In late 2004, The Boeing Company sought the services of Systems Interface, a Rockwell Automation designated solution provider from Washington, USA, to engineer and install a new production control system for Boeing's 'Forming Corridor', a phase of the production process that is on the critical path of almost every commercial aircraft Boeing produces.
Boeing needed to completely manage the production process, and be able to plan for and minimise the effects of power outages and other events. The new production control system needed to be extremely reliable, flexible, easy to operate and easy to maintain. It had to be easy to restore, even after a total catastrophic failure. The system also needed to provide web-based visibility of the forming corridor's health and the status of all parts, and collect statistical information for quality control and process management.
Boeing was thus looking for a turnkey system that would completely manage the production process, including directing different components to different work cells via a batch methodology. The company specified a closed loop method that would allow a supervising computer to get verification of components arriving at and departing from each individual work cell. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology was seen as well suited to providing this closed-loop feedback, and Systems Interface has extensive experience with RFID. With the technology, Boeing's system could have positive part-tracking confirmation, which would also assist in automatic recovery from a trauma.
After some collective evaluation by Boeing's review panel and Systems Interface's design team, Boeing selected an Ethernet-based network linking a new Rockwell Automation VersaView main supervisory console with four Allen-Bradley programmable logic controllers (PLCs), 11 new PanelView Plus terminals, a bar code reader station, 18 RFID tags and 47 RFID read/write heads.
Capitalising on the existing Allen-Bradley control hardware would help control costs of the new system. Taking advantage of the last two spare slots in the PLC-580E chassis, for example, Systems Interface added an Ethernet sidecar and a communications module. This allowed an upgrade of the data network to Ethernet, and let Systems Interface easily manage the anticipated high data traffic. To integrate the Allen-Bradley controllers with the chosen RFID products, which are based on TCP/IP Ethernet, Systems Interface engineers used a ProSoft Modbus converter module. For cost-effectiveness reasons, the new Ethernet network was linked to the 11 new PanelView opera or workstations.
Combining these two new application networks onto a single topology helped minimise communication programming requirements. The hardware set-up was relatively simple; the difficult task would be configuring the software. Boeing's goal was to totally upgrade the operator's role at the main supervisor's console, and to consistently support the 11 operator workstations with a similar look and feel. The software platform had to integrate all of these new capabilities within the code of a single Rockwell Automation PLC-5/80E; a second, roving PLC-5/20E; two roving SLC- 505s; and a new non-proprietary manufacturing execution system (MES). The MES would execute the batch-oriented production process and also manage the high volume of data typical of RFID architectures.
Systems Interface created a non-proprietary MES architecture (Systems Interface's OASIS platform) using Rockwell Automation VersaView, RSView, RSSql, RSWeb Server and Microsoft SQL Server technologies. Installed on the main supervisor's console, OASIS lets users view production status, track product processing, manage recipes and optimise scheduling based on demand and available resources. The screens written for the 11 PanelView-based terminals emulated the look and feel of the supervisory console to facilitate ease of use. Once the MES was built, Systems Interface completely rewrote the existing PLC code to be more streamlined, easier to troubleshoot and to handle greater data traffic. Overall system performance was improved and communication ports were modified to support the new Ethernet networks. The RFID part tracking and data collection proved both complex and difficult to develop. Before initially hanging a part on a carrier bar, an operator scans a bar code that identifies the part's size, work order number, part number, recipe and other information. That data is transferred to an RFID tag that resides on each of the carrier bars.
The location of each carrier bar is confirmed by an individual RFID reader positioned at each possible storage or production location. As parts are processed through the system, the RFID information is displayed at the supervisory control console and on an internal Boeing web page. The web-based visibility allows managers to monitor the health of the Forming Corridor and the progress of each part at any location within the Boeing Company.
As a control systems integrator, as well as a fully licensed general contractor, Systems Interface's next task was implementation. Since the Forming Corridor is on the critical path of every commercial aircraft produced by Boeing, the implementation schedule was tight and demanding. With the implementation of this system, Boeing took impressive measures to plan for and minimise the effect that certain traumatic events (such as power outages) can have on productivity. By using RFID to achieve effective process tracking, Boeing simultaneously gained great improvements in production throughput and visibility. Moreover, with RFID the system can indeed 'heal' itself and return to normal operation quickly when a problem occurs.
The Boeing Company also fully capitalised on their technology investment by implementing an MES that put at their disposal many new tools for studying and improving efficiency and productivity. Mindful of the value of a non-proprietary solution, Systems Interface proposed and implemented a powerful yet open MES software topology with the tools to help The Boeing Company reach its goals. Finally, all of these improvements took maximum possible advantage of Boeing's installed production infrastructure, helping to ensure the best possible return on the company's investment. As with any new control system, there are still a few minor operational and technical issues to be resolved. Systems Interface is working very close with manufacturers and with Boeing to ensure customer satisfaction and a proper conclusion to the project.
For more information contact Rudolf Van Wyk, Rockwell Automation, 011 654 9700, [email protected]
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