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| Application Stories
APPLESAUCE PRODUCER In the new millennium, consumer culture has once again changed -- now we want exactly the right type and amount, with a minimum expenditure of energy, time or resources. In other words, efficiency is in.
An apple a day, or 1/2 million pounds In business since 1982, Leahy Orchards uses a half million pounds of apples a day and turns them into applesauce, pie filling and concentrated pulp. Applesauce is the company's main product -- Leahy Orchards uses 30 different apple recipes, with 13 var iations and flavors, to produce applesauce for its own brand and 250 private label brands. The applesauce is packaged in various sizes, including 1550 ounce jars, 100-ounce tins for institutional use and the popular 4-ounce snack size for consumers.
After leaving storage, the apples are washed, sorted and ground into an apple pulp. Flavors and additives are mixed in and the applesauce is cooked, cooled and packaged. The packaging process splits the applesauce into three separate lines -- one for the jar line; a second for the tin line; and a third for the 4-ounce snack size, also called the portion line. Leahy Orchards maintains over 60 percent market share in Canada with more than 90 percent of all private-label applesauce products. Despite its outward appearance as a small family company, the Leahy family has created a business that outsells and outperforms all others in the Canadian applesauce business. "During our 20-year history we've effectively used technology to improve operations where it made sense," said Michael Leahy, president and director, Leahy Orchards. "Making sure that we run as efficiently as possible is top of mind every day and a key component of our managed growth strategy." Applesauce and Automation Leahy Orchards has steadily increased its use of automation and controls technology over the last five years, starting with the portion line and expanding into other parts of the facility. At Rockwell Automation's Allen-Bradley Automation Fair in St. Louis in 1998, Leahy systems engineer Gerald Beaudoin saw custom-designed software that helped measure and improve efficiency monitoring. Beaudoin already knew the value of managing efficiency using OEE methodology, but wasn't interested in custom designing software or maintaining a proprietary solution -- so he started looking for an off-the-self efficiency monitoring solution. "We'd been tracking efficiency manually for a long time and our rates were all over the board -- from 50 to 70 percent," said Beaudoin, "Not only did we have fairly wide swings in efficiency and downtime, but we had no idea of what the root cause of the problems were." In addition, the manual tracking was slow. Reports for each shift were generated the following day -- missing an opportunity to make immediate changes in the line to improve the day's production numbers. "At the time, off-the-shelf efficiency monitoring software wasn't available from any supplier, but Rockwell Automation had some options that we could start with, including the Rockwell Software RSView human machine interface software package," said Beaudoin. "RSView allowed us to gather and measure basic information from the plant systems -- which was a big improvement over manual measurements -- but we really wanted to go beyond HMI functions to find software that would allow us to target inefficiencies." Beaudoin got his wish when Rockwell Automation launched the very solution he was seeking -- Rockwell Sofware RSBizWare PlantMetrics. PlantMetrics, which is designed to help companies analyze the performance of plant equipment, would allow Beaudoin to identify the actual cause of inefficiencies and machine downtime at the plant. "We did a basic cost-justification model using the cost to implement PlantMetrics and the expected savings based on increased efficiency," said Leahy. "We found that if we increased efficiency by about 4 percent in under one year, we'd be able to get a good return on the investment." PlantMetrics measures a variety of information from five work cells on the portion pack line, including two fillers, a cooler, sleever and case packer cells. More specifically, it gathers information on the three components of OEE: machine availability, throughput and quality. Event data such as downtime is also collected for analysis. To determine overall efficiency, the percent of availability, throughput and quality are multiplied. Allen-Bradley SLC 500 controllers (implemented during Leahy's earlier automation project) collect data from the line and, using the Rockwell Software RRSql transaction manager and an Ethernet network, the information is sent to a Microsoft SQL Server database. Both RSSql and SQL server are included with PlantMetrics. Because Leahy already had the controllers and network in place, all they had to purchase was PlantMetrics. From the database, information is served up to 5 client computers on an administrative network, which allows others in the company to access to information via a Web browser. Key personnel can access and view reports to identify and correct problems as they happen. Leahy Orchards didn't set a hard goal for efficiency, but instead created a target in the upper 80 percent range -- this would give them a minimum 10 percent increase on average days with the possibility of higher efficiency on above-average days. "We knew that if we could identify and eliminate efficiencies in the portion line, we could raise the numbers for availability, throughput and quality and hit the high 80 percent mark on this line on a consistent basis," said Beaudoin. "But being able to identify and eliminate the efficiencies was a priority." One applesauce, two applesauce, five applesauce... Using PlantMetrics, Beaudoin was able to immediately identify a counting problem on some of the work cells. He found that part counts from one cell to another didn't always match and, as a result, final production numbers were inaccurate. After looking at a number of reasons for the discrepancies he discovered that the counting mechanism on one work cell was recording higher numbers of finished product than was true. When fixing the count still didn't eliminate the problem, he investigated further and found that scrap pieces, which were counted as finished in the first work cell, were actually unfinished and were being scrapped, but not counted, at the following work cell. Because of the count inconsistencies, work cells were over-reporting product and not reporting scrap, which impacted the resulting production data. PlantMetrics allowed Leahy to analyze the production data and find these inconsistencies. By fixing the counting mechanism on the faulty work cell and identifying the scrap which had gone previously uncounted, Leahy Orchards was able to reduce scrap by about 40-50 percent, equally about $500 a day in savings. The decrease in scrap alone gave Leahy Orchards its return on investment for the PlantMetrics system in only eight months.
With automation in place and new systems to identify inconsistencies in the line, Leahy Orchards was able to hit its efficiency goal of 80-90 percent on most days. Beaudoin estimates that the increase in efficiency has allowed the company to process more applesauce, translating into an extra 10 percent in production annually. Leahy Orchards also uses PlantMetrics to help schedule production for orders based on portion line efficiency. Although Leahy still prefers a manual scheduling system, PlantMetrics allows the production scheduler to see the line in real-time and make decisions based on machine uptime/downtime and production numbers. Beaudoin also has found that employees really like and use the system. Having access to PlantMetrics has actually fostered a friendly competitive spirit among some of the line chiefs on different shifts to see who can identify and eliminate problems and record the best efficiency numbers. The line chiefs use the system daily and like the fact that they can take action to correct issues with the line as soon as issues are identified. Technology is only valuable to the extent that people use it," said Beaudoin. "In PlantMetrics we've got a tool that our line chiefs like and use regularly." Future Harvests Because improving efficiency is a never-ending process, Leahy Orchards continues to find and optimize processes on the portion line. Beaudoin plans to install PlantMetrics on the jar line in the future and expects that it will offer significant improvements there, as it has on the portion pack line. Because of the materials and size of products in the jar line, the company has an opportunity to cut even more costs and find additional areas of improvement. As a company always on the lookout for new ways to increase efficiency, Beaudoin has found that finding ways to improve is a continuous process. "With PlantMetrics, we've able to set efficiency goals and aim for them," said Beaudoin. "When we meet the goal, we just set another one, a little higher, and keep on making improvements." Rockwell Automation
LINK LINE PRESSES By using link-drive mechanical presses for deep draw and other applications, instead of conventional crankshaft-driven presses, Jancox Stampings of Brampton, Ontario has doubled their die life while achieving throughput-enhancing increases in press speeds. Jancox Stampings, a contract stamper and component manufacturer, has also cut die maintenance costs by 40 percent, compared to crank presses. The basic advantage of a draw-line press is a direct result of the motion of the ram. During the work stroke (the bottom of the stroke), slide velocity is reduced by 50 percent (most other link press designs offer a speed reduction of 30 to 37 percent), allowing the actual forming of the metal to occur slower, with less heat build-up. This slower work stroke is more than made up for by the fast speed of the ram during its approach and return. The optimized kinematics of the link design, as opposed to the standard crank driven design, can simultaneously give the user higher speeds, better quality parts and longer tool life. The slower forming stroke works especially well for the deep-drawn motor mounts and other "cup" style parts that are a significant portion of the stamping mix at Jancox Stampings. Whereas speeds on their crank-driven presses range from 25 to 30 strokes per minute, their link presses average 35 to 40 -- a 40-60 percent increase in productivity. Progressive die draw work has been done primarily on two of their three link presses: 600-ton and 800-ton "combination link" presses (that also do blanking and coining work). A 400-ton "blanking link" press, with a shorter (14") stroke, is also utilized. All are designed and built by press-builder PTC of Cambridge, Ontario. PTC's new 400-ton Millennium Press is the latest addition to the Jancox Stampings stable. With its high flywheel energy and low deflection design, the Millennium is designed for maximum versatility and is equally suited for heavy blanking, forming and coining, as well as heavy progressive die and transfer work. Less Maintenance Jancox Stampings has found that the wear life of die surfaces and components (such as draw cushions) is improved since adverse factors such as noise, heat, shock and vibration are reduced on the PTC link presses because of the slower impact speed. Jack Crepnjak, Production Supervisor at Jancox, verifies this gain: "We've experienced a 40 percent reduction in die maintenance costs with the link presses versus the crank presses. The less you have to sharpen or polish a tool, the better...and any time you can run more production with less maintenance downtime and manpower, you're saving time and money. This factor has helped us immensely." The company has operated PTC presses for more than a decade, without any significant maintenance problems. Thus, they have active plans to further expand their heavier-tonnage progressive die press capability. Higher Drawn Part Quality The reduced speed during the work stroke of the link presses allows time for extended metal flow, so there is less material spring back. Excellent part surface finishes can also be achieved. "Large cup-shaped parts are difficult to do well in a conventional press," Jack said. "One of our parts requires a 54mm draw, and has two different diameters. The height tolerance is ±.002". Sometimes the lot-to-lot variance in steel stock can cause a .002" to .003" tolerance fluxuation in the drawn part, so the ability of the link press to stretch the material at slower speeds to meet the tight tolerance is very important." The link presses are also advantageous for shallower parts. One such part is a seat track for a sport utility vehicle application. Jancox stamps .170" thick high-strength steel to make the part of the 800-ton PTC link press using a 14-station, 2-up progressive die. Two of the part's 90° bends must be held to ±.5°. More than just Stamper About 70 percent of the jobs at Jancox involve additional assembly operations that they perform before the part is shipped to their customer. More than a dozen welding stations for either 5-axis robotic MIG or manual resistance welding join components to make parts such as brackets (for engine mounts, air cleaners, or windshield washer bottles), as well as transmission sub-frames and other chassis, suspension or under-the-hood components. Sebastijan Zupanec, Plant Manager at Jancox adds: "Our customer focus has paid off. The trend towards a parts supplier supplying more value-added processes and services, and delivering a more complete component to the Tier One or OEM automotive manufacturer. When one supplier can do all the work in-house, it's easier to deliver accountability in terms of part quality and ensure production deliverables. So, going beyond stamping to include assembly operations has been a logical extension of our capability." Flexibility is also important due to customer JIT (Just-In-Time) requirements. Zupanec explains, "PTC's new Millennium press will give us extra versatility -- changing over from blanking to draw work, progressive or transfer die operations, or coil to hand-fed applications." Jancox Stampings is a QS 9000 and ISO 9002 certified business. The privately-owned company employs over 70 people, processing over fifteen million pounds of steel annually in their 80,000 square foot Brampton plant. Press Technology Corporation is a custom builder of built-to-spec mechanical presses, available in press tonnages ranging from 300 to 2000 tons. Press drive configurations include crankshaft, eccentric gear, blanking link, combination link and draw link. PTC offers turnkey stamping solutions with material handling including in-press transfer, blank loading and feeding, and scrap handling, as well as die change systems. Press Technology Corporation
Canadian Industrial Equipment News October 2003
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One example of a company that has always been looking for ways to improve efficiency is Leahy Orchards, a family-owned business tucked in the outskirts of Montreal, Quebec. The 175-employee company makes apple-based consumer food products. Implementing an overall operational equipment efficiency
(OEE) monitoring solution, with assistance from Rockwell Automation, helped Leahy Orchards find measurement inconsistencies in its operations, increase daily efficiency by a minimum of 10 percent, reduce scrap by nearly 50 percent and achieve a return on investment in less than eight months.
The process of creating applesauce starts early -- during the apple-growing season. Leahy Orchards buys bulk ripe apples for the entire year's production and stores them in a controlled-
atmosphere storage facility. As needed, apples are pulled for production. Stored in this manner, apples pulled in 10 months are just as fresh and crisp as those pulled right after harvest.
"One of the unexpected benefits of PlantMetrics is that it really forces you to look at the physical production line as well as the numbers and measurements," Beaudoin said. "The software allowed us to identify the root cause of inefficiencies on the line that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Just looking at the numbers in some cases didn't show us the problem, but looking at the line did."