An important reminder for all Seiki NMS users.

At the start of January you will need to configure your NMS calendar for the year ahead. Radio buttons allow you to view and edit the calendar shifts for last year, this year and next year. You will need to set your shift times for the new 'Next Year', which will be 2009 or 2010, depending upon how far in advance you have already set your calendars.

Procedure:-

Run the program calendar.exe which you can find from the Windows Start button. Then navigate through Programs > All Programs > Seiki Systems NMS > Office Tools > Calendar. Select the Default calendar or Machine Specific Calendar as required.

It is possible to configure your standard days by double clicking the coloured boxes on the right hand side and giving them a name/reference, if this has not already been done. Then allocate standard days in the year by clicking the required day and using the spray can pointer to select single days or blocks with the spray can. Any day(s) shown in red in the calendar indicate that this specific day is not a standard working day.

If you are experiencing any problems updating your calendar or require technical assistance then please do not hesitate to contact the Seiki Support Desk, Tel: 01273 680411 between 08.30 and 17.00, Monday to Friday. Alternatively you can email: support@seikisystems.co.uk

When it comes to investment, the shop floor has always been key. Without the right machinery, tools and technology, how can manufacturers maximise the efficiency of their process or the quality of their products? Yet Seiki Systems sales director Paul Lane sees a strategic weakness - in that firms are failing to invest in systems capable of enabling them to measure and monitor how well (or poorly) production is performing. "Capturing manufacturing performance data to gain information about your business - a snapshot of its health, in a way - has been the poor relation. CAD/CAM/CAE systems have attracted significant outlay for front-end development and manufacturing preparation, but PLM [product lifecycle management], which gets closer, has failed to connect with the shop floor. So too many manufacturers simply don't have systems in place to support and manage the effectiveness of their plant and machine tools."

Lane acknowledges that some companies have bought partial solutions - such as tool presetting and DNC systems - but not as part of a coordinated shop floor management strategy. But that is changing, he believes: " We are moving into a phase where MES's [manufacturing execution systems] are coming of age, reaching a level of sophistication and maturity that Seiki Systems - and it's competitors, in fairness - is now providing to UK manufacturers on an expanding scale."

Certainly, there has been a major market push into this space, with some high-profile acquisitions driving things forward at the blue-chip level. But at the SME level, which is Seiki's main focus, he believes there appears also to be growing recognition of the need for a holistic approach among manufacturers. "While CAD/CAM was seen as sexy and attractive, the same cant be said for the swarf and coolant end of the business - the shop floor. And yet there is real money to be made here, and that is increasingly being acknowledged. Firms are now understanding that they may be spending hundreds of thousands of pounds - millions even - on plant and machine tools to make high value parts, but without a good handle on how effective they are, they're limiting their return on investment."

Making real money

Why? It's all about capacity, and utilisation of that capacity, in production terms - which, he argues, is where Seiki Systems comes in, with it's capacity, post CAD/CAM, from ERP to real-time finite production capacity scheduling. "All of the essential data that drives the manufacturing process can be delivered to the shop floor and, during the make process, live shop data - whether that be starting, stopping, pausing and finishing of jobs, the quality completed, reasons for machine downtime or non-productive time of resources - can be captured and recorded by our system. This is where money is made and lost, particularly with the rising costs of today of heating, lighting, plant and materials."

As UK companies look to bring more of their manufacturing back home, through improved efficiency and greater awareness of how effectively they are performing - both plant and people - Lane sees Seiki Systems as a key enabler in helping them to achieve their goals. " Our function is to bring together all of the disciplines across the manufacturing environment, so that production can be made as effective as possible. That doesn't happen out of the box : there is such a disparate range of skills and disciplines, But it's essential, because without measuring and monitoring the shop floor, how can you ever know how well you are performing?"

Behind the scenes, it's all about the effective control and delivery of data across the business and, where problems occur, having the means to articulate that from shop floor to top floor - back again. "What our systems do is provide the means for businesses to identify what will make them even more efficient, productive and profitable: How good were they with their estimated times for producing given parts? Did the operator have the right information at the time he needed it? Are we achieving perhaps just 30-40% of our total capacity?"

Lane believes a strategy for investments is becoming clear: "Some of our most successful customers are now pushing 85% capacity utilisation through the Seiki Manufacturing System [ a modular system that comprises both manufacturing and business intelligence software], which allows you to analyse your performances and effectiveness. This is not beyond the reach of manufacturing SME's.

This article was published in the Manufacturing Computer Solutions IT Strategy Issue 2008

DLoG GmbH will present its new DLoG ITC 7 – a totally new series in the 15-inch segment at SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2008 in Nuremberg. This industrial PC expands the existing DLoG portfolio of robust industrial computers for applications where “flat installations” are needed – regarding space requirements and for IT technical implementation options for machine terminals. The ITC 7 unifies the advantages of a robust industrial PC with the low TCO of classical Thin Clients.

The industrial PC DLoG ITC 7 has been designed for reliable operation in rough environments at low operating costs. The Intel® Celeron® M based system with 15-inch Touch Screen is protected against vibrations and - according to IP 54 - against dirt and water. The ITC 7 comes with an space-saving depth of only 70 millimeters, at the same time the robust industrial computer allows fast access to the housing protected interfaces. Thanks to the easy-access service lid, access to the service USB interface of an installed ITC 7 is simple and secure. USB devices such as memory sticks or input devices can be used quickly and in a straightforward manner. Even access to the Compact-Flash® card is effortless. New data can be transferred in a very short time or the system can be configured using an USB keyboard.

Flat Housing with Easy Access to Interfaces
Implementing the DLoG ITC 7 enables robust and efficient systems solutions for the entire chain of data acquisition, visualization and communication in assembly and manufacturing. “With its 15-inch Touch Screen, the newest member to the DLoG product family becomes the ideal product for secure and transparent work in demanding environments”, illustrates Robert Vasenda, Product Manager at DLoG GmbH. The new device class will initially be presented to trade fair visitors at SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2008 in Nuremberg (hall 8, booth 505). “The combination of flat stable housing on one hand and protected, easily accessible interfaces on the other is on top of the wish list for many customers. With the DLoG ITC 7, we are positioning a device on the market in which these combined properties are offered with the outstanding level of quality, our products are known for", states Robert Vasenda.

The new DLoG ITC 7 device series is available from the first quarter of 2009. Test devices are available now. Further information is available online at www.dlog.com.

At 3.30pm today Chancellor Alistair Darling will unveil to parliament his plan to kick start the stalling economy. It is expected that the government will be announcing a temporary cut in value added tax as the centrepiece of its plan to avert permanent damage to the UK economy. It has been suggested that VAT could be reduced to 15 percent from 17.5 percent for the next one to two years*.

In preparation for any changes to the VAT rate, please find attached instructions for updating your Seiki ERP system. Please contact our Support Desk support@seikisystems.co.uk or Tel: 01273 680411, if you require any further assistance in making these changes to your system.

Two new features have been added to the website.

Seiki Systems are continuously working to develop software that fulfils customer requirements and exceeds expectations. We recognise the value of customers' experience and opinions and are inviting input into this creative process to ensure that future versions of Seiki manufacturing software meet the needs of the users. If you would like to shape the future of your manufacturing system use our feedback form to send us your enhancement suggestions for future software release.

Furthermore, requesting the latest version of Seiki NMS has never been easier with our new online update request form. All customers with a current maintenance contract are entitled to a free update to the latest version of software but this form will also enable customers without a maintenance contract to request a quotation for the software update and/or a maintenance contract.

Seiki Systems are delighted to be able to offer DLoG's range of Rugged Industrial PCs as part of our complete manufacturing solution. DLoG® design, manufacture and supply world-class industrial hardware that has been tested and proven under harsh environmental or surrounding conditions.

Supporting the delivery of your essential business information direct to the operator at the point of use, our PC hardware can be configured with your choice of established and robust operating systems. With a range of screen sizes for mobile and static applications, coupled with the ability to develop solutions that are aligned with your build specifications, we maintain a strong focus on customer requirements, high quality and technical standards which enables us to supply and support customers in the successful implementation of even the most demanding computing infrastructure.

The full range of hardware solutions can now be found on our website www.seikisystems.co.uk/hardware.html

Our exclusive distributors in Ireland, JCNC Ltd will be exhibiting at Manufacturing Technology Ireland Show in November. A visit to the show gives you an unrivalled opportunity to see the very latest manufacturing technology and production techniques for your industry. We would like to invite you to join our colleagues on the JCNC stand 406 at Manufacturing Technology Ireland 2008, which is being held at Dublin’s National Show Centre, Dublin Airport on Wednesday 5th November through to Thursday 6th November.

Seiki Systems' extensive range of products and services will be demonstrated on the stand and as well as exhibiting the latest product information we are also providing the opportunity to speak with a member of our technical team, who will be available to discuss your particular requirements in greater detail and offer expert advice on a range of issues.

Mastercam, Matsuura and Takisawa UK will also be represented on the JCNC stand.

Exhibition details

Dates: 5 - 6 November 2008

Venue: National Show Centre, Dublin (this venue is a short distance from Dublin Airport)

Note: The NSC offers FREE PARKING for exhibitors and visiting companies.

Seiki Systems software provides the ‘backbone’ for communications at AESSEAL, one of the largest mechanical seal manufacturers in the world. As the only major new entrant to this demanding marketplace in the past 40 years, AESSEAL offers industry leading products backed by a strong service philosophy and next day delivery for standard seals.

Employing over 1000 staff in 49 offices around the world and with an annual turnover of £65 million, the majority of the cartridge mechanical seals produced by AESSEAL are made in the UK. The company operates three machine shops in the UK: Mill Close in Rotherham, predominantly machining components to top up stock levels in batches of 100 to 200; Mangham Road in Rotherham produces to customer sales orders – which may have plant-specific requirements; and Bradford which supports both these machine shops and also prepares the raw cartridge castings.

With a strong focus on customer service AESSEAL holds an enormous component stock level, typically six to 12 months worth. As the seal design is kept modular the parts can be rationalised to expedite final assembly. This brings enormous business benefits as Stuart Welsh says: “Our competitors will often quote 10 or more weeks for a replacement seal, whereas 70 per cent of our orders are delivered next day.”

Seiki Systems Networked Manufacturing System was initially purchased as a way of getting the CAM programs for the seal components onto the shop floor. Today, it is used across all three sites in the UK to reliably feed CAM programs to the CNC machine tools. Customer specific seals go through the 30-strong design team using Solid Edge for modeling and following approval from the customer will be passed to the CAM department for the machining code to be written using Siemens NX v5 (Unigraphics) software prior to it being transferred via Seiki Systems DNC to the machine shop. The software links over the company’s WAN to shop floor-based PCs, where the Seiki Systems HMI looks after a number of machine tools in a cell. The engineer will look at the job list and pull programs down as the machine and raw material becomes available.

Stuart Welsh says: “For the past six years we have also used Seiki Systems monitoring solution to get information back from the machine tools, so we can understand the utilisation of the machine shops. The Networked Manufacturing System provides real-time data capture of the shop floor utilisation for the 60 multi axis turning and milling CNC machine tools we operate in the UK. Even the manual and semi CNC machines used for material preparation, such as sawing, are part of the data capture loop.”  The relays in the CNC machine controls are hard wired to show power and in cycle. “We then use the scripting within Seiki Systems software to use robust logic functions to determine the machine status. We know the status of the program, if it has been downloaded, and if the job changes then the machine must be in set up. A cycle start will show the end of set up and cycle stop puts the system into waiting. The software’s scripting language allows us, in conjunction with Seiki Systems, to write this logical sequence,” Stuart Welsh explains.

He goes on to say: “The software is very good at allowing you to link into other external systems, so it can hook into the product data management (PDM) and document management system, and even the ERP system via Seiki Systems front end. So the shop floor has the visibility of the job required, the drawing file, the model of the part, and any supporting information – such as critical set up information. Tool lists are also shown along with visual aids to depict how the tool should be assembled and how it should look on the machine. This gives the engineer on the machine the confidence that the machine tool is set correctly and that the process will cut the material right first time.” Seiki Systems software also allows the machinists on the shop floor to feedback information about how well the CAM program works. It interrogates the use of the CAM program so that any pertinent machining information is passed back to the CAM programmers, this may be something simple such as the need to reduce the feed rate slightly when machining phosphor bronze to avoid tool chatter. Stuart Welsh says: “It is good information that has significantly reduced scrap levels since it has been in use. For example, we machine specialist chemical resistant alloys for certain applications, such as Ferralium super duplex stainless steel or Hastelloy-C nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy, and until you start to cut the material you do not get a feel for how well it machines in deep bores or internal undercuts and so on. This communication backbone is invaluable with new products being introduced.”

Understanding the machine utilisation captured by the Seiki NMS system from a shop floor management perspective is important to the future investment plans the company has. It provides hard data on machine capacity limits which become vital as more and more customer special seals with increased complexity and tighter tolerances are manufactured. The ability to interrogate data that has been collected in real-time directly from the shop floor provides an enormous benefit. Essentially it provides a direct link between shop floor activities and top floor production driven business processes, enabling the company to execute the manufacturing process more effectively and profitably. As Stuart Welsh confirms: “With a growing business you have to justify additional or replacement machine tools, and we have recently acquired new machines to meet the demand for more complex components. A 9-axis Mori Seiki mill-turning centre allows both ends of a seal to be machined in one hit. This reduces the set up time because all of the tools are available and reduces the machining time as the part comes off complete. As we condense the time needed to get into production it becomes even more important to know how long the machine cycle actually takes for accurate overhead recovery – to know that we are making a profit.” The Seiki NMS software supports this functionality by providing an immediate, dynamic and visual picture of production activities by collecting data from and reporting on shop floor processes. Automatic collection of productive and non-productive events occurring on the resources is captured, to build a record of each operating condition or status change as it occurs. All the data collected is date and time stamped (including the duration of each event) and can then be viewed as an event list or exported for further analysis.

Recovering overhead costs, such as the operational cost and depreciation of the machine tools, allows AESSEAL to accurately cost the components and therefore set the selling price of the seal. As the product range expands it becomes more important to cost accurately. Material costs are straightforward to measure. How time and, therefore overhead cost, has accrued is more variable with set up, the machining cycle, stoppages, inspection, all adding up to give a cost of manufacture. Seiki’s Machine Utilisation Analysis module generates performance reports that are populated from data derived from the machine monitoring and shop floor data collection. The reports are configurable so it is possible to undertake a detailed analysis of the entire shop floor, an individual cell or even drill right down to the individual resource. It is then simple to identify trends in production, compare actual versus planned times and even see how many hours the machine tool has spent in maintenance during the month.

Stuart Welsh concludes: “The level of detail available enables planning and management of our production facilities as an internal profit centre, and is a key component in the delivery of ‘Our Purpose’: To give our customers such exceptional service that they need never consider alternative sources of supply.”

www.aesseal.co.uk

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The Kenard Engineering Group is pleased to announce the acquisition of DLoG (UK) Ltd. Effective immediately DLoG (UK) Ltd, manufacturing software and hardware solutions provider, will become part of the software division of Kenard Engineering, alongside Seiki Systems Ltd. The purchase was completed on Friday May 30th 2008. Financial details were not disclosed.

The acquisition of DLoG (UK) is a strategic move designed to strengthen the software division of the Kenard Engineering Group by extending the existing product and service portfolios. Managing Director of Kenard Engineering, Keith Ellis explains, “This is an exciting addition to the Group that will significantly advance our vision for pursuing future growth and investment opportunities. DLoG’s solutions, experience and customer base compliment that of Seiki Systems, enabling us to extend our ability to deliver innovative solutions and high quality services by leveraging the core capabilities of both companies.” 

DLoG (UK) Ltd will continue to operate from their headquarters in Birmingham under the leadership of John Davis, to guarantee that there is no disruption to the customer service provision and will continue to supply the same range of hardware and software. Existing customer service and support contracts held by existing DLoG (UK) customers will remain unchanged.

Seiki will continue to focus on the development of its high quality, innovative and cost-effective range of software products for the manufacturing industry. Their ability to supply a complete turnkey solution is further enhanced by the addition of the DLoG® industrial hardware range that will now also be offered as part of the Seiki portfolio.

It is our highest priority to ensure that we continue to provide the high levels of product and service quality that our customers’ expect.

www.dlog.co.uk
www.kenard.co.uk

Our partners in the USA, JobPack Inc will be exhibiting at The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in September. IMTS 2008 is the 27th edition of the premier manufacturing technology show in North America and is one of the world's largest industrial trade shows, regularly attracting over 85,000 visitors. JobPack will be demonstrating from the booth D-3040.

Exhibition details

Dates: 8 - 13 September 2008

Venue: McCormack place, 2301 S.Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60616, USA

For further details about the event, including pre-registration, reasons to attend and a full list of exhibitors please visit the IMTS website www.imts.com The website also includes a section dedicated to International visitors with useful contact numbers and advice on where to stay in the area.

www.jobpack.com
www.imts.com

A steep increase in ongoing business placed Integrated Hydraulics Limited under pressure to deliver its products to demanding deadlines. To help meet these demands the company turned to manufacturing software specialist, Seiki Systems, to supply its market-leading planning and scheduling package.

Based in Leamington Spa, Integrated Hydraulics Limited is a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of hydraulic screw-in cartridge valves and integrated electro-hydraulic control systems for numerous business sectors. These include off-highway and heavy construction vehicles, aerial access platforms and agricultural equipment. Customers include JCB, Atlas Copco, Caterpillar, Volvo, Ransomes Jacobsen and Terex. The business has seen growth of more than 25 per cent year-on-year, with a target of £30 million turnover for this year. The company’s philosophy is to design valves and systems that are suited to a customer’s application, and not to try to force an application to fit a range of standard products. Hydraulic manifold blocks are manufactured in-house to exacting standards, from high grade steels and aluminium with close tolerance finishes for higher functional accuracy and a longer working life.

With a total of 280 employees, there are 42 staff working in the machine shop split over three shifts. Senior production engineer, Tony Cave, says: “Our philosophy is to offer the complete range rather than focus on high volumes of a small variety of hydraulic blocks, so the machine shop has a staggering variety of low volume work to cope with - having made around 1000 different variations last year.” Around 80 per cent of Integrated Hydraulics work is bespoke to a customer’s requirement/design needs for fluid control. The company produces approximately 160,000 cartridges per month with up to 15 individual components in each one in a variety of different styles. Of the machined parts required, all turned components are manufactured externally as are high volume block orders of 500 or more. 

The in-house machine shop addresses about 30 per cent of the company’s needs, and batches tend to be small at 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100-off. Setting the machines for the many different parts takes time and this lost production hits the efficiency and profitability of the operation. Tony Cave explains: “With no real visibility of what was being made, orders went into the machine shop and people worked on infinite capacity plan to try and fulfil them. Two senior staff attempted to work out what was going through the workshop and in what order, using an Excel spreadsheet which tended to reflect past performance and/or hopeful targets. Effectively, nothing was done on time because there was always too much to do.” To address this the decision was made in invest in a production scheduling software package from manufacturing software specialist, Seiki Systems, to provide a transparency of data so that everyone involved could see what was happening in real-time.

The new software had to work in conjunction with the existing Sage Line 500 ERP system used across the company as well as the Seiki Systems networked manufacturing software (NMS) used to transfer manufacturing data to the shop floor. It also had to capture data from the various machines’ controllers to provide a status check – job start, job finish, waiting time, alarm...etc, as well as analysis information for engineering improvements. Data collection from the shop floor is achieved via relays hardwired into the machines’ control system, providing accurate information for weekly analysis of where production time has been lost, be it breakdowns, waiting for operator or waiting for material. This allows the company to target specific problems rather than trying to fix everything at once. The Seiki Systems’ software now provides a closed loop control method for the manufacturing operation with jobs logged all the way through the manufacturing process. Following initial installation Integrated Hydraulics spent three months updating and ensuring the accuracy of its manufacturing route data.

Production director, Paul Hone, explains that in some cases the data in the existing routes was not usable as it was based on old plant and machinery. “In some cases it was just a general guess with 5 minutes allowed for everything. The data had to be accurate because the planning system would highlight a machine as being overloaded because it was carrying out five operations at 5 minutes each but the reality was that the machining cycle time was just 8 minutes. Over a batch of 100 the over allocation of time in the system could amount to nearly a week’s worth of work,” he says.

Three Integrated Hydraulics staff, including Tony Cave and Paul Hone, and two staff from Seiki Systems worked on the project. The production engineering department operated the system for about one month prior to training the shop floor staff in its use. It interfaced smoothly with the existing Seiki Systems NMS system and expanded the data capture to include more machining processes to extend the control. The software has focused the company and made a major impact. Now it has an identified capacity and can accurately predict an overload several weeks in advance. This allows time to alter the schedule with the redeployment of work out to a trusted subcontract engineering base or brought back in if there is available capacity. Better feedback for production control allows that department to match up cartridge and body manufacture to make the final assemblies. A lot of chasing of piece parts internally and at subcontractors is carried out by the production control department, and it was very difficult not knowing when parts are going to be ready.

Says Paul Hone: “Now the software allows the accurate forecast of a due date, when everything is going to be ready. And, if a priority change comes in from sales or production control the company can instantly tell what the impact will be on the rest of the jobs in the queue. This could not be done before, it was just haphazard and things were hidden in the system. It also places the decision with the departments that are talking to the customers that may be affected.” When the system was first implemented the company was chasing 97 different orders that represented around 120 items which in manufacturing terms were more than one week late. Now there are just nine that are overdue. Better scheduling has reduced the number of set ups and brought the late deliveries under control.

The return on investment has been phenomenal. The implementation of the Seiki Systems software used at Integrated Hydraulics has been ongoing for a number of years, starting with the Seiki Networked Manufacturing System in 1999. The cost of the most recent addition to the system, the Component Level Scheduling software, was approximately £10,000 and what it has provided is a significant decrease in the number of customers upset by late deliveries. Each upset customer is potentially worth the whole of their contract so removing this concern has very tangible benefits. Also, the 120 items that were previously late had a value of around £150,000 with the reduction of parts due down to nine the value of the late parts has been cut to around £10,000. This will reduce further as the accurate scheduling is now starting to allow the machine shop to get ahead of the order list. “There are cost advantages to the whole business, as the benefits of the scheduling software roll out across the company.” confirms Paul Hone, “For example, the efficiency of the assembly operation is directly influenced by the delivery of the finished machined parts. If the parts are not available then the assembly staff will be idle. One assembly unit, which is set up next to the machine shop, only works on specific valve bodies and if the machine shop is late delivering then there is nothing for the operators to do.”

With clear and accurate information about the manufacturing operation it is also allowing a change in operating principles moving away from the traditional ‘machine everything as soon as it’s available’ to a ‘machine just in time to meet the order’ methodology. Not fighting fires has provided a clear vision of the capacity and therefore delivery. It has also reduced the need for overtime to try to catch up with the backlog of late orders. This removes an additional cost that was coming straight off the bottom line. It also provides around 20 per cent extra spindle capacity due to overtime capacity being available so that sales can be increased with new business opportunities. The software also provides data for future machine investment decisions and allows the ‘what if’ scenario to be played out. This means that the benefits or impact on the operation can be measured before any changes are made.

The cost of the investment was relatively small compared to the rewards that Integrated Hydraulics is receiving and there has been a significant commitment in terms of time and effort from the production engineering department to ensure that the full capabilities of the system, including real-time feedback and reporting facilities, are utilised in order to support ongoing continuous improvement strategies. The improvements in the manufacturing data is of course an ongoing process but the analytical tools that are available and used by the company to measure performance provide further benefits. The data is available across the company so that everyone that needs to know is kept informed. It also allows the production department to highlight any extra capacity that is available so that the business development team can go out to the market and try to fill this, knowing that the company will be able to deliver to these new customers as well as the existing ones.

As Tony Cave concludes: “The systems’ ease of use has also been crucial to its successful implementation, along with our willingness to move forward. For example, the person responsible for updating the system has only been with the company for four months but has quickly picked up how the software works and how it interfaces with the company.”

www.integratedhydraulics.com

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www.mitcon.co.uk

Our new product brochure, which contains an overview of our entire product range, is now available. Seiki Systems Ltd specialises in enabling businesses to achieve effective control, realistic scheduling, information at point of demand, data collection and analysis reports – resulting in improved productivity and ensures that the investments made in production resources is maximised. The Seiki portfolio includes ERP, real-time scheduling with visibility of shop floor production to help achieve delivery dates, and extends through to paperless manufacturing.

If you would like to request a copy please email your full contact details to marketing@seikisystems.co.uk

Seiki Systems have been invited to speak at the Maximising Manufacturing Business Efficiency Conference, organised by Manufacturing Computer Solutions and held at the National Space Centre in Leicester.

Our sales manager Paul Lane will describe the reality behind a manufacturing execution system that resulted in increased sales turnover, improved machine utilisation and reduced work-in-progress at specialist valves manufacturer Integrated Hydraulics, shortlisted for this year’s MITcon awards. He will explain how shop floor operators now get updated, prioritised job lists, along with manufacturing data, NC machine programs, materials and tools required etc – with relevant information automatically propagated to all departments that need to know. And he will touch on additional value to management, which now gets automatic feedback that not only provides a complete audit trail, but informs the next similar production run, ensuring currency and best practice every time.

To know exactly what’s going on throughout the production process – and where the capacity for an urgent order exists – is a holy grail of manufacturing operations. But it’s not unreachable, says David Trowell, general manager of Seiki Systems.

What is the most important thing in manufacturing today? Controlling costs will be the response from financial department. Operations want orders in sequence and materials where they’re needed, when they’re needed – no later. Maintenance seeks to avoid breakdowns and may well get agreement from production for the benefit of planned resource maintenance. All very important but one will get a different, and very simple answer to the same question from one’s customers. They want their deliveries on time and in full. Enabling even small businesses to achieve effective control, scheduling, information at point of demand, monitoring and analysis reports – leading to improved productivity – is what Seiki Systems does.

“Most companies in manufacturing – especially large aerospace OEMs – have machine shops and all of them have CNC equipment,” said David Trowell, general manager of Seiki Systems Ltd, based in Brighton. “Most companies operate some form of system to plan and monitor their manufacturing but how many can actually determine with accuracy the status of current work-in-progress, available capacity, which jobs are on time or late and the consequences of any delayed operations. It is in these areas that Seiki Systems specialise” Seiki’s solution is a neat portfolio of modular products that integrates the manufacturing enterprise and provides an immediate, visual and dynamic picture of the entire manufacturing process (including earlier upstream disciplines processes such as design), resulting in the level of flexibility required by manufacturers to meet the ever changing demands of the industry and their customers. In the current business climate there has never been a more critical time for company’s to invest and secure manufacturing control and process advantage.

Mr Trowell says that to achieve this level of visibility and control, real-time systems relating to machine and operation status provide a far more accurate picture of the current state of production on the shop floor on which to base key planning decisions. The Scheduler provides management control of planned work and capacity availability. “The Scheduler interrogates the ERP/MRP data to establish the production time and number of parts required for each works order, creating a routing based synchronised work-to list for each individual resource - including part numbers, individual operations, due dates and forecast finish dates - which can then be distributed around the shop floor.

Whilst traditional paper based methods can collate data and produce graphical representations they are often based upon historical data and are likely to be inaccurate. Another advantage of a paperless manufacturing environment is that essential manufacturing data is made available at point of use to operators on the shop floor, such as NC programs, together with the relevant documentation required for each CNC or manual operation, including drawings, tool lists, NC simulation videos, etc. Supportive functions, like toolsetting, can see what’s needed, where and when, and ensure everything is ready for start time. The system can also be configured to meet the requirements specified in quality standards; providing access control, batch details, recording changes to NC programs, with audit and traceability records being automatically generated.

Flexibility is essential for any company looking to maintain advantage over their competitors and it is here that the real-time knowledge is the key enabler. Should a new order with an immediate requirement arrive you may not have any real idea of where to fit it in to the production schedule and any subsequent impact to the scheduled delivery dates of existing works orders, effectively causing a potential ripple throughout the organisation.

Reliance upon physical observation of the shop floor activity and word of mouth to determine production capacity for the allocation of work is inherently flawed. Seiki’s production management solution provides a graphical representation of the workload across the facility. This means that it is possible to immediately identify any bottlenecks or spare capacity. Changes in one area will immediately show the knock-on effect to all live works orders – and if you understand the implications, you can take a proactive as opposed to reactive approach to planning and ensure you meet the all-important on-time delivery dates for all your orders, not just those for the person shouting the loudest. Seiki’s production management solution links all the production resources and associated processes together into one point of view – a single version of the truth. It also collects data on the equipment’s utilisation and performance, which helps with measurements of efficiency.

Maintaining manufacturing control and visibility ensures that the investments made in production resources are maximised. The Seiki solution provides a natural extension to existing systems and its modularity provides a flexible solution and natural upgrade path to bring together ERP and CAD/CAM at point of manufacture. The SFDC and feedback functionality provides access to real-time reporting, performance analysis and OEE if required, on which to base production efficiency and continuous improvement strategies.

www.seikisystems.co.uk/products/imes.html

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Congratulations to Kenard Engineering for winning the Metal Working Production Best Subcontractor - Machining award. The judges gave their reasons for selecting Kenard as:

'Ticks all the right boxes - investment in advanced manufacturing, workflow management, input to design and development, lean principles, quality management - and marketing'

Kenard Engineering is a precision engineering company established in 1964. Through continuous investment in the latest manufacturing and software technologies, the Kenard Engineering Group has grown to become one of the UK’s leading subcontract manufacturers.

Operating from two manufacturing sites in the UK, which include a modern purpose built factory in Dartford, a 50,000ft2 facility in Tewkesbury and 32 CNC machine tools, Kenard Engineering is able to provide a complete manufacturing service, producing one off prototype components through to medium batch (200 off) production requirements. The Tewkesbury facility predominantly machines aluminium at high speeds on horizontal, vertical and multi-pallet machining centres, most notably of which is a 72 pallet Fastems system that comprises of a line of five, four-axis Mitsubishi MH 500 horizontal machining centres, with 12,000rev/min spindles. The Dartford facility specialises in complex turned components usually manufactured from exotic materials to customer specific specifications. Components ranging from 75mm diameter up to 930mm diameter are manufactured on  the latest machining technology (including a new Daewoo Puma 700L mill/turn centre).

Over the past 5 years significant investments have been made within the Kenard Group, resulting in an increase in business within the marine, oil & gas, aerospace, defence and telecoms sectors. The ability to attract new and often complex projects is based upon Kenard being able to apply and capitalise on its strong production engineering, quality control and manufacturing IT skills.

Customer service is the main priority at Kenard and the organisation aims to work with all customers from the concept-design stage through to full manufacture, including all processes and treatments. Project managers frequently hold activity meetings with customers to ensure that the best results are achieved and that deliveries are on time. As part of the technical service Kenard offers, the ‘Design for Manufacture’ facility is an integral part of the operation. The sales, production and quality departments work closely to carry out detailed evaluations of customers’ design and manufacturing requirements. Through direct liaison with the customer’s design department Kenard will undertake a full analysis of the component and assemblies in order to develop an optimised process solution for manufacturing the component. A full assessment of the service condition and life expectancy requirements ensures improved product quality and reliability, and a range of material and surface finish options are available to meet customer requirements. The overall benefit to the customer resides in the ‘one-stop’ shop approach to manufacturing that Kenard employs, offering a dedicated manufacturing design and problem solving service for existing or conceptual design issues and a co-ordinated technical and manufacturing support service. The primary goal is to ensure that all projects are managed efficiently and to a high standard.

The use of production planning, monitoring and analysis software within the organisation ensures that a knowledge driven production operation is achieved. The entire manufacturing process is optimised and job progress can be monitored through the use of integrated software packages, including the in-house developed K.I.D.S (ERP) system and the real-time Networked Manufacturing System (NMS) from Seiki Systems. NMS provides live production management information and visibility to maintain a controlled and flexible approach to the manufacturing process, including work-to-lists for individual resources, capacity planning and shop floor data collection. The data collected is frequently reviewed and a comparison is made between estimated, planned and actual process time that combined with effective supply chain management ensures customers receive competitive and cost effective solutions.

The ongoing developments to extract energy from greener, naturally renewable sources has been accelerated due to the climate change challenge that the world faces. Energy from wind is one sector that has seen rapid growth, with Europe at the hub of this booming high-tech industry.  This growth can be seen from the first commercial wind farm in the UK, built in Cornwall in 1991 using 400 kW turbines, and today there are around 2000 onshore and offshore energy generating turbines operational in the UK. With the latest trials of large diameter turbines providing over 4 MW each. Within the nacelle of a wind turbine there are sets of bearings in the drive-train that allow the transfer of the rotation of the blades via a gearbox back to the generator. There is also a large bearing fitted at the base of each blade where it is attached to the hub. These allow the pitch of the blade to be trimmed according to wind conditions, to maximise energy extraction and stop any torque overload during high winds. Such has been the uptake in this renewable source of energy that globally there is a shortage of the large diameter special bearings required to construct these highly efficient power generating systems. As a supplier to the companies that manufacture these bearings, Sheffield-based Pen Cutting Tools is aware of this situation and is constantly under pressure to deliver.

Established in 1963, the company’s main core of customers reads like a who’s who of the industrial bearing sector, and wind turbines currently represent the majority of the challenges, and revenue. Managing director, John Shaw, explains: “Many of the bearing suppliers are investing heavily to support renewable energy projects, with wind and wave power generation being the most favourable at present. There is currently a world shortage of the large bearings typically used in wind turbine equipment. These bearings can go up to a staggering 4m in diameter and there is currently a three-year wait for any large diameter bearings.”

Pen Cutting Tools has the capacity to produce tooling and driving units for the manufacture of bearing products up to 600 mm diameter, which would typically cover most of the bearings currently used on wind farms. The favoured design is twin spherical bearings, featuring two roller tracks designed for the relatively slow moving heavy loads.
To keep pace with demands Pen Cutting Tools has expanded its own production facilities building on from traditional milling, turning and grinding the company now has high-speed milling, 5-axis wire erosion and die sinking machines. All of these processes are used to finish parts from engineering plastics, tungsten carbide, diamond and hardened steel.
And, it’s not just the capital equipment that has seen investment to improve productivity. One of the company’s key purchases according to John Shaw has been its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) manufacturing software provided by Seiki Systems.

“The ERP system from Seiki Systems was purchased to replace an old manufacturing system, which we had run for around 15 years. We had a new IT hardware system installed with a networked server followed by the Seiki Systems software,” says John Shaw. In fact, Pen Cutting Tools was one of the first companies in the UK to install the ERP software and a full training package was provided to help the company get up to speed as quickly as possible. According to John Shaw the amount of time saved in the front office by the software is incredible. “From the data I input, the software automatically develops documentation in a logical way, from quotation to order right through to delivery note and invoice. It avoids the duplication that was taking place with our old system, keeping the whole process as streamlined as possible,” he states.

As the company runs mainly small batches, the quoting process can be a bottle-neck for the 25-strong company, with 22 of the staff working in production on the shop floor. However, the search facility within the software allows similar jobs to be found and essential information, such as margins, hours booked and so on, viewed before any new quotes are provided. John Shaw adds: “Searching the many jobs that have been loaded on the system, within a couple of minutes I can get a good feel for the process time required for a job. Then I only need to update the material price. It requires far less running around to track down the information. The margin figure was set up for us by Seiki Systems. After we told them how we worked it out, they duplicated that in the system. It helps to highlight any jobs that were taken on at too low a price and allows you to quote more accurately the next time.”

Although accurately costing the wide variety of tooling required to produce tightly tolerance bearings is vital to the company’s profitability, a quick turnaround is also important. The lead time from design to production of a bearing use to take four to five months, the goal now is to do it in eight to 10 weeks, including prototyping and tooling for production. This is not easy when the material specified can have a three to five week lead time. To avoid any material-specific delays consignment stocks of wear parts and consumable tooling is held at the customer or by Pen Cutting Tools. This is charged when the stock is used and has helped the company win a number of contracts – running as a Kanban system for solid carbide shoes, hot forging tools and so on. A significant amount of raw materials is also held.

John Shaw say: “I’m aware that we don’t use every aspect of the ERP software but it’s very flexible and the elements we do use provide more than enough benefits. For example, I can now track our turnover as invoices are issued, on an hourly basis if I want, this is something we have never been able to do. Previously it would have been an end of week updated figure. The dynamic data allows us to alter what we are doing to stay on top of the business. It also keeps historical data so that we can track peaks and troughs to help us address issues that occur throughout the year.” The company will be looking at Seiki Systems scheduling system soon to help manage the machine loading on the shop floor. And, if it is as flexible as the ERP software and able to fall in-line with how the company has to work with its customers it may well be the next investment Pen Cutting Tools makes.

John Shaw concludes: “From our point of view it has been an excellent investment, support has been first class. Seiki Systems makes sure we run smoothly and any issues we have with the system are address remotely, which saves time."

www.pencuttingtools.co.uk

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