In manufacturing, getting the most out of a capital investment, holding on to older equipment and maintaining it as long as possible is typical. It’s likely to find equipment that is 30 years or older that is still in operation. However, those machines were made long before the internet age. These machines, are often very capable of providing real time information with little touches of experts who have grown up with this older technology and who have experience to bring it forward.
Machines built 30 years ago are typically equipped with either relay logic or outdated Programmable Logic Controller devices. Some of those spare parts are so rare and some hardware failure may lead to unknown stop times. While changing control panel with modern iot ready hardware, new alternative machine equipment should also be considered. At some point modernization of pneumatics or mechanical parts may suit better with the new offerings of the renewed control panel. Some of these early technical methods will require adaptation to enable the sensing of movement, positional location, pressures, and temperatures.
Energy efficiency of a 30 years old machine is not equal to modern ones. Modernization need gives us opportunity to replace old energy consuming parts with modern energy saving parts. The above example is an often case with old motors. Both oversized and undersized motors cause huge spikes in energy consumption. Similarly, other supplementary units such as HVAC systems are also very important on overall efficiency. Reducing the total load required by the machinery is one of our key motivation.
Modernization of these machines saves energy, increase uptime, avoid suffering from spare part extinction. It is highly recommended to spend some time on high tech proof of concepts before final machine deployment. In another article I will discuss specific outcomes of industrial iot.