Shop floor to top floor

“I have been developing and proving an NJ controller on-site over the past 12 months or so, to the point where it’s ready to deploy,” says Richard.

Regarding the database, he adds: “Product traceability is key to our manufacturing processes, not only its robustness, but also the speed in which we can access the key information to ensure we make the right business decisions. Being able to offer this type of technology back to our parent company in Japan is also a key driver to ensure our Japanese colleagues can access the data they need as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Up to now, individual PLCs on Ricoh’s production lines have had to be individually, and laboriously, updated with new product information. But in the future, code readers and vision systems will be able not only to check individual components against set product recipes in the database, but also actively update that database with fresh information, saving tens of thousands of pounds and months of development.

“It’s a big shift for us moving to Omron’s NJ,” says Richard. “It’s a new capability for the controller to be able to query and ‘push’ information to the database. In the past, it’s always been a case of the server accessing individual PLCs to collect data, not the other way around.”

In part, this recycling strategy simply implements the company’s broader sustainability policy. He explains: “When the serial number is scanned, the NJ will query the database for item-specific data. This includes ensuring that a given cartridge has not been through the system too many times, but it takes in the whole value stream. If we have to manufacture a component, we have to assess the value of doing this more than once.”

Based on the data accessed, the controller makes what amounts to a split-second decision as to whether the cartridge should progress to refilling or be rejected.

This application demonstrates the huge potential of the latest-generation NJ Series machine controllers, in this and other manufacturing settings. Even at high line speeds, it allows what is effectively localised, item-level decision-making and data-gathering through instant, two-way interaction with factory-wide or enterprise-level databases and management systems, making the systems far more flexible, reconfigurable and resilient to disruptions or changes in the process.

As well as the advantages of controller-to-database communications and the fact that individual PLCs no longer have to be configured, the NJ offers further benefits of compact and simplified design. As a multi-tasking controller, for example, it has integrated controls over safety and motion control functions, rather than requiring multiple, separate systems.

If communication between the NJ and the Ricoh UK database proves as efficient as trials have suggested it will be, the company says it can envisage similar configurations working on other product lines beyond Ricoh’s ProTM LP5100S range of printers.

When it comes to operating the system, Richard says his current preference for a human-machine interface (HMI) is Omron’s new NA-series. Previously, Ricoh UK has installed several NS HMIs. But, as Richard explains, “The NA incorporates capabilities for rich media, including photos, videos and PDFs, giving operators increased clarity and control over the machinery and processes, particularly with respect to troubleshooting and maintenance."