SitePilot Line Diagnostics – proactively informative, intuitively operator-friendly

 

LDS – A System has become obsolete

More than 1,000 installations worldwide. On the market for over 20 years now. Used for machines from Krones and other manufacturers alike. And scalable from the individual-machine level to a complete-line or cross-facility solution. Krones’ Line Documentation System (LDS) can most definitely be described as a success story. But even a success story is not immune to ageing.

So it was time for Krones to develop and roll out an entirely new version of the LDS. The reasons are multi-layered and simple.

We are living in an era with an increasing emphasis on digitisation, i.e. the call for automation and intelligent optimisation. The users of an efficient production data acquisition system want it to be able to

• compile information on an individualised, role-referenced basis
• provide data/ratios in a proactive, situationally responsive mode
• ensure a harmonised “look & feel” for all component avoiding data overload and redundant information.

LDS is now called Line Diagnostics

Krones’ IT Solutions Business Line took these requirements responsively on board and developed a completely revamped solution for automated production data acquisition and analysis – the SitePilot Line Diagnostics.

This system scores highly in terms of its modern, fresh design. Particular attention was paid to providing the Line Diagnostic’s mobile applications in a “device-independent” and role-based mode. The user is here unequivocally the central focus, since no matter what evaluation routine he/she is currently running, he/she can always have recourse to what is called a “single point of truth”, i.e. a central, consistent pool of data.

In this latter, the information acquired (malfunctions, counter readings and analog values, control states, KPIs, consumption levels, etc.) are performatively stored and edited for both real-time and historical analyses.

The advantages for the client are obvious:

• Enhanced transparency

Unambiguous/dependable facts and information from the production line are provided as a basis for further decision-making.

• Options for comparisons

The system generates cross-line, cross-facility ratios (KPIs), which can be called up using only a few mouse-clicks. This provides the user with an option for comparing and/or evaluating different production periods, machines or entire lines in many different ways.

• Identifying weak points

Standstill originators and sources of malfunctions are revealed, and can be lastingly eliminated.

• Avoidance of costs

Cost-inflators and causes of production downtimes are identified and continuously reduced.

 

New design. New features.

From operators to top management, the users of production management systems want to access meaningful information on their production operations quickly and easily. This wish was the principal driver behind the optimised design and construction of the system. The idea is to avoid letting the client becoming entangled right from the start in a thicket of confusing details, but instead enable him/her to carry out his/her analyses in line with the drill-down principle, which can be efficiently and intuitively accomplished using the modules listed below:

Information Board

The Information Board provides a simple, reader-friendly, clearly comprehensible overview of the line’s status. It is the central module for observing and monitoring operations and processes, while at the same time constituting the entry point for further analyses. Various widgets summarise complex causal connections, and restrict the flow of information to a few key figures. The information displayed will vary in dependence on the situation and the user concerned. Important information is graphically highlighted.

Analysis Board

The Analysis Board is a tool provided for free analyses. It offers users a greater depth of information depth while at the same time enabling reasons and causes for the ongoing situation to be derived. The analysis is based of graphical comparison of all the many different process and status data involved. Information is also provided on standstills at the reference machine and their causes. The analyses are possible for historical data, but for online data as well.

Reporting

This module offers extensive reports on standardised and comparable assessment of the production situation over defined time periods. The reports are based on fixed analytical paths, so as to image the information in the form of key ratios, facts and trends. All reports are web-based, and can thus be retrieved inside the firm’s production or corporate network using a web browser at any desired terminal.

Line Monitor

A graphical overview of the entire line is provided in realtime by the Line Monitor. By visual assignment of events to their actual locations, causal connections can be easily acquired. The cross-line depiction of ongoing machine statuses quickly communicates important information on the line’s state.

Downtime Management

The Downtime Management module provides selective weak-point analyses for filling and packaging lines. The edited information enables possible weak points and bottlenecks in the production operation to be detected, and approaches to be derived for purposeful improvement measures. With a few mouse-clicks, users can also retrieve key ratios on efficiency, availability, performance and quality on the basis of the OEE model desired.

Trending

This module provides complete-coverage display of process values in the form of graphical trends utilising user-configurable diagrams. Selected process values and key ratios can be analysed and reconstructed on the basis of the raw data. Deviations and peaks are clearly depicted using target-actual analyses, display of limit value violations, and comparisons of individual trend curves.

Order Management

The Order Management module enables information and ratios to be imaged and analysed on an order-referenced basis, using manually generated and manually triggered orders to the reference machine. Order planning is handled on the basis of article, parts list and nominal speed with dynamic prediction of the order’s run-time. The actual consumption levels can be calculated retrospectively.

 

Mobile Line Assistant (MLA)

The MLA is a mobile line information system, which supplies the line’s operators directly, wherever they may be, with specifically focused, urgent data from the operator control environment. They don’t have to be in the immediate vicinity of what’s happening. This means machine stops can be prevented, or detected at an early stage, without the entire line having to be continuously kept under observation by an operator.

 

Attractive Migration Package

For clients who are already running the Line Documentation System (LDS), various migration packages are available for changing over to SitePilot Line Diagnostics. This means that long-standing clients can also benefit from the advantages of the new solution, and utilise a state-of-the-art, up-to-the-future system.

Under an Early Adopter programme, from May/2015 to Dec/2015, several selected users tested the new solution, and joined forces with Krones to optimise it. With the market launch in the first quarter of 2016, Krones is offering SitePilot Line Diagnostics for new installations and upgrades.