Glass Industry News

GPAD Conference Opens in San Antonio with Focus on Industry 4.0

, GPAD

Automation is a growing trend within the glass industry as companies look to improve efficiencies and reduce labor costs. Presenters at the 2019 Glass Processing Automation Days (GPAD) Conference in San Antonio today focused on trends in automation.

Ron Crowl, president and CEO of FeneTech, and Horst Mertes, vice president of sales and marketing at FeneTech and CEO of FeneTech Europe, welcomed attendees by framing automation and Industry 4.0 in the context of the glass industry. “We believe that only by closing the gap between software and machinery you can eliminate islands of automation and an efficient work flow can be achieved,” said Crowl. Dave Miller, business development, glass fabrication North America for FeneTech, continued the focus on automation in his presentation, “This is Where the Digital Factory Begins.” He explained that enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems shouldn’t be used solely to push data to the individual work cell but to get information back from those systems.

“We want to know when units are complete and what the status is so we’ll know if we will have the work orders done on time,” said Miller. He gave an overview of the company’s FeneVision program and the ability to integrate it with computer-aided design (CAD) applications. This improves the efficiency of the fabrication process. Companies can also identify the most common fabrication configurations used and make them more easily available.

Terry Hessom, vice president of operations at HHH Tempering Resources, spoke about how automation minimizes downtime in the presentation, “Minimizing Downtime During the Automation Age.” He began by pointing out that on average manufacturers lose 800 hours each year due to downtime. Downtime impacts a company’s equipment and labor costs. “You’re paying people for a lack of productivity during that downtime,” said Hessom.

Companies also pay for reallocated management time and the production supervisor and quality control manager focus on fixing the problem rather than production. Downtime also puts stress on personnel. It also has other hidden costs. “When a company’s focus is on fixing machinery they’re not focused on innovation,” says Hessom. “A potential loss in customer trust is another hidden cost.” He stressed the importance of management buying into the strategy of scheduling downtime and using automation systems to identify preventative maintenance needs to mitigate unscheduled and costly downtime.

“Invest in training tailored to each teach member,” said Hesson. “Train for machine-specific troubleshooting and maintenance and cross-train to reduce wasted labor costs.” He also suggested that companies use the data provided by their machines to analyze what’s improving and what hasn’t in the production process. GPAD runs through Thursday, March 28. Stay tuned to USGNN™ for more conference coverage throughout the week.

, © GPAD

Notícias sobre o material do site é copyright e pertence à empresa ou ao seu fornecedor de terceiros notícia, e todos os direitos reservados. Qualquer usuário que acessa esse material poderá fazê-lo apenas para seu próprio uso pessoal, bem como a utilização desse material é de risco exclusivo do Utilizador. A redistribuição ou exploração comercial de material tal notícia é expressamente proibida. Se tal notícia material é fornecido por um terceiro, cada utilizador concorda em observar e estar vinculado aos termos específicos de utilização aplicáveis a material notícia. Nós não representamos nem endossamos a precisão ou confiabilidade de qualquer informação contida em qualquer notícia ou sites externos referidos na notícia.

Should the content or the design of these sites violate third parties rights or legal prescriptions, we kindly ask you to send us a respective message without invoice or cost. We guarantee that passages where the claim is considered as justified will be removed immediately, without any necessity to involve any lawyer into this issue. We will reject any claim caused by submission of a honorary note in this regard without any prior contact and confirmation of the issueby us and we reserve the right ssue counter claim ourselves because of violation of aforesaid conditions.



Info Grid

Glass studies

Updated worldwide glass study 2024

plants.glassglobal.com

Updated hollow glass study 2024

Request more information

Updated float glass study 2024

Request more information

Further glass market studies

Request more information


Updated worldwide glass market study 2024 available now for flat, container glass and tableware

We have updated our international studies on flat glass, container glass and tableware for 2024.

This unique software provides a global overview about glass producers and technical details. Easy to use and clear tables summarize information and data about glass makers such as: Glass types: flat glass, container glass, tableware, production capacities in regions and countries, number of furnaces, furnace types, year of construction, glass types and sub-types, products, project information, special news and downloads.

Further databases supplying demoscopic data and import and export data complete the market survey. Based on these data, prepare individual country profiles with information about local production capacities, local market sizes and expected demand in the future.

Request your offer via plants.glassglobal.com.

Updated container glass study 2024

X

Updated float glass study 2024

X

Further glass studies and reports 2024

X