The many ways that 'going digital' is changing manufacturing

There are many aspects and forms of digitalization in manufacturing, ranging from Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing, to augmented and virtual reality, 5G connectivity, mobile apps, blockchain technology, and more. These digital tools and strategies are helping to enable automation, smart factories, remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and the collection and crunching of big data.

This widespread digital transformation is revolutionizing how we design products, make things, run factories and assess customer feedback in ways no one could have imagined just a couple decades ago.

Generally speaking, the manufacturing industry today relies on automation as much as on people. But, noted Jabil Inc. in a recent online post, the factory of the future, which is a marriage of physical and digital capabilities, requires more real-time data, connectivity and AI technology at the forefront. In fact, according to a study by Accenture, 84 percent of C-suite executives believe they must leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve their growth objectives. And three out of four such officials believe that if they don't scale AI in the next five years, they risk going out of business entirely.

AI can help manufacturing companies in many ways, to include refining product inspection and quality control, augmenting human capabilities, and enabling preventive maintenance – all of which can help to increase productivity.

Witness Volkswagen, which on Aug. 10 announced it has launched a digital transformation push across its assembly plants in the United States and Mexico. As part of its estimated $1 billion dollar investment in electric mobility and digitalization in North America up to 2025, the company said it is working to bring technologies such as cloud-based industrial software, intelligent robotics and artificial intelligence into the factory operations. The company aims to drive a 30 percent increase in manufacturing performance for its electric vehicle assembly and large-scale car assembly in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Puebla, Mexico, by 2025. To accelerate its digital push, Volkswagen also plans to increase on-site training efforts for its North American workforce.

"We're pushing our ambitious digital transformation to make Volkswagen's factories in the North American region more productive, connected and more sustainable than ever before," said Johan de Nysschen, chief operating officer at Volkswagen Group of America. "Our digital transformation also supports skilled labor and high-profile, future-proof jobs throughout North America."

There is plenty of evidence that plastics and rubber companies are embracing these technologies as we usher in a new era of manufacturing. Here are just a few examples of digitalization in action.

Austria's Engel Group has long played a leadership role in efforts to get the industry more fully "connected." Digital technologies enable innovative business models and present numerous opportunities, the firm notes, but also demand new ways of thinking.

Industry 4.0 essentially began a decade ago, recounts Gerhard Dimmler, the firm's vice president of research and development, and Engel and others engaged in discussions at K2013 about the standardization of communication protocols. At K2016, he said, the industry established standardized communication interfaces for all machinery, but efforts are still continuing to streamline all the related aspects. Engel has opted to focus on three areas – smart machines, smart service and smart production.

Using its Inject 4.0 platform, the company states online: "We ensure seamless exchanges and the availability of relevant data across the entire value chain through horizontal data integration. You benefit from plug-and-produce production systems that can easily be integrated into other Engel systems and peripheral devices, guaranteeing maximum flexibility."

"At the same time," it continues, "vertical integration allows continuous communication from the individual sensor, any peripherals and the machine with the manufacturing execution system (MES) and even the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system."

Another major machinery maker, Arburg GmbH & Co. KG, continues to expand the digitalization strategy it calls arburgXworld, which it launched globally at K2019. The multi-language portal allows customers to configure machines online and buy both presses and aftermarket parts on the site. ArburgXworld also includes various apps that can assist users with material processing and predictive maintenance at the screw, simulate the machine controller, analyze and remedy faults and downtime issues, and other such tools.

Arburg says it continues to update this portal with new digital services and features, including an AnalyticsCenter for process analysis. In the future, the firm says, it will be able to integrate machines and peripheral devices from other manufacturers into the central platform.

The company announced in June that 2,000 customers are now on the portal, with an average of three users per company, or 6,000 total users. "Digitalisation is advancing in leaps and bounds, both for us and for our customers in plastics processing," says Benjamin Franz, team manager for digital solutions at Arburg. "The fact that 2,000 companies have already registered in 'arburgXworld' this spring is a real milestone. Our platform is developing into a central marketplace for plastics processors, and we are putting a lot of energy and know-how into it."

U.S. machinery maker Milacron Holdings Corp., meanwhile, continues to expand M-Powered, a full suite of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications. Using technology from its partner ei3 Corp., that unit connects Milacron equipment to the cloud, linking customers to a full range of services such as remote monitoring of its equipment, troubleshooting and predictive maintenance.

Late last year Milacron joined with ei3 in The Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC) workgroup to establish best practices for remote access methods. The collective knowledge among this workgroup focuses on timing, safety and security that ultimately will be a model that is appropriated among the growing remote connections in injection molding, extrusion equipment and automation systems.

Germany's KraussMaffei Group also has been active in the area of predictive maintenance and other platform-based analytics, via its Digital Service Solutions unit. And these are just a few of the machinery companies pursuing these objectives.

Some compounders are also active in the IIoT space. Alterra Holdings, based in Clifton, N.J., has built its own Industry 4.0 platform – called SmartChronos – at its 120,000-square-foot production plant in Seymour, Ind. This remote monitoring system became even more important in early 2020 when the pandemic kicked in, causing many workers to have to stay home.

Using a network of sensors on each of its machines, Alterra's system tracks a variety of processing parameters in real time and alerts the firm's production and quality control (QC) teams as soon as a parameter falls out of spec.  

Alterra CEO Arash Kiani has been quoted as saying his firm "created a product-dependent platform that allows live feedback between QC and the operator on the line. As soon as something is out of range, the operators will be notified by a Slack SMS text to react to it immediately." The system allows Alterra to assess in detail every box of material the compounder produces – and customers have live access to Alterra's process data, offering unrivaled transparency.

Resin producers are using yet another aspect of emerging digital technology. In one example, materials suppliers Borealis (polyolefins), Covestro (polycarbonates) and Domo Chemicals (polyamides), together with vehicle maker Porsche, have partnered with Circularise, the blockchain supply chain transparency provider, to enable the traceability of plastics on blockchain. The aim is to ensure that the use of sustainable materials in Porsche cars can be proven.

By digitizing materials Circularise says it has been able to create a digital thread through the whole supply chain, enabling material traceability, tracking the CO₂ footprint and other sustainability metrics such as water savings. Each batch of material was digitized on the blockchain receiving a digital copy called digital twin, according to Covestro. The digital twin carries all relevant information regarding the batch, such as its environmental footprint and origin. This digital thread created transparency between project partners, without revealing any underlying sensitive data, leading to an improved supply chain collaboration. 

Bottle blow molder Graham Packaging of Lancaster, Pa., meanwhile, is leveraging a different  kind of digital technology to enhance product performance and sustainability. It has applied computer simulation with structural analysis to predict bottle function before it reaches the production line. The result is a patented, vertically applied processing technology it calls AccuStrength that uses electronic programming to add material only to critical-to-function areas in a container. 

While most extrusion blow molded plastic bottles are formed through horizontal material distribution, which maintains product integrity and load-bearing properties, Graham says AccuStrength takes this process to the next level by also using vertical bands of material that can be adjusted to increase or decrease the bottle’s thickness in desired locations. 

The process, which allows for additional plastic to be placed along a vertical orientation of the parison, allows the manufacturer to concentrate the container's thickness in the corners only while removing excess material from areas where it isn't required – all without compromising structural integrity. It also allows for more post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic to be incorporated to reduce the weight of a container. The end result is a more sustainable bottle.

So, just this small sampling helps to indicate the breadth of digital technologies available to advance the plastics industry – from managing smart plants remotely, to tracing a material's history, to boosting end-product sustainability. This only scratches the surface of the digital revolution that is happening as we speak. Hang on tight, because bits and bytes will only increasingly reshape how business is done, going forward.