Stahlwille DAPTIQ worker guidance

As Industry 4.0 gains momentum, an increasing number of businesses are looking for ways to create and capture value through the computerisation and networking of their manufacturing and maintenance processes.

Firms considering the introduction of a computerised system are generally driven by the promise of increased efficiency, quality and cost savings. One area that is often overlooked however is safety, even though increased safety also has a significant impact across all areas of the business.

Research and industry experience has found that organisations that prioritise safety experience a return on investment that extends beyond purely financial returns, with benefits including:

• Improved risk management, by making it easier to comply with regulations, laws, and standards;
• Increased productivity, by automating critical processes;
• Enhanced reputation. A reputation for safety is extremely important, particularly for industries that are involved in, or produce products for high-risk industries. It is often a critical factor in winning contracts and tenders.

Safety is also often narrowly defined and examined separately from quality. However, safety is both an attribute and an objective of quality particularly in the world of Industry 4.0.  We will be examining the relationship between the two through the lens of networked tool solutions, particularly screw tightening operations.

Ensuring quality and delivering safety through computerisation

The decision to invest in computerised infrastructure has often been driven by the desire for increased productivity, efficiency and quality, but this has been increasingly balanced by the need for flexibility, the ability to respond to increasingly individualised customer requests and to be able to master small batch sizes. It is no longer just large companies that are investing heavily in high tech production.

At the same time there is increased pressure on the upstream supply chain, the suppliers who provide parts and components, to meet the high standards of their customers, to look at their own processes to reduce error and deliver verifiable quality.

There is also the need to ensure the stringent requirements of the production environment can be transferred to the downstream servicing environment.  Maintaining standards can be seen as a quality issue but in many industries, they are also a safety issue. For example, vehicle brakes must be bolted to a defined torque during production, but how are these same standards maintained in a service environment in a way that can be verifiably documented.

The human factor

In an increasingly complex environment, there is a need for a greater attention to standards, and often narrowing margins of tolerance. However, this is balanced by an increased demand for flexibility. It is often the human that is best placed to react quickly to change. The quality standard for humans is often a qualification. A qualification does not guarantee that those standards will be put into practice in a real-world environment. In some factory environments the workers are largely unqualified. This has implications for quality and of course safety.

These issues can be counteracted using the digital definition of screw-tightening processes via Digital Worker Assistance Systems, which not only shortens the learning process but guides the worker through the specified processes, avoiding unintentional errors. Steps are not missed, and bolts are precisely tightened to a preset torque. The aim is not to replace the worker but to support them by providing direct feedback and Guidance.

Digital Worker Assistance Systems

Traditional production operations have relied exclusively on mechanical (analogue) torque wrenches with manual processes from setting up the torque wrench to creating paper-based instructions, quality control and manual logging. There is obviously considerable potential for error within these systems.

The next stage is companies that have transitioned to digital torque wrenches but have not networked them.  There is the benefit of the higher precision of digital torque tools and the ability of direct fastener evaluation. However, there is still the need to assign the displayed or logged tightening values manually and process control is still largely paper based.

In both scenarios the quality of the final product is largely dependent on the experience of the user.  And while electronic torque wrenches provide feedback on the quality of the completed joint, compliance and safety standards are still at risk if that information is not registered by the user.

Many companies try to overcome these risks through the use of cost intensive torque wrenches for random quality and safety checks, however the time lag before quality issues can be identified leads to additional risks.

Other companies try to ensure compliance by assigning an additional person to check processes are followed. The additional costs incurred are generally excessive when compared to the costs of an intelligent worker system in conjunction with the use of electro-mechanical torque tools.

How Digital Worker Assistance Systems operate in practice

It is relatively simple to connect integration capable torque tools to a subordinate system such as assembly software or a production control system and then enable data exchange. In the simplest scenario a worker assistance system can be installed to a single PC. Digital control begins with the worker and the product being assigned a barcode. The worker is then guided through the entire process, including assistance in selecting the necessary parts and tools. In the case of torque controlled bolted connections, the worker assistance system presets the corresponding tool to suit each fastener in turn. The worker can see through the software interface which fastener is to be tightened in which sequence. Most importantly the torque wrench transmits the tightening values measured back to the assistance system where they are automatically monitored and logged.

The implications for both quality and safety are obvious:

• The opportunity for error is reduced to an absolute minimum;
• The quality and reliability of the joints and the resulting product are greatly increased;
• There is seamless traceability at both a product and individual worker level with reliable logging and traceability inherent to the system;
• The highest possible standards of safety and quality can be achieved with the minimum of training because digital processes reduce the effort required to create and maintain paper-based worker instructions.

The benefits of installing an autonomous worker assistance system are obvious. They are easy to install and represent a low threshold entry to Industry 4.0. In addition, the system can be easily rolled out to multiple workstations after a successful trial.

Stahlwille and DAPTIQ

Safety and quality very much go hand in hand at Stahlwille, a German manufacture renowned for producing tools that are amongst the finest on the market. Made to exacting specifications Stahlwille tools are made to such high specifications that they are widely used in safety critical industries such as defence, aviation and aerospace. Stahlwille is also the gold standard in the automotive industry. Stahlwille tools feature several safety innovations and features that are applicable to various machinery and vehicles, which are of critical importance in an environment like the defence force.

Stahwille have stated that anything that can be digitalised will be digitalised. Anything that can be interconnected will be interconnected. As a leading innovator and pacesetter in the field of torque technology, Stahlwille have been developing torque tools, measurement devices, calibration devices and software solutions to meet the requirements of Industry 4.0 for some time. The result of this is DAPTIQ, the new standard for interconnective systems to enable users to reap the benefits of digitalisation and considerably increase efficiency and process capability by integrating them in their own systems.

Open Protocol

The Manoskop® 766 DAPTIQ® can be easily integrated into existing workflows and infrastructures even when they do not come from the same manufacturer using Open Protocol.  Where workflows cannot be mapped via Open Protocol the Manoskop® 766 DAPTIQ® has its own protocol to allow flexible and simple integration. Even where there are numerous networked tools from different manufacturers it is still possible to obtain a uniform overall picture of all production cells by simply connecting to a central database or a superordinate manufacturing system (MES) that consolidates and evaluates the data.

Aside from the benefits to quality and safety control sytems through the logging functionality the system provides other benefits.

Poka yoke provides improved safety standards

Process related errors can be prevented in advance by applying the poka yoke principle which ais to keep all the necessary materials and tools in the right place at all times amongst other benefits. Examples of applications include:

• Stacklights for status display according to the traffic light principle;
• Socket trays to ensure the correct insert tool is selected;
• Position tracking to ensure the correct fastener is being tightened.

As Industry 4.0 gains momentum there is little doubt that, “anything that can be digitalised will be digitalised and anything that can be interconnected will be interconnected.” While the financial costs and benefits have been examined in depth there has been less of a focus on the quality and safety gains. In the case of screw tightening applications, those gains are enormous, particularly when considered alongside the speed and ease of implementing a digital worker assistance system. Stahlwille have made it even easier with premium tools, a stellar reputation in safety critical industries, and a system that can be easily integrated with existing systems and tools even when they come from a variety of manufacturers. Safety and Quality are very much intertwined, and both a focus and a benefit of Industry 4.0.

 

 

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