Automation roadmaps and smart factory integrations 

We’re excited to bring you our first-ever podcast series, Enabling Automation. This monthly podcast series will bring together industry leaders from across ATS Automation to discuss the latest industry trends, new innovations and more!

In our sixth episode of season 3, host Simon Drexler is joined by Roland Echter to discuss Automation roadmaps and smart factory integrations.

What we discuss:

• First step to digital automation roadmaps
• A digital tool that is a good first step
• Value of a digital twin for those new in their automation journey
• How do you look at improving your process to identify and mitigate risk over time?

Host: Simon Drexler, ATS Corporation (ATS Products Group)

Simon has been in the automation industry for approximately 15 years in a variety of roles, ranging from application engineering to business leadership, as well as serving several different industries and phases of the automation lifecycle.

Guest: Roland Echter, ATS Corporation (ATS Industrial Automation)

Roland is the Director of Digitalization within the ATS Industrial Automation business unit. He has been in automation business for more than 22 years, first focusing on controls and PLC programing before shifting his focus to digitalization and digital twins for the last 15 years. 

——Full Transcript of Enabling Automation: S3, E6—–

SD: Welcome to the Enabling Automation Podcast. This is episode six of our third season where we’re going to discuss automation roadmaps and smart factory integrations. Here at the Enabling Automation podcast, we work to bring experts from across the ATS Corporation to discuss topics that are relevant to those that are using automation to scale their manufacturing operations. I’ll be your host, Simon Drexler. I’ve been a part of the automation industry for more than 17 years, in various roles, at both large and small companies. I’m very passionate about applying technology to issues that exist in scaling businesses, so I’m so fortunate to be able to have these discussions with experts from across the business. Today we’re joined by Roland Echter, who’s going to talk to us about his background in digital factories and smart integrations. Roland, do you mind giving an introduction to the listener base?

RE: Thank you, Simon. My name is Roland Echter and I’m the Director of Digitalization within the ATS Industrial Automation business unit. I’m in the automation business for more than 22 years. At the beginning, more focused on controls and PLC programing, but also since 15 years in the in the space of digitalization and digital twins. I would say my passion is really to work with the newest technology and also to combine them to drive new ideas and provide value internally but also externally to our customers.

SD: And first of all, thank you for the invitation to be part of the podcast. Roland I’m excited for today. We get the chance to interface a fair bit in the work that we do, and you’re driving a lot of the roadmap across the corporation, across a large corporation for our digital offering. So I’m excited to hear some examples about that. And I know the listeners are too. So let’s jump into it. Roland, automation roadmaps. They’re always exciting initiatives. The companies that I deal with, the customers that I deal with, it’s, you know, we want to get automating. We want to take a step

forward, we want to implement technology for a lot of customers, a lot of people who are in the workforce. It it’s daunting. It can be challenging. There’s a lot of different paths to go down. Where would you recommend is a first step, like how do people get started into their digital automation roadmap?

RE: it’s a good question. And, your question reminds me a little bit to more than ten years ago when the first time the industrial 4.0 was introduced into the business, and a lot of companies

or almost every company was speaking about industrial 4.0, and everybody was interested. Everybody, I would say, understand the framework and the concept, but almost everybody struggle with what does it mean to me, to my business, what is really the starting point and what could I get out of it? And I think, from my experience, I see there’s when a company starts with the automation roadmap, there is not really a benchmark where to start, what to start, what is the right process really to start? You have, on the one hand, companies who want to do everything at the very first step, and then other companies who really go through and see what is really my first step, how we go into the processes and into the production, what to start in the end, I think it’s the biggest deal because you have not the knowledge, you have not the experience in the company when you start your automation roadmap in the very beginning.

SD:  And that’s speaking to those that may not have any automation. Correct? If you’re starting and you’ve got a manual process or you haven’t invested in a lot of connected automation, you’re looking for data. It’s really about taking that first step rather than trying to do everything all at once. Is that correct?

RE: That’s correct. That’s exactly when you do not have really the starting point you have. You do not have people on board to have the knowledge about the technology. And you could imagine there’s a lot of technology out there. And really to define the first step, what is the process, what I could enable to do it in the automated way and what about the surroundings around.

SD: And so, Roland, I can relate to the topic around industry 4.0 and did a lot of talking, a lot of conference visits. And speaking about industry 4.0, when it was the main topic of conversation across automation, and it was really challenging. It was a big and nebulous statement. People trying to get into the, the, the fourth Industrial Revolution, and pretty much everybody you asked had a different definition and a different step on how you should do it. And so why don’t we center our listeners? You know what does a smart factory mean to you?

RE: Absolutely. What you what you mentioned about industrial 4.0 in the very beginning. And I would say today the usual thinking is when we speak about the Smart Factory 4.0, it’s about connected machines, connected processes to put it into the cloud, monitor and see what is going on in my production. But I would say today it is so much more further to that. Today we all have the possibility to have a picture from each process step. We could define if it’s done in the right way, what is the quality out of my production? But also we have digital twins and virtual lines to really walk through the line in virtual reality, when we do changes, when we do updates from our production process, how this interacts with the current line to reduce downtime and all that stuff. I think the possibilities out there are really great today.

SD: The tool sets that are being developed right now around the digital offering to be able to analyze  and more importantly, visualize what’s going on inside the factory to provide actionable insight to the operators. I think has advanced significantly in the last five years, and it speaks to what we’re talking about, where there’s a world of possibilities in the automation roadmap about what the end state might be for digital transformation. As a first step, you want to understand your process, get some data, get started a little bit. Is there a tool today, a digital tool for those that are looking to get started that you would sort of point them towards as a good step one?

RE: I would say the first step is always get the insights of your production. So really to understand how my production is running, what machine performs in which way and really drive efficiency, drive quality and operations. And I would say that if it’s a cloud based solution, if it’s an on premise solution, but a solution where you connect your line performance over not only one machine, over all the machines in your shop floor, to also see what interface, what interaction between the processes, between the machines with not just logistics, between with the storage and everything. What is between to understand what’s going on in your production would be the very first step to gain efficiency and productivity.

SD: And generally, the ROI for investment in any technology is a gain of efficiency or effectiveness of the shop floor. Have you seen anything different in the interactions that you’ve had with smart tools that change the return on investment formula for the investment in automation and technology?

RE: If it’s if it’s change in the end automation, it’s not a purpose. It’s it’s just a tool. And, yes, of course. But, when we, take care about the production quality, if we reduce, the waste, what is produced while the production process and all that stuff in the end, it relates back to cost and ROI, but important to really have all the phases in your mind.

SD: Roland, in traditional automation, investment, there’s, physical piece and generally hardware is expensive. Is the return on investment formula any different for digital tools than it is in the hardware world? Is investing in a digital twin or a smart factory integration different than investing in a robot or a robot cell?

RE: So as usual, it depends. But what we see from the past, it is that the digital investments often come to you with a different kind of business model. Then you not have only the very, first invest. You have often some other business models behind. But yes, the ROI is often much faster than if you invest into hardware of it’s a robot or it’s an additional line or stuff like that.

SD: And Roland, what drives that speed, what drives that faster ROI for those that invest in digital tools?

RE: I think it’s the overall process. You gain all that knowledge about your production, and you really could take the steps where it really matters. You really see the overview where you waste your time, where you waste, your products, where really things come together and you could really prioritize and, and identify the most important points of your production. I think this is really what drives your ROI really fast.

SD: Roland, to the skeptic that’s listening to this conversation right now that says, you know, I’ve seen the digital tools before and I don’t quite see the path to ROI that that we’re talking about. Is there an example that you could provide from your background, where you’ve seen a digital tool come in to a business and really helped to transform the way that they look at their automation roadmap or the way that they manage their production?

RE: Yeah, absolutely. And this is, when we go into the most used example in that in that case is really when you get delivered your automation, your machine, you produce over the first few months and you usually get it delivered with the expected OEE And what we see over the past years is that if you not really take care about your line, if you don’t, monitor the, the efficiency and the throughput to the line, it’s slowed down and it drift away from that what is your expected outcome? And with the tool, if you connect your line, if you monitor your line, you really could see where this happened and you could step in and change what is necessary to really bring it back to, to the expected OEE. We speak about up to 5 to 10% what is usual in the in the overall business.

SD: For those listening “OEE” Overall Equipment Effectiveness. It’s a mathematical equation where you multiply throughput, quality and yield to provide the overall effectiveness of the system itself. And so what we’re saying is, what’s a very common pattern in industrial automation is that when the system’s installed, it does what it says it’s going to do. It meets its OEE its effectiveness implementation. But over time, that can trend down. And a smart factory integration, the ability to effectively monitor the performance of the machine can give you 5 to 10% increase of effectiveness over time by the utilization of the tools and Roland, what drives that? So it’s a very common pattern where you see the effectiveness of the equipment decline over time. But what we have seen in several examples is that these tools can help to at least maintain OEE if not improve it. What is actually driving that change, driving that transformation. Because it’s quite significant.

RE: In the end, it’s just a slightly, decreasing of efficiency of, if it’s problematic system behind if it’s, there is some, some movement, some, some smaller changes in the software. What, what really let’s call it micro stops. So very small stops from the line where interfaces did not worked out 100% at the same time. And to really understand where this micro stops, where the small slowdowns really happen, to visualize them, to understand them, and then to go in and bring them back to. And you mentioned it’s to have it on the same level usually is really we see that based on that knowledge, what you gain while you do the production, you really also could, could drive optimization and bring the efficiency of the line higher than it was in the early beginning.

SD: And so that’s true, actionable insight that’s coming back from the data on the line. Is that correct?

RE: Absolutely.

SD: Roland, One of the things that I’m excited about in the digital world is that it drives some new models for operation, and maybe even some new models for interaction between providers and customers. Is there an area of that transformation of the new ways of operating that you’re excited about in the work that you do?

RE: What makes me excited and what I seen in the last year is always that variation of the products, what the customer produces with their systems. And, I would say with our, digital capabilities today, we have the chance if it’s upgradeability, if it’s really, do updates to your product, what is necessary based on customer requirements? You really could do it. You do it first in the virtual area. You could test everything. You could understand what happens with my production, without interrupt the production themselves and take the risk out of your solution. And then once you are convinced that this is exactly what you want, then you bring this, the tested software, the tested code into your production line to be able to produce the next upgraded product or system what you want.

SDL And so from a roadmap perspective, this is having a full digital twin of a piece of equipment that’s on your shop floor. You want to make a change of some way, some process change, some product update. You can actually test and develop that process in the digital world before ever moving to the physical.

RE: Absolutely. So when we when we speak about the digital twin, we have, totally virtual, digital system available who had more or less the same behavior and the same components like the real line. And every change, what we do is really before done in virtual, simulated and tested before we bring that into the real production line, that helps us to really reduce downtime. Usually our customers produce often 24/7 so that each and every minute is very important to run the production or on the opposite side, we have often software where you just have every six months the chance to change anything in your production line. So the first time, right, quality is also much more higher than when it is everything tested in the virtual way before.

SD: So much value there for you’re right, a customer that is operating 24/7. A minute of downtime can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. What would you say to someone who is looking at trying to put in their first piece of automation, or just trying to connect their factory, maybe connect a few pieces of manual cells? Where would the value be for them in a digital twin?

RE: Once you start with your first process and digital twin again, you have the tension of it’s your first automation process. You then maybe should use the most complicated process, but on the other side, once you have decided your process, you really with the digital twin, you could do the simulation. You really could predict what is the outcome of your production afterwards. And this brings you really the value of de-risk your process and, and really go to market time. You gain from, from that process.

SD: I think you’re right. And generally I frame it as organizational capability. When you install automation for the first time, it’s not just about the hardware. It’s not just about the automation. It’s about having the capability to develop the specification and develop the processes and be able to maintain it. And we can now use software tools to help customers develop their organizational capability and get a fundamental understanding of the equipment that they’re working with without ever having anything physical. And I think that’s a significant value of the software tools that are being developed today.

RE: And don’t forget the whole lifecycle of the, of the, production system. It is if you choose the technology you have the training, you have onboarding, you have everything, what is maintenance of the usual way is the lines producing between 7 and 25 years. So you married with that technology usually for many years. So don’t forget the lifecycle cost after your line is in production.

SD: Absolutely. Roland, there’s been a change in the toolsets over the last maybe five years. How much effort is it for someone to put a digital twin in place? An effective digital twin.

SE: An effective digital twin is and you’re right, the toolset changed, the technology changed in the last 5 to 10 years really dramatically. And today it’s not really a big deal to get a digital twin. usually we set up the digital twin on the mechanical design we put into that solid mechanical design. The behaviors of the digital twin to execute the virtual commission, all that stuff. Now, I would say the last few years, it really was more and more easy to to get the digital twin.

SD: Roland, what types of inputs do you need to put together a digital twin for someone? It’s really about that We always start with our mechanical design. So you have the 3D datas from the product available. And then the important stuff is really and when we create a digital twin, it’s not only to put that together, it’s already a quality gate for all the automation components that come together from mechanical design over the whole controls design, through all the process planning each and every step, how your production is planned will be consolidated while the design of the digital twin and so in the end, is everything necessary. What would be also necessary for a real line commissioning step? But it’s just done in the virtual. And what enables us based on its virtual really to be early in the process. We don’t need to wait to that components are delivered. We don’t need to wait until changes are fully executed. We could start with parts of the solution. That is really what drives the efficiency.

SD: And we started to settle a little bit on Digital Twin, and that’s a portion of the overall smart factory integration and smart factory roadmap. How do you see the two overlapping is a digital twin a step in the smart factory roadmap or is it the Smart Factory roadmap? And it develops over time?

RE: Absolutely. It’s just a piece out of the Smart Factory roadmap. You have various tools if your machine is connected, if you have smart visions to ensure the quality, but you also need to have the digital twin to fulfill the whole area of the smart factory.

SD: Does the digital twin get more valuable as you have more connected machines?

RE: I would say in our term often use as the digital shadow. Once you have a fully connected machine, that means you have if it’s on premise of a cloud, you have a tool where you see your efficiency of the line. Once you have that connected tool, you could set up also your digital twin to drive the twin with the datas from the real line. So you really could mirroring your digital twin to the real line, you could record that data. And also then, if something happen often you have the fault, an error. But what happens every four months and nobody knows what is behind. So once you have recorded the data from your digital twin, you can play backward. See what was the condition shortly before that fault happen, you could investigate your PLC code. You could investigate all your stuff to see what happens before this error happens. And so, yes, I would say once we have the line connected, you really also could gain the benefits from a system called Digital Shadow.

SD: Digital Shadow is a new term I’m not even sure that I’ve heard that one. Roland, it’s a good segue into what’s coming next in the Smart Factory integration world? You know, for those that are planning the roadmaps in looking over the next 5 to 10 years, what’s something that they what are the things that they should be aware of?

RE: So let’s say if you are pretty new to your automation roadmap, maybe this could be 1 or 2 steps too early. But what is what is on our roadmap from the digitalization point of view is really

we want to combine this digital twin, let’s say, the virtual reality, and bring it on to the shop floor. And in the very first step, it is about training. And we get that the experience that once you have, if it’s an operator training, if it’s a maintenance training, once you do that in virtual reality, you get a totally different experience from the from the trainees based on that immersive learning. The second step is we want to bring the digital twin combine them with the real line. It’s called Augmented Reality. So we will feed the information from the digital twin from the performance data of the line t handover to the maintenance and the operator with the augmented reality, additional production data and feed back into the real production line.

SD: So that gives a feedback loop where the digital tools just get more accurate, more valuable over time.

RE: Absolutely. So just for a future, imagine you have a production line who have 180m long and you have a fault. So in your augmented reality, if it’s a goggle, if it’s just an iPad or what device you ever will use, you get your navigation system to the next priority. This is the way where the next important fault happens, and once you are there, you already get a video of how to solve that problem, how to deal with that problem.

SD:  And a lot of the manufacturing world is struggling with hiring. It’s a well known issue to be able to ramp the number of people, retirees or retirement is driving a lot of the tribal knowledge or expertise to exit the industry. Is this a means of combating that problem?

RE:  Absolutely. Started digital training themselves is already the first use case based on that lack of expert production people. You have a high turnover on the production lines. And with that immersive training, you really have a tool available where you could train the people on the real way to learn, and also to feed back all this important information about your production directly to the operator on the production line is a very important step to have that information ready.

SD: I think that’s such an important topic for our listener base to understand, because oftentimes when we talk about Digital Twin or the smart factory integration, we think a lot about design or a lot about just data and often can miss some of the real, tangible support that it can provide on the shop floor or on the manufacturing floor. And so that is a very real problem that many SMEs are struggling with today, is how to support equipment or how to support their manufacturing environment. And by investing in some smart factory integration, you have the ability to drive efficiency in training and onboarding of people, and that can be overlooked sometimes. Do you see that as well, Roland, in the customers that you deal with.

RE: Would say yes and no. It depends on if you really execute already your whole design process with a digital twin, once you have a digital twin in your engineering process integrated, you just need to use your digital twin to do the training to do that augmented reality information, feedback and all that stuff. We have the experience. You could do a digital twin also if your line is already running. So you could do it afterwards and create all that stuff. But then you have 2 or 3 steps more to come over and really to create a digital twin. Once your execution is done with the digital twin,

you have them already ready and you just need to use them. And I think as more as that, digital twins getting tired of the usual process while by approaching engineering as more you also could use this twins for everything that is beyond.

RE:  I think that’s such a good way to understand how these smart factory integrations

the data coming from the shop floor can really help to transform the way that we operate as manufacturers. For those that are looking to invest in automation, Roland, is this something that they should be looking for in an automation partner? Now, at this point in time, the tools are at a point where they’re stable and easier to use is a digital twin, is a is a smart factory roadmap something that those that are listening can expect from their automation provider or automation partner?

RE: And this is a very, very important point for me really. First step is that the customers should have integrate your automation partners in the very, very first step. Often you really could get the benefit if you integrate automation partner already. Why you do your product development when one buzzword is really designed for manufacturing and it is important that your automation partner really not only focusing on their solution for this single machine, it’s also very important to have all that what is outside of the fence of a usual production line, if it’s logistics, if it’s the storage of the pieces, the feeding of each and every small piece, what will build together, you need to have a much more broader view on your production process as just the machine themself. And this is what is very important that the automation partner also have that knowledge about the digital tools, about the simulation, all that brought production processes. What is needed to drive an efficient production.

SD: It’s one of the common themes of our podcast and talking about enabling automation is that you don’t have to do it alone. There are partners that are well suited to support and help these integrations. And to those listening, know that there are experts in the field that can help with your automation roadmaps. When you talk about putting something together, you don’t have to do it by yourself. Talk to providers. Talk to technology providers. Talk to automation experts about what is possible, what has changed in the last few years, and the inputs and outputs that you should be looking at to provide a return to your specific organization. The situation is always different for every business, but the processes and the approach is quite standard across the industry.

SD: Roland, to those that are listening. Large topic automation roadmaps, smart factory integrations. Any closing thoughts that you’d like to leave them with?

RE: For those who are listening, I really would recommend to have a strategic partnership also with your automation partners from the very beginning until the end could help to drive the right automation roadmap and really bring and fast ROI on, on the road.

SD: Roland, thank you so much for joining the podcast today and having a chat with me around automation roadmaps and smart factories. Really learned a lot about Digital Twin and the potential that it can have for those looking to automate and create automation roadmaps for those that are listening. As always, thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you took away some actionable insights and some information that can help you as you look to scale technology within your operation. For the next episode of our podcast, we are going to look at reducing cost and improving function in new products, because oftentimes when we’re looking at technology or investment in automation, it’s really about the product that’s being manufactured by the customer or those that are listening. And so we’re going to speak with two experts from ATS, Tara and Slavko. And I’m quite excited about that discussion.