A. O. Smith Corporation
The Water Products Division of A.O. Smith Corporation manufactures water heaters. Soltus worked in conjunction with a systems integrator to replace the paint booths in one of their factories. The integrator handled the mechanical and control aspects of installing the new Nordson Electrostatic Rotary Atomizer Paint Spraying System while Soltus took care of the data integration.
As a part of the paint booth replacement project A.O. Smith had several goals for improving data management. There was a need to capture a significant amount of data that described the production process and create reports in order to review that data. The library of recipes for running the paint process needed an archival system. The adjustment of necessary parts for batch changes needed to be automated. The main database was located on a back office server that was physically remote from the shop floor. This configuration would sometimes result in network outages causing a halt in production. An additional problem created by the physical configuration was that changes to the process parameters were made by two groups, the process engineers who described major process changes and local line managers who modify operating parameters. Capturing and synchronizing these two sets of changes was another problem that needed a solution. A.O. Smith sought to resolve this issue and maintain updates on a central repository when the network was available
To solve the network problems, Soltus applied a four part solution. First we developed a main database on the back office server with a web application to configure the database and view the results. Second we developed locally distributed databases for the shop floor PC’s. Thirdly, a daily synchronization between the local and main servers allowed for local recipe changes in each cell to be captured and stored daily on the main server and changes made through the webpage at the main server to be updated with each paint booth. Lastly, business logic was created to work out discrepancies between the main database and shop floor changes.
To automate the changeover of paint and parts needed for each upcoming batch of water heaters, Soltus, utilizing RSSQL, developed a system for automatic download of data stored in barcodes on each batch of water heaters that would then direct the local control PC’s to change over paint and parts based on the data stored in the barcodes.
RSView32 was used for operator interaction and local recipe management and at the end of the process RSSQL reports on paint usage, machine utilization, up time/down time and provides overall production summaries. Additionally, daily production summaries were emailed to managers along with recipe conflict reports and conflict resolution reports. This provided a trace of performance of the line and a history of changes to the process.
The mechanical changes that the system integrator supplied to the paint process provided greater control. Soltus was able to manage those changes and optimize machine capabilities with the software that we put in place. The Soltus solutions resulted in better management tools to help qualify improvement strategies specifically; much tighter reporting of paint consumption and improved data visualization allowed management to see project improvements, implement those improvements and measure the benefits.
Software Applied
- MS SQL Server
- MS SQL Server Reporting Services
- ASP.NET
- RSView32
- RSSQL
- RSLinx
Hardware Utilized
- Rockwell ControlLogix PLC
- Nordson electrostatic rotary paint system
Who We Worked With
- Internal IT Department
- Internal Engineering Department
- Local Industrial Automation Dealer
- Manufacturer
- Local System Integrator / Machine Designer