PROCESS CONTROL UPGRADATION

Process Control Upgradation:

A Project study about Industrial Instrumentation and Automation

ABSTRACT

Research has shown that alignment between manufacturing strategy and decisions regarding automation are often of an ad hoc nature, i.e. the support for automation decisions is poor. Support tools to find an appropriate level of automation are thus needed in order to achieve more efficient and robust production systems. The methodology presented in this paper contains five sub-processes where the chosen level of automation is aligned with the manufacturing strategy. Together they form an automation strategy, which secures a desired direction of the firm and also supports robustness and reliability of the manufacturing system due to the holistic approach chosen.

Table of Contents

ABSTRACTII

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND1

Rationale2

Theoretical framework3

Automation3

Automation strategy6

Manufacturing strategy7

Problem Statement9

Significance of the Study10

Research objectives and procedure10

PHASE 1: DEVELOPING THE METHODOLOGY FOR MEASURING AND ASSESSING LEVELS OF AUTOMATION11

PHASE 2: VALIDATING THE MEASUREMENT METHODOLOGY13

PHASE 3: REVIEWING AND EVALUATING MANUFACTURING STRATEGY FORMULATION PROCESSES14

PHASE 4: EMBEDDING THE MEASUREMENT METHODOLOGY IN THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING STRATEGY FORMULATION15

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY16

Phase 1: developing the Dynamo methodology for measuring and assessing levels of automation16

Phase 2: validating the Dynamo methodology19

Phase 3: reviewing and evaluating manufacturing strategy formulation processes20

Phase 4: embedding the Dynamo methodology in the process of manufacturing strategy formulation21

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS23

REFERENCES24

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Research has shown the importance of integrating humans and technology in manufacturing automation, thus supporting sustainable and robust manufacturing systems. Evidence from U.S. companies indicates the importance of including human aspects when implementing advanced manufacturing technology (Chung, 1996). A balanced and holistic approach to automation makes it easier to find an appropriate level of automation for best system performance (Martin et al., 1991). The relationship between humans and technology can be viewed as a continuum from fully manual to fully automatic by approaching the sharing of tasks between the human and technology (Frohm, 2008). This concept is called levels of automation (LoA). This is a concept which refers both to mechanized and cognitive tasks allocated between the human and technical equipment and ranges from 1 to 7 on a reference scale (Granell et al., 2007)

Empirical findings indicate correlation between a high extent of automation and increased extent of complexity and flexibility of social factors (Lin and Chen, 2000). However, there is a difference between the content and process of manufacturing strategy according to traditional manufacturing strategy framework (Anderson et al., 1989). Studying manufacturing strategy process show that decisions regarding automation tend to be rather of an ad hoc nature than planned activity (Winroth et al., 2007a), i.e. the level of automation is decided from product to product depending on volume (Granell, 2007) and there are no support systems guiding decisions. Thus, there is a need for developing tools which support alignment of both strategy and operational levels for reconfiguration of automation levels (Lindström, 2008).

Rationale

To review and guide the manufacturing strategy formulation process, Platts and Gregory (1990) suggest several audits and an audit process to formulate manufacturing strategy. This audit process identifies manufacturing objectives, measures current manufacturing performance, determines the effects of current manufacturing practices, and identifies where changes are ...