Although it is not yet very familiar in Japan, the term Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is somewhat popular in other countries. And in Japan, this term is becoming an important term, especially for manufacturing equipment manufacturers. Here, we will explain what can be done to improve OEE and its relationship with edge computing.
Current status of OEE improvement activities in manufacturing equipment manufacturers
In order to increase OEE, it is important to increase the operating rate, that is, to ensure that the equipment does not stop, or, if it does stop, to be able to recover and resume operation as quickly as possible. It is also important to improve production quality and increase the rate of non-defective products. To do this, it is necessary to find manufacturing defects caused by equipment malfunctions as quickly as possible and prevent defective products from being sent to the next process.
To keep equipment from stopping, it is important for the manufacturing equipment manufacturer to have reliable designs and solid manufacturing methods. In this regard, it can be said that the technological level of Japanese manufacturing equipment manufacturers is high. However, it is also important to have a system (maintenance, maintenance, and production technology) to quickly restore equipment when it stops. Although this requires manpower and costs, it has not been given much importance in Japan. It could also be said that because the design technology, manufacturing technology, and component reliability of Japanese manufacturing equipment manufacturers are very high, breakdowns have not been an issue.
However, there is a shortage of manpower for maintenance, repair, and production engineering, and the shortage of skilled engineers is particularly serious. As a result, customers often request a quick response when a problem occurs. Looking at it from another perspective, it could be said that there is a scramble for skilled engineers. Large customers may set up bases such as branches and maintenance centers near the factory, but this is often difficult due to costs. In addition, engineers who visit the site to deal with a problem may not be able to return home for days until the problem is resolved.
Furthermore, the functions and speed required for production equipment are becoming more advanced every year, and the complexity of the equipment is increasing. As the frequency of problems increases with the complexity of the equipment, the amount of work required for maintenance is also increasing.
For these reasons, the importance of maintenance and repair in order to increase OEE is being highlighted. Manufacturing equipment manufacturers are being asked to maintain high standards of design and manufacturing technology while also improving and streamlining operational technology (OT), such as maintenance and repair.
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Equipment Utilization Rate ~ Overall Equipment Effectiveness and the 7 Major Equipment Losses | Stratus Blog
Edge Computing Solutions
In order to solve this problem, edge computing has been attracting attention in recent years. Edge computing is a technology that can be called the intelligence and autonomy of manufacturing equipment. Simply put, it is a type of computing in which edge servers are placed near physical devices such as sensors and motors, and data is processed independently without sending it to a higher-level system as much as possible. This makes it possible to eliminate communication delays as much as possible and perform speedy processing.
The use of edge computing has many possibilities. In the field of maintenance, it is expected to quickly detect and predict abnormalities in equipment, such as remote monitoring and predictive maintenance, and prompt responses.
For example, with remote monitoring, even if the location of the manufacturing equipment manufacturer and the factory to which it is delivered are far apart, the manufacturing equipment can be monitored at the manufacturing equipment manufacturer's location at all times and in near real time. This reduces the movement of people and shortens the time from the occurrence of an abnormality to a response. In addition, if predictive maintenance using edge AI, which incorporates artificial intelligence into edge servers, is realized, maintenance plans can be made from the prediction stage by predicting the occurrence of failures, further shortening the time.
Due to this convenience, we expect to see an increase in customers learning about edge computing and requesting that they install edge servers in their manufacturing facilities.
Important points to consider when selecting an edge server
We have seen that edge computing is effective in improving OEE, but what points should you pay attention to when selecting a key edge server?
High durability, reliability and availability
Edge servers themselves are required to be highly durable, reliable, and available. Factory environments are often without air conditioning or heating, and are much harsher than office environments. Therefore, industrial PCs originally designed for office use tend to lack reliability. Of course, there are reasonable measures in place, but if you want to ensure uninterrupted operation, it is best to choose an edge server designed specifically for edge computing.
Existing applications can be run as is
Applications that were running on industrial PCs must be able to run as is, or with only minor modifications. This allows for a smooth transition of software from industrial PCs. To achieve this, it is desirable for edge servers to have virtualization capabilities. This allows applications that were running on multiple industrial PCs to be run on a single edge server, simplifying the configuration of the control system.
Ability to add new applications later
It would be good to have the flexibility to add new applications later in response to changes in the production line or the introduction of new products. Again, if the edge server has virtualization capabilities, each piece of software on the edge server runs independently, making it easy to add or remove software.
Good cost performance
Of course, the most important prerequisite is that the server is reliable, available, and supports virtualization, but in the long run, choosing an edge server with high operating speed and a wide range of functions will provide better cost performance, even if it is a little more expensive. The wide range of functions available on an edge server is supported by its high operating speed, so you want to prioritize performance as much as your budget allows. Edge computing is expected to be used in a variety of ways in the future, so in order to ensure future scalability, it is best to choose server hardware with ample resources.
Thorough security measures
Compared to cloud computing, edge computing is less susceptible to security breaches, but it is still important to make sure that security measures are in place.
The manufacturer has good after-sales support
Edge computing is still a new technology, so there are many unknowns. Therefore, it is important that the edge server manufacturer has a solid support system and is willing to give advice. It would also be better if the manufacturer has a solid track record of delivery and operation.
Edge Computing as an Option to Increase OEE
In the future, maintenance and monitoring will be important to increase OEE. As we have seen in this article, edge computing will greatly contribute to improving OEE. For the sake of current sites, and for edge computing, which is expected to become more widespread in the future, let's aim to build and operate manufacturing facilities using solid edge servers in preparation for the future. Considering how to select an edge server as introduced in this article, ztC Edge, which was developed specifically for edge environments in the industrial field, is an effective choice. In particular, its high reliability and availability are noteworthy. For more information about ztC Edge, a zero-touch, highly reliable computing platform, please click here.
