Ferroloy needed an alternative to its manual data collection processes, which were overrun with data that was inaccurate and/or obsolete. The Wichita, KS, foundry and machine shop also wanted to improve casting throughput and quality. And it wanted to reduce equipment downtime. Whichever solution Ferroloy chose also needed to integrate with its existing software and specialized machinery.
A presentation by system integrator Artek Integrated Solutions about the benefits and ROI of a connected integrated factory caught the interest of the foundry’s owner and president Mark Soucie, leading to Ferroloy’s selection of Artek’s Ignition industrial automation platform for SCADA, HMI, IIoT, and more.
as common in foundries as Excel sheets or scratch paper.
“The truth is that a lot of other foundries are looking for something like what we've implemented for Ferroloy and they just don't know where to start,” according to Jerry Eppler, Artek co-founder and CEO. “Mark was in the exact same position, and thankfully found us at the right time, and right when he was beginning his journey, and we helped guide him through this process to really take the ideas that he had and the opportunities that he knew were there and really bring them to fruition.”
Soucie assigned a Ferroloy process engineer to the project. Clint VenJohn, together with Jim LePratt, design service engineer at Artek, worked together to design and implement Ferroloy’s Ignition system. While VenJohn had no prior experience with the platform, he had familiarity with IT and insights drawn from his work as a plant operations manager. LePratt had decades of metalcasting industry experience, as well as expertise with Ignition.
Emphasis on data
Ferroloy wanted to implement lean manufacturing practices to promote overall behavioral change, and to rely on systems more than individual skill. “What we're trying to accomplish is to digitize an aged process and gain better visibility to unlock the latent potential within the process,” VenJohn said.
The foundry had been using data to solve individual problems rather than to promote improvement across the operation. To create a SCADA system that was beneficial to operators as well as management, Artek built and configured a MySQL database on Ferroloy’s servers. This was connected to Ignition, specifically the Tag Historian Module, as a central repository that would improve data collection and analytics, for reference by anyone.
“The goal with the Ferroloy project was to digitally transform their disconnected foundry that relied heavily on manual, paper data collection through efficient data collection and analysis,” Eppler recalled.
The target is to increase production capacity by 25-30% while reducing scrap by 30-35%. The Ignition system provides quantitative data that Ferroloy can use to identify methods for improving efficiency.
“With Ignition, we're able to see more or less up-to-the-minute production data, whereas before we would lag behind by a week or so,” VenJohn said. “We're able to identify trends, shift reports and that type of thing can come out almost in real time. Those have been huge improvements and have allowed us to identify and more quickly react to problems.”
Ignition was a cost-effective solution too. But for Soucie the great improvement has been the flexibility to adapt and make changes quickly based on real-time data.
The digitalization process at Ferroloy proved to be more than a simple transition from paper to HMI. No one wanted to distract operators from the intensive activity of metalcasting. LaPratt and VenJohn adapted their project to suit the working requirements, with screens that are easy to read and engage. “We have a lot of employees out there that are not very tech-savvy, some older, and some that there's a language barrier with,” VenJohn said. “The simplicity of [the HMI] just makes it easy for them to interact with and be able to do what they need to do easily and properly.”
Eppler added, “We wanted to make sure our screens were extremely intuitive and simple as to not distract operators from the potential hazards around them.”
Connectivity counts
Like many foundries Ferroloy has a mix of PLCs from various sources, and some equipment that does not communicate via PLC. Regardless, Ignition’s built-in suite of device drivers allowed Ferroloy to connect to all of their hardware.
And because Ferroloy needed a software that runs on monitors that can be replaced easily, it is able to use smart TVs as KPI dashboards displaying Ignition above each of six production lines.
Now, Ferroloy is operating on the Ignition software across the enterprise, from the plant to the management offices – and because it’s server-centric with unlimited licensing, the users are finding more applications for it as they proceed.
“Ignition is already expanding into other areas of the plant. As we speak, they're working on integrating their QA lab into Ignition. We're getting spectrometer data into Ignition now,” according to Eppler. “On top of that, now we're starting to work on getting some of the grinding room data into Ignition and also working on dashboards for the break room.”