Imagine a factory where all handheld power tools are connected so that their locations can be identified at the touch of a button. Then think of the possibilities that would be offered if those tools were clever enough to work out the immediate task at hand, ensuring for instance that shopfloor workers could only ever tighten bolts with exactly the force required.
It’s a world where employees wouldn’t waste time hunting for the equipment they need to do their job. And it’s a world where guaranteed repeatability would mean costly production errors were avoided.
This futuristic scenario might sound a bit implausible, but it is being brought to life by a collaborative project involving some of the biggest engineering and IT firms in the world. The Track and Trace testbed, which includes the likes of Bosch, Cisco, National Instruments and Tech Mahindra, aims to take advantage of the potential offered by the internet of things to drive forward tool connectivity and improve quality and efficiency across manufacturing.
“There is no other solution like this out there; it harbours major potential for industry as a whole,” says Dirk Slama, director of business development at Bosch Software Innovations, the lead company on the Track and Trace project. “One day we envisage an overall system of networked tools, where open standards link together devices from many different manufacturers, enabling the seamless integration of activities such as drilling, tightening and soldering.”
Phase one of the project aims to deliver a system that uses indoor localisation technologies based on wi-fi to determine to within a couple of metres the position of a Bosch cordless nut-runner on a shopfloor. The advantages are clear: if the nut-runner was missing, the shopfloor worker could access a human-machine interface to pinpoint its position in the work cell.
“In industrial settings, you can never guarantee that workers replace tools on time or where they need to be,” says Slama. “Our main customers are car manufacturers, and this can be a particular problem when there are different variants and models going through the same production line. Workers can spend a large amount of time looking for missing tools.”
Slama says that phase one of the Track and Trace project isn’t overly ambitious, and that technologies already exist to make it a reality. A second, more challenging phase is also in the pipeline. This would enable the tool’s position to be combined with the precisely determined location of the component or structure being worked upon, with backend software automatically delivering instructions that specify the exact torque needed to tighten bolts.
Such capability could help manufacturers to ensure repeatability, which is crucial in sectors such as aerospace. Modern civil airliners require 400,000 drilled holes in their structure, with more than 1,000 different tools used to fix nuts, bolts and rivets into their correct positions. Slama says this could be done far more accurately and efficiently with connected tools, leading to increased safety.
“We could record the torque used to tighten hundreds of thousands of bolts, for example, and store that information in a database,” he says. “The information makes it possible to quickly identify any discrepancies, and it provides users with clues as to the possible causes of faults.”
Connected tools could also aid in troubleshooting and error avoidance. If a worker tries to use a tool mistakenly for the wrong task or at the wrong place, the tool powers itself down, preventing errors from occurring. This contributes to improving safety, quality and productivity, he says.
There are additional benefits: for instance, the constant collection of data provides companies with a detailed overview of the condition of their tools at all times. This can enable the automation of routine tasks, such as the replacement of worn parts on power tools after a specified number of rotations or hours of operation.
Such a system could also be realtime mapped to 3D product lifecycle management (PLM) data, confirming that digital predictions match shopfloor realities. “It could help manufacturers learn more about their production processes,” says Slama. “You could use the system to automatically send measurements back to check the accuracy of 3D PLM data.”
Eventually Track and Trace will be opened up for other tool vendors, employing open standards so that any system of connected tools could be used universally, regardless of the brand or tool type. “That has to be the most sensible approach,” says Slama. “Even in an extreme case a customer would only ever be likely to buy 50% of its tools from one supplier. It will always have tools from other vendors. So there needs to be cross-industry co-operation to develop open standards, so we can deliver a Track and Trace system that can integrate multiple tools.”
In the future, instead of delivering positioning information to a human-machine interface, a Track and Trace system might send data to wearable devices such as optical head-mounted displays. Shopfloor workers might, for instance, be able to look at a part, and receive exact tool positioning and usage instructions to their peripheral vision.
Such capability is probably some way off, admits Slama.
Taking the stress out of the job
Track and Trace partner National Instruments will play a major role in phase two of the project, combining processor hardware and graphical programming software to help interconnect the power tools.
Jamie Smith, director of embedded systems product marketing at National Instruments, thinks Track and Trace could be developed into a highly accurate and intelligent networked system. He says: “We think we can add far more intelligence to the tools – it should be possible to add more control of the tool when it is in the right zone.
“Also, we are hoping to help develop other technologies that will lead to more accurate location information using perhaps wi-fi coupled with vision systems. And you can see how workers might wear smart goggles or glasses.”
Smith sees huge potential for the technology in car plants which operate highly customised production lines with every vehicle different. “Work orders are constantly provided to employees and everything in the cell has to be reconfigured to meet the task,” he says. “The Track and Trace system could help to prevent mistakes and help prevent employees from having to slow down as they get their bearings for what has to be done next.”
Smith says he thought the project sounded implausibly futuristic when National Instruments first got involved. But he now firmly believes that the technologies exist to make it a reality. He draws parallels with GPS-based driver-assistance systems, which have changed the way we drive. “We no longer have to pull out maps. We have driver-assist technologies built into our vehicles that tell us where to go, and alert us if we make a mistake.
“That’s what Track and Trace is doing for shopfloor workers. We’re going to tell them where to go, how to get there, and if they do make a mistake there will be technology at their fingertips that will help them correct it.
“Driver systems have reduced our prep time, and our stress, and they allow us to focus on the task at hand – driving. Factory workers will be able to focus on drilling the hole and putting the rivet in.”
The Track and Trace testbed partners are lending their different areas of expertise to the project: Bosch is supplying the Nexo cordless nut-runner, while Bosch Software Innovations is contributing the software necessary to gather and evaluate data. Tech Mahindra is responsible for the application programming, while Cisco is providing the nut-runners’ precision location identification feature (triangulation) by evaluating wireless signals. National Instruments is supplying automation and measurement technology systems.