MAINTENANCE PETplanet Insider Vol. 24 No. 07+08/23 www.petpla.net 26 Industry 4.0 meets PET facility equipment cleaning based on an article by Steven P. Wilson, Director Dry Ice Cleaning Applications & ESG at Cold Jet LLC Many manufacturers utilising PET have adopted Industry 4.0 in their facilities, digitally connecting systems throughout the entire manufacturing process to streamline production processes, improve quality control, increase operational efficiency, and achieve cost savings. Smart dry ice blasting equipments have now made this IoT technology available to cleaning processes as well. This no longer makes cleaning practices isolated processes that cannot be measured and monitored. The human-machine collaboration that brought new insight to our manufacturing processes, is now available for the cleaning processes. Cold Jet Connect introduces Industry 4.0 capabilities to dry ice cleaning, claimed to providing a clear view of the data which helps to make decisions that will accelerate the return on investment and profitability through increased machine efficiency and uptime. Cold Jet Connect Analytics has been developed to enable continuous tracking and support for dry ice blasting equipment. Possibilities include remote monitoring, programmable cleaning recipes, and service that are now possible on the maintenance side of the operations. From moulding (injection to blow) to bottling and filling (airveyors, glue pots, labellers, conveyor belts, palletisers) manufacturers are able to gain actionable insight to make data-driven decisions to accelerate their return on investment through increased machine efficiency and uptime. Jeff Waters from Microsoft noted that monitoring equipment and processes was key to having proper Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). He reported that ability to monitor equipment reduced equipment failure by 13%, improved quality by 27%, and reduced service costs by 10%. This is very consistent with the objectives of lean six sigma initiatives where manufacturers define, measure, analyse, improve, and control their production processes. Deloitte reported in their 2023 Manufacturing Outlook Survey that Data Analy-tics was the second initiative (behind Robotics and Automation) for U.S. executives. Generally, there are six objectives manufacturers are desiring to achieve when adopting Industry 4.0. Smart dry ice blasting machines equipped with Cold Jet Connect Analytics is claimed to provide insight to all of them: 1) Asset performance management – for the ability to diagnose, predict and plan convenient maintenance schedules, Cold Jet Connect is showing whether the dry ice cleaning machine is used properly and operating properly. 2) Cycle management – the system helps understanding the process. Management can see materials being used (dry ice), time, and true cost of maintenance / cleaning practices. 3) IoT driven scheduling – it is called a time when the equipment needs to be maintained or when and how much dry ice to order. 4) Man/machine collaboration – A guidance on proper cleaning methodology is provided. Take the guess work out of cleaning a variety of substrates with stored cleaning recipes. Ensure good process and performance while minimising consumables. 5) Digital transformation – the system enables a connected process between the factory floor and management. 6) Cybersecurity – Cold Jet ensures a risk-free cyber-physical platform with continuously upgraded, strong security standards. Numerous questions about the cleaning processes can now be remotely monitored without the need to be physical present. Information are provided on questions such as how long does it take to clean that station, how much does it really cost to clean that station, how much dry ice was used during cleaning, are the cleaning crews optimising the blasting parameters, is there a pattern to the cleaning cycles, is it time to replace the blaster etc.
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