Production employees are often confronted with time-consuming processes for which they are not supported efficiently enough by the production system. For example, a machine operator has to obtain information on paper lists or from stationary control panels in order to carry out order preparations or maintenance work. Errors and tasks to be completed are indicated by status lights on the machines. The machine operator has an overview of these in a limited area of the system and can only react to errors that he recognizes. The prioritization of parallel tasks is also based on personal experience. Both often lead to unnecessary downtimes.

Efficiency through mobile operating solutions

The key to increasing efficiency: instead of the machine operator having to obtain the required information from various sources, apps can provide the necessary, context-specific information at the right time. With the Smart Connect solution from In-Tech, he always knows what task needs to be done next to keep production running.

Mobile devices such as smartphones and smartwatches serve as a human-machine interface: the smartphone's larger screen allows detailed descriptions and instructions for the user's tasks to be displayed. Cameras can be integrated into the application to document current statuses or to display additional information in real environments with the help of augmented reality. The battery typically lasts for one shift without any problems.

A smartwatch, on the other hand, has the great advantage that the machine operator has both hands free for his tasks and is still immediately notified by a vibration alarm. It is therefore primarily suitable as a tool for alerting machine operators to important situations. However, the low battery capacity must be taken into account during implementation. With technological concepts such as responsive design, applications can be optimized for both device types, but it always depends on the specific context as to which device type is suitable in each case.

Use in practice

The Smart Connect solution can support central tasks in the area of production.

© In-Tech

This is how the solution works in practice: at the start of the shift, the machine operator receives their preferred end device, on which they identify themselves by logging in or using their fingerprint. This allows the personal configuration, such as area of responsibility and upcoming tasks, to be loaded. In addition, the language or signaling type of the alarms, for example, can be saved as a preference. Tasks include alarms about downtimes and error situations or messages to ensure operation, such as material replenishment and maintenance tasks. The responsible employees are shown the tasks in a prioritized list, which specifies the optimal processing sequence. Prioritization is based on the time still available for completion - alarms, for example, have the highest priority.

Flexible architecture

The solution uses data in production plants that is provided either via specific interfaces from machines or an MES solution. A central server application processes the data and makes the aggregated information available to all mobile devices in the required form as JSON files via a REST interface and web sockets. This server software can be operated both on local server hardware in the production plant and on cloud servers. When operated on local servers, no data leaves production and data security can already be ensured by the IT security in the production plant.

However, operating the server in the cloud also has numerous advantages. Server performance can be scaled as required, there is no need to operate and maintain your own server infrastructure, access for monitoring, for example, can be provided from anywhere and available cloud platform services can be used for data analysis. The apps themselves are implemented as platform-independent hybrid apps. Compared to native apps, this massively reduces the additional development costs when using additional mobile platforms. Hybrid app technology is based on HTML5 and JavaScript. With frameworks such as Ionic, these websites can be packaged into a native app so that the user does not recognize any difference to other native apps. This minimizes the porting effort to other platforms.

Security by design

Security issues must be considered as early as the design phase and resolved during the development phase. Tried and tested state-of-the-art technologies are used. Communication between the server and smart device is secured via TLS (https) in addition to WLAN encryption. Man-in-the-middle attacks are prevented through the use of certificates. Sensitive local data is stored encrypted on the smart device - also hardware-encrypted depending on the device.

The solution with smartphone and smartwatch improves the integration of the operator into the overall process and thus optimizes the operation of production systems - downtimes are reduced, fewer operating personnel are required and faster training is possible. This leads directly to a reduction in operating costs. The broad basis of functionality, sensor technology and wireless technology of smartphones and smartwatches saves costs in development and operation. The flexible architecture and the technologies used ensure expandability, data security and therefore long-term use.

The path to a solution

The development of the app itself is only part of the solution. When developing a solution with high customer benefit, many aspects - such as the operating concept - need to be taken into account and questions - for example about use cases, architecture and technology - need to be answered. These are answered by the In-Tech concept 'Roadmap to digitalization'.

Industrial projects do not typically start on a greenfield site, so the initial situation must always be taken into account, which can then be further developed in an evolutionary manner. Each of these development steps should bring concrete additional benefits. The 'roadmap to digitalization' concept is a process model that has been developed in numerous projects. It enables a targeted path to a solution in three phases. In the first phase, in addition to the initial situation, the main objectives are defined and thus the content of the concept phase is defined. In this phase, the solution is defined, technologies, architecture and operating concept are determined and prototypically validated. This provides the basis for implementation, which takes place iteratively in monthly sprints in product quality in the subsequent realization phase.

Authors:
Dr. Klaus Wiltschi is Head of Business Unit Machinery at In-Tech;
Thomas Sorg is Head of HMI and Assistance Systems at In-Tech.