The Factory of the Future

一个有趣的轶事是这样的：未来的工厂将由保安和狗经营。保安人员 - 防止入侵者和狗 - 如果他碰到任何东西，他都会咬住保安人员。

This vision of a lights-out factory first emerged in the 1960s, with the invention of the industrial robotic arm. But the premise that machines would take over, never quite took hold. The reality is that humans are still very much involved in the monitoring and control of manufacturing operations, but our role has changed over the past decades. Rather than moving materials and parts from point A to point B, we now move ideas.

The changing role of the operator was discussed at a special interest session during the recent Honeywell Users Group Symposium, held in mid-June in Phoenix. In the session, titled “The Process Plant of the Future,” users discussed emerging trends, and barriers to moving to the future state.

不同的技能

The new role of the plant operator requires a different skill set than in the past. Said one attendee, “Decisions on how to run the plant will still be made by humans. But the new operator will need to make decisions at a higher level, because lower-level decision making will be taken over by automation.”

运营未来工厂的驱动因素受业务，人员和技术需求的约束，正是这些因素构成了到达那里的最常见障碍。

On the people side, manufacturers must address organizational behavior, training needs, leadership and FUD—fear, uncertainty and doubt.

在业务方面，制造商需要检查生命周期成本并量化切实的收益。在原材料和资产成本高且相对固定的资本密集型行业中，公司需要解决可以产生影响的领域，例如维护和资产管理。And plant managers, who traditionally have looked at control systems as something you put in and don’t touch for 20 years, except for routine maintenance, need to change their organizational behavior and view automation systems as assets to be optimized on a real-time basis.

And finally, on the technology side, with so much new technology available, manufacturers need to sort out what they should use by determining what will give them the most value. Attendees spoke of the large amount of inadequate technology that’s installed in the field. Said one, “The average pump efficiency is less than 40 percent. Historically, we have over-specified the pump to allow us to add more capacity with bigger pipes. We’re going to review these systems to optimize asset performance.”

不稳定和调整

Added another attendee, “There are a lot of control loops in manual mode because the components are not sized properly, and systems are not stable in automatic mode. An oversize valve can cause other problems downstream.”

另一个警告说:“摆脱调整。让the control system tweak the process. Have the process engineer work with others in the plant to ‘define the edges’ of stable control and push the boundaries of the plant.”

将操作员与飞行员进行了比较。有几个小时的无聊，然后是几分钟的恐怖。效率通过稳态操作提高。正如一位与会者所说，“将创造力的人放在终端面前，而不会让他们在过程中乱七八糟，同时仍然使工作变得有趣。”

许多制造商发现，实现这种平衡的关键是测量，分析和优先级工具。通过对系统设计和适当操作工具的投资，制造商将看到巨大的回报。