Manufacturing Case Studies
A. O. Smith Corporation
The Water Products Division of A.O. Smith Corporation manufactures water
heaters. Soltus worked in conjunction with a systems integrator to replace the
paint booths in one of their factories. The integrator handled the mechanical
and control aspects of installing the new Nordson Electrostatic Rotary Atomizer
Paint Spraying System while Soltus took care of the data integration.
As a part of the paint booth replacement project A.O. Smith had several
goals for improving data management. There was a need to capture a significant
amount of data that described the production process and create reports in order
to review that data. The library of recipes for running the paint process
needed an archival system. The adjustment of necessary parts for batch
changes needed to be automated. The main database was located on a back office
server that was physically remote from the shop floor. This configuration would
sometimes result in network outages causing a halt in production. An additional
problem created by the physical configuration was that changes to the process
parameters were made by two groups, the process engineers who described major
process changes and local line managers who modify operating parameters.
Capturing and synchronizing these two sets of changes was another problem that
needed a solution. A.O. Smith sought to resolve this issue and maintain updates
on a central repository when the network was available
To solve the network problems, Soltus applied a four part solution. First
we developed a main database on the back office server with a web application to
configure the database and view the results. Second we developed locally
distributed databases for the shop floor PC’s. Thirdly, a daily synchronization
between the local and main servers allowed for local recipe changes in each cell
to be captured and stored daily on the main server and changes made through the
webpage at the main server to be updated with each paint booth. Lastly, business
logic was created to work out discrepancies between the main database and shop
floor changes.
To automate the changeover of paint and parts needed for each upcoming
batch of water heaters, Soltus, utilizing RSSQL, developed a system for
automatic download of data stored in barcodes on each batch of water heaters
that would then direct the local control PC’s to change over paint and parts
based on the data stored in the barcodes.
RSView32 was used for operator interaction and local recipe management and
at the end of the process RSSQL reports on paint usage, machine utilization, up
time/down time and provides overall production summaries. Additionally,
daily production summaries were emailed to managers along with recipe conflict
reports and conflict resolution reports. This provided a trace of performance of
the line and a history of changes to the process.
The mechanical changes that the system integrator supplied to the paint
process provided greater control. Soltus was able to manage those changes and
optimize machine capabilities with the software that we put in place. The Soltus
solutions resulted in better management tools to help qualify improvement
strategies specifically; much tighter reporting of paint consumption and
improved data visualization allowed management to see project improvements,
implement those improvements and measure the benefits.
Software Applied
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MS SQL Server
-
MS SQL Server Reporting Services
- ASP.NET
- RSView32
- RSSQL
- RSLinx
Hardware Utilized
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Rockwell ControlLogix PLC
-
Nordson electrostatic rotary paint system
Who We Worked With
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Internal IT Department
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Internal Engineering Department
- Local Industrial Automation Dealer
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Manufacturer
- Local System Integrator / Machine Designer