Can a Coding & Marking Technology Company really support true Integration? Bring on the Skeptics!

  • By Adem Kulauzovic
  • December 13, 2019
  • General
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Recently I had the privilege to represent Domino at Rockwell’s Automation Fair®.  With over 16,000 in attendance this year, it is one of the most attended automation events in North America. As the only coding and marking technology company at the Fair,  Domino demonstrated our products and innovations, using Industry 4.0 concepts, to showcase our abilities to help automate solutions and remove human error, the leading cause of recalls and rework in several different industries.

Frankly, the reception on our solutions was overwhelming with many stating they needed solutions, like ours, to help reduce the amount of lost product, time, and money, due to mistakes occurring daily. 

At the same time, however, many also claimed skepticism on our claim of full integration into their existing ERP and MES systems. Domino was excited to have the opportunity to dispel this disbelief, and quite frankly, I was ready for the challenge. With the term “Industry 4.0“ being used constantly for all types of new innovations, so it is easy to lose the core objective of the concept.

What does Industry 4.0 Mean?

The concept behind Industry 4.0 is to provide collaboration and data sharing across facilities. Using integration, automation, and Industry 4.0 concepts, one may receive data from technologies not just in a bubble, but how it relates to the entire production line.

Personally, I have seen why there is skepticism firsthand from observing other vendors' solutions, with many advertising “Industry 4.0,” yet their solution is on an entirely separate system, communicating on proprietary protocols that are not on “industry standards,” and do not provide data sharing to other systems that are used to measure the rest of the facility.

These types of approaches do not help to reduce error. In fact, they increase the opportunity for error by introducing yet another manual task to transfer, or interpret data, from multiple sources independently - essentially going against the cardinal goal of Industry 4.0 solutions

IIoT is not just about utilizing IIoT, Cloud Data, Cogitative Computing, or any other new concept in a bubble. It’s about taking the information obtained through these concepts and being able to share efficiently to other technology using industry standards automatically without human intervention.

 

Running multiple systems without human intervention

This type of automation was our main concept at the Rockwell event. By showing our capabilities of using fieldbus standards (like Ethernet/IP), partnering with key organizations (Rockwell Encompass Partner, ODVA Membership, OMAC Membership, Beckhoff Partnership), and our ability to integrate into larger ERP/MES/SCADA solutions to illustrate Domino North America's understanding of Industry 4.0 with complete integration through automation.

As companies continue to look for ways to improve OEE and reduce opportunities for recalls and rework, one solution with the quickest return is through automation.  And automating your coding technologies is a perfect way to dip your foot into the proverbial automation pool. When looking for a solution, make sure that whomever you speak to understands, fully, the benefits of Industry 4.0 and not just the “power” of the word itself.  Ask questions about how they plan to share the data they gather, their ability to communicate using fieldbus protocols, and most importantly, how transparent are they in working with other 3rd party systems (like ERP/MES solutions) to provide full automation under one system.   Or better yet, let Domino be that partner and let us show you how we can adapt and integrate to your systems and provide a fully automated solution to your coding needs.  Let us take your worst line and prove that automation, through using industry standards, will give you immediate improvement to your processes and OEE.

Have questions and want to continue the dialogue? I invite you to reach out to me personally to discover how a coding and marking technology company like Domino can support your Industry 4.0 initiatives. adem.kulauzovic@domino-na.com

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