The path to success in life looks a little differently for everyone, but more often than not, it is paved by help from others. Foundational wisdom and guidance from those who came before serve well as a roadmap to get to the desired destination.
Whether it’s in business or personal life, having the course charted beforehand can make for an easier journey. And this couldn’t be more true than for those pursuing transformational changes on their shop floors. For the fabricators looking to leverage the benefits that come from the concept of a smart factory, there is a recommended path for that, too.
Claudio Santopietro, head of Smart Factory consulting and automation at TRUMPF Inc., has helped dozens of customers transform their operations from traditional manufacturing into the connected, intelligent systems associated with the smart factory concept. Using these prescribed nine steps, fabricators of all sizes can better make their way toward their desired destination of streamlined operations, reduced downtime and higher productivity.
1. Elect an expert
Even when a fabricator has decided it’s time for a change, it can still be difficult to know where to start. But Santopietro says that’s okay. In fact, he says the first step toward building a smart factory is finding a trusted expert and developing a relationship with them. With the right partner, navigating the process of transformation comes with fewer potholes and speedbumps.
“While it might sound obvious, building a relationship is the most important point,” he says. “The customer has to be comfortable enough to share details on what they aim to do. There has to be trust.
“A big component of finding a trusted partner is looking for someone that has experience in manufacturing,” Santopietro adds. “It’s not uncommon for fabricators to hire an external consulting firm that doesn’t have enough experience in manufacturing. The problem is that they just don’t know how to produce parts. They can give some advice, sure, but they’re not experts in this field. Choosing TRUMPF as a partner means working with a company that has been in manufacturing for more than 100 years. We have deep expertise in laser cutting, punching, bending, welding, automation, software and service – essentially every technology involved in sheet metal processing.”
At TRUMPF, a full team of trusted experts live under the umbrella of the company’s Smart Factory consulting group. Due to the size of the company and the breadth of its experience, the team there has a solution for every customer regardless of their size. Understanding that every customer is different with their own unique set of challenges and needs, the next step should include an on-site visit to see the customer’s operations, hear their stories and learn their pain points.
2. Collect data
When the TRUMPF team arrives at the customer location, the goal is to assess the current situation to measure productivity and identify areas for improvement. A big part of that process involves analyzing the material flow – how raw material flows into the facility and all the way back out for shipping.
“We don’t want to underestimate that part of the process because it’s where we can identify bottlenecks,” Santopietro says. “If there are parts sitting for a week before moving to the next processing step, we’re going to find that and formulate a plan to remedy it.”
The site visit and early conversations are all about getting to a customer’s root issues – looking from the outside in. Whether it’s a business or individual, it’s not unheard of for someone to think they know what their problem is, but kind of miss the mark. In their defense, they simply lack the perspective to see the bigger picture.
“We want to give a neutral point of view,” Santopietro says. “As we get deeper into the relationship, we can offer recommendations for how to fix their specific problems. We can suggest certain machines paired with automation or recommend moving a machine or changing the floor layout, for example.”
3. Conceptualize a layout
Making the suggestion to relocate or reposition a machine is common for TRUMPF’s consulting team, but for some customers, an entirely new workflow and setup may be in order. When designing a new layout, several factors must be considered, which requires further input from the customer. Can the building accommodate the new setup? Will the facility need to be expanded? Will new reinforced floors be required? Which equipment should be kept, upgraded or replaced?
“When the customer can visualize what the new setup will look like and the steps to achieve it, all of the pieces start to connect,” Santopietro says. “Once we determine that everything will work, the customer can start to budget whatever is required – a new foundation, electrical work – whatever they need.”
4. Explore the software
For anyone that has ever met Santopietro, they’ve probably heard him declare that “there is no smart factory without software.” And that’s why TRUMPF’s Oseon software is at the heart of so many of its customers’ streamlined operations. The modular solution offers the functionality of the typically siloed software systems used on a shop floor.
“The software discussion covers everything from beginning to end – the full production process,” he says. “Initially, we show them an indirect processing map, which lays out the steps and manpower needed to process an order, including any bottlenecks that need to be addressed.
“Later, with the software, we can give them the same picture, but without the bottlenecks,” he adds. “We can show them how the new workflow thanks to automation and the connectivity of the machines has been optimized for the better.”
Thanks to the modularity of Oseon, customers can implement it in stages. Ultimately, the goal is to fully connect the software and all of the machines on the shop floor.
“We’ve had customers that had no software that implemented the full Oseon package,” Santopietro explains, “but we’ve also had others that had previously invested in a good ERP system where they only required a portion of Oseon. Regardless of how and when customers implement the software, we’ve had at least one customer tell us that the software was the single biggest factor in the success of their smart factory.”
5. Calculate the ROI
Once the machine requirements, facility layout and level of needed software have been determined, the next step is calculating the investment and ROI. The resulting proposal will lay out the full solution based on the customer’s needs and allotted budget.
“Most companies are eager to know when the investment will pay off and are often surprised by how quickly they will realize a return on investment,” Santopietro says. “As part of the consulting process, we evaluate the economic viability of different options and perform careful calculations to determine the overall investment.”
6. Create a phased purchase plan
Because a customer might not be able to budget for everything right away and because an entire smart factory can’t, of course, be implemented in one day, the full system purchase plan is often split into phases. Each phase is scaled according to the scope of the project and the needs of the customer. Requirements, such as electrical and foundational work, are considered when planning the timing of each phase. Overall, the goal is to minimize any impacts on daily operations.
“Ideally, we don’t want customers to have to stop their production, which creates additional costs,” Santopietro says. “We really go deep with the customer to figure out what will be the best for them according to their budget, training needs, machine delivery schedules and downtime for the next phase. It’s not just taking a P.O. and splitting it into three portions – it doesn’t work like that.”
7. Implement and train
As new machines and software are being implemented into the customer’s operations, training is happening in tandem. Although the customer is using TRUMPF’s standard solutions, every smart factory is custom-developed, which means that training must also be customized.
“Think of it as a symphony where the various instruments] all need to perform in harmony,” explains Julian Maltby, a senior system support specialist at the TRUMPF Smart Factory near Chicago. “Each instrument – or in this case, machine – plays a specific role that when handled by a skilled programmer and operator, contributes to the optimal performance. To that end, customers are trained on each standard machine, storage and software system to understand their role in the overall piece. TRUMPF’s Oseon software acts as the conductor, telling machines when to go, where to send parts and how fast. When combined, we have a sonata of parts ready to ship.”
Smart factories happen in two stages. In stage one, everything is installed, and the customer attends training classes to learn how to run their machine and use their storage system. TRUMPF’s applications team ensures that the machine is running correctly and helps customers to familiarize themselves with the basic machine operations.
8. Establish ramp-up support
Once the customer is ready to move forward with the plan, TRUMPF designates a project manager that takes full accountability for the project – they will be the single point person that customers will interface with throughout the timeline of the project. In addition to fielding questions, the role of the project manager is to keep everything on track. As an example, a project manager will relay project delays, such as potential issues with foundation work that can, in turn, delay the delivery of a machine.
“The project manager keeps the plan on track and on time – which can be a full-time job,” Santopietro says, “so in addition to the project manager, we also send an application engineer on-site for weeks, if need be, to train staff on the full system and software, handle machine and software implementations, help with production runs and write new standards of procedure.”
Maltby goes on to describe stage two as the time when “the factory becomes smart.” Here, too, customers rely on TRUMPF’s experienced staff to ensure smooth implementations.
“TRUMPF’s Oseon software team creates connections between the customer ERP and Oseon software to make sure customers can track individual parts throughout the factory,” Maltby says. “During this time frame, system support specialists connect with the Oseon colleagues to make sure every machine can deliver the right part, in the right way, to the right machine, every time.”
Once all the software is working well together, the project transitions into system completion and ramp-up support. During system completion, the team works with and trains the customer to understand how to use their Oseon software to move parts and orders through their smart factory. Meanwhile, the system support team helps the customer to take their parts and orders and turn them into the product that goes out the door.
“In the ramp-up support phase, the customer can start running their new smart factory,” Maltby adds. “We’ll help them navigate anything they may have forgotten or have issues with. We want to make sure everything runs smoothly and stably, so the customer is on the best footing to maximize productivity going forward.”
9. Follow up for accountability
After the full system has been installed and the customer’s staff have been trained, the team at TRUMPF doesn’t just walk away. This is the beauty of a relationship based on trust.
“We see our customers on the path to improvement, but again, it’s important to note that dramatic transformations don’t happen overnight,” Santopietro says. “It’s a work in progress and we will support them whenever they need us into the future.”
If new challenges are encountered, new business is obtained or system upgrades are in order, TRUMPF will be there – hand in hand with customers. Just as the customer has invested in the concept of the smart factory, TRUMPF is invested in seeing its customers continue to increase the success of their business. To a certain degree, the shared journey does not have an end point.
