatter at the coffee shop, or in the bowling lane, or at the company picnic, or the family barbecue, is never negative about the company.

They are part of their company’s extended family, and the company is part of their life’s fabric. This cannot be accomplished as a strategy, tactic or policy; it can only be realized as a company value.

Times do change, but values don’t. • Paul Hogendoorn (paul@tpi-3.com) is the founder of TPI Associates (www.tpi-3.com), an organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and business leaders pursue their vision and build their companies. www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014 win_MA_May.indd 1

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12-04-26 10:54 AM

M A C h I N e

S A F e T y

Design your safety system for improved uptime

By CHriS Brogli

I

t’s a belief that has persisted for decades — safety and productivity are squarely at odds with each other in the manufacturing environment. Safety has traditionally been associated with compliance, while productivity has been associated with competitiveness — both with separate, sometimes competing, paths to meet their individual goals.

Top-performing manufacturers, however, are showing this age-old notion the door with their use of contemporary approaches to safety. These leaders are using a combination of integrated safety solutions and standards to optimize machinery uptime. Simply put, safety is no longer just about safety; it’s also about minimizing the safety-related downtime events that hinder productivity.

The key is to expect safety events, and to utilize safety technologies that can minimize the length of those events. This begins in the design stage.

Designing safety into your machinery upfront, with an architectural view rather than a bolt-on solution, can result in a more holistic system that can be optimized for faster recovery. Understanding the standards that apply to various machinery designs — and when they make allowances for the latest safety technologies — is also crucial.

safety and productivity: the new normal The advent of integrated safety — technologies that connect and/or combine your safety and standard control systems — has opened new doors to productivity. Integrated safety helps ensure your safety system has a far lower impact on productivity by improving machinery availability, reducing mean time to repair (MTTR), and streamlining maintenance.

Integrated safety is at the core of what’s known as a design-for-recovery strategy, which requires that you treat safety events as expected events and design your machinery to recover as quickly as possible. That recovered downtime translates to more production time, which accumulates and can add up to significant profit improvements.

Consider a typical lockout/tagout downtime event: A safety system that is designed for recovery can speed up or perhaps eliminate some of the processes within a lockout/tagout event. Consider an improvement of just one minute to an entire lockout/tagout process that averages 12 minutes. If the production value per minute equals $1,000, and you have an average of eight downtime events per day in 350 production days per year, your savings would amount to $2.8 million annually.

Here’s how to realize these savings:

used as a safety workaround that seeks to improve productivity at the expense of safety. Plan to conduct a risk assessment, document the reliability of your alternative measure, and train your employees.

If used according to the letter and intent of the standards, alternative measures can provide significant productivity gains.

4. Diagnostics 2. safe speed Machinery servicing functions can be dangerous if they’re carried out when machinery is operating, but they’re also time consuming when machinery must be shut down. Because of this, plant floor personnel will too often find a workaround to a machinery safeguard and service the machinery while it’s running in an effort to save time — a recipe for disaster.

A safe-speed monitor device, part of your safety motion control system, allows you to bring machinery to a safe speed so operators can carry out tasks without completely stopping the machinery.

In some instances, a worker may need to interact with machinery, and safe speed can keep production running while this happens. In other instances, safe speed can help speed up tasks that might take longer if the machinery must go through the lockout/tagout cycle several times.

Safe-speed technology can be deployed through a dedicated speed-monitoring relay or embedded into drives and control modules with no need for additional wiring, making it easy to implement.

1. Lockout/tagout: Minor service exceptions

3. Zone control

Canadian standards require lockout/tagout during machinery servicing to prevent unexpected startup or release of stored energy that could cause injury. That often means performing the exhaustive lockout/tagout process several times per day for servicing events.

The standards, however, provide exceptions for minor tool adjustments and other minor servicing activities. Guidance for developing safety systems for these alternative measures is available in the standard CSA Z460.

The minor service exception should never be

Similar to safe speed, zone control maintains worker safety while limiting machinery downtime to help optimize productivity.

Using zone control, a specific area of your production process can stop or slow down while other zones continue to run at normal speed. This allows operators to safely enter a zone to carry out tasks while the rest of your production processes continue as normal.

The safety control system is responsible for providing protection for workers within the different

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September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

zones, and interfacing between the different zones.

A simple and low-cost safety relay architecture can suffice for two- or three-zone machinery configurations. For larger, more sophisticated configurations, a safety PAC should be used to ease implementation and recovery.

Like any other part of machinery, safety systems are subject to wiring faults, open gates or other machinery events that require maintenance or repairs and lead to downtime. When these events occur, they can send operators into a scurry trying to fix the machinery and identify the root of the problem.

Diagnostics play a critical role in your designfor-recovery strategy. Controlled from a safety PAC, distributed safety I/O modules can be located on the machinery close to sensors and actuators. These modules do more than ensure safety functions are operating correctly; they also pinpoint the source of a stoppage on your safety system and more quickly guide technicians to an effective restart.

The best approach to integrating safety systems for faster recovery is to connect each individual gate interlock to the safety logic device. This allows safety logic devices to communicate critical detailed information to the machinery control system so operators can stay informed of diagnostics within the safety circuit.

A safer future When you look at where manufacturing is headed — specifically with people and machinery working together in increasingly collaborative ways — the use of integrated safety is only becoming more important.

Ultimately, designing your machinery for the fastest possible recovery using contemporary safety technologies will translate to greater productivity and a stronger bottom line. • Chris Brogli is the global business development manager for safety at Rockwell Automation. He has 27 years of experience in electrical engineering, industrial automation and manufacturing.

L e A N

I N S I G h T S

What are you doing with your data?

By dr. TiMoTHy d. Hill, PH.d., ClSSMBB, PMP

I

read with interest a column by Jeff Hajek called “11 Common Continuous Improvement Mistakes You Are Probably Already Making.” Two of the items on the list — “Using averages” and “Collecting data without using it” — struck me as pertinent to any discussion of automation software, ERP software and other automated data collection systems.

In the “Using averages” section, the author explained that the average size, time or other measurement might make it look like you’re within tolerance, when in reality you have a high defect rate or a number of outliers that aren’t reflected in that average. Any average without a measure of dispersion or variability will be useless because it’s uncommon for averages alone to help you improve processes. He goes on to say, “Let’s say that your takt time on an assembly line is 12:07, and your average cycle time is 11:52 on all of your stations. Using the average would tell you that you are in good shape. However, you know nothing about how often you have to stop the line. The same holds true in virtually any meaningful metric. The average ship time compared to your target time tells you very little about on-time delivery…

Make sure you have some way of looking at the spread of your results rather than just the average.”

The same advice applies when using automation. You can collect vast amounts of information without answering the question of what you’ll be doing with it, whether everyone understands it and whether it will help you improve your processes.

In the “Collecting data without using it” section, Hajek makes the point that everything you do should be adding value to the customer — everything you do should have a purpose. I agree.

We often forget to ask how this step will add value for our customers during customer-facing processes because we get caught up in the way that we’ve always done things. This only gets worse when we think about our management and administrative processes.

When I deal with manufacturers, I often tell them that delays are caused by inefficiencies in the office.

Very often we believe that the more information we collect, the better off we’ll be. We spend huge amounts of resources collecting data. Then we spend more resources sorting, processing and compiling it. But how many times do we actually use that data?

Typically, we never get around to actually using it to make an improvement.

There is no return on that investment.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you automate your data collection to fit in with your lean endeavours: • Keep the numbers simple. Collect them in real time. Make sure that everyone knows what those numbers mean. Don’t have numbers that only one area will recognize. For example, one factory I was in had fancy charts set up — different ones for different areas. They were fed from their ERP system, but none were in real time. I set up a simple Andon board that used real-time data. The simple

“Custom from Standard”

numbers meant more to them than the data that was a day or two old.

We took the time to complete a task down from over 11 hours to just two and a half with the Andon board!

• If you’re going to automate your data collection, make sure you’re collecting the right data, displaying it at the right time and using it for the right purpose. Ideally, this data should be collected automatically and displayed immediately. If you’re a small shop, this still holds true (although you might have to make do with paper charts and tables instead of computer display screens). I often tell my clients that it doesn’t matter how the information gets down to the floor; it’s only important that it does.

• Co-ordinate with your ERP provider to develop an Andon board to show the status of all the jobs you’ve got going on. Knowing is better than guessing!

Let people know how they’re doing currently and let them know how well they’re doing compared to standard.

This information will be motivating for them. After all, engagement surveys tell us time and time again that people want feedback about how well they’re doing and they want their managers to listen to them. • Dr. Timothy Hill is an Industrial and Organizational Psychologist and Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with global expertise in Human Resources/Human Capital. He can be reached at drtim@kyoseicanada.ca.

Fans & Filters

Internal Assembly

Cable Management Sys.

Flex-Block (Plinth/Base)

Question from the floor QuestION: I’m trying to bring lean to a multi-plant operation, but it’s looking as if I’m getting as many different versions of lean as I’ve got locations or departments! How can I rectify this?

ANsWer: I’ve seen this happen when Factory “A” tries something, and then Factory “B” tries something else. They wind up following divergent paths and everyone gets their own version of lean. It’s best to try to co-ordinate the sites and start with something simple (i.e., a 5S or a kaizen), and then have them compare their notes by establishing a competition. First hold this “Kaizen Off” within each facility, and then the leaders go on to compete across facilities. By leading the way within the plants, you’ll be lining them up and showing them how to do the 5Ss or kaizens. By having them compete across plants, you’ll be reinforcing the standard approach to continuous improvement. I find that having the kaizen teams present in-plant to a management meeting works best. It brings the management team in on the kaizen efforts and lets everyone in the plant know what’s what. Try this first before you try co-ordinated training or hiring a development person. Remember, it takes about two years to build up a lean culture, so take your time.

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Rittal_MA_Sept.indd 1

www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014

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2014-08-13 2:56 PM

C o v e r

S tor y

secret to my Success How one manufacturer experienced substantial growth during the industry’s most difficult years

By Mary Del Ciancio

A

ndy Mavrokefalos calls himself a dreamer. But he is more than that.

The 43-year-old president of Attica Manufacturing, a CNC machine shop in London, Ont., also has the ability to turn his dreams into reality, and obstacles into opportunities.

It’s these dreams that led his company to substantial growth during some of the manufacturing industry’s most difficult years. In fact, from 2005 to 2013, Attica grew 174 per cent.

This past summer, Attica moved from a 24,000-square-foot facility to a 53,000-square-foot facility in London to accommodate this growth, and expanded into the U.S. with a 12,000-square-foot facility in Michigan.

What’s his secret? I sat down with Mavrokefalos to discuss his strategy, and he was very open about the factors that led to his company’s growth.

Photos by Brandon VandeCaveye/ Brandon David Photography

The

Attica’s conservative roots Mavrokefalos grew up in the manufacturing industry. His father Gerry owned C&M Machine Works Inc., a London-based machine shop specializing in replacement parts and machinery — and a company Mavrokefalos eventually became part owner of.

His dad’s philosophy was “if you don’t have the cash, you don’t buy it.” So Mavrokefalos had to justify — “really justify” — every purchase he wanted to make. It forced him to become creative and think outside of the box.

<

Andy Mavrokefalos is here with Tim Rasimus, vicepresident of Attica. Rasimus has been with the company since it was founded in 2002.

In 2002, with his father’s blessing, he froze his shares in C&M and founded Attica as a spinoff of his family’s company to specialize in OEM parts, though the two companies continue to work symbiotically. While Mavrokefalos admits he is more of a risk taker than his dad, the company’s conservative roots helped put Attica in a good cash position heading into the recession.

“My father has never been a fan of debt,” explains Mavrokefalos. “His only debts have been in real estate. This, combined with the practise of keeping retained earnings year over year, gave us both leverage (if we wished to borrow) and cash to purchase equipment. Our first six CNC machines were all paid from cash reserves.”

Mavrokefalos says the lesson he learned from his dad — who still runs C&M Machine Works — is to always have “both enough liquidity and a healthy balance sheet to seize future opportunities.”

Today, Attica borrows funds to purchase state-of-the-art equipment; however, the cash flow on these procurements is matched to work the company has been awarded.

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September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

Mavrokefalos just moved his company into a facility more than double the size of his previous shop in London, Ont.

Don’t stop investing When the economy collapsed in 2008/2009, many companies put a hold on spending, but not Attica.

“We pushed the gas pedal,” says Mavrokefalos.

He saw an opportunity and purchased more equipment because “there was so much good machinery on the market at the time,” he explains. “I got machinery at 50 per cent. They were dumping it. The states was like, ‘We have to unload all this capital,’ and so I started soaking it up.

“I was getting machinery at 50 cents on the dollar — not just because it was on sale, but because it offered something to the shop floor that we didn’t have before.”

As a rule of thumb, the company invests at least 10 per cent of its gross sales on new equipment. Since 2008, Attica has spent $3.02 million on CNC machinery alone — $1.07 million of that was spent in the first half of 2014.

Take advantage of government funding The company invests in its plant floor, but it doesn’t try to do it alone. Though Mavrokefalos doesn’t count on government funding as a condition for investment — he will invest regardless — he and his team seek out funding opportunities

where it makes sense.

In the past, they’ve been awarded $50,000 from the Yves Laundry Foundation for training; and $48,000 from Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters’ SMART program to purchase and implement hardware and software to monitor overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) at each machining cell. And they’ve recently been approved to receive 10 per cent — $243,000 — of project costs from the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund to enhance the plant floor, with the majority of funds allocated to CNC equipment. As a condition of this funding, they’ve agreed to invest $2.19 million of their own money and hire 12 new employees over the next four years.

Move from a capacity to a capability mindset Attica used to focus on capacity. When the team needed equipment, they purchased the same machines with the same capability.

“We wouldn’t fit the machine specifically to what we wanted to make. We just bought these generic machines, and when we were falling behind, we would just buy another one,” says Mavrokefalos.

As demand grew, they decided to start measuring OEE to determine if this was, in fact, the best approach for the company moving forward. www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014

13

Members of the Attica team standing in front of a CNC VTL: (back row, from left to right) Chris Ferket, engineering manager; Cameron Coulbeck, production supervisor – CNC Milling; Kyle Knapman, production supervisor – CNC Turning; Brent Jesney, quality manager; (from row) Andy Mavrokefalos, president; and Tim Rasimus, vice-president.

“We hypothesized that most of our time being spent was in set up or changeovers,” says Mavrokefalos. “And what actually became apparent was that the vast majority of the time, by over double, was wasted in loading and unloading the machine.”

Using constraint monitoring software/hardware that measures OEE, Attica was able to measure what was being produced and track both the cycle time and the time between cycles. Armed with that knowledge, the team started to choose machinery based on what it could do. And instead of buying the same machinery to increase capacity, they started buying, for example, indexing machinery that could machine on one side and load on the other.

Measuring OEE allowed them to understand how much their machines can produce in a day and when to tell customers they’re going to have their parts. It provided predictability.

This approach increased their efficiency, and they started buying two or three machines a year because of it — all different kinds of CNCs, from indexing vertical and horizontal machining centres to automatic bar-fed five- and eight-axis turning centres.

In 2008, Attica had eight CNC machining centres on the shop floor. Today, it has 19. The company has also increased the types of machines on the floor. In 2008, it had two types of CNC lathes and one type of CNC mill. Fast forward to 2014, and the company has six types of CNC lathes and four types of CNC mills.

Diversify your business Attica used the slow down of the recession to focus on bringing in new customers and to look at what gaps the company had in terms of sectors served.

Mavrokefalos maintains that one of his keys to success is that Attica is “customer selective.”

“You don’t do work just for anybody, or at least start to keep it in check,” he says. “Have a snowshoe, so to speak, at all times so you’re not going to sink. We were fortunate enough to do enough planning to be customer selective. We want… multiple customers in different sectors.”

Today, thanks to a focus on diversification, the company has customers in the food and beverage, health care, environmental and automotive industries, as well as the defence, surface transportation, chemical and packaging industries.

Continuous improvement is key

Chris Ferket, engineering manager, designs a fixture to hold an engine cradle for the Chevrolet Volt.

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September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

In 2008, Attica began focusing on lean manufacturing. It was one of 10 companies in the London area selected to learn about lean culture and 5S methodology, and the culture just stuck.

“It’s called a journey because it never ends,” Mavrokefalos says.

But he emphasizes the importance of company-wide participation for success.

“We’re here to work together, to eliminate the waste, and find out what’s causing a disruption or a waste inside the manufacturing process,” he says. “Let [employees] be engaged in that development. It’s very, very important. Otherwise they’re just

One of the company’s recent investments: a brand-new German travelling-column five-axis vertical machining centre.

ERP Support for Lean: The When, Why and How. “ We had to learn best

thinking, ‘I have eyes on me all the time,’ which is not the case. We’re working together. We’re going to do this together.”

practices, but we also needed to find out what we wanted our ERP to do, and to see if our hopes and dreams were viable.

”

Turning obstacles into opportunities In the United States, “Buy America” provisions require 100 per cent U.S. content for iron/steel and manufactured products in order to receive U.S. federal government grants to state, municipal or other organizations. Many Canadian manufacturers believe this puts their goods and services at a disadvantage. But not Mavrokefalos. He saw an opportunity and decided to open a facility in the U.S. that meets those requirements. That facility opened in Michigan — “a stone’s throw over the border” — this past summer.

But he quickly points out that they’re not moving production from Canada.

“We’re expanding in Canada and we’re expanding into the states. All that business is new,” he says. “We are excited to be able to claim both ‘Made in Canada’ and ‘Made in America.’”

Leslie Galbraith VP Finance Argus Industries

What’s next for attica?

Attica employs 32 full-time and five part-time/co-op employees, and is looking to hire an additional five full-time staff by the end of the year.

Moving forward, Mavrokefalos says Attica will investigate mergers and acquisitions as a growth strategy, particularly looking at shops with customers in sectors the company is not yet in. And, he says, they’ll continue to invest in machinery, training and staff, as well as automation — they’re looking at machines with robotic integration, with a focus on flexibility.

“I think we’re in a very good position to break record sales,” says Mavrokefalos.

“We are targeting to double [revenue] in the next four years. This can only be met by continuing to improve quality, delivery and competitive pricing with an ongoing commitment to all our stakeholders.”

But he doesn’t take all of the credit for the company’s success. He shares it with the “fantastic group of people” he works with — a group that loves exploring ideas and opportunities, solving problems and gets excited by change.

“I know we’ll succeed,” he says. “I don’t see failure as an option.” •

Visit www.syspro.com/LEAN Call 1-888-259-6666 ext. 5228 Email odete.passingham@ca.syspro.com

THE KEY TO SUCCESS there are several factors that contributed to Attica’s significant growth in recent years. Mavrokefalos has this advice for manufacturers looking to grow: Care about your employees. Know and respect their wants and needs.

Respect your customers and fulfill their needs. Try to look forward to see what they could want by looking at what their struggles are.

Don’t underestimate your competition.

Let data be your driver in terms of decision-making, and challenge your own assumptions.

Re-invest in your shop floor and take advantage of government funding when possible.

www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014 Syspro_MA_Sept.indd 1

15

2014-08-26 10:23 AM

A U T O M A T I O N

S O F T W A R e

THE 2014 SOFTWARE

CASE STUDY GUIDE

Canadian manufacturers keep a leg up on the competition using the latest software solutions CoMPiled By MAry del CiANCio

T

oday’s successful manufacturers produce quality products using efficient processes. But they don’t do it alone. The latest software solutions help manufacturers solve their biggest challenges — whether it’s eliminating waste, consolidating data or disseminating information across the enterprise.

Read on for seven success stories detailing how Canadian manufacturers leverage software in their facilities, with big results.

Epicor ERP helps manage seasonal demands

The Company: Athletica Sport Systems specializes in engineering, manufacturing and installing dasher boards and associated products for ice hockey and indoor soccer. The Waterloo, Ont.based company brings world-class sport solutions under the well-known Crystaplex, Border Patrol and GamePlex brands to customers worldwide, including universities, municipalities and private owners, and is the preferred rink equipment supplier of the NHL. In addition, Athletica has a growing Arena Services division, which accounts for a significant piece of the company’s business, particularly in the winter months during the off-season.

The Challenge: Athletica grew (fast) from entrepreneurial roots and tried to augment with spreadsheets and homegrown databases. While this was seemingly manageable back when Athletica was a $5-million company; today, the company has annual sales exceeding 16

$19 million and requires a sophisticated enterprise system to satisfy the needs of a larger organization.

“We were using homegrown systems that weren’t connected, and multiple spreadsheets of data that weren’t integrated,” says Bonnie Love, operations manager, Athletica.

Athletica’s business demands fluctuate significantly during hockey’s on- and off-seasons. The summer is a rush to manufacture custom hockey dasher board systems and other arena products made to the unique specifications of its customers — all with short turnaround times and delivered within the same week. In the winter, Athletica largely handles maintenance, product replacements and customer service requests. Due to the project-based nature of their business and the seasonality of the sports industry, forecasting and production planning was difficult.

“We needed a comprehensive system to give us better control, help us manage cash flow, provide insight into true project costs and inventory accuracy, and to better organize production scheduling,” says Love.

Athletica was previously challenged with overpaying for materials and erroneous inventory, among other complications as a result of information inaccuracy.

The Strategy: Athletica worked with Six S Partners, a Platinum member

September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

of the Epicor Inspired Partner Network, to select, implement and train on the next-generation Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Epicor ERP provides a robust financial management suite and engineer-toorder manufacturing solutions, among other enterprise applications, to help Athletica better manage costs, control inventory and optimize business assets, while also improving efficiency across multi-site operations.

The Results: Within the first 16 months of implementing Epicor, Athletica calculated a $225,000 ROI. Inventory accuracy contributed significantly to this success, along with downsizing administrative positions.

The solution also helped Athletica properly price its products and services.

Thanks to the detailed estimation, planning, scheduling, costing and supply chain logistics of Epicor, Athletica now has complete control and analysis of its projects.

A single, integrated system with information shared in real time across the enterprise has also improved customer responsiveness.

Athletica received a $164,000 grant from the government for its proven efficiency and competitive pricing strategy, which has enabled the company to earn more business and keep its manufacturing operations in Canada. www.epicor.com

Inductive Automation Fractionation plant boosts efficiency with cross-platform SCADA

The Company: Crude oil is used to make products that individuals and industries around the world rely on daily.

Through a process called “fractionation,” crude, unprocessed oil is separated into important byproducts. Enerchem International Inc., a leader in the production and distribution of hydrocarbon drilling and fracturing fluids, runs an entire facility at Slave Lake in Alberta to carry out the fractionation process.

The Challenge: Previously, Enerchem’s Slave Lake plant used an outmoded HMI system that required a lot of attention.

“With HMIs we’ve used in the past, we had to have two to three operators on each panel to be able to control it,” says Kevin Bouchard, director of plants and terminals for Enerchem.

“The existing system that was in place had a lot of flaws,” says Kyle Chase, CEO of Kymera Systems, a Canada-

based systems integrator that serves the industries of oil and gas, water/waste water, and other industries in Western Canada. “It was reporting using a different vendor’s package; it was exporting to a very primitive database; and all the reports were made up in Excel. It wasn’t very manageable or accessible.”

With just over 30,000 tags, the plant needed an HMI/SCADA system that could provide the entire facility with precise controls and far greater efficiency.

The Strategy: For the daunting task of maintaining and controlling this facility, Enerchem uses a flexible HMI, SCADA and MES software platform: Ignition by Inductive Automation.

In the fractionation process, raw crude oil is trucked into the facility and put through a series of preheats into the big crude furnace. The crude oil is super-heated, then moved into the fractionation tower where it is separated into three main byproducts: base oil, fracturing fluid and wax solvents. The byproducts are collected, processed and maintained by very tight controls, provided by Ignition, that maximize the yield from the crude oil process.

Fully leveraging Ignition and its builtin, cross-platform OPC-UA server, the Kymera Systems integration team helped Enerchem build a cost-effective system that has increased the efficiency of their processes. After taking out Enerchem’s old system, which lacked the adequate accessibility and manageability, Kymera Systems introduced Ignition.

With Ignition’s Java-based platform, Kymera Systems customized the system to fit Enerchem’s needs, and implemented a database, which made it easier for all of the operators to use and access years of facility data.

With its OPC-UA server, Ignition easily connects with multiple control networks, such as Ethernet/IP and Modbus. Ignition also acts as an OPCUA client, connecting to many PLCs, which have an embedded OPC-UA server. All of Enerchem’s facilities are connected through OPC-UA and share live plant information.

The Results: In the five years that the Enerchem Slave Lake facility has used Ignition, it has increased efficiency and helped the operators accomplish more.

One operator can control 10 to 15 processes at a time, reducing labour costs and boosting work output.

“With real-time remote access and trending capabilities, the overall efficiency of the yield of the product as compared to the crude we consume is much better,” says Bouchard. “Ignition has been an economical and profitable system for us.” www.inductiveautomation.com

Infor System helps manufacturer reduce data entry and improve lead times

The Company: Hammond Power Solutions (HPS) is the largest manufacturer of dry-type transformers in North America. The company engineers and manufactures a wide range of standard and custom transformers that are exported globally in electrical equipment and systems. Headquartered in Guelph, Ont., HPS has five manufacturing facilities and 11 distribution centres located throughout Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The Challenge: HPS was using a homegrown product configuration system for 10 years prior to adopting new technology. This old solution was not fully integrated across the company, making it very difficult for HPS’ management team to get a full picture of the company’s operations at any given time.

Over time, the software also became difficult to maintain, and adding new products and specifications into the mix only made the process more arduous.

As a result, day-to-day activities were very inefficient.

HPS wanted a solution that was managed centrally and would provide better service to its customers. More specifically, they were looking for a technology that would provide end-users with a tool to dynamically generate prices, quotes and orders, and provide the most accurate information to customers, dealers and manufacturers, while also running itself and providing a more compelling web experience.

The Strategy: Once HPS identified these pain points in their business, the company turned to Infor Product Configuration Management (PCM) and Infor Sales Portal to streamline the sales and production of their configured products. Infor PCM has a wide variety of applications that allows HPS to increase efficiency, including the ability to create bills of materials and develop manufacturing instructions as quotes are sent into their existing ERP system.

Through Infor Sales Portal, dealers and distributors can place and send quotes directly to HPS. Infor Sales Portal further supports dealers and distributors by allowing them to enter their own items.

The Results: Since implementation, HPS has been able to eliminate a significant amount of administrative work on the customer service side, improving data integrity and quality while reducing data entry. The company now has roughly 1,500 active users on a regular basis, resulting in nearly 1,000 quotes per week and around 200 new product configurations every day.

Moreover, HPS employees are also now able to calculate more accurate lead times and pricing for products that haven’t even been engineered yet — a big change from its legacy system.

Based on the needs of the end-user and product specifications, the system can also recommend which HPS manufacturing facility is best suited to make a specific product and how long it will take. This sophisticated integration and data quality allows HPS to work more efficiently and cut costs. www.infor.com

NetSuite Cloud-based ERP provides control over operations

The Company: Privately held and based in Ottawa, Ont., TrueNorth Avionics is an airborne connectivity company that designs, develops and manufactures satellite communication solutions for high-end corporate jets and VIP aircrafts.

TrueNorth enables jet owners and operators to offer airborne telecommunications equipment that allows passengers to stay connected while they’re in flight. Because TrueNorth delivers the ability to make critical phone calls, send and receive faxes, connect to the Internet and send email — regardless of travel schedule and location — the company’s products are in high demand, and its client base continues to grow rapidly.

The Challenge: Six years of rapid growth — including the establishment of international offices — put a strain on the company’s product development processes. TrueNorth needed to accelerate time-to-market for new product introductions without sacrificing quality.

The difficulties of managing fastchanging inventory figures and customer

demand magnified the impact of business decisions. In order to out-maneuver and out-innovate the competition, TrueNorth made a strategic decision to move towards lean manufacturing, seeking to eliminate any expenditures not focused on creating value for the end customer.

But TrueNorth introduced a twist into the lean manufacturing equation — cloud computing.

The Strategy: TrueNorth implemented cloud-based NetSuite ERP to provide greater control over its data and operational processes while eliminating the high capital costs of in-house servers and software, and the exorbitant IT resources required to troubleshoot and maintain those systems.

With the ERP system in place, Tr u e N o r t h ’s e x e c u t i v e t e a m recognized the need to make sure that precise, up-to-date product revision data and document approvals were reflected in NetSuite. To help control product changes, co-ordinate their supply chain and continue scaling production to meet demand, TrueNorth turned to BOMControl, a cloud-based product life cycle management (PLM) application.

The Results: Since the PLM implementation, TrueNorth can more readily maintain accuracy within and across multiple bills of materials (BOMs) without having to open up each BOM individually. Engineering change orders (ECOs) move quickly through review processes with less delay, fewer opportunities for error and greater efficiency. TrueNorth now keeps all core product data within PLM, which in turn seamlessly integrates with NetSuite. When a change takes place on the engineering side of the house, NetSuite is automatically updated with the information in the appropriate areas. Everyone has access to the up-to-date and accurate information that lets decision-making move along quickly.

The company now enjoys timely inventory views across the entire supply chain. The views are integrated with a demand planning module and real-time executive dashboards for comprehensive business decision-making.

As a result of the NetSuite and PLM integration, TrueNorth completed a critical audit and earned its first-ever AS9100 certification, demonstrating the company’s ability to achieve the highest level of quality in manufacturing in the aerospace industry.

This certification is required to sell to OEMs in TrueNorth’s target markets, an important expansion of its sales opportunities. www.netsuite.com

www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014

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A U T O M A T I O N

S O F T W A R e

omnify PLM helps electronics manufacturer deliver quality products

The Company: August Electronics is an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in Calgary, Alta. The company has a long-standing track record of customer satisfaction and productivity, as shown by a yearly recognition in Profit magazine’s PROFIT 200 — Canada’s top 200 fastest growing companies. As an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, August Electronics is committed to a philosophy of continuous quality improvement.

The Challenge: As an EMS provider, August Electronics receives product/ BOM information from customers in various formats, including emails,

ENERGY

spreadsheets and even phone calls.

Without an electronic system in place to track and manage this information, August would run into issues with duplicate data and wasted time spent searching for information. Its existing ERP system did not keep a history of any change/ECO process, and was not capable of storing and controlling documents. This made it difficult to gather all of the support documents needed with regards to engineering change and document control.

The Strategy: The company needed a software solution to electronically manage BOMs, keep track of ECO history, provide document revision control and integrate with its ERP system. August Electronics selected the Empower PLM solution from Omnify Software based on a recommendation from its ERP vendor.

The Results: “Omnify Empower offered exactly what we needed,” says Tanya Korenda, general manager at

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August Electronics. “It has allowed us to simplify and efficiently manage engineering changes, and document control is now easier than ever.”

The Omnify Empower system is integrated with August’s Intuitive ERP environment. Information is shared bidirectionally where released files are uploaded from Empower to Intuitive and data is also uploaded from Intuitive into Empower. Sharing this data electronically provides a guarantee that design and manufacturing have access to accurate and current product information.

“Omnify Empower makes it easier to find the information needed to communicate with customers by allowing us to tie much more information to parts and assemblies than would be possible with just ERP,” states Korenda.

Implementing Omnify Empower also helped August Electronics obtain ISO 9001 certification by supporting proper processes to meet the ISO Quality Management Systems requirements. With Empower PLM, August has the necessary controlled processes in place for managing product information and aiding continuous improvement practices.

“Our emphasis on quality, customer focus and innovative technology is what provides our customers with significant advantages in the marketplace,” says Korenda. “Adopting Omnify Empower to improve our development processes is another verification of our focus on consistently delivering high-quality products and services that meet our customer’s needs.” www.omnifysoft.com

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The Company: Iggesund Tools is a Laval, Que.-based supplier of knife systems for saw mill and pulp mill chipping, as well as saw mill debarking.

The Challenge: The tooling company needed to win business by delivering customized solutions at a faster pace and managing increased product complexity in less time.

“Some of the original equipment manufacturers are delivering machines with very short lead times, so for us to stay in the game, we must be able to deliver our tooling at an even faster rate than they can deliver the machine,” explains Ian Zinniger, engineering manager for Iggesund Tools’ Canadian operation. “For us,

September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

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the possibility of getting an order is often driven by how quickly we can deliver.

These days, this is as important as the technical merits of the solution.”

The company has three separate engineering sites. Each site had been working independently and, at times, designed its own version of the same part. Although it was inefficient, it was safer to work that way because the company had limited centralized data management. There was a similar problem sending data from the three engineering sites to the production facilities. Without good product data management (PDM) functionality, it was difficult to ensure that production worked with the latest revisions of the data.

The Strategy: The need to handle product data more efficiently and to drive down cycle times led Iggesund Tools to consider a new software solution. This need coincided with the demise of Iggesund Tools’ previous CAD/CAM software.

“We required robust, integrated design and manufacturing functionality,” says Zinniger. “But we also wanted that functionality to be integrated with PDM, which was seen as being crucial long-term for our success.”

After evaluating the options, Iggesund Tools’ management selected Siemens PLM Teamcenter and NX software.

The Results: The Siemens software delivered a managed development environment capable of handling the complexity of the company’s designs, along with powerful data control.

Teamcenter delivered the multi-site data control Iggesund Tools was looking for from a PDM system.

“We can move data between sites with the confidence that up-to-date versions are always being used,” says Zinniger.

This gave the company the ability to better leverage the work of the three engineering groups. The main advantage, however, was the ability to automate routine product design, including tasks such as modelling, drawing creation, engineering checks and implementation of engineering changes, all the way through to release.

“In the past, routine product design could take up to two to three weeks,” says Zinniger. “Today, using the knowledge capture and automation capabilities within NX, it can often be reduced to two to three days.”

Overall, delivery times to customers have been reduced, and faster cycle times have helped the company win new business.

“The use of NX and Teamcenter has allowed us to shave a week or more off of our delivery times compared to what we had in the past for our Canadian customers,” says Zinniger. “And this is happening even though our products are now much more complex and advanced.” www.plm.automation.siemens.com

The Company: Argus Industries opened in 1962 as a distributor of portable toilets. Today, headquartered in Winnipeg, Man., Argus is a mid-sized custom manufacturer with more than 80 employees. Its offerings comprise of rubber-moulded products and custom die-cut gasket seals.

In 2009, Argus’ CEO chair was assumed by Michael Easton, the company’s former vice-president of production. Easton, who had already implemented lean practices on the shop floor, now championed the adoption of lean across the entire company.

The Results: “With Ajay’s help,” says kaizen team member and process unit leader Mario Vechina, “we were able to automate processes that used to eat up a great deal of our time. One of the biggest gains for my department was to autogenerate the job card and have it linked to sales orders. That lets us automatically attach production drawings to the backside of the job cart. A 45-line PO that might have taken 3.5 hours to prepare the old way now only takes 30 to 45 minutes.”

© 2014 SCHUNK GmbH & Co. KG

Syspro The journey into kaizen

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The Challenge: In line with Easton’s drive for lean, vice-president of finance Leslie Galbraith, who has been with Argus since 1998, began to take a deeper look at the company’s ERP software.

In 2010, Galbraith attended a Syspro conference in Dallas.

“I began to understand the real strengths of ERP and what it could do for us. We had already invested a good deal of time and energy in moving the production floor to lean, and I was certain there was a lot we could do for the front office people as well.”

The Strategy: Argus’ executive team decided to start investing in ERP, and in June 2012, the company upgraded to Syspro 6.1.

“When we flipped the switch,” says Galbraith, “we saw some of our pains disappear. The following weekend, Syspro guru Ajay Saxena arrived from Ontario to spend a week with Argus, living and breathing our processes.

Ajay came up with some potential opportunities for improvement. From that our kaizen event was born.”

A kaizen event is an extremely focused short-term project that aims to improve one or more business processes. Argus’ event was five days long.

“We had to learn best practices,” says Galbraith, “but we also needed to find out what we wanted our ERP to do, and to see if our hopes and dreams were viable. The event comprised a full evaluation of our supply chain process, from order entry to fulfilment.”

Kaizen does more than improve productivity. It also eliminates unnecessarily hard work, teaches people how to spot and eliminate wasteful processes, and humanizes the workplace.

“The benefits we reaped were amazing,” says Galbraith. “A lot of changes came out of our kaizen event that resulted in enormous payback in terms of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and employee engagement.” www.syspro.com •

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26.02.14 15:21 www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014 19 2014-05-26 2:13 PM

C y B e R S e C U R I T y

DEFENCE IN DEPTH Three common cybersecurity issues in industrial control systems and how to manage them

By MArK FABro

T

he migration from traditionally isolated, purpose-built industrial control systems (ICS) to more modern IT infrastructures continues to be embraced by asset owners. However, modern IT can also bring previously unseen cybersecurity issues. More importantly, the operational requirements of control systems can create unintentional vulnerabilities that cannot be mitigated using contemporary security methods. All of these factors combine to create complexity in addressing cybersecurity risks in ICS environments.

Sometimes the problems are exacerbated due to the vulnerabilities that exist within the actual control system technology. Although vendors never introduce cybersecurity risk into their solutions intentionally, it is almost impossible to ensure applications for industrial automation are completely devoid of cyber vulnerabilities. To that end, asset owners and operators inherit the responsibility to create mitigations and compensating controls to reduce the cyber risk introduced by conventional IT for the control system applications themselves.

Contemporary cybersecurity best practices are useful within control system environments, but the nuances and complexity of industrial automation demand that the strategies be customized for the networks they’re protecting. This article will look at three common security practices applicable to ICS environments, and discuss realistic strategies to help manage them.

1. Interconnectivity Historically, companies separated information systems responsible for corporate operations from their industrial automation. Sometimes this was done for security reasons, and sometimes it was done because nobody knew how (or wanted) to connect the two. This “air gap” provided some protection against unauthorized users gaining access to critical control systems, but it was also time-consuming and costly to get information from the plant over to corporate. In addition, just because the control system wasn’t connected to an external network didn’t mean it was protected from cybersecurity threats (let’s not forget the trusted insider or the accidental introduction of virus-laden removable media).

As businesses grew, the requirements to get real-time information from the plant floor accelerated and the once separate networks were joined. However, industry quickly realized that by connecting these networks, new vulnerabilities were introduced that created exposure to once isolated control system networks. Over the years, industry has rapidly come to learn that this connection needs to be protected, but the deployment of traditional IT countermeasures doesn’t always work properly. In 20

September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

many cases, the security countermeasures and compensating controls introduce new complexity that, if not managed properly, ends up completely defeating the value proposition offered by integrating corporate and automation environments.

Most security-savvy organizations will introduce firewalls or other perimeter security technology to protect their mission-critical control systems, and configure the security technologies to facilitate effective data transfer between automation and business systems. In many cases, however, organizations fail to recognize that without very specific and granular configuration of these perimeter devices, they’re really not much safer than if there was no firewall there at all.

Modern firewalls or perimeter security appliances have an extensive capability to be configured to do things that firewalls couldn’t do even five years ago. Organizations need to protect interconnectivity between control systems and corporate systems in a truly bidirectional manner. Many entities feel that simple protection of the automation network from the corporate domain is sufficient, and forget to configure the security perimeter to protect against outbound threats as much as inbound. Historical analysis has shown that those networks that are protected from ingress attacks have done little to defend against an adversary who has been successful in attacking a network and used lax egress filtering to create outbound communications back to rogue sites. Of all the lessons learned that relate to securing interconnected corporate/control system networks, those that advise on protecting egress connections just as much as ingress connections have proved very beneficial in protecting critical automation cyber assets.

2. Malware protection and iCS Since Stuxnet (and more recently Havex), there has been a growing interest in control system-specific viruses and malware. Researchers, vendors and asset owners have for many years espoused the importance of having anti-malware capabilities within the control system, and evidence continues to suggest that protecting critical control system cyber assets from malicious software is mandatory.

However, antivirus and anti-malware tools can create undesirable situations on the plant floor. Critical servers and workstations, such as HMIs, can experience system latency or reduced screen refresh rates when an anti-malware application fires up to check the system. In addition, some asset owners have reported system crashes because the anti-malware system has erroneously tagged a critical file as a virus and quarantined it. Although these cases are rare, they are more than enough to convince some plant owners that using anti-malware on critical systems is a bad idea.

Fortunately, there are emerging strategies and alternatives to traditional

anti-malware programs, and they are providing options for those asset owners who remain reticent to deploy technology that could influence the behaviour of their systems.

First, the problem associated with anti-malware programs improperly identifying and isolating critical application files has gotten the attention of more than one control system vendor. Most major control system vendors have worked with numerous anti-malware vendors to define configurations and exclusion lists specific to automation applications and technology. The progress in this area has been considerable.

Many vendors can provide operators with very specific and detailed instruction on how to configure anti-malware technology so that it does not influence the control system in a negative way, and greatly reduces the risk associated with mission-critical files erroneously being sent to quarantine. In addition, exhaustive laboratory testing has created additional instructions that allow the operator to configure their anti-malware so there is more granular control over how much processing power the anti-malware application will use when running.

In addition, technology known as “application white listing” is becoming very popular. Traditionally referred to as “kernel locking,” this technology ensures that applications or programs that are not authorized to run on the computer are prohibited from writing to system memory. The technology was specifically created for systems that, once configured to perform a task, are not expected to deviate from that task. This allows the administrator of that system to ensure that only the programs and applications allowed to run will run, and any other programs introduced (either intentionally or accidentally) will be denied. This means that unauthorized applications or data — such as viruses or other artifacts often associated with hacker methods — will not be allowed to access system memory and won’t run.

The technology was designed to be used on systems that are purpose built and operate in deterministic and predictive environments. Although the concept of application white listing has not really been embraced on traditional IT and corporate environments, it is perfect for industrial automation because once the control system application and software have been configured for operations, it can be “locked down.”

3. Intrusion detection In the context of IT cybersecurity, intrusion detection is used to watch for and identify possible unauthorized or malicious network traffic. Intrusion detection is passive in nature and is based on events and alarms being sent to an administrator when a certain event or threshold number of events are met.

Contemporary cybersecurity plans and activities almost always include intrusion detection systems based on signature mapping or anomalies. The intrusion detection system watches the network traffic and compares it against a known list of bad traffic. If the system identifies traffic that matches one of its signatures, it sends an alarm or event notice to the security administrator. If the system is anomaly-based, it watches traffic patterns and traffic flows, and looks for notable deviations from expected and predetermined traffic envelopes.

Over the last several years, there has been tremendous progress in the area of control system cyber intrusion detection. Asset owners have worked closely with vendors to create effective intrusion detection methods that will be usable in automation environments, while not impacting the optimization or performance of the systems it is protecting. Considering that there are two primary types of intrusion detection systems — signature-based and anomaly-based — asset owners continue to have difficulty determining what system is best for them.

Although signature-based systems are very popular and are well supported by cybersecurity technology vendors, there are issues that make using a signature-based intrusion detection system difficult. First, the number of available signatures specific to cybersecurity and control systems is considerably smaller than what’s available for traditional IT domains. In addition, the signatures that are available for control systems are not ubiquitous across all control system environments and, in many cases, offer no value to the asset owner. Operators can create their own signatures, but there is a significant cost of ownership in doing that.

Second, there is a high level of commitment to ensure that the database of signatures used by the intrusion detection system is constantly accurate and up-to-date.

In most cases, operators and engineers within a facility simply do not have the time or skill to create and manage a signature update plan, nor do they have the time to write specific signatures on the devices unique to their automation environment. To that end, updating the database of signatures involves getting signature files into the intrusion detection system sitting within the control system network. This leads to an entirely new set of complex issues, as updating those signatures may involve a direct connection from the control system network out to a database to download the files.

As an alternative to using signature-based intrusion detection systems, asset owners are taking advantage of the deterministic and predictable behaviour of their control systems. Rather than creating/managing the process associated with signature-based systems, operators are creating intrusion detection rules based on what the system is supposed to do or what it is allowed to do. Relationships that involve communications

and networking between control system elements — such as engineering workstations, HMIs and PLCs — are usually very well established and well known. Within these deterministic environments, there are communication pathways that exist between control elements. Some of these are normal and expected, while others are not. For example, an HMI communicates directly with the historian and PLC, but the HMI does not talk to the firewall that protects the control system from the corporate domain. It is within the understanding of these simple relationships that very effective rules can be created.

Asset owners are beginning to realize that defining granular communication rules that exist within a control system is a viable option. Operators fully understand communications within their plant operation environment, and this knowledge can be leveraged into creating rules that define communications and traffic that is explicitly allowed in the network. As opposed to comparing all the data against a known set of signatures (bad traffic), if the intrusion detection system is taught a set of rules which define the normal operational envelope, the control system will be able to “trigger” when it sees something that is not expected or allowed.

The ease of implementing these rules combined with having the intrusion detection alert when it sees something out of the normal is exceptionally valuable. In most cases, the normal operational envelope will not change, so the cost of ownership and maintaining the intrusion detection system will decrease over time.

Although there are still some requirements for managing and responding to alerts, over time this functionality becomes well understood and easily manageable for an operator or administrator. The solution is extremely flexible, can be tuned over time, and creates a significant capability for an operator to detect possibly malicious activity on the control system network.

For example, an adversary on the control system network may not be able to perform exhaustive network reconnaissance without introducing traffic onto the network that is not allowed. If the attacker had compromised one machine on the control system and tried to communicate with every other device on the network, a security alert would be triggered every time the compromised machine attempted to communicate with a device it was not allowed to.

Although contemporary information technology can be used within control system architectures, it’s important for asset owners to know that the determinism and predictability of their control systems can provide significant value in creating and managing the cybersecurity controls. Explore these solutions and alternatives, and take advantage of the fact that there is a significant amount of information available. • Mark Fabro is the president and chief security scientist for Lofty Perch (www.loftyperch. com), a Markham, Ont.-based security technology company focused on SCADA and control system cybersecurity.

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P R O D U C T S

P lC Programmable logic relay system

Phoenix Contact says PLC Logic, the company’s programmable logic relay system, combines the strengths of an established relay technology with logic functions in a single package.

The system, suited for small automation tasks, has a modular design, features plug-in relays and enables flexible assembly, depending on the switching task. The system consists of logic modules, the PLC-Interface relay system, and the Logic+ software that requires no previous experience in this area. To start up the system, the logic modules are plugged into eight relay modules. A compact, 50-mm-wide logic module can process 16 input/output signals. The base module can be expanded with up to two add-on modules for more complex applications, making it possible to process up to 48 input/output signals. www.phoenixcontact.ca

PoWer

SuPPlieS

Multi-voltage capacitive sensors

Carlo Gavazzi’s multi-voltage CA30CLN12M Series Capacitive Sensor with relay and optional time delay output provides detection of solid, fluid or granulated substances. It is equipped with a two-amp SPDT relay output, with a time delay of up to 10 minutes. The CA30CLN12M Series is constructed in a threaded M30 housing for simplified mounting ease. The back of the sensor features up to two IP67-integrated adjustment potentiometers for adjusting the sensing distance, and an optional potentiometer for the time delay. www.GavazziOnline.com

diagnostics with configurable warning and alarm levels, and alerts maintenance and operations personnel to irregularities, faults and impending failures. This promotes proactive maintenance to help eliminate unexpected and expensive downtime. The power supply diagnostic module is modular and hot-swappable, and integrates into plant asset management systems through RS485/HART, EDDL or FDT/DTM technologies. www.pepperl-fuchs.us

Dc-Ac inverters

remote switch actuators

Power supply diagnostic module

Pepperl+Fuchs’ PS3500 Diagnostic Module continuously monitors the health and efficiency of PS3500 Power Supplies and primary side power conditions. The module provides real-time

away, reducing the need for arc-flash hazard suits and eliminating all hazardous manual contact with gear during operation, the company says. The actuator requires no modifications for switchgear mounting, and operators can move the actuator from one breaker to another. www.CBSArcSafe.com

CBS ArcSafe has introduced a remote switch actuator for its ABB/Sace Isomax series low-voltage power circuit breakers. Designed for the ABB/Sace Isomax S7 moulded case circuit breaker with a current rating of 1,200 amps, the CBS ArcSafe RSA-145E allows technicians to safely close and/or trip breakers outside of the arc-flash hazard boundary without any modification to the breaker. When accompanied by an applicable CBS ArcSafe remote switch operator control unit, the RSA-145E provides open and close operation from up to 300 feet

W ir e

a n D

Absopulse Electronics has recently released the CSI 1K-3U3LN series of low-noise DC-AC inverter systems, which generate up to one kVA output power with pure sine wave output voltage. The input and output are filtered for low noise. The output has a second-stage high-performance filter that reduces the residual output ripple to less than 100 mVrms and delivers a very smooth pure sine wave output, the company says.

The input meets the requirements for EN55022 Class A for conducted noise and radiated emissions with wide margins. According to the company, very low output noise ensures that the system can be used to power sensitive electrical and electronic equipment in a broad spectrum of applications. www.absopulse.com

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Flexible ribbon cables for microelectronic applications Cicoil’s flexible IDC Ribbon Cables have been designed for use on high-precision microelectronic equipment systems that require absolute reliability and zero

failure. Unlike industry standard stiff ribbon cables that shed particulates and can only operate in moderate temperatures (-20 to 80 degrees C), the Cicoil version has been designed for tight routing, excessive temperatures (-65 to 260 degrees C) and Class 1 Clean Rooms, the company explains. The cables are so flexible, according to Cicoil, they can also be bent, folded over, slit and formed into custom shapes, while still retaining all performance characteristics. www.cicoil.com

r f iD High-performance rFID reader

info@getfreepoint.com

www.getfreepoint.com 22

The LRU1200 is a rugged, high-performance UHF reader from RFID Canada.

The reader features two-watt output power with a read range of up to eight metres. It has the ability to operate in noisy, dense industrial and challenging environments. The built-in multiplexer can support up to four antennas and has protection against fault conditions like antenna shortcut, antenna mismatching and

September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

Freepoint_MA_Sept.indd 1

2014-08-26 11:35 AM

electrostatic discharge. The reader comes with Ethernet, RS232 and USB ports, and it supports EPCglobal Low-Level Reader Protocol with special LLRP Library. www.rfidcanada.com

P R O D U C T S

Wi re le SS

T eCh n o l o g y

Firmware for wireless devices Hirschmann HiLCOS 8.9 is the latest version of Belden Inc.’s WLAN firmware to manage its line of OpenBAT industrial wireless devices. The company says this release is the first industrial wireless application of integrated Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) technology, a new industry standard that allows systems to overcome network failures without affecting data transmission. Now wireless technology can be reliably used for mission-critical industrial applications where distances or environments make wired solutions expensive or challenging. The key benefit of PRP inside Hirshmann’s BAT products, such as wireless access points, clients and bridges, is a significant increase in reliability, the company says.

PRP offers zero failover with two redundant networks. By doubling the packets, there is no data loss if one packet fails, as either the faster packet or the second packet gets through with a functioning second network. The firmware includes opportunistic key caching for fast authentication between several access points in a network where the access points are under common administrative control. www.belden.com

a nD

Se C u r iT y

WirelessHart Temperature solution combines its THZ Smart Hart Temperature Transmitter and the Bullet WirelessHart Adapter by MACTek into a self-powered package. The new WL housing includes a battery case utilizing off-the-shelf D-type lithium batteries wired to the transmitter and the Bullet. This means that the package can be installed without the need for potentially expensive signal wiring or additional power, the company explains. The THZ WirelessHart assembly allows the

THZ to transmit critical temperature and Hart diagnostic information to a WirelessHart gateway in situations where power is not readily available. Other features include: 20-bit input resolution and long-term stability specifications, with up to five years of service between scheduled calibrations; and the ability to either be factory-configured or field-configured using standard Hart handheld communicators or Hart-capable host systems. www.miinet.com

High-speed wireless connectivity Moxa’s AWK-5232 Industrial a/b/g/n Wireless AP/Bridge/Client is designed to deliver high-speed wireless connectivity with up to a 300-Mbps data rate. Purpose engineered for industrial environments, it is the perfect drop-in solution for hardto-wire deployments and for virtually any type of mobile device connected over a TCP/IP network since it supports both 802.11n wireless connectivity and legacy a/b/g equipment, the company says.

Integrated WEP/WPA/WPA2/802.11X security and powerful filters prevent unauthorized access to the network. www.moxa.com

Wireless access point To make accessing critical production data easier within the manufacturing enterprise, Rockwell Automation is launching the Allen-Bradley Stratix 5100 wireless access point (WAP) featuring a work group bridge. Unlike typical wireless clients that only connect a single IP address, the Stratix 5100 WAP enables engineers to connect up to 19 IP addresses simultaneously — helping reduce design time when integrating machines and equipment into the industrial control network, the company says. www.rockwellautomation.com

WirelessHArt temperature solution Moore Industries International says it has a new way to get accurate temperature readings in remote locations while accessing valuable Smart Hart data. The THZ Yaskawa_MA_Sept.indd 1

www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014 23 2014-08-29 11:54 AM

P R O D U C T S M achi ne

Saf e t y

Safety software

normally open/normally closed changeover contacts for solenoid status. www.automationdirect.com

Failsafe high-end controller

Management system for safety interlock keys

Expanded software functions

SafeGuard Sentinel safety monitoring software is designed to continuously measure, monitor and alert operations and management to process safety risks.

Available from Canada’s ACM Facility Safety, the software also delivers contingency plans that can be executed immediately to address issues and reduce risk. It runs on a Windows-based server in a plant network, and can be accessed by any device capable of running a browser, including DCS workstations, operator terminals, tablets and smart phones. The SafeGuard Sentinel gathers information from a variety of systems, including DCSs, PLCs and PACs from all major control system suppliers. The software only needs one-way communication from the various systems to gather data, thus preserving plant security, the company explains. www.acm.ca

Trapped key system

The latest version of B&R’s SafeDesigner tool now makes it possible to process and compare safe INT and DINT signals, in addition to linking them mathematically to basic arithmetic operations.

Safety-oriented function blocks are also available for converting INT and DINT values in either direction. This expansion now rounds off the full numeric range of functions for the Automation Studio 4 development and configuration tool, the company says. Users of Smart Safe Reaction technology from B&R can now process safety-related speed and position values, and use them to initiate safe machine states. These functions are perfect for cases where requirements go above and beyond the possibilities provided by pre-packaged safe motion functions, the company says. Possible scenarios include integrating additional safe rotary encoders in a safety application or monitoring several power transmission systems for synchronism. www.br-automation.com

The Siemens Industry Automation Division has expanded its Simatic S7-1500 generation of controllers with what it calls the most powerful failsafe CPU so far — the Simatic S7-1518F. The new failsafe CPU is suitable for high-end standard and safety-related applications in machine and plant automation. It features a 10-megabyte user memory and has four communication interfaces: a Profinet interface with a two-port switch for communication with the field level; two Profinet interfaces; and one Profibus interface. The high performance and large memory allow connection of up to 128 drive axes and their isochronous operation in the range of 250 microseconds. www.siemens.ca

Distributed drives with integrated safety function

Safety laser scanners AutomationDirect has added Dold trapped key systems to its line of safety products. A trapped key system uses a series of mechanical locks and keys to control the access of gates or doors to running equipment or machines, ensuring safe access to those machines. Dold trapped key system gate sets provide a full trapped key safety system in one- to five-gate sets. Available in either standard (SX) or solenoid-locking (ZRH) versions, all keys and their corresponding receivers and modules are unique within a set. The SX-series of standard gate sets are 316litre stainless steel body interlock safety switches with one normally closed and two forced-opening normally open/normally closed changeover contacts. The ZRHseries solenoid gate sets are interlocking safety switches with 24 VAC/DC solenoid power to unlock, one normally closed and two forced-opening normally open/ normally closed changeover contacts for actuator tongue (key) status, and two normally closed and one forced-opening 24

Omron Automation and Safety’s STI OS32C-DM Safety Laser Scanner is the latest addition to the company’s family of STI Type 3 safety laser scanners that report status and measurement data via Ethernet/IP. This helps keep machines up and running by enabling users to check the operating state and analyse the cause of an emergency stop via LAN, and take quick corrective action, even in large-scale applications with multiple scanners. The scanners are available with new user tools that help speed customer development time and conserve engineering resources, the company says. www.sti.com

September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION

The SmartKey key management system from Smith Flow Control is designed to provide additional security for managing safety interlock keys. The SmartKey provides protection against unauthorized or inadvertent operation of interlocked valves or process equipment, with the added ability to record movements of the keys required to operate mechanical interlocks in real time. SmartKey traps all keys in the cabinet until authorization is granted.

To access the key cabinet, users must identify themselves with a PIN code.

SmartKey highlights specific key positions that the operator is authorized to use. The user then selects the appropriate key from the panel and removes the key as the selected key position is unlocked. To return a key to the cabinet, the user scans the key with the integrated scanner, and the corresponding key position is highlighted on the front display for re-insertion. SmartKey uses RFID technology to report the recent actions and current status of interlock keys. www.smithflowcontrol.com

Current sensing switches Rexroth’s advanced motor-integrated IndraDrive Mi drives control up to 10 axes without a superordinate control system. The drive-integrated safety functions allow machine manufacturers to divide the drives into safety zones.

When the distributed Safe Torque Off (STO) Safety on Board function is activated, the drive interrupts the torque and field-forming current to the connected motor within a few milliseconds without a detour via the control cabinet and superordinate control system. Users can simultaneously activate torque connection for all connected drives using simple wiring, and can also create various safety zones with the needed number of IndraDrive Mi, thereby creating specific safety zones for individual unit modules. The other modules can continue to work without interruption while the activated STO function ensures standardized security for manual procedures. www.boschrexroth.ca

NK Technologies’ ASD Series Current Sensing Switches feature a single turn potentiometer, allowing the trip point to be set before the sensor is installed or before the monitored circuit is energized. The ASD features an LED display for quick visual indication of where the contact changes. This easily adjustable and precise setpoint simplifies and expedites startup and improves safety by allowing trip point adjustment, with no power through the sensing window, the company says. ASD sensors are compatible with most automation systems. They provide either normally open or normally closed magnetically-isolated solid-state output switching for control circuits up to 240 VAC. www.nktechnologies.com

P R O D U C T S

I n t e r c o n n e ct i o n Connector system

TE Connectivity has launched a new connector system for machine industrial automation and control applications. The newly expanded M8/M12 Connector System offers design engineers a solution to decrease downtime in industrial environments, and supports higher bandwidth needs, meeting the requirements of up to 10 Gb/s, the company says. The system includes an extensive range of board- and field-installable connectors, cable assemblies and IO boxes. Key applications include: industrial automation, automobile manufacturing, machine tooling, semiconductor manufacturing, factory automation machines, vision systems, and manufacturing of solenoid and sensor valves. www.te.com

Monoblock inserts

Harting has expanded the capabilities of its modular connector series, Han-Eco and Han-Yellock, by developing dedicated, high-density monoblock inserts for each. With these inserts, a single HanEco or Han-Yellock connector can replace a bigger connector or multiple units for significant space savings on the device or control cabinet, the company says.

The new Han-Eco monoblock E inserts with screw termination, like the existing Han-Yellock monoblocks, are designed as snap-in modules for fast, tool-free assembly. Han-Eco monoblocks use the same Han E contacts with wire protection that have already proven themselves in millions of applications, yet offer up to 67 per cent more contact density than Han E inserts, the company explains. The

Mobile

Enclosures and W o r k st a t i o n s

D ev ic es

monoblocks have a rated voltage of 500 volts and current of 16 amps, and feature a pre-leading PE contact (ground), resulting in contact numbers of 10, 14, 20 and 28 plus PE for the four Han-Eco housing sizes, respectively. These monoblocks can be combined with modules from the Han-Modular series in any Han-Eco housing to mix transmission media. For their part, Han-Yellock monoblocks offer 25 or 48 contacts with crimp termination for housing sizes 30 and 60, respectively. www.harting.ca

Thermocouple terminal blocks

Designed for automation, controls and calibration/auditing, Omega’s DRTB-2 series of thermocouple terminal blocks are DIN rail mountable with a built-in miniature female thermocouple connector for auditing and troubleshooting.

This series features a screw-type terminal for secure, maintenance-free connections and type K, J, T, E, N, R/S and U calibrations. The plastic housing is made from gray polyamide 6.6 thermoplastic resin with a UL 94 V0 rating for 85 degrees C. The thermocouple terminal blocks are UL recognized, ROHS compliant, fully enclosed, and require no end plates. The label marking system has been redesigned to accept industry standard labels. The screws are stainless steel and captive, and the wire clamps are made of tin-plated brass. www.omega.ca

Single pogo pin board-to-board contacts AVX Corporation’s new series of single pogo pin board-to-board (BTB) contacts is designed for use in applications that demand robust components. Available in five standard compressed stacking heights spanning two to five millimetres — the maximum working range and compressed height tolerance possible in a miniature 1.5-mm diameter plunger — the new 70-9150 Series contacts provide

Demand-based automatic fan speed control

off-the-shelf connector solutions for an extensive range of applications. Enabling design flexibility with regard to pin count and placement location, the new single pogo pin contacts feature gold plating for high reliability and signal integrity, and a high force stainless steel spring that facilitates mechanical and electrical performance for up to 10,000 cycles. Designed to mate with gold-plated PCB pads or flat contacts in docking or cradle applications, 70-9150 Series contacts are suited to function as the charging, data transfer or programming interface for a wide variety of portable devices. The contacts are rated for operating temperatures spanning -40 to 125 degrees C. www.avx.com

Industrial-grade IP gateway Although 3G technology serves more than 1.5 billion subscribers worldwide, industrial operators still face obstacles when implementing 3G cellular networks on the plant floor. These barriers include the high price of 3G products, a lack of industrial standards suitable for harsh environments, unstable signal connections over long distances, difficulty deploying different interfaces, and problems managing multiple devices over a cellular network. Moxa says it has found a solution to these obstacles with its OnCell G3111HSPA IP Gateway, a 3G communication solution suitable for mission-critical wireless applications. The gateway connects existing Ethernet and serial devices to a 3G cellular network, such as PLCs, flow computers, vision systems, RFID readers or encoders. Designed to meet industrialgrade standards, it features Moxa’s GuaranLink technology and OnCell Central Manager Software for stable cellular connectivity, making it easy to configure, manage and monitor remote devices on a private network over the Internet, the company says. www.moxa.com

A fan speed control sensor for Rittal’s TopTherm fan-and-filter units automatically adjusts the fan speed in response to changes in temperature inside the enclosure. The device is a simple solution to the problem of fan-and-filter units running continuously, even when not required, helping to reduce energy consumption and, consequently, running costs, the company says. With a fixed set point of 35 degrees C, the device provides continuous control with fan speeds varying linearly between 10 per cent at 20 degrees C and 100 per cent at 35 degrees C. No additional power supply is required because the sensor takes a 10 VDC feed from the fan-and-filter unit. www.rittal.com

Non-metallic enclosures With three new sizes and two configurations, the Stahlin J Series of non-metallic enclosures is bigger and offers users more space than before, the company says. The new sizes and configurations are: J Series 20x20 with hinged lockable pull latch (HPL) and new threepoint latch (3PT); J Series 24x20 with HPL and 3PT; and J Series 24x24 with HPL and 3PT. In addition, the new size benefits include: ETL certification to NEMA Type 1, 3, 3R, 4, 4X, 12, 13 and IP66 per IEC60529; single-point entry with integrated three-point rotating handle for ease of use on available option 3PT; chemically resistant fibreglass reinforced composite formulation for long product life and protection against UV degradation; UL94-5V flame resistance; and integral mounting flange for structural integrity. www.stahlin.com

m a n u f a ct u r i n g App for mobile automation A mobile application from Wago Corporation is designed to enable quick and easy access to equipment status, process data and production levels at the swipe of a finger.

Whether for the plant floor, shipboard or machine automation, Wago’s Web visualization application, the WAGO-WebVisu-App, enables users to monitor and control their

operations directly from their smartphone or tablet. The Wago WebVisu-App operates exclusively with Wago programmable controllers. Up to 100 controllers can be defined for direct and quick access via URL. Connecting Wago controllers to a local wireless access point enables plant floor operators and maintenance personnel to acquire system information from their mobile devices.

Visualization screens are built within WAGO-I/O-PRO — the same software used for programming — to provide an all-inone solution. WAGO-I/O-PRO provides straightforward graphic tools for speedy generation of screens with multiple security levels, enabling task-based login strategies, the company explains. www.wago.us

www.AutomationMag.com • September 2014

25

R e A L I T I e S

Size matters By diCK Morley

I

t’s been proven time and time again — small groups perform better than large groups.

Lockheed’s Skunk Works projects, for example, were created so that planes could be designed with little bureaucracy. And over the years, this department has produced a number of famous designs — proof that the fewer cooks there are in the kitchen, the more productive you can be.

Writing this column reminds me of an experience I had indirectly with Lockheed Skunk Works. Years ago I met an engineer for lunch for another reason, and it turned out he was one of the senior people at Skunk Works. He had seen an interesting truck go down the road and decided to follow it to its destination — Chrysler, which was adopting the skunk works model to their products. As a car nut, I couldn’t resist. I said, “Show me,” and he immediately arranged a visit.

We went to the Chrysler research facility and checked out the section where they were designing new trucks. A small group, in fact, was designing trucks, and their latest design was posted on a board.

It was beautiful. I said, “It looks like a Peterbilt.” The designers were very pleased. They took a different approach. Instead of taking a car and upgrading it to a truck, they took the highway monster and downsized it to a pickup. In other words, they came from the other direction. To this day, the design shows in the truck — the Dodge RAM. (My noble secretary, Debbie, is on her fourth RAM truck.)

We need to take the bull by the horns and really believe that skunk works is the best way to unleash a new product.

Likewise, successful startup companies typically

Sell to nothing larger than a pack (a single entity). larger collections cannot decide. employ three to seven people. We also know that boards of directors should consist of an odd number and be about five in size to be productive.

There is a book that you all should read (or re-read) called The Mythical Man-Month. I’ve talked about it before in my column. The book points out that if you have a software group with seven people and add one more, you increase cost and time of delivery. More people does not equal more productivity. My experience with startups suggests that three to five people are the optimum human pack size.

One of my talks at the 2013 ISA Marketing and Sales Summit discussed pack size in some detail. The actual experiment was done at the COFES conference hosted by Cyon. We did not plan the experiment; we used serendipity.

But first, I should define a pack. A wolf pack is not one wolf and not 100. One wolf cannot bring down game, and if a pack of 100 exists, the game you do get is not big enough to feed the entire pack. So the wolf pack settles into a size that matches the environment. Even geese form packs. My daughter raises geese on her farm, and if she injects a new gander into the group, turbulence occurs. As a teenager, I was involved in social groups on Long Island. We all belonged to a “pack” (gang) consisting of three to 10

DON’T MISS OUT

kids. It provided us with survival and safety.

Now back to the conference I mentioned earlier.

We actually measured the human size of a pack by accident. The host at the COFES conference, Brad Holtz, wanted some after-dinner entertainment on the future of software, so he asked me to come up and entertain. We decided to do an IQ test. We had 300 people at 30 tables — 10 per table. They did not want a morally physical test on quantum mechanics, but rather one that most software engineers and automation experts could solve. We estimated that one-third of the engineers at the dinner would be able to solve the test. What was it? We asked attendees to complete the following sequences: 2, 5, 10, 17, 34 …

18, 28, 45, 90 …

Solid, liquid, gas …

How does the earth stay hot?

No table could solve the whole series. Although three engineers at each table had the right answer, they did not manage to give a group answer. This says that the pack size of the experiment (10) is too large to be effective for humans. What does this mean? Sell to nothing larger than a pack (a single entity). Larger collections cannot decide.

P.S. The answer most could not get was: solid, liquid, gas … plasma.• Dick Morley is the inventor of the PLC, an author, speaker, automation industry maverick and a self-proclaimed ubergeek.

Email him at morley@barn.org.

A D OMEGA Introduces Pressure Transducer PX409-USBH

on your next issue of IT’S fAST, IT’S eASY AnD IT’S free!

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This transducer connects directly to your computer and features excellent long term stability, 316L SS wetted parts, 1000/ reading/ second and is ruggedized with secondary containment. The micromachined silicon design are ideal for pressure or level applications in laboratory, test platforms, or bio/pharmaceutical applications that require a rugged, high accuracy transducer.

Our editorial advisory board discusses positive trends in the manufacturing industry, and where we go from here

For more information, go to omega.ca

www.automationmag.com 26

September 2014 • Manufacturing AUTOMATION NewOmegaProd_MA_Sept.indd 1

2014-09-03 10:06 AM

I N D E X

Allied electronics Inc. ...................................IBC AutomationDirect ......................................... IFC Beckhoff Canada ............................................. 5 emphatec Inc................................................... 6 encoder Products Company ............................ 6 excellence In Manufacturing Consortium...... 18 FreePoint Technologies Inc. ........................... 22 hammond Manufacturing Co. Ltd. .................. 8 hARTING Canada Inc. ................................... 21 hiwin Corporation ........................................... 9 Murrelektronik Canada ................................... 3 Omega engineering, Inc. .........................7 + 26 Rittal Systems Ltd.......................................... 11 SChUNK Intec Corp. ...................................... 19 Siemens Canada Ltd................................... OBC SySPRO ......................................................... 15 yaskawa America, Inc. — Motoman Robotics Division .......................... 23

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