2019 American Plant Manager Magazine

CALM THE HELL DOWN

american

PLANT MANAGER TOYOTA’S LESSON ON DOWNTIME pg 25

KCF TECHNOLOGIES

FALL 2019

AVOIDING CATASTROPHIC FAILURES

4 BLIND SPOTS

Expert Advice from David White,

THAT WILL

SABOTAGE YOUR PLANT

LEARN 'EM & BE THE HERO!

ECORE’S $20M SAVE

MANAGEMENT

|

BUSINESS

|

SUCCESS

|

TECHNOLOGY

8

678912 0 12345

Scott G e i b

08>

with

ISSUE 02 - KCF Technologies $10.00

NEW WAYS MACHINE MONITORING CAN TEACH OLD-SCHOOL DOGS NEW TRICKS

THE DI FFERENC E CAN BE NI GHT & DA Y

IMAGINE HOW QUICKLY YOU'D IMPROVE UPTIME IF YOU KNEW THAT YOUR NIGHT-SHIFT CREW WAS RUNNING YOUR EQUIPMENT THREE TIMES ROUGHER THAN THE DAY SHIFT.

Damage Accumulation® is the metric that our leading customers value more than any other.

Damage Accumulation® is a finely-tuned algorithm that continuously measures in real time (and stores forever) two simple things:

1

2

The degree to which your equipment is running smoothly or roughly

Minute by minute, how quickly your equipment is “aging”

SCHEDULE AN ONSITE SURVEY TO DISCOVER YOUR DAMAGE ACCUMULATION DATA BY EMAILING SALES@KCFTECH.COM

1 (814) 867-4097 • kcftech.com 336 South Fraser Street State College, PA 16801 USA

CONTENTS

16

us ed i n TH E U.S. A RMY 'S bl ackh aw k h el i co pters ca n n o w be us ed to d ra s ti ca l ly mi n i mi z e data- s cra mbl i n g w i rel es s s i gn a l s th ro ugh o ut a pl a n t's mach i n e mo n i to ri n g sys tems. co o l , h uh ?

HERO FROM THE EDITOR 02 DEAR AMERICAN

INDUSTRIAL HERO A letter to you

Wireless machine monitoring systems, like the futuristic SmartDiagnostics® system from KCF Technologies, offers second-to-none, plant-wide signal management.

EDITION

american INDUSTRIAL

Th e s a me tech n o l o gy

HERO FEATURES 04 AVOIDING

CATASTROPHIC FAILURES

10

04 KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

16

23

Q&A with David White, Nestlé Purina

E-CORE'S $20M SAVE New Methods of Monitoring Old-School Equipment

CHEW ON THIS 08 WORD FIND 09 ONE-PAGE TIDBIT

The Myth of the P-F Curve

25 LESSONS FROM TOYOTA

A Shockingly Calm Downtime Alarm

with Scott Geib, ECore

WIRELESS SENSORS 4 Blind Spots That Will Sabotage Your Plant What you need to know before you go wireless

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

MAN-ufacturing? Uh, think again.

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

1

BE A HERO TODAY 2

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

FROM THE EDITOR DEAR AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL HERO, You are the hard-working, smart, red-blooded Americans who inspire my KCF Tech colleagues and me to wake up in the morning. We’re passionate about the backbone of the American economy— manufacturing, plain and simple. We were founded on the idea of giving the leaders in manufacturing (you, reader!) the tools they need to make plants more profitable, safer, and more efficient than ever.

Our team has put together this selection of articles to help you revolutionize the way your plant does business. Whether you’re the plant manager, a C-Suite executive, or a shop floor worker, we want to inspire, empower, and support you in your fight for American manufacturing.

From real-life case studies of people who are beating the odds in their factories to easy-to-implement insights on what’s making your factory lose valuable market share, you will find revolutionary insights between these pages.

Forget the status quo! Make a change!

Take your factory into the future! Beat the competition! Embrace the capitalistic nature of the game!

Join the movement toward revolutionizing American manufacturing.

BEN LAWRENCE Vice President

5 THINGS YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS IS SUE 1

h o w to proacti vely

mo n i to r yo ur pl a n t W I TH N EW TECH N O L O GY

2

BI G-TI ME S AVES TH A T

O TH ER CO MPA N I ES H AVE A CH I EVED US I N G N EW TECH

3

BLIND SPOTS WE BET

YO U N E V E R K N E W W E R E SO DAMAGING

4

W H A T TO KN O W & W H A T

TO A S K A BO UT W I REL ES S MA CH I N E H EA LTH

5

BETTER WA YS TO

D EA L W I TH D O W N TI ME

TALK TO US COM ME N T S OF THE MONTH

american

PLANT

MANAGER

DON'T FORGET THE .

I really liked your publication. The information was interesting; it is nice to learn the ways others are utilizing technology, and to commiserate with their problems. My only comment is...there ARE women in this business, granted, fewer than I would like, but could there be additional representation of ladies in the magazine as well?

DIANE V., VIA EMAIL

Of course, Diane, we value all of the hardworking women in manufacturing just as much as we do the men, so be sure to check out later in this issue where we highlight some of our great women heroes!

QUOTE OF THE MONTH “On an investment [with KCF Tech] under $60K we’ve saved over $700K in the last year, and in the last nine months we’ve eliminated almost 70 hours of downtime.”

Sawmill Unit Manager, USA

Please reach out to our customer service or contact us via our website to let us know how we are doing.

We always welcome your comments and feedback.

Photo from KCF's 6th Annual Customer Summit – 2019.

Eleven industries, 23 states, and more than 200 team members are rooting for you, the backbone of America's Industrial Powerhouse.

Cheers!

A Publication of KCF TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 336 S. Fraser Street State College, PA 16801 USA Telephone: 1 (814) 867-4097 Fax: 1 (814) 690-1579 www.kcftech.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright 2019

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

3

ARE CRITICAL TO US.

HERO FEATURES

THE ANSWER TO AVOIDING Q & A CATASTROPHIC with David White, FAILURES Nestlé Purina

Get with the future or sign over American Manufacturing to the Commies!

DO YOU HAVE A IGNORE FAKE NEWS! PLANTTAXDOESN’T TARIFFS?!?

BREAKS!?!

IT’S YOUR Team's ability TO BRING ITS BEST EVERY DAY Chinadetermines will win and your plant will THAT America's Lossjobs orwillvictory. be closed, be shipped overseas, and then suddenly American Manufacturing—one of the shining examples of the American dream, democracy, and capitalism—will fade away.

4

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

SNEAKING SUSPICION THAT IF YOUR GET WITH THE TIMES, IT’LL BE LEFT BEHIND? Are you going to let that happen? Of course not.

You don’t shy away from potential vulnerabilities and new technology.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a little intimidating, but it's nothing you can't handle.

David White, plant manager from Nestlé

David can now focus on bigger

Purina, could certainly handle it and

opportunities, such as plant optimization

he says he’s seen HUGE results since

and automation, knowing that his plant

implementing IIoT solutions in his plant.

is totally monitored and completely taken

He made the switch from a traditional

care of—no worries.

monthly data collection system to a

Read more about David’s experience

dynamic, wireless solution that allows him and his team to monitor his plant

next, in our exclusive Q&A. ›

24/7. You know what that means?

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

5

HERO FEATURE Q& A

with David White, Nestlé Purina

POW!

Take THAT YOU DASTARDLY FAILURE!

What problems were you having in your

What were the results of not

plant and why were you looking for a new

being able to monitor the machine

solution when you came upon KCF?

as much as you wanted?

I’ve always been concerned with one

A failure on one of those bearing

machine that’s critical to our operation.

units could be catastrophic. It could

It’s got 38 bearings, and they only run

cause major equipment damage and

at 3 RPM. We’re not able to really do

we could be down for weeks. Even

good monitoring on a monthly basis

with the bearings running at 3 RPM,

because they run so slow, and we’re

it could create other issues inside the

not able to do ultrasonics on those

machine that could lead to weeks of

either because of the way that they’re

downtime with millions of dollars of

guarded. So, I started looking around

costs if we lost one of these bearings.

for wireless and I came across KCF. I set up a trial with KCF. I really, really liked what I saw. More importantly, it was just a good relationship right from the very beginning. I could tell that they were customer service-oriented—the whole group at KCF. I went out to State College and visited with them. They came here and I showed them what I wanted to do.

We did a small test with eight sensors, and then we’ve steadily grown from there.

Right now, we’ve got about 75 sensors, and we’re hopeful to expand on that.

Did you consider moving to wireless monitoring a risk?

I was originally looking at a wired system, but it was very expensive.

I started looking at wireless and immediately hit a road block of IT security and firewall concerns. After talking with KCF and talking with the IT department, we saw that it doesn’t interface with our systems at all, so someone can’t reach in and grab it.

Once those fears were put aside, we ran some tests and found that

THE DATA WE WERE GETTING & THE RELATIONSHIP WE WERE CULTIVATING WITH KCF WAS VERY PROMISING.

6

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

the data we were getting and the relationship we were cultivating with KCF was very promising. ›

David White (left) receiving from KCF President Jeremy Frank (right) an award for Nestlé’s success with continuous, wireless machine health monitoring.

Get with the future or sign over American Manufacturing to the Commies!

IGNORE FAKE NEWS! TARIFFS?!? TAX BREAKS!?!

IT’S YOUR Team's ability TO BRING ITS BEST EVERY DAY THAT determines America's Loss or victory.

Did you face resistance from your

What advice would you give to other plants

team about bringing this new

considering a new monitoring system?

technology into the plant?

Go for it! Don’t let fear hold you back.

When I first started testing, I took it to my

Bring KCF in. Talk to them, bring

maintenance manager, and we were both

your management team in, and set

sold. We saw what it [SmartDiagnostics]

those fears aside. Start small and

could do, and we understand that

see what they can do for you. n

reliability and uptime are critical to us.

Whenever a machine goes down, we’re

RELIABILITY, SAFETY, AND UPTIME ARE CRITICAL TO US.

not making profit and we’re not making product. And the safety factor—it’s a lot safer replacing something when we deem necessary rather than waiting for it to fail while in production mode.

Describe the results from working with KCF. How has your plant changed for the better?

We’re capturing failures before they occur. So, we’re able to schedule our

Get with the future or sign over American Manufacturing to the Commies!

IGNORE FAKE NEWS! TARIFFS?!? TAX BREAKS!?!

IT’S YOUR Team's ability TO BRING ITS BEST EVERY DAY THAT determines America's

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

maintenance prior to a failure and that makes it safer, gives you a higher quality product, and minimizes scrap waste. It saves a lot of money.

IT'S A LOT SAFER REPLACING SOMETHING WHEN WE DEEM NECESSARY RATHER THAN WAITING FOR IT TO FAIL WHILE IN PRODUCTION MODE.

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

7

CHEW ON THIS

WORD FIND FOR AMERICAN PLANT MANAGERS

K X G Z E C N A N E T N I A M P

R

E D

I

C

T

I

V

E

N B

F

C

K

I O T S A V I N G S M Q C P O

T F Y R E A C T I V E I R C A E

E

U T

F

U D

L

K

J

T

E

A V

I

V

Y M D

I

M D

F

N S

V

V

D

I

N

I

R A P A V L A O E

I

V

I

B A

T

T

Z B

E

U

I

N

N T M D

H R

V

A N C P T R G T A G A W R A L

V E H I T A A T C T E O E T Y

O S N A I T I T A U S R Z I S

N G E D I O I S U N D F S O N

N B O V N C U R E R O O B N N I

G E T R A M S N U E H R F E

M A N U F A C T U R I N G P P

8

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

CAVITATION

DANGER

MAINTENANCE

PENNSYLVANIA

FLUTING

IOT

BEAT

PRODUCTIVITY

TEMPERATURE

KCF

USA

VIBRATION

SENSOR

MANUFACTURING

PREDICTIVE

SENTRY

INNOVATIVE

PREVENTATIVE

SAVINGS

SMART

REACTIVE

DATA

DIAGNOSTIC

The Myth of the P-F Curve

CHEW ON THIS

This P-F Curve is a long-standing image the industrial world references to describe a machine’s life, from birth to death.

This graph shows a machine slowly, gradually “aging” a tiny bit at a time until one day it finally rolls over and dies. The problem is this graphic is usually dead wrong, and believing what the myth represents may be leading you straight into more downtime.

EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENTCONDITION CONDITION

HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE Vibration Vibration Point where Point where failure starts failure starts to occer to occer

Temperature Temperature

Audible Audible Noise Noise

Hot to Hot to Touch Touch

EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT FAILURE FAILURE

BROKEN BROKEN

$ $

COST TO REPAIR COST TO REPAIR

TIME TIME UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE

The real life cycle of your machinery looks more like this: HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE HAPPY, HEALTHY MACHINE

yours as a plant manager. Good days, bad days, stressful days, easy days…A roller coaster of health conditions that over time builds scars (and wisdom!) that are entirely unpredictable. The best thing you can do is continuously monitor the health of your machinery, so that you catch those random errors before they start to decrease your productivity. Then diagnose the root cause in a way that keeps the same failure from happening again.

EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENTCONDITION CONDITION

Your equipment’s life cycle is more akin to

Pump Pump Fixed Fixed New Parts New Parts

Installation Installation

Broken Valve Broken Valve Pump Cavitating Pump Cavitating

Forklift Forklift Accident Accident

BROKEN BROKEN

TIME TIME

Motor Motor Fixed Fixed

Broken Broken Motor Motor

EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT FAILURE FAILURE

COST TO REPAIR COST TO REPAIR

UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE UNHAPPY, NEAR-DEATH MACHINE

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

9

HERO FEATURE

ITT’SARIFIGNOR BRI YO FS? E F THA NG IUR T!? TAAKE T d TS eam X B NEW LosetermBEST's abREAKS! s o ine EV ility S!? r v s A ERY TO ! icto mer DAY ry. ica's

AmfeuturGet w rica e o ith to n M r si the the anu gn Co mfact over m i e urin s! g

T h is is Scototo,l " he 's "o ld - smche aw es o

CREATING STANDARDS FOR MODERN EXCELLENCE THAT WILL LEAVE YOU FLOORED

ECore is a team of men and wom en mak ing sure your busin ess's floor ing is made in an Amer ican plant, by Amer ican hand s, with Amer ican values.

10

1962

1987

1989 - 2000

2008

2018

ECore hits manufacturing milestone producing 1 million square feet of cork floor tiles per month

ECore enters the arena of recycled rubber floor manufacturing

ECore achieves 20% compounded growth each year

ECore completes development of turf and lamination technology

ECore earns Top ROI Award from KCF Technologies with $20M saved from downtime and 200x ROI

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

ECORE’S $20M SAVE

NEW WAYS MACHINE MONITORING CAN TEACH OLD-SCHOOL DOGS NEW TRICKS with

L EFT: s co tt gei b a n d H I S tea m O F I N D US TRI A L W O RKERS a re keepi n g th ei r co mmun i ty a n d th ei r co un try s tro n g.

Scott Ge ib, ECore

Becoming truly badass at anything requires you to step away from the status quo and start looking for a greater destiny. Think Bon Jovi. Al Pacino. Tom Brady. You think they settled for the status quo? Heck, no!

Scott Geib at ECore didn’t settle for the status quo, either.

Every plant experiences average, everyday maintenance issues. While some might accept them as part of the job, Scott Geib did not. In fact, he knew his flooring plant was consistently losing valuable time to the same old issues, and that the ensuing firefighting was eating into profitability.

KCF Technologies is honored to be a part of the solution ECore leverages to stay globally competitive. After Corporate Reliability Manager Scott Geib spent six months using a route-based monitoring technology that only captured a few minutes of data every few weeks, he embraced something new—KCF’s 100% wireless system and

As a self-described “old-school tech user” (we’re talking flip phone, people), Scott didn’t immediately jump at a cutting-edge solution. He stuck with what he knew—a combination of time-based maintenance and periodic "stethoscope" vibration readings. In hindsight, he says, he didn’t understand wireless systems and he was skeptical, maybe even a little afraid.

Could he implement and oversee a wireless system he didn’t know much about? Would his team get on board or would they revolt? Would his job as maintenance manager evolve or

expert monitoring service. Find out

would it be obsolete?

more about Scott’s story in this feature.

Ancient machinery. Hard to source parts. Unplanned downtime threats. How closely does Scott's story relate to yours? ›

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

11

HERO FEATURE

THE MACHINE ECore manufactures cutting-edge products

A critical component on this machine

but they sometimes must do so with old

is its gearbox, which is lubricated via

machines–in this case, a powerful cutting

a difficult to reach pump system.

machine built in Germany in 1952. The

Historically, servicing this gearbox

machine is a workhorse, in operation for nearly seven decades (they don't make 'em like they used to!), but keeping the machine in tip-top shape becomes harder every year. As of Summer 2019, only 12 of these machines remain in the world.

12

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

includes a combination of time-based maintenance and occasional visual or "stethoscope" inspections. These methods, however, leave ECore vulnerable to failures that no one sees coming.

Ke eping a 195 2 Ge rman cu tti ng mach ine in tip -top wo rk ing co nditio n was be co mi ng harder and harder each ye ar .

HERO FEATURE

THE CATCH Scott Geib took a gamble. He invited KCF Technologies to his factory and installed a handful of wireless vibration and temperature sensors on this machine.

Soon thereafter, one of those sensors began picking up unhealthy signals from the gearbox...holy schnikes! ›

6 Wireless vibration and temperature sensors monitor the gearbox 24/7

Over a 7-day period, damage sores on the gearbox rose quickly, so oil was added

( ABOVE) gearbox to eCO RE'S W O RKHORSE CUTTING M ACHINERY. THEY DO N’T M AK E ’EM LIKE THEY USED TO.

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

13

HERO FEATURE

Scott 's on ly reg ret ?

“N ot getti ng the sy ste m in there faste r.”

THE BENEFIT No stress, no lost profits, no factory shutdown.

Based on the alarms and phone calls

Instead, Scott's team fixed a small leak in

that KCF made, Scott's team inspected

a lubrication pump and never missed a

Plus uninterrupted production and delivery of comfortable, safe, functional flooring to ECore's end-customer heroes!

the gearbox and discovered a leak in the

beat. No stress, no lost profits, no factory

lubrication system that, within days or

shutdown. Scott earned a promotion.

hours, would have run dry and destroyed the entire gearbox. Had Scott not stepped up with this cutting-edge solution, here's what ECore would've suffered: – Special order, emergency rush parts from Germany – Crane to remove old gearbox and replace with new one

14

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

Imagine if your company had avoided its most recent machine failure. How much did that incident cost you? What would the benefit be if you, like others, eliminated over 65% of your unplanned downtime?

BOTTOM LINE: So many of the emergencies American industry faces related to downtime and inefficiency are

– Removal of roof to fit the crane

no longer necessary! Like Scott, consider

(ouch!)

24/7 machine health monitoring for your

– 26 weeks of downtime

key assets. n

THE FU TU RE I S NO W

GONE ARE THE DAYS OF MINDLESSLY PERFORMING TIME-BASED MAINTENANCE OR WANDERING THROUGH A PLANT WITH A STETHOSCOPE TRYING TO CATCH MACHINE FAILURES.

The high-tech tracking of today is done through one simple dashboard.

Damage Accumulation® connects high-damage incidents with a root cause.

Establish proactive best practices and train operators to maximize production, exceed quality, improve safety, extend machine life, and destroy the competition.

A $1 billion oil and gas company has tripled its EBiTDA in 18 months.

It all starts with a KCF Machine EKG Report, your simple, low-cost first step toward plant optimization.

Thanks to the KCF Machine EKG Report, these are the results our customers are seeing...

A paper company A $1MACHINE billion oil EKG INCLUDE? is enjoying a WHAT DOES YOUR KCF 300% increase and gas company • Invaluable Damage Accumulation® data on one of your key applications in the life of its has tripled its • Your current downtime metrics and KCF's baseline data pump systems.

EBiTDA in 18 • Site assessment for site/system compatibility months.

An auto manufacturer A paper company A $1 billion oil A $1 billion oil and Aispaper company An manufacturer is auto on the road enjoying a and gas company is enjoying a 300% will likely surpass gas company has to surpassing 300% in increase has its tripled increase the life production goals for tripled EBiTDA its production goals initsthe life of its of pump systems. the first time in years. in EBiTDA 18 months.in 18 pump systems. months. in years.

An auto A paper SCHEDULE ANcompany ONSITE SURVEY TO DISCOVER 1 (814) 867-4097 • kcftech.com manufacturer is enjoying a 336 South Fraser Street YOUR 300% DAMAGE ACCUMULATION DATA BY is on the road increase State College, PA 16801 USA EMAILING to surpassing in the life ofSALES@KCFTECH.COM its production goals pump systems. in years.

HERO FEATURE Before You Go Wireless

4

BLIND SPOTS THAT WILL

Going to a wireless machine monitoring system can be terrifying. That’s why we’ve laid out all the risks and all the answers to your questions before you make the decision—so you can be informed and make the right call for your team.

SABOTAGE YOUR PLANT

LEARN 'EM & BE THE HERO! Be informed • Make the right choice • Don't blow it

by David Kraige & Jacob Loverich

16

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

PR O ADV IC E

What to know before you go wireless We sat down with Dave Kraige and Jacob Loverich to get the answers you need to know. Dave is the director of Industrial Sentry Services and is in charge of the team that helps customers turn data into actionable information. Jacob is the Chief Technology Officer at KCF Technologies. He is responsible for all of KCF’s technology development,

w h at you ' l l l e a rn ab o u t w i r el ess 1

w ireless protocols

that w ork b est for

including wireless communications, sensor hardware, and software. (In other words, he’s the brains behind the operation. The Q to your James Bond, if you will.)

Check out this quick guide to the four blind spots that could sabotage a wireless monitoring system in your plant.

Which wireless protocols work best in industrial or manufacturing environments?

1

dif fere nt environments

2

the importa nce

o f battery life when cho o sing a wireless system

3

In short, the one that’s going to a) steer clear of your other wireless systems, b) send complete, data-rich vibration signatures with every reading, c) transmit long distances through high-

w hat is wireless

density areas, and d) draw tiny amounts

Whether it was too much bandwidth, too much battery consumption, inability to travel long distances, or inability to transmit full data packets, no protocol met our customers’ needs.

To be fair, these other protocols are okay if you’re talking about a handful of sensors on a few machines. But once you reach 3,000+ wireless sensors within one factory, which we’re now installing regularly across the USA, it’s

interfe rence a nd how it

of power to maximize battery life.

a completely different ballgame.

affects YOUR PLA NT

According to Jacob, who’s spent over

As a result, KCF spent years developing

4

a decade perfecting wireless protocols, band wid th a nd

battery limitations

“None of the existing protocols [Bluetooth, Zigby, Wi-Fi, etc.] were acceptable for high-density industrial environments.

the ultimate industrial wireless protocol, DART wireless. It checks all the boxes that industrial manufacturers need and is proving effective in over 1,000 sites across America.” ›

Radio Frequency Bands Of the three commercially available bands, SmartDiagnostics resides on the 2.4 GHz band.

Why? It’s the best compromise of data volume, communication range, and transmission reliability for most efficiently and cost effectively communicating wirelessly in an industrial setting.

SIGN

AL R

ANG

E

Ideal for infrequently sending tiny amounts of data over long distances

TA T

F DA

O SIZE

900 MHz

N

ISSIO

SM RAN

Ideal for sending machine health data in an industrial setting

2.4 GHz

Ideal for streaming video over a short distance

5.0 GHz Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

17

HERO FEATURE

Be informed • Make the right choice • Don't blow it

Before You Go Wireless

How important is battery life for sensors?

2

How long is it going to take to change sensors are placed in areas you can’t

Sensors are one of the

easily get to, or on machines that you

essential parts of a wireless

might have to shut down to change

system. Without them, you’re not capturing

them? Now we’re talking about possible

the data you need. So battery life is a

downtime to get in there and change

HUGE consideration–and an important

batteries and it’s become a pretty huge

maintenance task–particularly if you’re

task. That underscores the importance

talking about big installations. Dave

7

BATTERY LIFE (years)*

of battery life. You shouldn’t have to 6

explains, “Let’s say you have 50 sensors

change 5 the batteries on your sensors

at a site. You can change all of those

often,4especially if you’re trying to increase

in a day, so that’s not a big deal if they

3 efficiency and minimize downtime.”

only last six months. Now imagine you have several thousand sensors at a site.

BATTERY REPLACEMENT COST

BATTERY LIFE (years)*

4

SIGN

AL R

ANG

E

3 2 1 0

Ideal for infrequently sending tiny amounts of data over long distances KCF

Competitor SIONCompetitor

S

SMI

AN A TR

BATTERY REPLACEMENT COST

FREQUENCY

OF SIZE

$120 $100 $80

900 MHz

0

Competitor

The large majority of wireless protocols share a few common traits: 1) They are designed to win out over all

other wireless transmissions.

2) They’re bandwidth hogs.

They transmit strong signals designed

to overpower competing transmissions

3) They’re battery hogs.

Sending strong continuous

transmissions requires lots of power

Install your typical, off-the-shelf wireless sensor, in a wireless signal-rich environment like an auto factory and you’re creating an

$120

awful traffic jam. Best case scenario, your

$100

sensors cannot transmit their data. Worst

$80

case, these sensors WIN the bandwidth battle, Ideal for streaming video over a short distance KCF

Competitor

Competitor

Through KCF’s proprietary solution, its wireless sensor operates on a $5, off-the-shelf Duracell camera battery.

Most other providers force you to buy a custom expensive battery—if you can replace the battery at all.

2.4 GHz

5.0 GHz

steal the bandwidth your driverless forklifts and automated robots need to do their jobs, and your entire factory comes screeching to a halt. NOT the outcome you want.

So, what's a forward-thinking American Industrial Hero like you to do? Luckily, KCF has developed a special technology, DART Wireless, that eliminates these

$60

issues and makes wireless a simple,

$40

low-impact, and affordable option.

$20 $-

KCF

Competitor

AVAILABLE 2.4 GHz BANDWIDTH Competitor

Bandwidth consumed by 100 SmartDiagnostics sensors reporting every 10 minutes via the DART wireless protocol

Bandwidth consumed by continuously active Wi-Fi device

TIME 18

Competitor

$140

Ideal for sending $60 machine $40 health $20 data in an $industrial setting

*Based on one full D spectrum reading every 15 minutes, 24/7/365 AT $140

1

The Cost of Battery Replacement

7 5

2

KCF

Battery Life Competitor Comparison 6

3

all of those batteries? How many of the

To what extent will your wireless sensors interfere with the other wireless traffic in my plant?

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

Tiny Footprint, Tiny Duration Listen first. Speak ONLY if no one else is. Before transmitting data, SmartDiagnostics sensors “listen” for an opening on the 2.4 GHz channel. If the channel is busy, the sensor remains dormant, transmitting nothing. Only if there’s an opening will the sensor send its data.

PR O ADV IC E

What the heck’s a Bandwidth Hog?

If two wireless signals from competing protocols cross paths, they’re programmed to fight to the death. Their coding tells them to do whatever necessary to overtake the other and successfully deliver its data packet.

This is great when you’re on a wireless phone call with an important customer. It’s also fine when you’re operating in an environment that has few wireless signals competing for space, such as a long-established machine shop where only a few wireless sensors are sending data. Step into a modern, automated factory, however, and these established wireless protocols are a recipe for disaster.

Case in point: An American auto factory. Step onto the floor of a plant and you’ll see driverless forklifts, automated conveyors, and welding robots—all operating via wireless commands—while Wi-Fi networks abound for internet use.

What are the limitations of a Battery Hog wireless system?

A serious limitation to many wireless sensors is battery life. Since their wireless protocols require so much horsepower, many vendors resort to one of three options: 1) “Forget it, let’s just stick with wires.” Knowing the battery issues

2) Big proprietary batteries

3) Energy harvesters

Many wireless sensors are nearly the size

In lieu of a battery, some companies

they’ll encounter, some vendors just stick

of a Coke can. That’s great because they

offer an energy harvesting device that

with wired sensors. Wired sensors are

pack a big battery but installing such a

powers the sensor via the heat and

terrific for some critical applications, but

large device on smaller assets is overkill.

vibration the machine produces. A

labor intensive and cost prohibitive for

An in many cases, the custom battery is

nice concept but again, makes for an

most applications.

expensive ($100+) to replace.

oversized sensor and adds lots of cost. ›

Jacob's blind spot PRO tip:

For a 3,000-sensor installation with an average battery life of two years, 17 sensor batteries will need to be replaced per working day.

At 15 minutes per sensor, that’s 4.3 hours per day– potentially a loaded labor cost of $25-50k per year.

Jacob Loverich, Chief Technology Officer

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

19

HERO FEATURE Before You Go Wireless

4

Can your wireless sensor transmit full vibration signatures?

BEWARE: Many wireless

vibration systems are missing your most important ingredient: Full Spectrum Data.

Vibration falls into two main categories: overall or peak vibration, and full spectrum data .

Overall or Peak Vibration - This is a simple metric that tells us how severely a machine is vibrating. It's common to assume the more severely a machine vibrates, the worse its health, and sometimes that's true. But not always!

A motor, for example, may vibrate more as it speeds up or as it enters different stages of a production cycle. These increases in vibration are perfectly normal; they do not represent any problems or pending failures.

Example of a motor's peak vibration changing over time Is this motor healthy? Unhealthy?

It’s almost impossible to tell from this chart alone (below). In comes the power of a full spectrum vibration reading (right)...

KCF's SmartDiagnostics and Sentry team sift through all your machine data, cherry pick for you the legitimate alarms, and guide your maintenance team toward guaranteed wins.

20

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

Full Spectrum Data - Best-inClass sensors pull full spectrum data with every vibration reading they take. Think of full spectrum data as the long, squiggly line one associates with a vibration reading or sound wave. In essence, this wave tells us not how much a machine is vibrating (of little importance) but rather in what way a machine is vibrating (of tremendous importance).

The only way you or a qualified expert can determine whether vibration patterns are healthy or unhealthy is through the full spectrum data signature.

Collecting and transmitting Overall Vibration is easy but of little value.

Collecting and transmitting Full Spectrum Data is complex but of extreme value.

Many sensors measure peak vibration ONLY, which means you're fielding false alarms every time the machine enters different running conditions. In our experience, these basic, peak vibrationonly sensors are nearly worthless.

Our customers find that within a few days they're sick of the false alarms and unable to gain value.

A full spectrum reading, which KCF's sensors capture with every reading, includes more than 2,000 individual data points from that tiny moment in time. Vibration experts, either yours or KCF's, can look at this squiggly line and diagnose what–if anything–is wrong with your machine. (Bad bearing, misalignment, broken gear tooth, etc.)

PR O ADV IC E

Your Plant & U.S. Military Helicopters: What You Have in Common

DART Wireless: Designed for U.S. Military, Perfect for American Industry Something was needed to monitor in real-time the machine health of key helicopter components, but no viable product existed that met the U.S. military’s requirements. They needed something that was: Wireless The health sensors, attached to the aircraft’s rotor shaft and other rotating components, had to be wireless.

Extremely Low Interference The wireless protocol through which the sensor transmitted its data had to be extremely low interference–It could not interfere in any way with the radar, weapons systems, pilot communication devices, or other critical wireless transmissions all firing while the helicopter is in flight.

Long Battery Life U.S. Military helicopter maintenance is already expensive and time consuming. The last thing Uncle Sam wanted was constant battery swaps.

2.4 GHz RF BAND

Channel 1

Several years and over $8 million later, KCF cracked the code on a new wireless protocol that met the Military's requirements. Channel This new wireless protocol, along with the sensor technology using it, checked all Channel 11 of Uncle6Sam's boxes: 4 100% wireless solution that B C DdataE with captures fullAspectrum

that do not interfere with other wireless

with one $5 off-the-shelf Duracell

every reading and is rugged enough to

transmissions

camera battery

SmartDiagnostics DART Microchannels

4 Low Bandwidth Requirements

4 Up to 10 Years of Battery Life

withstand the extreme environments

(temperature, rain, etc.) a U.S. Military aircraft may encounter

Channels: The Path of Least Resistance 2.4 GHz RF BAND

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee are completely different wireless protocols.

SmartDiagnostics uses none of them, instead transmitting over its own proprietary DART wireless protocol.

Wi-Fi requires much more bandwidth and is usually a continuous transmission vs. the

Channel 1

Channel 6

Channel 11

short, tiny microseconds-long burst you’ll find with a SmartDiagnostics sensor.

Bluetooth also tends to transmit continuously and is constantly jumping across multiple radio bands. It requires 1,000% to 5,000% more battery power than SmartDiagnostics

A B C D E SmartDiagnostics DART Microchannels SmartDiagnostics DART wireless protocol transmits over a series of small micro-channels dispersed throughout the 2.4 GHz band. When a sensor “listens” and discovers one microchannel is busy, it automatically jumps to others in an attempt to find one that can accommodate the transmission.

DART protocol.

Zigbee does not have the same agile ability to adapt and avoid other communication that may exist in the same frequency band, meaning Zigbee transmission will “fight” your other wireless transmissions and possibly overpower them. ›

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

21

HERO FEATURE Before You Go Wireless

PR O ADV IC E

What to ask before you go wireless To make the best buying decision, be sure to ask your wireless sensor vendor these critical questions.

4 What type of battery does your sensor require, and what is the cost to replace it?

4 How long will your sensor last before I need to change the battery?

4 What type of wireless protocol does your sensor use to transmit data?

4 To what degree is your technology's wireless protocol trained to "yield"

to other data streams that are traveling throughout my plant?

4 How well will your sensor network perform if we install thousands of them within one

facility, or if we install a high concentration of them within one area of our plant?

4 Prove to me that your wireless network will A) operate smoothly in a high-density

Your plant's wireless network may not be as complex as a U.S. Military helicopter's, but we're kidding ourselves if we don't believe it soon will be. Smartphones, wireless sensors, Bluetooth headsets, and Wi-Fi networks are propagating faster than a colony of rabbits, and it's important that the wireless systems you install today are sustainable in tomorrow's factory.

22

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

environment, and B) not interfere in a high-density environment with my other

wireless transmissions. n

Women in Industry:

Heck Yeah We Can Do It!

HERO FEATURE

In MAN-ufacturing, things are primed for change...again.

Brittany Le Van

PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

From Rosie the Riveter to Girls in STEM, Women are Central to the Future of U.S. Manufacturing

50 % 29% OF ALL COLLEGE DEGREES ARE HELD BY WOMEN

OF THE U.S. MANUFACTURING WORKFORCE IS MADE UP OF WOMEN

*National Women’s History Museum **Delloite’s 2017 Women in Manufacturing Study

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

DEGREE: MS, Engineering Management; BS, Chemistry; BS, Education KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: Proje ct Management, Data Analysis/ Manufacturing Processe s, Upstream and Midstream Operations, Directional-Gamma Certification PROUDEST CATCH: Helping Oil & Gas cust omers save millions of dollars on R&M costs over the last two years by empowering field workers with data -backed SOPs ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “Hire character.

Train skill. You can’t teach attitude or work ethic.

Hire a coachable leader who is willing to learn.”

INTERESTING STUFF: “I started my oil and gas career with Baker Hughes as an MWD. Working on drilling rigs, gaining field experience, was a huge benefit when starting at KCF Technologies. I understood the culture and I knew the impact our sensors could make every day."

During World War II, women entered the

in the United States increased from

American workforce in unprecedented

27% to nearly 37%, and nearly one

numbers, especially in fields like

out of every four married women

manufacturing that had traditionally

worked outside of the home by 1945.

employed mostly men. Recruited by the

In all, 6 million American women

War Advertising Council’s ‘Women in War

supported the country’s industrial

Jobs' campaign and its iconic poster-

production during wartime.*

woman, Rosie the Riveter, women came

Today, American women earn more

from across the country to fill spaces on assembly lines in support of the war effort.

than half of all college degrees and hold more than half of all managerial and

Rosie led the shift in public opinion about

professional positions. Yet, they are

a women’s place in work, in particular in

one of the largest pools of untapped

manufacturing, highlighting the patriotic

talent in American manufacturing.

duty of women to enter the workforce and

In 2016, women made up 47% of

encouraging them to take on industrial

the U.S. labor force, but only 29% of

jobs. Between 1940 and 1945, the

the manufacturing workforce.**

percentage of women in the workforce Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

23

HERO FEATURE

Women in Industry

Heroes of industry at KCF Technologies. Yep, they're women.

Times they are a-changin' and KCF is creating a culture to help empower women to be a critical element in the reinvention and the future of manufacturing. Meet a few of KCF Technologies’ “Women in Industry” and learn how they have affected companies like yours with their whip-smart, rock star ways.

Katey Glunt

DEGREE: PhD Biology

stical Analyses KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: Stati ing a U.S. PROUDEST OPTIMIZATION PROJECT: Help t in its most ghpu throu rd reco h reac Steel manufacturer critical tubular mill have to pick ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “If you rience.” expe one, curiosity is more important than

KCF SENTRY TECHNICAL ANALYST

skills –“My INTERESTING STUFF: Expert fine motor es, and quito mos previous jobs included dissecting ry.” roide emb one of my hobbies is

DEGREE: B.S. Petroleum Engineering KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: CAT II Certified Vibration Analyst

Tara Mars KCF LEAD ANALYST

PROUDEST CATCH: $20 million save at ECore on a large, one-of-a-kind gearbox that lost almost all of its oil due to a leak. This catch prevented their entir e process from coming to a halt for 26 weeks.

ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “Try to recruit your smart friends.”

INTERESTING STUFF: "I am from Houston.

Go Coogs .”

Chalice Walther

KCF PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

DEGREE: Chemical Engineering KEY TECH/MECHANICAL EXPERTISE: Certified Vibe 2 Analyst / High level knowledge in Pump operation, CNC machining and other automotive specific equipment PROUDEST CATCH: The first catch made at an Assembly Shop. “I had only worked for KCF for a few months and I identified a major bearing fault while still on site from the install. The plant instantly acted on our recommendation and we saved them over a million dollars before even completing the install.”

ADVICE FOR HIRING TOP TALENT: “Staying true to our company core values of smarts, grit, and drive. I believe drive is what is most important. We need to have as much, if not more, drive than our customers to help bring them into the future and truly optimize American Manufacturing.”

INTERESTING STUFF: My favorite thing to do in my spare time is travel and explore the world. A dream of mine is to someday be able to live abroad a few months a year, likely in Spain.”

Closing manufacturing’s gender gap is key to closing the skills gap that has limited businesses’ ability to evolve and expand. In addition to filling open positions, though, research shows that gender diversity benefits manufacturing firms by creating a culture that improves their ability to innovate and grow.* n 24

american PLANT MANAGER / Fall 2019

* Lee, Carolyn. "Women Are Critical to Manufacturing's Future." Industry Week , April 11, 2019, www.industryweek.com

CHEW ON THIS

CALM THE HELL DOWN

Toyota: Unconventional Methods, Extraordinary Results with Downtime

BY BEN LAWRENCE I hadn’t heard the song in more than a

“Oh, yes!” replied one of Toyota’s

But what would happen if, in that shit-

decade but the moment it came on I was

manufacturing engineers, “That’s

hits-fan moment, we actually did the

back in my daughter’s nursery, placing her

our signal that we’ve encountered

opposite? What if instead of hitting

in her crib for a nap. She loved that song,

unplanned downtime.”

the panic button we pulled that string

a lullaby that my wife and I would play for

UNPLANNED DOWNTIME?!?!

on the back of my daughter’s toy?

“Holy crap,” I thought, “All hands on deck!

Toyota remains a world-class company

her by yanking a string on the back of her favorite stuffed animal. Nothing fancy, just one of those short, simple tunes you’d hear if you cranked an old music box.

But I was far from my daughter’s nursery. I was in Toyota North America’s Texas-based pickup truck factory.

This factory is massive: 2,000 acre campus, 2 million square feet, nearly 2,000 employees, and cranking out 200,000 vehicles/year. (That’s about one pickup truck per minute, 24/7/365!)

In addition to being massive, it’s impeccable. If Disney were in the auto manufacturing business, this is what their plant would look like. Crisp lighting that rivals that you’d find in a Tiffany’s jewelry display. Floors that are spotless. Even bathrooms that Mickey himself probably cleaned.

But lullaby music? There we were, surrounded by welding machines and grown men in hard hats, and on kicks my baby daughter’s crib music.

“Excuse me,” I asked, “What’s with the music?”

Man your battle stations! DEFCON One!” If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last five years traveling North America’s industrial sector, it’s that unplanned downtime is a factory’s worst enemy.

There’s no faster way to lose profits and threaten worker safety than to have production lines come to a screeching halt.

Yet here we were, in a factory where downtime costs can exceed $50,000 a minute, and everyone around me remained calm, kept smiling, and enjoyed

for many reasons, but that lullaby incident was a more poignant illustration of their unique approach than anything else I’ve witnessed at their company.

As a leader, how do you set the tone for calm amidst the storm? Take a page from the Toyota playbook: Next time you or your team is tempted to hit the panic button, reach for that little stuffed animal with a string on its back. Not only will you save yourself undue stress but you might get a nice nap out of the deal, too. n

a little lullaby music. And as quickly as the song came on, it turned off and the production line kicked back into gear.

Now, let’s contrast that with how I’ve witnessed other industrial facilities respond to an unplanned downtime incident: Blaring sirens, angry bosses, scrambling workers, and the guilty party tossed into a pit of alligators. (OK, maybe no alligators but you get my point.)

Human instinct is to up the tempo when things don’t go as planned. Lost on your way to a meeting? We drive faster and more recklessly. Behind on production goals? We ignore our fatigue and

...SURROUNDED BY WELDING MACHINES AND GROWN MEN IN HARD HATS, AND ON KICKS MY BABY DAUGHTER’S CRIB MUSIC.

muscle through.

KCF Technologies • kcftech.com

Fall 2019 / american PLANT MANAGER

25

336 S Frasier Street State College, PA 16801

Download Our Free eBook SHOW US YOUR LOVE FOR AMERICAN MANUFACTURING Get the American Plant Manager tattooed anywhere on your body and KCF Technologies will cover the cost!

CONTACT SALES@KCFTECH.COM FOR MORE INFO. In this free eBook you’ll learn:

4 Why increasing your time-based maintenance

schedule is a bad idea

4 Why your vibration monitoring-based

American Industry’s Fittest & Fastest Keeping American Industry fast and strong begins with making yourself fast and strong.

Optimize American Manufacturing and yourself. Join the nation!

SufferNation.com

Predictive Maintenance Program is weak

4 How to gain enthusiastic cooperation from

your shop floor workers

4 Why your "factory maintenance of the future"

plan is doomed and how to revive it

4 The #1 myth about industrial machine

performance and plant maintenance

Download today!

www.kcftech.com