Veronica Turner, industrial safety solutions leader for Latin America at Honeywell Process Solutions, was working at a plant in Mexico when an emergency erupted: a worker couldn’t be located.
Searching for the man became paramount. The last anyone knew, he had gone to the restroom. Due to maintenance, he had to use one in another building. As it turned out, valuable time was lost looking for a man who wasn’t in danger.
Improving productivity and safety are two of the biggest concerns in manufacturing. Honeywell says its new Safety Watch system can increase both by tracking the whereabouts of employees.
Safety Watch teams active wireless tags integrated into employee badges with Honeywell’s OneWireless multi-protocol infrastructure. The tags alert managers to the location of employees in real time, which can be critical to help reduce and better respond to incidents.
Safety Watch comes with one wireless A-1 solution-based mesh deployment. The latter uses multiple access points (with or without Ethernet connections) to communicate over wireless interfaces to form a single network. Every application is customized, so before receivers are installed Honeywell surveys the site to understand which areas are vital to track.
“We install receivers where we want the signals to go,” Turner said. “This is a very critical point because we don’t want any black holes, where communication is not there.”
To pinpoint a worker’s location, Honeywell uses a triangulation of receivers. So wherever a worker goes, a receiver will catch the signal from the badge. A single receiver informs how many tags are in the area. The more receivers, the more accurate the location of each worker. Each receiver has a 150-meter radius.
“I would say that the architecture models will respond to the specific needs of the business,” Turner said. “So, the triangulation model will give you more accurate location data with a location within 3 to 5 meters of where the employee is.”
In addition, a light flashes if someone enters a restricted or dangerous area, alerting managers and the employee. This is useful for businesses with a mix of employees and contract workers, who need codes with personalized settings.
Onsite tracking can also prevent contractors from over billing, according to the supplier. This is recommended for large spaces with many workers and a lot of movement.
Safety, however, is the primary goal. When a major safety event occurs, workers typically report to a “mustering” area, which takes time.
“In 15 to 20 minutes you can lose a lot of lives,” Turner warned.
Safety Watch streamlines a company’s emergency response via “eMustering.“ Capable of locating employees anywhere on company grounds, the feature can evacuate them faster and doesn’t waste time and resources searching for someone not present, according to Honeywell.
Pointing out that safety is a major concern for industrial workers, Turner said Safety Watch may give companies an edge in attracting and retaining employees. Honeywell believes this will outweigh potential privacy concerns, especially considering receivers aren’t placed in traditionally private areas.
Honeywell prototyped the system in its own facilities and those of its customer advisory board.
CNC Software LLC is partnering with industry expert Andrew Crowe to help create an advanced manufacturing program at Benjamin Franklin High School in Philadelphia. CNC Software provided the school with its Mastercam software, training resources, and equipment to help students develop advanced manufacturing skills they can use to build a successful future—machinists in Philadelphia earn an average of $52,000 annually, according to Intuit.
During the kickoff event in March, Crowe shared his story and vision with students to connect them to potential career opportunities available in manufacturing. Crowe started his career as a machinist and went on to become an instructor at Ranken Technical College and served as the director of Micro Enterprise for the school’s manufacturing division. He is also a lecturer and industry advocate who has spoken at the White House and Pentagon.
“Andrew Crowe will help the students understand the infinite number of opportunities to work as machinists, engineers, designers, and more by learning to use the valuable tools now available at Benjamin Franklin High School,” said Laura Hood, Mastercam chief administrative officer. “Helping Benjamin Franklin develop this advanced manufacturing program means we will help inspire the next generation of makers and innovators to seek a career in manufacturing.”
DELMIAWorks, part of the Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Works portfolio, has added a new widget to its SHOPWORKS module, which the company says will help optimize assembly manufacturing. The SHOPWORKS module is available as an option with the DELMIAWorks manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
The new Assemblyworks human-machine interface (HMI) features an intuitive touchscreen for work centers. The HMI helps manufacturers to simplify shop floor operators’ activities and gain real-time insights from the ERP, manufacturing execution system, and manufacturing operations management modules of DELMIAWorks, according to the supplier.
Assemblyworks extends SHOPWORKS to improve onboarding with workcenter-specific assignments that provide assembly workers the schedule, tasks, and required workflow needed for a specific job, according to the supplier. And it streamlines the operator process for reporting and connecting with other groups to help workers get more done in less time. Manufacturers can track labor to specific tasks and validate certifications to ensure that only employees or temporary workers who are capable and certified can perform a task. Labor costs can be captured in real time, bringing greater accuracy and cost control, DELMIAWorks said.
The seventh edition of Viva Technology will be held June 14-17 in Paris. Described as an accelerator of innovation and transformation, the event will bring together startups, tech leaders, and investors worldwide.
The focus is on digital transformation and developing tech solutions to address environmental, societal, and economic challenges. Highlights include programs on artificial intelligence and climate tech.
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